Looking for Andoy

2013 marks the sesquicentennial of Andres Bonifacio officially on November 30, 2013. The Official Gazette has a slew of links for researches and readers young and old alike who wish to know more about events and activities on Bonifacio's 150th year.

The Presidential Museum and Library has an article on the iconic Bonifacio portraits through the years and down to the commemorative stamps and the ten peso coin we use as legal tender. This, somehow, satisfies my question on the artists who rendered his images that I'm familiar with from a history textbook by Teodoro Agoncillo. Thanks to this article, I am moved to look at more Bonifacio sightings in every day life. Will my own conclusion of an under-rated Bonifacio change as I try to look for Bonifacio icons and images this 2013? This is a journey worth taking.

For starters, I have posted a 2013 planner with Bonifacio on the cover last October 2012. This I bought last year during the sale at the UP Diliman Press. Sometime last month, having lunch with a friend at a restaurant that serves Mediteranian food,  I found this photo of Bonifacio in the menu --

The chili sauce that the restaurant serves is named after Bonifacio. Note that the sauce is triple Xtra hot. What else will I find in the course of a year? My journey to look for Andoy begins.

Taal Heritage Tour: Spanish Ancestral Houses

We left Taal Basilica for a tour of the old Spanish houses of the Apacibles, Agoncillos and Villavicencios. Each exude a different character. The Apacible house has the receiving area for guests and a separate one where business is conducted. Leon Apacible was a lawyer. He was also Emilio Aguinaldo's Finance Officer and delegate to the 1898 Congress.

Our next stop was the Agoncillo house where Marcela Agoncillo sewn the Philippine flag. Apparently, Marcela Agoncillo finished a masters degree in needle work. So the first Philippine flag was made by a professional of high caliber! In the Agoncillo house, we noticed the narrow passage ways that surround the living room. These passage ways are marked off by dividers from floor to ceiling. Windows of capiz shells make for light and ventilation to enter. I followed the passage ways that led to the komidor, or the kitchen. So it turns out that these passage ways were for the alipins, servants, who cater to their masters needs. I could not help but remember a piece of trivia learned from grade school history class on social classes: the existence of aliping sagigilid and aliping namamahay in noble families.

What was interesting in the Villavicencio house was the basement used as a secret meeting room of the Katipuneros. While the wives of the members of Katipunan were dancing, singing and partying in the living room, their husbands were plotting the revolution. The house was used to stock copies of Rizal's novels, the Noli Me Tangere and the El Filibusterismo.

Sa durungawan, tanaw ko ang mga bituin. Naks!

In my imagination, I see Andres Bonifacio attending one meeting disguised as a common alipin. He would have slipped in the party upstairs and passed unnoticed through the narrow passage way that led to the dinning hall and the kitchen. He opened a small trap door in one corner of the room to go down the basement and join the Katipuneros' rendezvous. What plans and schemes were they plotting against the Spaniards! And then, perhaps, after the meeting, the men must have discussed Rizal's novels.

By noon, we headed on to Villa Tortuga. By the way, we did the tour on foot as the town of Taal is very small. I'm saving the Villa Tortuga experience for my next post.

At the Villavicencio house, the trap door that leads to the basement still exist.

Taal Heritage Tour: Taal Basilica and Our Lady of Caysasay

Basilica of St. Martin of Tours, Taal, Batangas

When my dear good friend Mona Dy sent me a text message regarding a heritage tour to Taal, Batangas in early July, I replied in the affirmative. It was my summer off from work and she was looking forward to visiting Taal, Batangas during her off season month. I have not seen her in a while so, a day trip with her would be bonding time. The trip she was planning at the time required three to four people. Our common friends could not make it on the given date so, I broached the idea to a friend from work, Riza E., who gamely said yes.

We decided to take the public transport. I met Riza in Alabang and together, we took the one and a half hour commute to Taal, Batangas. From Lipa, we jumped on a jeep and reached Taal around nine in the morning. We were blessed with good weather. Mona arrived a few minutes later followed by our guide, Art B. He is a native of Taal, Batangas and an engineer by profession.

A peddler selling peanut brittle at the entrance of the Basilica

According to Art B., Taal Basilica is the largest one in Asia. Ogie Alcasid, a Filipino actor and singer who traces his ancestry in Taal married his first wife, Michelle Van Eimeren, a former beauty queen, there. It was a celebrated occasion, so he told us. But simply looking at the common people visiting Taal Basilica satisfied me. A group of young people were gathered at the plaza just in front of the Basilica that morning. They held what looked like a copy of a song as they hummed and sang a local folk song. There were the peddlers at the church steps selling peanut brittle and local sweets. Church devotees walk in and out of the Basilica to pray and offer candles and flowers. Peddlers rest under the shade of the big, old, historic church bell that is displayed in front of the Basilica. There were so many things that reminded me of the simple, provincial life that I longed for a visit to my father's or my mother's home province.

Plaque by the National Historical Institute

The Basilica is indeed dubbed as Asia's biggest and I suppose, it is big not just in size but in history, art and architecture. As told to us by our guide, the Basilica was first built as a small church near Taal lake. It was destroyed when Taal volcano erupted.

I wonder who did the religious art works, the fresco, the painting on its ceiling and walls, the tiled floors. Local artists, I guess, who will forever remain nameless.

We were given a tour of the kumbento as well. We were let in to see the parish office, the monsignor's study, the dinning hall and a bulwagan type area where a group of young people were practicing a dance number. It was like walking back to the  colonial time because much of the architecture, interior design, furniture, furnishings and decorations are Spanish in taste and influence.

One fascinating story told to us by Art was that of  Taal's patron saint, St. Martin of Tours, whose statue disappears on stormy nights. Locals believe that St. Martin rides his horse around town to guard them from natural disasters. The Our Lady of Caysasay, only six inches tall, is likewise miraculous and mystical. The statue is placed in a smaller church very near the spring of water where she was found. This spring of water leads to the Pansipit River where, in the olden days, fish, turtles and other marine life abound. The river is still alive with marine fauna and flora as well as the spring of water. It is now a grotto where devotees flock the site every Semana Santa for prayer and pilgrimage.

Reminders of good behavior when in church. Can you read the old Tagalog?

 In my next post, I'll share pictures and insights on our visit to ancestral houses in Taal, Galeria de Taal and Villa Tortuga.