Pangasinan: A Dying Dialect (?)

By Ernest M. Serote
(lifted from: ‘Balon Silew’ Oct-Dec 2000 issue - with permission to republish from publishers) 
A POPULAR JOKE is told about a young Pangasinense who, returning home after a year’s stay in Manila, is completely ‘tagalized’.
 
Feeling hungry one mid morning, he rushes to the kitchen and finds his mother preparing their lunch. “Ang bagal naman ni Inay,” he says, “Gutom na gutom na ako, e. Ano ho bang ulam natin?”

He sees a basket of live crabs. “Inay, ano ba ire?” he asks, pointing his forefinger, and suddenly blurts out: “Aray ! Anak na lasin alama ya, kinetket to ak!”
 
The preceding anecdote is an exaggeration, of course. But it is a telling example of how many Pangasinenses unwittingly kill their language through disuse. For a Pangasinense in another region loses his cultural identity – language especially, and is readily absorbed by the culture of that other region. This, among other things, account for the rapid decay of Pangasinan dialect.

More of the causes later.

In the not-so-remote past, Pangasinan was one of the major dialects in the Philippines. It bares close affinity with some Indonesian tongues, a fact often cited by historians as proof of the assertion that the fabled Princess Urduja was not a native Amazon but a migrant from the South. Pangasinan, too, has a fair share of the Hindu Arabic terms, an off-shoot most probably, of the once flourishing trade between Sual and the Arab world.
 
Pangasinan before the Ilocano Deluge, must have been spoken throughout the length and breadth of this big province. Many barrios in what are now predominantly Ilocano-speaking towns have retained their original names in the dialect. The barrios of Caoringan in Sison, Nancayasan in Urdaneta, Cabayaoasan in Mangatarem, are only three of the scores that can be named as cases in point. Also, many aging people from the Ilocano-speaking towns, whom this writer has had the chance to meet have intimated quite nostalgically that they are, or used that they had to adopt a second language having been overwhelmingly outnumbered.
 
The existence of people still fluent in Pangasinan in as far as south of Paniqui, Tarlac and the distinctly heavy streaks of Pangasinan terms in Ibaloy, the dialect spoken by the Igorots in Benguet, point to the Palaris and Malong in the once resplendent past. Today, Pangasinan is a dying dialect. It is spoken only in a handful of towns in the central part of the province.
 
And the frontier is continually being pushed inward due to incessant incursions of the Ilocanos from all sides. Even in these diminishing places that are ‘pre’ Pangasinan speaking are as virgins are in England.
 
Perhaps enrichment from other languages augurs well for many particular language. Unfortunately, it is not so with Pangasinan. Contact with other cultures does not enrich but rather annihilates Pangasinan.
 
The invisible limits of what remains a Pangasinan-speaking area are readily noticeable as one takes a bus ride from the city of Dagupan outward to any direction. One notes how, after travelling 20 kilometers or so, the passengers conspicuously change to Ilocano the way the driver shifts his gears. So small has the area grown that the Pangasinenses, once a major ethnic group, are now reduced to mere cultural minorities.

Political campaign strategists in Manila erroneously and sweepingly consider Pangasinan as part of Ilocandia. To native Manileño, other region, a Pangasinense is an Ilocano. Campaigner therefore, who spice their speeches with a smattering of Ilocano idioms usually endear themselves to Pangasinan audiences.

If this trend goes on, one dreads that day when Pangasinan-speaking people, cultural minorities that they are now, will be edged out into the sea, like the rats of Hamelin, there being no mountain vastness in Central Pangasinan to which they can retreat. That would mean the death of Pangasinan. And when that happens, “lingotopsy” will surely unravel the following causes of the death of the Pangasinan dialect.
 
