Smoking Nora Aunors of Philippine past

Yes! magazine recently came out with a glossy cover of Nora Aunor for its October issue.  Because she was holding a cigarette, this drew the ire of anti-smoking advocates and some morality crusaders.

A boy and girl of the 1900's having a smoking session.

We've looked at the picture several times and we can't understand why it would create a minor controversy.  The cigarette (we didn't even look at it closely) was simply a prop to us. We were simply awed by the black and white photography, and La Aunor's expressive eyes.  

A role model?  Undeniably her legion of fans from the good old Guy-and-Pip days are still around to ensure her take at the box-office, but we can't imagine her being taken as social/moral model.  May be some granddaughters may get to be named Nora, but that would be all.

But she's such a damn good actress despite her absence from the movie world for quite some time.  Her very textured performance in the premiere episode of TV5's Sa Ngalan ng Ina (In the Name of the Mother) had us rooted before the TV set last night, and surprisingly, we did not mind the commercial breaks.

Downloaded from GMA News Online (02 Oct 2011).

We smoked for some twenty years after getting seduced by peers to the art of puffing a filtered non-mentholated cigarette promoted by look-like-cowboys during our freshman year in college.  We quit long before the Philippines started posting the warning statements on the cigarette boxes.  Before then we've shifted to the mentholated brand, which we thought went better with ice-cold bottles of beer on Thursday nights under the shadow of the Bataan nuclear power plant. 

The generations before us smoked, and they had a choice between a cigar or a cigarette.  There was no cautionary "smoking is hazardous to your health" to heed yet.

In fact, the Americans found that Filipino families, especially those of the tobacco-growing provinces, smoked together.  "Practically all of the Filipinos are smokers—men, women and children," wrote the Navy Guide to Cavite and Manila (1908) to the U.S. navymen being posted to the Philippines. "In the Cagayan valley, where the bulk of the tobacco is grown, and where all members of the family work in the tobacco patch it is the custom for the head of the family to make up each week a cigar a foot in length and several inches in diameter.  This cigar hangs by a string suspended from the roof of the house, so  near to the floor that even the children can reach it,and furnishes smoking for the entire family until it is consumed."

A Nora Aunor of a century ago.

Thus the health advocates and the moral crusaders would be enraged to find the picture of two young Pinoys sharing a cigar were that issue of the Navy Guide be published today. 

The Nora Aunors of the past did not only smoke but many of them worked in the cigar and cigarette factories.  

During the early years of the American regime, almost every distinguished person who visited Manila had been the guest of the Germinal cigar factory, which had become a principal place of interest for visitors.  Here they would find the Nora Aunors at work more interesting than the "may cigarette machines each automatically gathering its paper and tobacco and with merry click ejecting the finished cigarette."

The visitor would be awed by "the pina-clad senoritas [who] sit in long rows engaged in the task of putting the cigarettes up in packages.  So deftly do these girls perform their task that by touch alone they are able each time to gather just thirty cigarettes and so quickly waft them into the folded and fastened package that the eye is left to catch up with the performance.  Never are the cigarettes counted, but from the never diminishing pile, always fed from the machines, the exact number is taken without hesitation and with one movement of the sensitive fingers, then with a rapid movement they are encased in a paper package and are ready for the market."

"The bulk of American cigarette smokers like the native product better than American made cigarettes," the Guide impressed on the sailors.  "Manila cigarettes are famous for their purity and fine flavor, as well as for their cheapness. The best grade of standard cigarettes retails at 5 cents U.S. Currency for a package of 30.  Hand made cigarettes are higher in price, running, in gold tips and fancy boxes, as high as 25 cents U.S. Currency for a box of 20."

For those who go for cigars (and these were all handmade), "the cheapest grade of good cigars are the “londres”, which retail at 8 for 10 cents, U.S. Currency.  From that the prices range on up through an infinite variety of sizes, shapes and degrees of excellence to the big cigars in sealed glass tubes that cost a quarter each.  The names “londres,” “perfectos,” “divines,” “brevas,” etc., refer to the shape of the cigar and are used by all factories. Some factories make special brands of cigars, such as the “Jose Rizal” brands, the “Army and Navy,” “American Belle,” etc.; but these are comparatively few."

Jose Rizal cigars were a special brand.

There was no way that imported cigars and cigarettes could have been cheap here. That's because "the duty on imported cigars and cigarettes is very high in the Philippines."  That explains why even during our younger days, the "blue seal" was expensive.  

This is the Philippines as smoking country in 1907:  "[T]he output of all of the factories was 197,243,119 cigars and 3,668,379 cigarettes. About two-thirds of the cigars are exported principally to Europe and Australia.  The duty in the United States is prohibitive.  Only 159,000,000 cigarettes were exported; the great bulk of them here were consumed here."

