Baltangan da ring Memalen ning San Fernando

ETYMOLOGY OF PLACENAMES IN SAN FERNANDO
Kebiauan, Telabastagan, Sindalan, Kalulut, Bulaun, Maimpis and other villages that the colonizers failed to hispanize
By Joel Pabustan Mallari

Baltangan is the name of an old village near the northwest boundary of San Fernando. Its old dictionary definition includes (a) crossing (crossroads); and/or (b) along or across the border, edge, margin, bank, shore or in some extent against the breeze or moving wind.
The old site of this village actually covers part of Sto. Domingo (of Angeles City) down to Essel Park Subdivision and Telabastagan (of San Fernando) and Calibutbut (of Bacolor). At the heart of this old site now runs the polluted old river known as the Sapang Aslam among the people of Sto. Domingo. This river once supplied residents with freshwater bios such as parusparus (Telescopium sp.), susung balibid (Telescopium sp.), bia (goby), etc. This old crossroads once had a rugged terrain which can hardly be seen now due to the breadth of residential and commercial structures. Folks still recall the old gasgas (dirt road) located across the river connecting the villages of Salapungan, Mangga and Pulungbulu (all of Angeles City) towards the southern part of Telabastagan (of San Fernando), going to the western section of San Fernando (Calibutbut of Bacolor), and northwest to Porac. Today this site still serves a similar purpose of its setting; it is near the entry point of the circumferential road going to the Clark Economic Zone and also near where the boundaries of the cities of Angeles and San Fernando meet in reference to the Mac Arthur Hi-way.

Plant names
A barrio at the mid-southwest boundary of San Fernando was named Alásas, apparently derived from the tree alásas (Ficus ulmifolia Lam.) of the balíti family. Balíti is a basic term for all the “strangling” figs, of Ficus family. Some of the known species include not only alásas but also buku-bukuan (Ficus pseudopalma Blco.) pakiling (Ficus odorata [Blco] Merr.), auili ( Ficus hauli Blco.), and the common baliti varieties (Ficus benjamina L. and Ficus indica L. etc..Bulaon was named after the bulaon tree (molave or smallflower chastetree Vitex parviflora Juss.). This type of tree is known as lagundi in Guam and the famous molauin in Tagalog. It is one of the preferred wood materials for making balutu (canoe type boat), lunas of sarul (plowshares’ base), furnitures etc. Calúlut, one of the oldest barrios in San Fernando, was named after an erect tree about 8 m high with oblong leaves, axillary inflorescence, and many seeded fruits known locally as kalulút. This tree is a decoction for its bark; fresh leaves are administered in fevers. It is also known as anabiong and anubing by the people in the Kapampangan-Tagalog boundaries and anardong among the Ifugaos. It is a favorite material for wood carving for its softwood character just like the sacred bulul figures of the Ifugaos. Old folks say one would spend about 6 days just to fell one matured tree of this kind. Another barrio with lesser population is Lára located near the boundary between Porac, Bacolor and Angeles City. The name of this barrio was derived from the plant name lára. This plantname is a generic term for all types of local chilis (in English) or sili in many languages of the Philippines.

The Philippines was once recognized as the number 1 exporter of bananas in the world. It is no wonder why Barrio Ságuin was named after this fruit. In fact varieties of ságin are known to local Kapampangans such as paltikus, saba, latondan, matabia, seniorita etc.; the fruit has also a special place on the Kapampangan table as pesa, sisig pusu, sigang, putchero, barbekiung ságing… This herbaceous plantain was called plantano by the Spaniards, who saw a similarity to the plane tree that grows in Spain; they later adopted the Kapampangan term. Baritan is an old barrio whose name was derived from a kind of grass, green forage, or horse-fodder known as barit, sakate or kumpay, which proliferated in the area due to the pipita (waterlogged areas) which extended up to the old place of Ponduan.

River culture
The San Fernando River collects its waters from the network of small rivers flowing from the barrios of San Jose Matulid, Sabanilla, San Miguel and Balas of Mexico and rivers such as Sapáng Calulut (of San Fernando and Mexico) and Sapa Creek of Mexico’s southwest section. This river snakes down towards the various rivers and creeks of Bacolor town. An outline map of soil survey which shows the natural drainage and general relief of Pampanga Province in 1956, shows the connection between the Pasig River (in Porac and Angeles City) and San Fernando River. This might support the early significant role of the old Ponduan as one of the busy trading ports of the province at least during the late Spanish Period onwards.

Kabalasan (or Mabalas) River which is a major tributary of Sapang Balen from Angeles City runs its waters on the southeastern part of the city joining the Sapa Calulut River and Sindalan River before it loses much of its water towards Maimpis as the smaller Maimpis River. It was called Kabalasan River because this part of the river was sandy, or mabalas in Kapampangan. The current of these various rivers and creeks “bends and slows down” halfway through Barrio Sindalan, thus gaining a meandering shape— marked by old townfolks as sinandal. The water of these rivers and creeks continues to decelerate, thus becoming meímpis, i.e., thinning of river flow or shallowing of water. This spot is what known today as Barrio Maimpis.

Northwest, one of the many small creeks is known as Malino River. Its name is appararently derived from the word malíno, meaning “clear” as the location is close to the headwaters of almost all the rivers mentioned above. Thus the barrios of Sindalan, Maimpis, and Malino are apparently named after the association of each barrio to the various behaviors and characters of their respective rivers.

