ANGELES CITY—Leading social network Facebook has inspired a local group, led by Mayor Edgardo Pamintuan and his wife, Herminia, to come up with book for the present and future generations of this highly urbanized city.
Balen Angeles, Kanita’t Ngeni (Yown of Angeles, Then and Now) is a coffee-table book conceived out of the Facebook group called “Angeles City.” The account was created and maintained by Paolo Torno Galang, Danon Dizon and Elmer Cato.
The 150-page book contains mostly old photos of Angeles City and its people, and the posted reactions of the members of the closed Facebook group on each photo.
“It was the posts of Danon Dizon and other contributors that won the hearts of many of us who take pride and marvel at the photographs [of] the old Angeles,” retired US Navy Don Allan Dinio said in his introduction of the book. “It’s love for our city. People in our place love their home-city, traditions and the past.”
“Getting old in Angeles is great. You get respect from everyone including strangers, tricycle and jeepney drivers, sales ladies and waiters. They become your extended family when they address you as “Bapa [uncle]” or “Dara [aunt]” when you are old. No such thing in a foreign country either. Living in the foreign country makes you appreciate the things, the places and people that you grew up with…your barkada or kababata,” Dinio said in his speech during the recent launch of the book.
Herminia Pamintuan, first lady of Angeles City and fondly called Miniang, shouldered the production of the book.
“All of the members did not charge a single centavo for their services. I just made sure their stomachs were full during our meetings and editorial work,” Herminia added in jest.
The other members of the editorial board are Elaine Theresa Angeles, Rosendo Makabali, Archimedes Reyes, M. Rosette Santos, Ronnie Tayag, Susan “Dax” Daquigan, Marites Tan Gerona, Marco D. Nepomuceno, Jay Punzalan, Socrates Sabile, Conrado “Chok” Sotto and John Paul “Japs” Viray.
Pamintuan, who is aggressively leading the establishment of the Angeles City Heritage District, said, “It’s the first coffee-table book based solely on social networking.”
“It’s historical, ergo, nostalgic,” the two-term mayor added. He cited some of the photos in the book, such as the San Nicolas Public Market, Iniang Halo-Halo, old spic and span restaurants, the old municipal hall, Pisamban Maragul (big church), Pamintuan Mansion (now a museum) and soda fountain frequented by GIs.
Gerona said, “I got inspired when Mayor Pamintuan had a brilliant idea to come up with a book.”
“I was privileged to be asked and be a part of [the making of the book]. I envisioned this book to be all about memories. A lot of memories to say but it only takes one single old photo and each one of us has a unique story to tell,” Gerona said.
She said most of the members of the Facebook group had not known each other until Pamintuan invited them over dinner to discuss the creation of the book. It took them about a year before the book was completed for printing.
“Yes, Pamintuan was the mayor and editor in chief of our group. But there was democracy and we always decided via majority decision on the final contents and outcome of the book,” Gerona said.
Herminia expressed gratitude to Tatang Dan Dizon, an acclaimed local artist and historian who provided artwork drawn exclusively to complement the book. He created drawings of salicap (wicker basket); tacba (used for carrying clothes); caticut, Palmaman and Calmin (devotional scapular)—things carried and used by old people in Angeles City back then.
Caticut and Palmaman were used back in the days as a receptacle for satisfying a Kapampangan’s “chewing needs,” Sabile said in the book. He added that the caticut is “one of the main instruments used in the bebel nut chewing palmaman.”
“My mother or grandmother used to carry on her head a salicap when we traveled. It contained her personal belongings. It’s like the bags carried by women today. They had no Coach, Hermes and Louis Vuitton bags back then,” Herminia said.
She also thanked students of the City College of Angeles who acted as layout artists of the book.
Sotto, a 37-year-old artist who started sketching at the age of 5, provided the artwork for the cover of the book. He is a multiawarded artist and a native of the city.
“The cupped hands represent the indomitable spirit of the generations of Angelenos who, over a period of more than 200 years of ups and downs, transformed their hometown into what it is today. The formidable Holy Rosary Parish Church is the mute witness to this transformation,” the statement said in the book describing the cover.
Daquigan, a teacher at the OB Montessori School in Angeles City, said “a great book was done by men and women from all walks of life who love their hometown.”
“More important, we got new friends among each other and we found a way to really benefit from using Mark Zucherberg’s Facebook,” she added.
Image credits: Ric Gonzales, Borg Meneses & the ‘Balen Angeles, Kanita’t Ngeni’ editorial team
1 comment
Thank you Joey for the nice article. I hope this endeavor will be appreciated not only of the people in the era who can relate to the old photos but most especially for the present and future generation. As the late great journalist Chino Roces used to say, “That to understand the present, you first get to know the past and by connecting the present as the continuation of the future, one has to trace the roots of our rotting society to our moral confusion.”