Author: CurtUlong

Why so many spellings of the place in Marinduque we know today as Balanacan?

If you live in Marinduque or have ever visited the island you most likely have used the port facilities in Balanacan, Mogpog. You may also have taken a walk over to the statue of Our Lady of BIGLANG-AWA while waiting to board one of the ships. Hidden from view are the remains of Japanese warships that were sunk in the vicinity. What else could be hidden there? Maybe the true name of this harbor in Marinduque.

Did you know that Balanacan is not the original name of this area?

Although this port was recognized early on as a perfect area to shelter vessels, it was not widely used as a port of commerce until a paved road was completed in 1918. Up until that time only a dirt trail connected it with the nearest town, Mogpog.

Puerto de San Andres

The first recorded name I could locate that is associated with this natural harbor area is that of Puerto de San Andres. The name was first published in a 1761 map by Captain William Brereton of the British Navy. It contains little detail other than soundings for the entrance channel. In a Spanish map from 1841 entitled De una parte de la cost sur de la Isla de Luzon we see the name and again it lacks detail but must be noted as important as it is one of only a few locations shown on the island of Marinduque.

The name San Andres would be associated with the port up until the end of the 1800’s and could be found on Spanish maps from 1866, 1892 and a map from the Manila Observatory from 1899. The 1866 map is the first detailed map of the port with soundings, terrain features and place names.

Banalacan

The second name that could be found was that of Banalacan which was first used in 1866 and was associated with Puerto San Andres and could be used as either/or up until 1899. The Spanish 1866 map is entitled Plano Del Puerto de Banalacan o de St Andres and as is noted in the section for San Andres is the first detailed map of the port with soundings, terrain features and place names.

The name is used again in the revised edition of this map from 1892. In a 1900 sketch of operations by Capt Robert Getty 1st Infantry United States Volunteers the spelling Banalacan is used by Americans local on the island. It should be noted that American forces were dependent of Spanish maps so most place names were taken from those maps.

In 1901 in a publication from the United States Board on Geographic Names relating to The Geographic Names in the Philippine Islands Banalacan is still used.

The last reference to Banalacan I could locate was in a 1908 publication from the U.S. War Department Annual Report, volume 8.

Banacalan

The third name to be found and the oddball of the group is that of Banacalan. It is first found in an undated map from the Norris Peters Company, Washington D.C. and is noted as taken from a Spanish survey in 1864 which would most likely be the Spanish 1866 map is entitled Plano Del Puerto de Banalacan o de St Andres.

The 1899 map from the Manila Observatory Atlas of the Philippine Islands also lists the port as Pto de Banacalan o San Andres. I could not locate any other uses of Banacalan and maybe is a misspelling of Banalacan that was being used at the time.

I did find Banacalan in the book entitled Vocabulario de la lengua Tagala written by the Jesuits in 1754. The English translation of the Spanish translation is “wood that has a lot of bark”.

If it is not a misspelling this may have some significance since there is speculation that the port was used by the Spanish to build and repair their Galleons.

Balanacan

The fourth name is what we know the port as today, Balanacan. When exactly and why the name was changed from the previous usage I could not determine.

The first use was found in the 1896 Spanish publication Catalogo Sistematico de Toda La Fauna De Filipinas. The first and subsequent use by the Americans was found in the publication of the 1903 Census of the Philippine Islands. It could be found again in the 1905 Annual Reports of the War Dept. Volume 12. The first American map to use Balanacan was the 1908 map produced by the US Geodetic Survey. Balanacan was still use found in the US Army Map 11 dated 1944 during World War 2.  

Baranakan

I would call this a “interesting side note” since I did not find any use of Baranakan other than in the U.S. publication from WW2 Japanese Equivalents for Place Names.

From an October 1916 paper entitled “Activities of Women in the Province of Tayabas” by Encarnacion Alzona.

In 1916 Marinduque was part of the Province of Tayabas. On pages 3,4 and 5 of Alzona’s paper there is a discussion concerning Sinamay use in Marinduque and The Boac Terno. Sadly there are no illustrations in the paper.

Beliefs and Superstitions in and around Santa Cruz, Island of Marinduque. 1924

To our friends and neighbors in Santa Cruz, Do you still fear the Asuang or Caffre? What can you do or not do during thunder and lightning? In 1924 Serapio Rolluqui, a student at the University of the Philippines and Santa Cruz resident, published the above paper.