For one thing, there has been no serious and sustained effort to preserve, much less propagate, the dialect. One vital factor in the propagation of any language is the development of its written literature. But alas, Pangasinan literature is largely oral. There is a dismal death of vernacular, including a novel in series. The Pangasinan novel, too, assuming that it deserves such a name, has almost died with the late Maria Magsano of ‘Samban Agnabenegan’ fame. Ironically this novel and some other works which include Colegiala Dolores Nami-ko (a translation from Japanese). Bales na Kalamangan, can be obtained more easily in their English translation than in their original version. The translations were done by Juan Villamil who also has novels to his name, notably: Ampait ya Pagbabawi, Pakseb na Kapalaran, Pinisag ya Puso, Diad Tape na Daluyon and Sika Tan Siak.

The themes of these novels and their variations have nourished for some time another indigenous literary form – the zarzuela. The zarzuela used to be popular fare not only among the simple barrio folk but also in the more sophisticated poblacion.
 
Years ago, no town fiesta was complete without a zarzuela as a major presentation. Now zarzuela is a dying art. One last ditch effort to revive the art was weekly radio program ‘Zarzuela on the Air’ directed by Lorenzo Morante, but it did not last.
 
Lorenzo Morante, who is better known as Lorenzo ‘Tason-taso’, represents the last gasping breath of another dying art-cancionan.

Cancionan is Pangasinan’s answer to the Tagalog ‘Balagtasan’ or the Ilocano ‘Bukanegan’, a sort of verbal joust usually between a man and a woman. It used to share equal popularity with the zarzuela. Now, too, it is a literary form in its death throes.
 
Original Pangasinan songs and ribald tales are occasionally hummed from oblivion by older folk usually after several glasses of alac-bogbog or CDC gin. Unfortunately, these songs and tales never get written for posterity.
 
Of course, the most readily accessible literature in Pangasinan is the Bible and a few religious literature like taw-tawag, galikin, and passion. But how many read today?
Another cause for the death of Pangasinan ‘lingotopsy’ is that assertion made at the start of the essay: that Pangasinan speaking people are generally not assertive. Some even go to the extent of denying their dialect.
 
That is understandable. With hardly a literary heritage to stand on and with a stage of linguistic development suitable only for grade two, how can Pangasinenses expect to stand with pride beside Ilocano and Tagalog? Pangasinenses take pride instead in their facility in learning other languages and getting themselves lost in or assimilated by other cultural groups.

Two Ilocanos can transplant Ilocandia anywhere in the world as they use their dialect without feeling embarrassed even before a king. Children of Pangasinenses who migrated to other regions, however, hardly know their parents’ tongue.
 
Pangasinenses are uniquely funny. As hosts, they try hard to seek the language of their guests. As guests, they struggle with the language of their host. Which is a very convenient way of losing, as it were, one’s roots. Must the Pangasinan dialect be left to die?

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The Fisherman of Binmaley By Restituto C. Basa

Source:
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Photos by: 

On the town of Binmaley, beside the town hall stands a statue of a fisherman. A fish basket is tied to its waist, while he carries on his back a huge fish. The statue is an apt symbol of the town. Fishing is the first and foremost livelihood of Binmaley. 

Its location: The town lies along the coastline of the Lingayen Gulf. More than one half of its land area is swampy. Binmaley has a land area of 6,120 hectares. 

Binmaley is the wet land of Agno Valley. The wide river channel between barangays Naguilayan and Manat is the Agno River on its way to the Lingayen gulf.

Read more

The provincial government of Pangasinan, through its Provincial Council for Culture and the Arts, is conducting a survey on Pangasinan Cultural Heritage as part of its agenda to promote, develop and sustain culture and arts in the province.

Relative to this, a survey form is available for download here.

You may also wish to reproduce the questionnaire for distribution to other cultural workers you know and who may help us in our data gathering.

Please send accomplished form at email address, tourismpangasinan@yahoo.com on or before June 30, 2006. For further assistance, contact Provincial Council for Culture and the Arts at (075) 542-8007/6853.

(This is a repost from )

Historical trivia about Santa Barbara

by Fred Natividad

 

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On November 13, 1899, Santa Barbara had a five-hour brush with history long before 1945 when General Douglas Macarthur set up his first land command post in Santa Barbara after his Lingayen Gulf landings.