Reference:

• No recorded author. (1908).  Navy guide to Cavite and Manila.  A practical guide and beautiful souvenir.  Manila.  Retrieved from  http://ebooks.library.cornell.edu/cgi/t/text/text-idx?c=sea;idno=sea189. 

• Santiago, Katrina Stuart. (2011, Oct 02).  Nora Aunor with a cig: So what?  GMA News Online at http://www.gmanews.tv/story/234067/entertainment/nora-aunor-with-a-cig-so-what

Photos:  All except that of the Yes! Magazine cover were clipped from Navy Guide to Cavite and Manila (1908).

In search of our Ylocano ancestors

Source:  Family History Center, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints,13 Temple Drive, Greenmeadows Subd., QC

For the past three weeks we've been poring through baptismal, marriage and burial records of the San Sebastian church of our hometown in Zambales, and these are in six reels of microfilms at the Family History Center of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS) on 13 Temple Drive, Greenmeadows Subdivision, Quezon City.   

We've looked at the real antique documents, all written in Spanish, two or three years ago, but some of the books had deteriorated due to age and the effect of acidic ink on paper, and we were not able to retrieve all the information we would need for our paternal and maternal genealogies starting from 1849 when the church was established in our town.  Hence, we've been enjoying the very friendly assistance of the Family History Center staff esp. Sister J and Veronica in our ancestral search.  They told us that some researchers had done their genealogies for several generations dating as far back as the 1700s.  This is possible since the LDS had all available church records and civil registrations across the country photographed in the 1970s.

We've checked if we can trace back to Paoay, Ilocos Norte, where our ancestors are said to have come from in the late1830s, when Gov-Gen Narciso Claveria approved their migration to the central part of Zambales. But that would entail scouring 12 reels of Paoay church records covering the period 1780-1891!

We thought may be we can go as far as what the Center has done for Jose Rizal (see photo).  There's a big framed copy of this right beside the microfilm readers that has the hero and his siblings at the bottom and more ancestors in their maternal side. They've also done President Noynoy Aquino's ancestry (it's not on display), and it surprised us to know that he also has a Chinese ancestor in his paternal side.

Our search has also yielded interesting insights into the cultural and social structure of those times.

The baptismal records prior to 1865 only indicated the parents of the child, but from then on, the documents had both the paternal and maternal grandparents. The child either had a padrino if he's a boy, or a madrina if he's a girl, ninong or ninang, as we're more familiar with.  One has to deduce the birth date from the phrase that says the child was baptized on the given date "so many days after birth."

In the case of weddings, the bride and groom had only a pair of testigos (witnesses), a man and a woman, and this was true up to the last entry of our reference document (1880-1950).

The baptismal documents confirm that there was no such thing as "reproductive health" during the Spanish regime.  We've been looking at probably teen-age marriages, and couples bearing children while their eldest ones were giving birth as well, meaning some grandchildren older or as old as their uncles or aunts.

It's sad but health care was not also adequate. There was high mortality rate among the children due to fever or dysentery.  Among the adults (and there were young widows or widowers), deaths were attributed to fever, tuberculosis, pasmo (which we read as heart attack), head and stomach ache, and vejez (old age). 

We're engaged in writing the history of our town.  In the founding document of 1846, there were just seven barangays.  From the church records, we noted that these have grown to 32 by 1895.  What's interesting was the seeming exclusivity of becoming a cabeza de barangay among the principalia families.  If the cabeza died, the eldest succeeded him in accordance with the Law of Good Governance.  With the population and economic growth, barangays were split, and we noted that other brothers also became cabezas.  By the 1890s, grandsons along with their father or uncles had become cabezas as well of different barangays.  The so-called political dynasties of the present time are nothing new then?

It may take years before anyone can do their family trees using digitized genealogical data from LDS, and for those interested to check what has been stored so far, they can do an initial search survey by going to Family Search web page.  The site can tell what reference documents in microfilm are available for a particular time and place in the country (or the world), and what Family History Center is nearest to the searcher. 

Centers are open not only to LDS members but also to the public Tuesdays (8am to 4pm) to Saturdays (8am to 2pm).  These past weeks we've helped other searchers read their reference documents from Cavite, Bulacan, Masbate and Bohol.

JP Rizal and Ateneo students: a then-and-now look

We were watching the live TV coverage of the basketball game between archrivals Ateneo and La Salle at the Smart-Araneta yesterday--the Blue Eagles of course walloped the Green Archers, securing their 11th straight wins in the ongoing UAAP season--but were we surprised at half-time by a Jose Rizal among the blue cheering squad!  Then at the last beat, they all stripped their blue jackets to reveal black tees with Rizal's figure on them.