Topics include: Asuang, Death, Dreams, Ghosts, Good and Bad Luck, Lightning and Thunder, Love Affairs, Money, Rain, Sickness and Visitors

“Superstitions of the People of Boac, Marinduque” 1917

Written in 1917 by a then college student Nieves Hidalgo of Boac, Marinduque. Later in life to be known as a famous Philippine feminist.

She ends her paper writing “These superstitions are numberless but many of them are forgotten and there will come a time when they shall be found only in books”. And today we can add on the internet……

And we have another paper written about Boac, from 1924 and is entitled “Superstitions, Customs and Culture of Boac” by Josefa Roque.

Josefa graduated the University of the Philippines in 1924 with a Degree of Bachelor of Science in Education.

Some of the topics covered in her paper are: Asuang, Beliefs about the Pregnant, Beliefs in Building Houses, Beliefs in Christening Babies, Beliefs in Planting, Capre, Culture, Customs and Superstitions about Marriage, Customs and superstitions practiced about the dead, Encantades, Fairies, Patianac, Tigbalang

She culminated her paper by saying, ” Our province is rapidly progressing not only in agriculture and commerce but also in education; and the time is fast approaching when the masses will all be educated and these superstitions which I mentioned will soon be effaced.

Was she correct or do will still have these in our memories today?

Let us not forget about one of the famous ladies of Gasan, Asuncion Arriola.

Asuncion Arriola-Perez was born on August 15, 1895 in the Gasan, Marinduque province of the Philippines. She was the oldest child in a family of six children. Her parents were Quirico Arriola and Severina Mandac. After graduating from high school in 1915, she completed her bachelor’s degree at the University of the Philippines in 1917. In 1926 she completed a master’s degree in sociology at the University of Wisconsin. Arriola-Perez began her career in 1920 as a high school teacher. From 1926 to 1930 she was Executive Secretary of Associated Charities. From 1941 to 1942, she was director of the Bureau of Public Welfare. After the Second World War, she held this position again until she was appointed Commissioner of Social Welfare in 1947. This position was upgraded in 1951 to Administrator of Social Welfare, a position at cabinet level. She was the first Filipino woman at that level. After President Elpidio Quirino lost the election, she resigned from the government. Asuncion Arriola-Perez died in 1967. She was married to Cirilo B. Perez, who was held captive by the Japanese in Fort Santiago during World War II and eventually executed. Together they had two sons and a daughter.

We are lucky to have a paper written by her from 1916 entitled “Primitive Beliefs Regarding Death and the Ceremonies Connected With It In the Island of Marinduque”.

Pilar Hidalgo-Lim as told by Project Say-Say May 2022

On May 24, 1893, educator and civic leader Pilar Hidalgo-Lim was born in Boac, Marinduque. Recognized as one of the leaders of the women’s movement before World War II, she also served as one of the founders of the Girl Scouts of the philippines (GSP).

At a young age, she exhibited exceptional excellence when she graduated as valedictorian in 1910 at Manila High School. She completed her Bachelor of Arts in 1913 at the University of the Philippines (UP), where she was recognized as the first woman to graduate with honors. He taught mathematics at UP and at Centro Escolar University (CEU). She was also active in the women’s movement in the Philippines, where she served as President of the National Federation of Women’s Clubs of the philippines (1931-1941). Under her leadership women earned their right to vote. Like his better half, General Vicente Lim—who would later become a war hero, he supported the scouting movement by helping to establish the GSP.

Hidalgo-Lim was in the United States with his children when World War II broke out in the Philippines in 1941. He helped the war by selling war bonds and by actively participating in Red Cross campaigns. After the war, he continued his civic duties and was appointed by President Sergio Osmeña as a member of the Relief and Rehabilitation Commission. He was also part of the Board of Censors for Motion Pictures (now the Move and Television Review and Classification Board) and the Parole Board. As President of the GSP (1957-1963), he led several of its global gatherings, similar to the 1957 Regional Centenary World Camp, and the 1961 Asian Trainers Conference. He also served as President of the CEU from 1963 until he died of cancer on December 10, 1973.

In 1982, in recognition of his achievements, the National Syrian Historical Society (now the National Historical Commission of the Philippines) placed a memorial in the hometown of Pilar Hidalgo-Lim in Boac, Marinduque. The former Indiana Street in Manila and a CEU building in Malolos are also named after him. Troop Achievement Award presented by GSP was also followed in his honour. Meanwhile, the Philippine Military Academy continues the tradition of Mrs. Lim started way back in 1967, where General Lim’s descendants award graduating cadets second lieutenant, along with a letter reminding them to live honorably like the late general.

x x x