 

The story of this earlier brush with history is based on a reading of a diary of Telesforo Perez Carrasco, a junior officer in General Aguinaldo's army. The diary was translated from Spanish and published in English in 1986 in Manila by the noted Filipino writer, Nick Joaquin. Mr. Joaquin appears to be a Carrasco descendant.

 

Back in 1899 the United States of America, then a new emerging power, decided to try its hand in colonialism. It refused to leave the Philippines after its navy demolished the Spanish fleet on Manila Bay. Filipinos, thru their leader, General Aguinaldo, did not foresee this, thinking that America was their ally in driving the Spaniards out. Not surprisingly,

Filipinos were incensed and dared the might of a well trained, sophisticated (for its time) American army.

 

Enter the story of Telesforo Perez Carrasco as can be gleaned from Nick Joaquin's translation of Carrasco's diary. A Spaniard, Carrasco was a non-com in the Spanish army. Fleeing from a love affair he volunteered for service in the Philippines where he married instead a Filipino girl in Tanauan, Batangas. On June 1, 1899, eight years after he arrived in the Philippines, he was captured by Filipino revolutionary troops in Bulacan.

 

Carrasco not only waived repatriation to Spain but he even joined General Aguilnaldo's peasant troops, who, after defeating the Spaniards, were now facing a new enemy, the United States of America. Eventually, among various assignments and missions, Carrasco became a part of Aguinaldo's rear guard at Tirad Pass. There he witnessed the death of his commander, General Gregorio del Pilar, who was felled by an American sniper.

 

 

Rewinding to Santa Barbara's brush with history…

 

… It was November 12, 1899. The US army has been relentlessly chasing General Aguinaldo who fled from Bulacan to Pangasinan. From probably Calasiao or Dagupan he headed to Binalonan. Before Binalonan is Manaoag where Lieutenant Carrasco was sent to observe enemy movements.

 

He was about to leave Manaoag when he was informed that Americans were coming from the direction of Binalonan! He quickly went with his troops into the opposite direction to warn General Aguinaldo's party. Thus warned, everybody turned back.

 

They arrived at Santa Barbara at 1:00 a.m. of the 13th. After about five hours they left for Pozorrubio. There is an anecdote about this supposed flight to Pozorrubio but that's another story from a Santa Barbara writer and historian, Resty Basa of Banaoang.

 

So there it is for Santa Barbarans to be proud of: the hometown's brush with history was General Emilio Aguinaldo's stopover for a mere five hours!

‘Tangay-tangay ed Pozorrubio'

By Restituto C. Basa

Source:
November 5-11, 2003 issue

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THERE is a phrase in the Pangasinan lingo which says ‘tangay-tangay ed Pozorrubio’.

This may be rendered in English, literally thus: looking upwards in Pozorrubio.

Over the years, the phrase has acquired a new meaning which is a far cry from the literal interpretation.

Its new connotation refers to a person whether he be in Pozorrubio or anywhere else, who goes about aimlessly. One who moves about seemingly without a sense of direction, or without an apparent purpose.

To dig into the origin of the saying, I asked my friend Mel Valenzuela Jovellanos, how the phrase came about.

I consider Mel an authority on the subject. Mel is supposed to be a Dagupeño. His grandfather, a great Dagupeño, was Don Toribio Jovellanos, the first presidente municipal of Dagupan (1900) under American colonial rule.

His father, Don Jose Villamil Jovellanos, was town mayor of Dagupan for two terms (1919-1925). His father, an accomplished writer in Pangasinan language (he was also a good writer in Spanish and English) erected the Rizal monument in the town plaza of Dagupan during his watch as town mayor.

By every sensible reason, Mel should have been born in Dagupan. It was an aberration of history that he was born in Pozorrubio. So now he’s Pozorrubio’s pride to the envy of Dagupan.

To be fair, his mother Leonor Magno Valenzuela, was born in Pozorrubio. And Mel belongs to the elite of both Dagupan and Pozorrubio.

In Dagupan, he belongs to the famous Fercolla clan. In Pozorrubio, he belongs to the ruling Magno clan.

So I asked Mel: How did the phrase ‘tangay-tangay ed Pozorrubio’ come about?

