LAST October 12, the town of Alaminos, in Laguna, celebrated its town fiesta. It was the feast of the Nuestra Sra. del Pilar, one of the many manifestations of the Virgin Mary. I still have to read up more on the history of my father’s hometown to know how it came to choose its patron saint.
Alaminos used to be a part of San Pablo (which in turn used to be part of Batangas, but that’s a different story altogether). In 1873, a group of local landowners led by Cirilo Baylon petitioned the Governor General to separate Trenchera (which was what the area used to be called) from San Pablo and make it a municipality. The new town was named after a high-ranking Spanish government official who helped make this happen. Cirilo, naturally, became the first mayor (gobermadorcillo was the term then), and one of his sons, Rafael, followed in his footsteps. (My younger brother RV traces his Rafael from this ancestor.)
Under the American colonial Administration, 1913 is traced as the date of the official establishment of Alaminos.
When I was in grade school and high school, we would go home to Alaminos to celebrate the Flores de Mayo, Christmas and, of course, the fiesta. On those occasions houses were open to relatives and friends and the guests of relatives and friends and if you had an appetite you could move from house to house enjoying the buffet plus the lansones and (for me) the kayumanggi macapuno candy freely available to anyone and everyone.
This year’s fiesta was a muted celebration, naturally; and my father’s house, which used to be open for guests, wasn’t. In fact, it has not been welcoming guests, not for the last six or seven years I think, as age caught up with father and around 2014 he stopped exerting efforts to prepare for the arrival of relatives from Paete, Laguna and from Mabalacat, Pampanga. When he died in 2016 the house remained empty until I had it restored and renovated last year, so this was the first fiesta that it had new occupants – me plus Hayden, Apollo, and Goya – but none of us took time to prepare the way my father did.
The idea of people moving from house to house during fiestas – and yes, even Christmas – made me think of the “guest candidates” for senator in some of the tickets for the 2022 elections. VP Leni, Mayor Isko, and PacMan have announced their still incomplete slates but what is noticeable is the appearance of the same names in at least two of the three lists. It’s just like you seeing the same faces in front of the buffet table of one house and then you see them again in another. (Some, my father used to tell me, even come with Tupperware, not content with eating their fill!).
Of course, these guests are welcome – it’s open house, remember? – and why shouldn’t one stop at just one house? But the guests have a grand time because all they need to do is eat then run; no commitment to help clean the dishes later.
I wonder if this is another practice that is “unique” to our warped democracy – not filling up a senate list and inviting guest candidates who are also on one or two more slates. What for? To bring in their votes? Unlikely, if they are not committed to you. To share in their resources? Unlikely too, because candidates rarely share resources with others. Maybe to demonstrate an openness to a wide variety of political opinion – the only logical reason I can think of for this practice. But we all know how superficial this is in the Philippine context where most everything is personal, not principles, and where “shameless pragmatism” (a phrase I caught somewhere!) is the norm.
When you declare an open house, then expect guests to come in sans preconditions. Once they’re full, expect them to leave sometimes without even giving you a goodbye burp. Such is the nature of fiestas in this country – and elections are just one giant fiesta where we make merry for a day and then ask God why he is punishing us for the rest of the year until the next fiesta – I mean, elections!
Personal: Happy birthday Dr Mitos Cating-Cabral; Bryan Yap; Migo Santos; Evelyn Marcos Caparanga; Melvin Mangada; Atty Tim Calumpong; Jess Padugar; Maita Provido Crowe and Bryant Cabreros; Andrew de Real; Kat Sinsuat De Castro; Avic Cruz; Gigi Santiago-Lara; Vangie Bautista Relato; Paolo Villaluna; Jhude Dominguez-Jarabo; Deo Angelo D Valeroso; Samantha Lopez; Mean Ignacio; bunso Arianne Pearl; Former Board Member Gerald Ortiz of Quezon; Josie Soriano from Reymond Soriano; Rev. Fr. Quirico Pedregosa, Jr., OP; Kuya Jojo Feliciano; Ate Lizel Bragais De Leon; Deo Echevarria; Maja Porullo; kuya Arwin Galit belated happy birthday Romero Jeffrey Serrano (Oct. 14)
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