That's now, 2011.  Of course Rizal lovers know that the chairman of the AdMU history department is the Rizal expert himself with a large Facebook following, Ambeth Ocampo. Sir!

But a century ago, the students from Catholic schools like the Ateneo could not participate in the Rizal Day celebrations. The religious orders did not allow them.

The caricature below from the 25 January, 1908 issue of the satirical weekly Lipang Kalabaw tells it all in good humor.

"Why were you not there when Rizal was given honors [the civic parade of Rizal Day]?," a student from the Trade School (a public school) asks those from Ateneo, San Juan de Letran and San Beda.

"Well, because there's no San Rizal, bishop, martyr or even virgin," they reply.

"Oh, yes, I forgot," says the Trade School boy, "you're only allowed when there are processions of saints and friars!"

Source:  Lipang Kalabaw (25 January, 1908).

We're surprised that there are no Thomasians among the students.  The Letran boys probably represented them as well since they're all wards of the Dominicans.

Ramon Magsaysay@104: "Daang Matuwid" 1954

Source:  Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation Website.

We were innocent schoolboys when Ramon Magsaysay was president of the republic, and the only memory we have of him is his signature campaign jingle Mambo Jambo and the grief of the neighborhood and our teachers when he died in a plane crash on 17 March, 1957.

We knew he was from Zambales from our principal who tearfully recalled before our grade 3 class the pranks he played on them when they were classmates in our town's private high school.  We'd have the bragging rights years later when we've become an alumnus like him of the same school, Zambales Academy.

We remember Filipino First, the catchphrase associated with Carlos P Garcia.  It was under him or Diosdado Macapagal that the country was placed in an austerity program, and so for some years we scrimped on town fiestas or canceled them altogether.  But definitely it was Macapagal who changed independence day from 4th of July to June 12.

Our political consciousness matured through the long years of living dangerously under the Marcos regime.  We too were in the thick of the EDSA revolt of 1986, and the highs and lows in the aftermath from Cory Aquino to Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.  

We've always maintained a certain wariness of the so-called Yellow Magic, too many myths have been woven around it, we think.  Thus, we try hard to dissociate Benigno Simeon Cojuanco Aquino III from his mother to give him a chance to shine in his own color.  

We wish him well in leading us in the struggle for that "Daang Matuwid".  It's not a new battle cry,  it's vintage Rizal in another form and context, it also harks back to Ramon Magsaysay, who had as much charisma and magic like his (PNoy's) mother, who called for "morality in government" in his first state of the nation address (SONA) on 25 January 1954.

Here's the pertinent excerpt from The Guy's SONA, an echo that still rings very true today--

"MORALITY IN GOVERNMENT  

"And now let us consider the moral state of the nation. There is little in the immediate past of which we may be proud. Since the change of administration, we have unearthed one case after another of outrageous corruption, abuse of power, and manipulation of the laws for self-enrichment.  The sordid record is just beginning to unfold. I fear that further inquiry will yield even uglier facts.

"What, we have been asked, are we going to do about all this?

"We must, first of all, remove unworthy government officials and employees.   Where the evidence so warrants, we will prosecute those who justly deserve prosecution.   Not only considerations of morale and discipline but also the very progress of our work make this demand upon us.· We shall not be able to move ahead for as long as those entrusted with the promotion of the public welfare are busy exploring and exploiting opportunities for selfish ends. We simply cannot tolerate such men in the government. They must go.

"I wish to make clear that the spirit of justice, not of persecution, will guide us in this undertaking.  The innocent, the honest and the efficient need fear nothing from us.   This Government will protect and defend their rights by enforcing impartially and without political bias our civil service rules and regulations.  In the Executive Department, I will not permit anyone to exact political vengeance on honest and efficient employees by dismissing them without cause or harassing them in any other way.  The victory we have won is not a license for political persecution.

"To guide us in the conduct of public business, we must return to the timeless moral and political principles which we have either forgotten or taken for granted. There is the principle that honesty is the best policy in public as well as in private life. There is the principle that, while politics is indispensable for the workings of democracy, it cannot be superior to the interest of the nation.

"In the effort to secure for ourselves and our children a government of integrity and efficiency, I will welcome whatever legislation may be enacted by Congress that will serve to prevent, deter; and discourage corruption, increase the penalty for malfeasance in office, and lay down definite rules of ethical conduct in government.

"In the last few years there has been a decline of morality.   Character building alone, without a solid moral foundation, has been found inadequate in developing a sound citizenry. We should improve and strengthen the implementation of the Constitutional provision on optional religious instruction through practical and just measures.

"I shall address to the Congress on another occasion  a special message on the problems of students who have proved their right to participate in public affairs, as well as on the need to stimulate and foster the growth of our native culture among our youth. 