His explanation was this: During the Pacific war years (1941-1945), the United States Armed Forces of the Philippines in the Far East (USAFFE) commandeered all motor vehicles in civilian hands. The new term for commandeered is ‘sequestered’, courtesy of the Corazon C. Aquino rule.

The army commandeered all motor vehicles at the start of the war. These were used to ferry Filipino and American soldiers to Bataan. (Remember the USAFFE took its stand against the Japanese army invaders in Bataan in 1942.)

So the only vehicles that served the transport needs of the civilian populace were in government hands. And there were few of them that were in harness because there were no gasoline supplies to run them.

The buses that were in harness were fuelled by charcoal.

The most common vehicle for transport at the time was caromata, the bull cart and the bicycle.

Pangasinenses, who had to travel to Baguio during the war years, had to go to Pozorrubio. The only ride to Baguio from Pozorrubio was the government-owned Benguet Auto Line (BAL), a sister company of the Manila Railroad Company. Pozorrubio was the main terminal of the BAL bound for Baguio from Pangasinan.

Only a few BAL buses were in harness to serve the Pozorrubio-Baguio line.

So if a traveller bound for Baguio missed the last trip, he would be stranded in Pozorrubio. He would have to spend the night in the town plaza.

The alternative was ‘mantangay-tangay’ to search for homes of relatives, if there be any kinsmen of his who were residents of Pozorrubio.

He would have to look up to the houses in the town, perchance he may have a kinsman who could accommodate him for the night.

That was how the phrase ‘tangay-tangay ed Pozorrubio came about. So my friend Mel V. Jovellanos explained.

In case you don’t know it yet, Mel V. Jovellanos wrote the volume entitled A Pangasinan-English, English-Pangasinan Language Dictionary. It sold like hotcakes. But I did not buy my copy. Mel graciously gave it to me as a gift.

Historic Gabaldon building

By Restituto C. Basa

Source:
February 22-28, 2005 issue

 

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EVERY town in the country that existed as of 1889 has a schoolhouse known as Gabaldon building. We have one in Dagupan City. It is now 96 years old; the oldest school house in town. It was constructed in 1909. We refer to the Dagupan City West Central School.

 

 

Among all Gabaldon school buildings of the country, the one we have in Dagupan has a unique history. While built as a schoolhouse, the one we have in Dagupan City served as the Provincial Capitol of Pangasinan from 1942 up to 1945.

 

Our local cultural and historical committee should take note of this and act accordingly. An appropriate historical marker should be placed in the building.

 

Dagupan was the war time capital town of Pangasinan from 1942 up to 1945. The Gabaldon school house served as the Provincial Capitol. It was here where our war time governor, Santiago V. Estrada, Sr. and his provincial board members, held office for the duration of the Pacific war.

 

The provincial board secretary during the war period was BLAS F. RAYOS, founder and president of the Dagupan Institute, which later became UNIVERSITY OF PANGASINAN.

 

The war time mayor of Dagupan was Amado Ll. Ayson, associate of Rayos at the Dagupan Institute.

 

How did the schoolhouse come to be known as the Gabaldon building?

 

It was named in honor of Isauro Gabaldon of Nueva Ecija, who was assemblyman for two terms from 1907-1909 and from 1909-1911. He was also elected for two terms as senator of the third senatorial district.

 

When he was assemblyman, Gabaldon authored the law which came to be popularly known as the Gabaldon Act of 1909. Under this law, the sum of P1 million was appropriated for the construction of a concrete schoolhouse in every poblacion. This was a huge amount in 1909.

 

The Department of Public Works, in consultation with the Department of Education, prepared the design of the school building. It was uniform throughout the country.

 

Santiago Estrada was elected governor of Pangasinan in the November 1941 elections with Sofronio Quimson and Elias Cabangon as his two provincial board members.

 

Estrada was conscripted by the Japanese imperial army to serve as governor under Japanese imperial army to serve as governor under Japanese rule. His two board members, Quimson and Cabangon, successfully evaded the Japanese in their place. Pastor Gomez of Malasiqui and Dr. Oviedo Rous of Binalonan were installed as provincial board members.

