Padre Clemente's Bell

Since time immemorial, church bells have conveyed messages or announcements to the townspeople with the way they are pealed. Their sounds could mean summoning the faithful to hear mass, or telling you the time to pause for the Angelus, or maybe time for rejoicing with everyone on special days like Christmas, New Year’s Eve, or Easter. Their ringing could also mean moments to grieve as a casket enters the churchyard that the final rituals for the dead could commence. But even bells of warm and glistening bronze grow old. After a period of time they must yield to newly hand cast ones that could offer more resonance and sweetness in their tone. The inevitability of change.

In a quiet garden at the back of the newly constructed St. Joseph, Spouse of Mary Church in Gasan a place that overlooks the entire town, you find a special niche where three bronze church-bells now permanently rest. You instantly know that in their days, those bells played an important part in the lives of Gasenos. There are inscriptions on each of them that declared the year they came into being and the name of the parish priest serving during the stated year. The oldest one with the following inscription significantly rang a distant bell to me: “ANO D 1871 CLEMENTE SAN YGNACIO SIENDO CURA PARROCO…”.

That name appeared in the Marche journals (read) that chronicled his travels to places in Luzon, Palawan and Marinduque in 1881. Marche was accompanied by his host, a Senor Berdote, to visit the parish priest. Berdote of Gasan helped him find places where he could excavate funeral urns and human remains.

Portrait of Padre Clemente from the Marche journal.

Marche wrote: “The priest was Fr. Clemente Ignacio, a native of the land, about 75 years old. An eminent collector, he had collected, I was told, so many shells that there was hardly any man in the Philippines who could compete with him…His house was a real shop of bricabrac. In a large room where the good old man hardly found a table corner to eat, one saw pell-mell statues of saints of wood, mechanical birds singing various tunes, old clocks of every shape, chandeliers, candelabra, reliquaries, pictures of Epinal depicting the history of the "Infant of the Forest"…I did not leave this good man with empty hands. He had the kindness to offer me a part of his insect collection, and among them, oh happiness! the superb euchirus dupontinus, which the Museum of Natural History of Paris did not yet have….”



Walking from the church gate facing the main street towards south you would notice a row of old and new houses, but before reaching Brgy. Matandang Gasan come across an old house with a marker that says: “This house is the oldest house in Gasan, built by Martina Luces-Luna, wife of Agaton San Ignacio many years before the Philippine Revolution against Spain, 1896…” (see photo)

The 19th century Luna-San Ignacio house

One might have begged to see what’s inside the house, to check if there might be any trace or stories sufficient to link it to the Marche description, but no one was there when I passed by yesterday. You really wonder if it’s the same house the French traveler and explorer so excitedly wrote about or if you’d ever find that interesting house someplace else. Or maybe just decide in the end that Padre Clemente’s bronze bell is all there is left of his earthly yet eminent existence.



The three bronze bells of Gasan.

Marinduque Ancestral Houses by Dennis Villegas

The historic Lardizabal-Trivino house in Boac

In the town of Boac, municipal officials and private individuals have taken renewed interest in the preservation of ancestral houses. These houses have created lasting impressions to those visiting this historic town.

So far, the best blog I have read, with some photos on this subject, is one by Dennis Villegas. Villegas is a prolific blogger, one of whose blogs (PilipinoKomiks) was awarded Grand Prize Winner for Best Filipiniana Blog at the Philippine Blog Awards in 2009.

Writing about his Marinduque experience, Villegas said “I have to make this blog entry and hope that this contributes to an awareness that our rich heritage of houses be preserved.” To echo his sentiments, said article is reproduced here in full with some of his photos, in the hope that many more would be inspired to take part in preservation and awareness efforts, not only in Boac and Mogpog but in all of the Marinduque towns.

Marinduque Ancestral Houses
by Dennis Villegas

"One of the lasting impressions Marinduque has given me is its magnificent old houses, ancestral homes of some of its old ilustrado residents. Throughout my sojourn in this province I have collected quite a good number of photographs that until now remains unpublished.


