MUNICIPALITY OF DASOL (PANGASINAN), History and Cultural Life of Part I

HISTORY AND CULTURAL LIFE OF THE TOWN OF DASOL
AND ITS BARRIOS

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Republic of the Philippines
Department of Education
BUREAU OF PUBLIC SCHOOLS
DIVISION OF PANGASINAN
DISTRICT OF INFANTA
MUNICIPALITY OF DASOL

HISTORY AND CULTURAL LIFE OF THE MUNICIPALITY OF DASOL

PREFACE

In compliance with Memorandum No. 34, s. 1952, this short history of the Municipality of Dasol [unreadable]. It is not a complete record of all aspects of life nor an exhaustive treatise on the lore of the people. To write a history with as meager references at one's disposal is next to impossible. Since no record is available due to the absence of printed or written accounts, the teachers went about the community and sought the information from the lips of the barrio's elders who had to depend on their memory for the meager knowledge that they could remember of the events that happened during their lifetimes, and these that were transmitted to them from their ancestors by word of mouth. Each of the forty-two teachers was assigned to cover a certain portion of the community, a purok, with family heads ranging from 15 to 50. It was slow work but the painstaking teachers were able to collect the materials included in this volume. Each barrio history was consolidated by the teacher in charge or head teacher.

With this humble volume is written the most important data called for in the outline embodied in the aforementioned memorandum. It is a modest offering of the enthusiastic body of teachers in this municipality who rendered an invaluable labor of love for the preservation of the history of the municipality. It is hoped that perusal of its contents may lead to constructive criticism by the reader in the matter of the arrangement of the facts, the truth or falsity of the information herein given, or the authenticity of the folkways herein included. It is the plan of the undersigned to edit a revised edition during the coming school year so as to sift the materials through a process of [unreadable] the number of resource persons by including the [unreadable] section of the community. This is an ambitious project, but it will be easier this year as the work will include the testing of the veracity of the facts written in the present volume. Since this work will become a part of the curriculum of the schools, there is no reason why an improvement cannot be accomplished.

Dasol is a small municipality. Most of the folkways obtained in the community held true in the rest of the communities. Therefore, space was saved by excluding from the succeeding barrios those materials which were already included in the preceding communities.

Republic of the Philippines
Department of Education
Division of Pangasinan
District of Infanta
D a s o l

HISTORY AND CULTURAL LIFE OF THE TOWN OF DASOL

Part One : History

Dasol is a fourth class municipality located in the western end of Pangasinan, bounded in the west by the China Sea, and in the east by the Zambales Mountain Range. Its population of over nine thousand people is happy and contented living chiefly by fishing and agriculture.

How Dasol got its name is attributed to the Spaniards who first settled in this place. In the olden days, a medicinal herb called dosol was abundant in this place. The Spaniards usually mispronounced the word by calling it "dasol" instead of "dosol" or "desol." Since then, this place has been called Dasol.

As early as 1878, Dasol was not a municipality as it is now, but was part of a municipality which today comprises the present municipalities of Mabini, Burgos, and Dasol, which at that time were part of the province of Zambales. There were few (if any) people who lived here. The place now called Mabini was the most thickly-populated part of the municipality. The people, in their desire for better living conditions, moved to the southwest. They found good fishing grounds and they determined to stay along the coast in the present barrio of Uli. Uli, now a barrio of Dasol, was the first seat of the municipal government in Dasol.

No record has been found regarding the reign of the gobernadorcillos in this municipality, but records show that as early as 1895, there was already an organized form of government, with Don Santos Jimenez as the first capitan municipal. He was succeeded by Capitan Cornelio Estrada from 1898-1900. At the height of the Katipunan movement, Don Francisco Bernal was capitan municipal.

Shortly after the revolution, the town now called Mabini was separated from the group, and the present towns of Dasol and Burgos were fused as one, which at that time was known as the Municipality of San Isidro Putot. San Isidro Putot had been under three rulers, who ruled in three different terms, namely:

In the years 1925 to 1932, Don Marcelo Jimenez was elected for two consecutive terms. The next election found Don Flaviano Cristobal as president, followed by Don Juan Castro, who was elected the first municipal mayor for Dasol.

In the next election, Don Flaviano Cristobal, who ran for candidacy for mayorship, was victorious and was the mayor incumbent at the outbreak of the Second World War. During the Roxas administration, Don Damaso Rivera was appointed mayor. He ran for candidacy for mayorship and won by a landslide vote over his opponent and was elected, and later was succeeded by our present mayor, Cristino R. Jimenez in the elections on November 13, 1951. This, in short, is the succession of the different rulers in Dasol since its existence.

There are important facts that are worth remembering in the history of this municipality. One of the incidents that is worthy of mention which occurred in this municipality was the assassination of the late Don Calixto Tobias (1917-1918). He was shot while sleeping in his home by an unidentified assailant who, up to this day, enjoys the freedom and privileges as any law-abiding citizen. The death still remains a mystery as the guilty has never been convicted, hence this is called the "unsolved murder" of Dasol.