 

The horse drawn caromata was the common vehicle of transportation during the war. There was no gasoline supply. Besides, all the motor vehicles were sequestered by the Philippine Army when the war broke out. These vehicles were used to transport Filipino soldiers and war supplies to Bataan in accordance with War Plan Ornage No. 3.

It is to be recalled that on December 8, 1941 when the Pacific war broke out, General Douglas MacArthur, the top military authority in the country at the time, ordered that all the towns along the Lingayen gulf be evacuated. It was anticipated that the Japanese invasion army will land at the Lingayen Gulf.

 

Lingayen was abandoned as the capital town. The provincial government was moved to Tayug. The Tayug convent served as the capitol building.

 

When Pangasinan came under Japanese rule, Dagupan was made the capital town. Thus on January 9, 1945, when General Douglas MacArthur landed at the Lingayen Gulf, he came ashore in Dagupan to capture the provincial government and then establish his headquarters at the town.

 

 

MacArthur used the Gabaldon building as his military headquarters. He used the Home Economics building as his Bachelor Officers Quarters (BOQ).

 

 

Dagupan remained as the capital town up to June 30, 1945. After that, the provincial government was returned to Lingayen.

 

The capitol building in Lingayen was heavily damaged by Lingayen bombardment prior to the landing of the U.S. liberation forces.

 

Digital Pictures of the Pangasinan Provincial Capitol courtesy of:  

Pista’y Dayat is Paco Duque’s legacy to Pangasinan

By Restituto C. Basa

Source:
May 3-9, 2005

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COME May 1, the Pangasinan towns along the Lingayen Gulf will celebrate Pista’y Dayat, rather than Labor Day.

 

Pista’y Dayat started a simple fishermen’s thanksgiving mass along the beach in Barangay Pangapisan in Lingayen. The fisherfolk of Pangasinan held it every May 1, since ancient times. It is older than Labor Day.

 

In 1964, the governor of Pangasinan was Dr. Francisco Quimson Duque, Jr. The tourist trade was in its infancy. Governor Duque conceived the idea of making the Lingayen Gulf a tourist attraction.

 

He conceived the Pista’y Dayat. He based it on an ancient tradition of the fishermen of Pangapisan, Lingayen who held a thanksgiving mass at the beach every first day of May.

 

 

I was a member of Governor Duque’s staff at the time. By that time, I had already several years experience as a newspaperman, although I held the position of Assistant Chief of Administration Division in the Office of the Governor.

 

Three months before the festival, we sent invitations to natives of Lingayen, who were residing in Metro Manila, Baguio and other parts of the country to visit their hometown on May 1 to join the first Pista’y Dayat. We publicized it in both the national and local media.

 

The response was very encouraging. They visited their old hometown by the families.

 

On May 1, 1964, the Lingayen beach was crowded with people. Every family brought its own food and had a picnic at the beach. The mood was festive.

 

There was a simple program which opened with a thanksgiving mass officiated by the parish priest of Lingayen. The town mayor delivered a welcome speech and the governor expressed joy for seeing old friends come to join the festival.

 

Mayor Liberato Ll Reyna of Dagupan City noticed the huge success of the Lingayen Pista’y Dayat. The following year, Dagupan also held its own version at the Bonuan beach. In the course of time, the other towns along the Lingayen Gulf joined the festival.

 

People from the landlocked provinces like Tarlac and Nueva Ecija now come by chartered buses to take a dip in the gulf.

 

What makes the sea so attractive to tourists is the belief that the salty water of the sea is medicinal.

 

Pista’y Dayat has become an established tradition.

 

Duque was governor from 1964 up to 1967. Before that, he was secretary of health for two years in the Diosdado Macapagal cabinet. He conceived of the Medicare to provide medical care to indigents. His son, Dr. Francisco Tiongson Duque III was appointed by President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo as head of the Philippine Health Care Commission, formerly Medicare, and he is now holding the position of the Secretary of Health.