The Alino house in Boac

"I am very fascinated with antiquities, and old houses are rich in them. I have been fortunate to get the permission of many ancestral home owners in Boac to enter their homes and document their unique heritage in photographs.

"Many of the old houses are in a sad state of delapidation that needs expert restoration. Some of the houses are already due for demolition to give way to more modern houses. These houses stood the test of time and the elements: typhoons, fire, and earthquakes. They have done so for a hundred years. In 1912, a great fire gutted many of the old houses in Boac, yet the owners managed to build their old houses again. And as such they still stand up to this day.

The Boac Fire of 1912


"I am a very conservative person when it comes to old things, and I wish them to remain intact as they had been for so many years. But I guess some people, especially the younger generation, do not care for the old things. They want modernity in their living and are quite ashamed of their antique furnitures. They did not understand that these old houses are not just antique dwellings, they are part of their local history and culture.

The De la Santa house in Boac.

"Fortunately, some ancestral home owners care for their heritage. Some are very protective of their houses, and even though they had been offered considerable sums to sell their homes in order to make them into commercial spaces, many refused to do so. In this particular, the Alino House in Boac is a shining example. The Alino family was very protective of their house. A rich merchant has already offered to buy it at double the market value--in order to transform it into a bank--but the Alino family refused to sell their old house--and their heritage. Now, the Alino house is one of the truly well-taken cared of houses in Boac. The narra plank floor is given a wax treatment everyday, always very polished--it looks like a mirror--and you may be ashamed to step on to it with your shoes.

The Deogracias House in Mogpog

"I have to make this blog entry and hope that this contributes to an awareness that our rich heritage of houses be preserved. For the time being, many of the old houses still stand to this day, but no one knows if in the future they will be demolished.



Other old houses in central Mogpog



See link on this page for more on Dennis Villegas' website.

PROUDLY PINOY! PROUDLY MARINDUQUENO!

More Comment Graphics


HAPPY PHILIPPINE INDEPENDENCE DAY!

The patriotism of the Marinduqueno is well documented in numerous accounts during the Filipino-Spanish War, the Filipino-American War, and the Filipino-Japanese War. Truth is, the leaders of Marinduque led by Military Governor Martin Lardizabal were the first, making Marinduque the first province, to declare separation from Spanish rule. When the last of the Spanish casadores left Marinduque on April 23, 1898, Marinduque declared its independence from Spain, an act formally ratified by the representatives (town officials and ilustrados) from the five municipalities of Boac, Gasan, Mogpog, Sta. Cruz and Torrijos. (Buenavista, formerly Sabang was then still a part of Gasan).

No wonder then that when the first Philippine Flag was brought to Marinduque two months later, it was such a big event that brought the Marinduqueno folks together to worship the flag. Ramon Madrigal, the foremost Marinduque historian's eyewitness account is as follows:

“On June 27th, (1898), the Governor’s (Gov. Martin Lardizabal’s) courier, Canuto Vargas, arrived in Boac bringing the first Philippine Flag for the Province of Marinduque. A huge crowd of people went to Mount Santol to welcome the Flag as the flag-bearer was entering the town on Calle Real. The crowd was so big that only the Flag tied to a bamboo pole could be seen moving slowly, the flag-bearer could not be discerned.

Only when it reached the Provincial building* that the bearer was recognized as Canuto Vargas, a short man who was sweating profusely and looking exhausted. The people were most excited to see and admire the first Philippine Flag in the Province – the Flag they came to know and to revere so much and so fondly.”

(*The provincial building referred to here is the ancestral Lardizabal-Trivino house across today's Boac Covered Court. It served as the first capitol building when Lardizabal assumed governorship. Photo of said house as it looks today (shown above)is courtesy of dennisvillegas.blogspot.com)

Spanish Colonial house of the Sevillas in Gasan.