It is also worthy of mention to cite here that Don Flaviano Cristobal had the longest reign of all rulers in Dasol. He ruled for two terms and the second was extended up to the Japanese occupation, so that he had eleven years of reign to his credit.

The reign of Don Juan Castro marked the beginning of civic consciousness among the women of Dasol, when in the exercise of women's suffrage, Doña Emiliana Rodriguez Jimenez was elected the first woman vice-mayor, and Doña Librada Jimenez Castro (a public school teacher up to now) was elected the first woman councilor of Dasol.

People may wonder why Dasol does not have any big houses and no church of Spanish architecture, unlike in other towns. This is because the town was razed by fire for two times, leaving no traces of the landmarks of Spanish rule.

Time was when political factions were set up during the American regime. It was then that political feuds began to arise, and today, this venom has been injected into the bloodstream of the populace, so that whether it is election time or not, the rival political parties are constantly keeping watch over the party in power, trying to find faults with the administration, rather than to find what good has been done. To this must be attributed the fact that economic progress in this municipality has always been retarded. The word of the day is non-cooperative,

As a living proof of this is the presence of two high schools — the Bay View High School put up by the Nationalistas and the Dasol Academy High School put up by the Liberals. How the people can be made to feel as one, cooperative and united, remains a problem. This, perhaps, will require centuries to educate the youth towards a goal of fellowship and camaraderie.

Despite political strife in this town, Dasol has now a number of professionals and hundreds of high school graduates as compared to the educational status in 1940 to 1941, when there were less than forty students from Dasol in high schools and colleges.

Among the towns that met misfortune from the plunder and exploit of the present H.M.B organization, Dasol is not an exception. On August 25, 1950, the Huks raided Dasol, the stores were looted and the municipal building and the house of Mayor Damaso Rivera were burned to ashes. There were not many casualties, however, for only one public school teacher lost his life during this incident. At present, there is no municipal building in Dasol, but one half of the public market has been converted into a two-room enclosure serving as a municipal building.

The history of education in Dasol dates back to the Spanish era during the reign of the "gobernadorcillos" in the year 1878. Dasol, at that time, was not yet a municipality as it is now, but was part of a municipality which was comprised of the present-day towns of Mabini, Burgos, and Dasol. Dasol was, at that time, a part of Zambales. With the establishment of Spanish government in this part of the province came also the establishment of schools. It was in July 1878 that the first public school was established and the first teacher appointed to teach was Ruperto Lampitok. There was no schoolhouse; classes were held in a private house.

Shortly after this, the secret society called the Katipunan was discovered, and many Filipinos fell to the atrocities of the Spanish "conquistadores." Among them was a public school teacher and his life was ended when his head was cut off.

Another one was appointed to handle the classes, this time a woman in the person of Martina Braganza. Meanwhile, there was also a private school under a teacher named Cirilo Basa, who also used Spanish as the medium of instruction. Education was given only to a limited number of persons, as there was only one public school teacher and one private tutor.

Martina Braganza was soon succeeded by another appointee in the person of Paulino Mendoza. Instruction in Spanish continued

Back in Dasol, he went and opened a class in English. A year later, he stopped teaching and was succeeded by Alejandro de Leon, then Ildefonso Brazal. The new American educational system brought about the need for a school building. A one-room building was made of wood, sawali, bamboo, and cogon was put up. In this school building, other teachers held classes at different years, Alberto Rico in 1907; Matias Ruiz in 1908; and Eusebio Baraan in 1909.

In 1910, the former public school teacher under the Spanish regime was appointed municipal president. It was at this time that a two-room building was built at the old town plaza, this time a better one with wooden flooring, sawali walls, and galvanized iron roofing. Thus, two teachers would be employed at a time.

The date, January 1, 1911, was a red-letter day for Dasol because it became a municipality, having a municipal government of its own. In 1911, the teachers were Marcelo Jimenez and Marcela Lampitok, with Mr. Walter Chestnut as supervisor. From 1912 to 1914, the teachers were Marcelo Jimenez and Victorino Madarang, with Mr. Thomas O. Neal as supervisor. Slates, instead of paper, were used for writing; and Philippine charts instead of books were used in teaching Reading. Victorino Madarang took charge of industrial work for girls such as plain sewing and weaving articles out of buri leaves. Teachers at this time received a compensation of sixteen pesos to twenty pesos a month.

From 1916 to 1921, there were three teachers assigned in this town: Marcelino Villamil, Pedro Doctor, and Mariano de Vera, who was the principal teacher. Mariano Nazareno was the supervisor for Agno District (Dasol belonged to Agno District), and Mr. Hart, an American, was supervisor at large. A year later, Victorino Madarang was transferred, and Francisco Macino took his place.

In 1922 to 1923, during the reign of Don Pedro de la Rosa as municipal president, a cogon-thatched temporary building was built in the present site of the Dasol Elementary School southeast of the present Home Economics building. It was of light materials with the bare ground as floor. There were four rooms, and a complete primary curriculum was begun. It was not until 1926 that the first Grade Five class was opened, and in 1932, the first Grade Six class was also opened. It is a lamentable fact to note

It is, however, worthy of mention to note that way back in 1925, a concrete building was put up, and it remains today, the best elementary school building in this municipality. Today, there are ten barrio schools, three of them centralized.