 

In Dagupan City, under Mayor Benjamin Saplan Lim, the Pista’y Dayat has become bangus festival. It promotes the native bangus industry, which is the backbone of the local economy.

Pangasinan Peninsula 

By Restituto C. Basa

Source:
April 26-May 2, 2005

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THIS is probably the first time in your life to come across the phrase Pangasinan peninsula. I have not come across any Pangasinan writer, or any other writer for that matter, who used the phrase.

 

The Pangasinan peninsula I am referring to is the land mass comprising the first congressional district of Pangasinan. This region is Western Pangasinan.

 

What is a peninsula? The dictionary defines it as a landmass partly surrounded by water.

 

A landmass completely surrounded by water is an island. Anda is completely surrounded by water. It is an island, originally called the Cabaruyan island. It is now called Anda in honor of Simon de Anda, the Spanish governor general of the country at the time Anda was made into a municipality.

 

 

Did you know that Anda started as a barangay of Bolinao? It did. The pioneer settlers of Anda came from Bolinao. They crossed the Kaquiputan channel to graze cattle. Anda started as a grazing land.

 

This is the reason why the dialect of Anda is the Bolinao tongue. And also the reason why the family names of Andanians are the same as the family names of the people of Bolinao.

 

It is said that when Arthur Celeste (now congressman of the first district) first set foot in Anda to campaign when he was a candidate for congressman, he was amazed to discover that there were more people bearing the family name Celeste in Anda than in Bolinao. And they all voted for him.

 

 

The other term for peninsula is cape. Residents of Bolinao are acutely aware that their hometown is a peninsula, but they don’t call their town Bolinao peninsula. Instead, they call their birthplace Cape Bolinao.

 

There is in fact a secondary school in Bolinao which is named Cape Bolinao High School.

 

The Western Pangasinan peninsula, comprising the first congressional district, is made up of ten towns. They are Infanta, Dasol, Burgos, Agno, Bani, Bolinao, Anda, Alaminos, Mabini and Sual. All these ten towns are situated along the sea coast, except Mabini. The town of Mabini (formerly Balincaguing) is a landlocked town. But it is connected to the sea by the Balincaging river.

 

 

Being coastal towns, the major livelihood of its people is fishing. Because of its numerous fish pens, Bolinao is the top fish producer. It supplies bangus to the Malabon fish market daily.

Dagupan, the cradle of Pangasinan civilization

By Restituto C. Basa

Source:
August 16-22, 2005
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THE late Nick Joaquin, Filipino national artist for literature, in one of his articles, pointed to Dagupan as the cradle of Pangasinan civilization as Vigan is the cradle of the Ilocos civilization in the north.

Early human settlements started on river deltas. The oldest human civilization grew in Mesopotamia (now known as Iraq). Mesopotamia is situated between two famous rivers, namely Tigris and the Euphrates.

The second oldest civilization is Egypt. This land is situated at the delta of the Nile River.

Pangasinan civilization grew on the delta of the great Agno river. This delta is situated between the twin islands of Pugaro and Bonuan in Dagupan.

It is very interesting to note that the Agno river delta in Bonuan is situated at the central section of historic Lingayen gulf.

Gateway to Agno valley: If we go by the theory that we, Pangasinenses originated from mainland Asia and migrated to this land of salt, the entry point to our ancestors to the Agno valley is the Agno river delta in Bonuan.

Naturally the pioneer settlers occupied the area around the Agno river delta in Dagupan. Subsequent comers spread out into the Agno valley by sailing upstream the Agno river.

By the way, the Agno river drains three central Luzon provinces. These are Nueva Ecija, Tarlac and Pangasinan. These three provinces constitute what we call the greater Agno valley.

Being situated at the central section of the Lingayen gulf, the delta played a major rule in the liberation of Luzon from Japanese rule on January 9, 1945.

When General Douglas MacArthur undertook the liberation of Luzon, he used the Lingayen gulf as the landing pad of his troops.

His liberation forces consisted of four infantry divisions. He used the Agno river delta in Dagupan as his point of reference in landing his troops.

He landed two divisions on the east-north side of the delta to wit: one division in Bonuan and another division in Mabilao, San Fabian.