"ACTION AND UNITY 

"These, then, are the problems that we are committed to solve. To be sure, many more will arise in the course of this administration. But I sincerely believe that solutions to them will be found, just as I am confident that we· shall be able to dispose of the difficult business at hand.

"I must remind you of an all-important fact: that what we have set out to do can be realized only through concerted action and unity. More than ever, we must think, plan, and work as one, with only one supreme goal in mind-the promotion of the welfare and happiness of our people.

"Perhaps you will say that the people are asking for a miracle. But they too performed no less than a miracle when in one great irresistible movement they dared every peril to preserve the right to have a government of their choice. Thus, they proved to the whole world, to our friends and enemies, that democracy has come of age in our land, that it has become truly and actively a part of the Filipino way of life.

"We have pledged to enrich that life.   We can do it.  We must do it. With the aid of Divine Providence, we shall    begin and continue the work until we shall have fulfilled the great promise that gave our people strength to prove themselves worthy of their heritage of freedom."

P.S. The complete first SONA can be retrieved through the hyperlink in the reference below.The second to the fourth SONAs can also be accessed from the Official Gazette online.

Reference:    

Official Gazette Online. Ramon Magsaysay, First State of the Nation Address, January 25, 1954.  Retrieved from http://www.gov.ph/1954/01/25/ramon-magsaysay-first-state-of-the-nation-address-january-25-1954/

MLQuezon@133: Balugbugan - a fictional Pilipino debate between Aguinaldo & Quezon

Cover (left) and frontispiece (right) of Balugbugan by Florante T Collantes (1926) a.k.a. Kuntil Butil.

We discovered this booklet buried under another name [A competitive assessment of the U.S. wood and upholstered furniture industry, obviously an error] in the digital library collection of the University of Michigan.  

The work is in Tagalog.  There was no Pilipino yet at the time, and Manuel Luis Quezon has yet to argue for a common tongue and earn his sobriquet as "Father of the National Language". 

We thought this Balugbugan (rhymes and sounds like bugbugan) would be a good read this August, the Buwan ng Pambansang Wika or National Language Month.  It's a fictional comic debate, balagtasan-style, crafted by Florentino T. Collantes (a.k.a. Kuntil Butil in the literary circle of his time), between Emilio Aguinaldo and Manuel Quezon.

Just like in a balagtasan, there's a Lakandiwa (Mastermind, in today's terms), and in this fiction, it's Tio Sam (Uncle Sam, the United States).  Gat Puno (Chairman) is Leonard Wood, the American governor; Gat Payo (Adviser) is Juan de la Cruz (the Filipinos, of course), and the Paraluman (Muse) is Bb. Pilipinas (Miss Philippines). 

The author Kuntil Butil wrote in his introduction -- 

          "ito'y [this Balugbugan] lumabas na sa Buhay Lansangan

           nalagay sa pitak ng mga biruan,

           at sapagka't biro at katatawanan

           kaya pati tula'y biro-biro lamang.

The Lakandiwa says this is a debate to ferret out the "taksil sa kasalukuyan" (the traitor of today) between two presidents, one of a samahan (obviously, Aguinaldo's veterans organization) and of a partido (Quezon's political party).

           "Ito'y balugbugan ng dalawang tao

             na kapuwa bantog sa lupaing ito;

             si Manuel Quezon at si Aguinaldo

             sa harap ng lahat ngayo'y magtatalo,

             ang dalawang iya'y kapuwa Pangulo

             isa'y sa Samaha't isa'y sa Partido.

            Tayo'y manahimik at ating pakinggan

            itong bagong uring pagbabalagtasan;

            Muli't muling samo'y ang katahimikan

            ulinigin natin itong Balugbugan;

            Ang paksa po nila na pagtatalunan:

            Kung sino ang taksil sa kasalukuyan.

           Ang dalawang ito'y magkaibigang putik

           sa pagmamahala'y katulad ng pagkit,

           at pagka't ganito di samakatunwid,

           kapagka nagtalo'y pihong parang lintik;

           "cuando se pelean" itong "Magkompadres,"

           makaasa kang "salen las verdades."

The last stanza contains two idiomatic expressions, the first one in Tagalog about two friends who are very close to each other like clay (magkaibigang putik) who spit fire when they quarrel; and the second one is Spanish, about truth coming out when two gossips quarrel.

The debate opens with the fictional Quezon alluding to the protest staged by the veterans during the Rizal Day.

We hope to see a translation of this Balugbugan.

 Reference: 

Collantes, Florentino T. (1926, Abril). Balugbugan Aguinaldo vs. Quezon. Pagtatalong may uring Balagtasan na nilahukan ng sili’t paminta.  Maynila, K.P. Retrieved http://name.umdl.umich.edu/afm7572.0001.001