During the years prior to the Second World War, there were very few parents who ventured to send their children to schools outside Dasol, so that Grade Five or Grade Six were the finishing grades for most of the children of the "common tao." Those belonging to the higher social stratum sent their children to neighboring towns to finish the elementary education. Few had the privilege of going through high school or college. In 1941, there were approximately less than 40 sons and daughters of Dasol who were in the high schools and colleges.

The war must have been a blessing in disguise, for after the global conflict subsided in 1945, and schools in Pangasinan sprung up like mushrooms, Dasol was awakened from its lethargy. Two high schools sprung up in 1946, and today, these two high schools are turning out graduates every year, and some of them continue to obtain college educations. So today, the youth of Dasol enjoy better educational opportunities than their brothers and sisters of yesteryears.

The movement undertaken by the Great Plebian in the person of Andres Bonifacio known as the Katipunan, which had its first cry at Balintawak on August 26, 1896, spread like a blazing fire throughout the Philppine Islands. The movement, which had the purpose of freeing the Filipinos from the demoniacal greed and sadistic tyranny of the Spanish authorities in the Philippines, took root in the minds of the people of Dasol. The movement was initiated by a man of great commanding ability and organizing power known as Don Ramon Manalang.

Don Ramon Manalang contacted first the municipal officials of this town, namely:

After two months of stay, the cazadores moved to Mabini, Pangasinan, formerly called Balincaguing, a neighboring town of Dasol. According to public opinion at that time, the Spanish soldiers employed a smart spy in the person of Don Guillermo Valderama. Don Guillermo lost no time in communicating with the officials of Dasol. He persuaded them to report to Mabini where their doom was waiting for them.

In the early morning of Thursday, March 27, 1898, the officials mentioned were brought to Dasol hogtied. They were finally executed the following morning at Infanta, Pangasinan, in the barrio of Atel. The spot where they were shot is called "Amaltogan" until these days. After this fateful event in the history of Dasol, the surviving members of the organization were divided into two factions until the arrival of the Americans.

Just before the Americans took over the local government of Dasol, there was no peace and rest caused by the existing rival factions. We may say that one group was headed by Capitan Tito Batis and on the other hand by Capitan Kiko. Their rivalry had its boiling point when Capitan Kiko [Tito?], with his men, namely, Buenaventura Bersina, Blas dela Rosa, Domingo Baloyut, and Tomas Aquino, killed Capitan Kiko. This took place in September 1900.

In November 1900, the Americans captured the town. The remaining insurrectos were once more united under the command of General San Miguel, whose headquarters were at Malacapas. They used guerrilla warfare. This angered the Americans, so much so that they burned the convent. Most of the houses of the town proper turned into ashes. Then, the men responsible for the death of Capitan Kiko met their deaths at the gallows.

Then came another unforgettable event when the wolf knocked on every door of the townspeople of Dasol. Certainly, it was a year of famine. The price of every commodity rose to unbelievable levels. The cost of one ganta rose to ₱0.35, which used to be only ₱0.12. This famine took place in 1903.

From 1903 to 1904, another dreadful event came upon the starving people of Dasol. This was the outbreak of an epidemic called cholera. Many homes were lifeless because practically all members of a family attacked by this man-killer found their new home in the cemetery.

After World War I, another epidemic occurred in this town. This epidemic was "trancaso" or influenza. Many people died again in this year. According to the old folks, the people lived peacefully and progressively until the outbreak of the Pacific War

The people of Dasol have their peculiar customs, traditions, and practices in domestic as well as in social life.

When a mother has difficulty in her labor, a bonfire is built under the house. Cloth, usually rags and some straw, is burned in this bonfire to drive away the "asuangs" who may enter the room unseen and get the liver of the child, and the child will die. Another recourse to make labor easier is for the husband to go headlong down the stairs. In more difficult deliveries, the saliva of the quack midwife is a medicinal toxin which she lavishly pours on the abdomen of the mother. When the mother becomes weak, a basket is sprinkled with vinegar, heated over a fire and covered on the face of the patient to revive her to consciousness. As soon as the child is born, one of the attendants gets a morsel of cooked rice and also some spoonfuls of water. These are place in the mother's mouth. But the attendant must do it without anybody's notice, otherwise the rice and water will lose their healing effect. The child is then bathed and wrapped comfortably and placed on an upturned rice winnower. They then frighten the child by tapping the sides of the winnower many times. This, in their belief, will make him brave when he grows older.

Baptism is an affair not only between the parents of the child but also of the immediate as well as distant relatives. Great care is exercised in the selection of the "padrino" and "madrina." Traits like honesty, kindness, bravery, intelligence, and physical dexterity are taken into consideration because, as they say, the child will inherit the traits of the "nenong" or "nenang."

In the past, the baptismal party was accompanied by a band or orchestra, but this practice has become extinct. People can now do away with the orchestra. When the baptism is over, the "padrino" or "madrina" must be alert in going out of the church. This is believed to make the child alert, active, and unexcelled [perhaps the author meant "excellent"] in his future undertakings.

In olden times, courtship was coursed through the parents and