He landed the two other divisions on the west side of the river delta, to wit: one division in Pugaro and the other division in the Lingayen-Binmaley beaches.

At one point in our history, British traders converted the river channel in downtown Dagupan into a seaport; the river delta in Dagupan served as the entry point to the port.

Incidentally, when a group of British industrialists invested here to boost trade in Luzon, they built a railway system that connected two commercial centers, Dagupan in the north and Manila in the south.

They hired the first Filipino engineer who graduated in London to construct the railway. His name is Engineer Juan Crisostomo Villamil, a native of Dagupan.

In constructing the railway, Villamil was supervised by a British engineer, Henry Kipping.

During the construction of the railway, Kipping was introduced to Leonor Rivera in Dagupan. Kipping pursued Leonor. The courtship ended in marriage. They were married at the St. John Parish Church in Dagupan on June 17, 1891.

The wedlock was solemnized by Fr. Vicente Iztequi. It was the same padre who established the Colegio de San Alberto Magno in Calmay. Unfortunately this Dominican college was swept away to the sea by the big flood of 1935. ‘Sayang’.

(Because of her marriage to Kipping, Leonor broke Rizal’s heart. But this is another story.)

Note: The digital camera pictures of the Dagupan City Plaza were taken by: Ray B. Zambrano

One Historic Church

By Restituto C. Basa
Source: People’s Digest Newsweekly
February 8-14, 2006
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Digitally photographed by:

 

 

 

ONE religious temple that should be of interest to the Dagupan City Historical and Cultural Committee for conservation is the ancient St. John The Evangelist Cathedral situated along Zamora Street. (Note: Daily noontime masses are held in this church which has recently undergone reconstruction.)
 
Towards the close of the Katipunan revolution, the Spanish authorities of Pangasinan abandoned Lingayen and moved to Dagupan.
 
The provincial government was housed at the Dagupan convento.

Digitally photographed by:

 

 

All the Spanish friars in Pangasinan abandoned their posts in the various towns and sought the safety of the Dagupan convent. The Spanish forces of Pangasinan were all moved to Dagupan.
 
Even the Nuestra Señor del Rosario of Manaoag was brought to the Dagupan convent, probably in the hope that she could turn the tide of battle in favor of the Spanish defenders?
 
Just as the United States Armed Forces in the Far East (USAFFE) made its last stand in Bataan against the Japanese invasion army in 1942, the Spanish forces in Pangasinan in 1898 took their last stand against the Katipunan forces in Dagupan.

 

 

Digitally photographed by:

 

 

 

The beleaguered Spaniards sought cover behind the thick abode walls on the convent and the church.
 
The Spanish defenders were well armed. They were in control of the financial resources of the province. They could procure all the firearms they needed.
 
On the other hand, the Katipunan troopers were poorly armed. Only a few of them had rifles. What was sad that some of those who had firearms, (captured from Spanish soldiers in previous encounters) did not know how to shoot. The rest were armed with bolos.
 
The battle of Dagupan lasted for four days from July 19 t0 28, 1898. Generals Servillano Aquino and Francisco Macabulos have already liberated Tarlac from Spanish rule.
 
Makabulos and his trooper came to Dagupan to assist the Pangasinan Katipuneros.
 
The Filipino freedom fighters surrounded the Spanish citadel in all sides.
 
There was actually very little exchange of fire between the two contending forces.
 
It would seem to be that the Spanish forces and the civil and ecclesiastical authorities who were holed up there run out of food supply. Since they could not go out to procure food supplies from the market, they raised the white flag rather than perish from hunger and disease.
 
With the Spanish surrender, Spanish rule in Pangasinan ended once and for all.

 

Digitally photographed by:
 

Side note: Because the old St. John the Evangelist Cathedral was renovated, there became two cathedrals: The old and the new big Metropolitan Cathedral (just beside the old one). But no cathedrals can be in one place so the restored old cathedral is now the St. John the Evangelist Cathedral and the big church is now the St. John the Evangelist Parish Church. (Information provided by: Marcelo L. Vistro)