Barrio Pandaras and Pandaras River were named after the adze or adze-like tool, daras, used for making the old-fashioned, canoe-type boat known to old Kapampangans as balutu. Sapa Palaui Creek was named after the small village of Palaui (Palawi), which probably derived its name from the word pálaui which means “going or close to contamination,” a term ordinarily used to refer to various stocks of grains such as pále (rice, Oryza sativa L.) and balatong (mjcklxc), or even pulbura (for gunpowder or fireworks), ápi (shell lime) etc.

Just because the pueblo San Fernando was created in relatively recent times does not mean the villages that comprise it are just as young. In fact, the parts are much older than the whole. The linear pattern of settlements was already seen along every important rivers of the pueblo. Examples of this settlement pattern are the old sitios of barrio Del Carmen. By following the downstream direction of the Maimpis River, one can observe river-related toponyms of sitios, from Dungan, Pangulu, Centro I & II, Pigulut to Mauli I & II. Dungan means port, the place where boats and ships dock, load and unload passengers and goods; pangulu is the headwater; centro is a hispanized term pertaining to the middle part of the river (or riverbank); pigulut literally means as back end (of the bending river) and mauli the downstream section of river flow. The sitios’ names describe the significant influence of the river on the lives of early settlers (or passersby) in the old area of Del Carmen.

Another old barrio is Ponduan which is near the present location of the public market, the cityhall and the pisamban. Ponduan literally means “stock areas,” usually located along port areas just like the dungan. Historically, it was in Ponduan where the cascos and small Chinese junks docked and did their trading activities before going to or after coming from the ancient town of Mexico, stocks of maiumung muscovado (sugar) and other trade goods on board.

Barrrio Patrons
It was a common folk practice to name places after the patron saints, due either to the religiosity of Kapampangans, or to Spanish authorities’ deliberate conversion of native placenames for political expediency. Unfortunately, hispanized names make it difficult for historians and ethnographers to trace provenances and study early culture.

The barrios De La Paz Norte, De La Paz Sur, Del Carmen, Santo Rosario, Dolores and Lourdes have all been named after the Blessed Mother’s various titles (Del Rosario, on the other hand, was named after a historical figure). The rest follow: San Agustin (St. Augustine), San Felipe (St. Philip Neri or the Apostle?), San Isidro (St. Isidore), San Jose (St. Joseph), San Juan (St. John the Evangelist), San Nicolas (St. Nicholas of Tolentine), San Pedro (St. Peter the Apostle), Santa Lucia (St. Lucy), Santa Teresita (St. Therese of Lisieux) and Santo Niño (Holy Child). Barrio Juliana may have derived its name from Santa Juliana or from a local resident now forgotten.

More home-grown placenames
Butarul is another old village name which means “waterway.” The area probably had this type of water channels which fed on the waters of either or both Sapang Aslam River from Angeles City and the Palaui Creek of San Fernando. Contemporary descriptions of this word include the undulating slopes associated with talimundok.

Landing is the name of at least two places in San Fernando, one near or part of barrio Maimpis while another one is in proximity of Barrio Lara. Old folks claim that either or both sites once served as secret battle airfields during World War II. According to Fr. Venancio Samson, who is translating Bergaño’s dictionary, the term “landing” may have an earlier provenance not necessarily associated with airplanes’ landing fields. He cites a 1913 sketch (map) which already has “landing” as a placename (in San Fernando). In 1913, aircrafts were not yet a common sight in the country, at least not as common as to make people name a place after them. The term “landing” can be compared to words like lande (bamboo splits used as floors and walls), landi (immodesty), etc. Another barrio with an unexplained etymology is Pasbul (door or gate); nothing in the village at present might explain the name.

Lunac is the old name of De la Paz; in Kapampangan (as well as Bahasa Melayu and Bahasa Indonesian) it means “soil where water passes or stagnates.”

Panipuan is a placename of at least two barrios, one in San Fernando and the other in the town of Mexico. These barrios were once both a part of Mexico; the split came probably when San Fernando was carved out of Mexico and Bacolor in 1754. Its toponym may have been derived from several terms such as (a) pipaniplan or pipalutan (the place for harvested ricefield); (b) pipanipunan which means “a collecting area” or “a place of gathering”; (c) the root word puapu, a kind or type of a paduas (fishing implement with hook, string and rod) used for fishing or for frog catching since the place conveniently has several headwaters of small rivers and creeks; and (d) the plant ipo (Antiaris toxicaria [Pers.] lesch.), a term common to Kapampangans, Tagalogs and Bisayas..

Barrio Magliman is another barrio which probably had a connection to barrio Magliman of next-door Bacolor, as in the case of the two Panipuans of San Fernando and Mexico. Its name is derived from a conjugation of the rootword liman. Magliman (or mangaliman) is the verb used by an infanticipating woman when she asks a favor, usually for something to eat. But it can also be associated to maglimas, that is, “to get rid of the water” (from waterlogged areas like bana, pinak, etc.) either by constructing a tabun (irrigation dam) or manually, using a container; the objective is usually to facilitate the catching of fish. This theory is bolstered by the presence of rivers and creeks in the vicinity of both Magliman barrios, which have a long history of rice farming and fishing.

Makabakle whose root word is bakle (Sp. atravesado, obliqued or crosswise) means “lying across” (Sp. atravesado algo, i.e., balangtai, which may be the root word of the name of the next barrio in Bacolor, Cabalantian, although it is widely accepted as having been named after the tree balanti).

The name of Barrio Malpitic (also called as Palpitik) is probably an abbreviation or corruption of the word malapitik: mala means “like” and the rootword pitik means any of the following: (a) flick (with a finger); (b) carpenter’s or boat carver’s line marker; (c) spark and its sound (as in ignition), like pisik; (d) the sound of sudden tension or waving (of cord, rope, bridle, whip etc.); (e) smarting pain on the skin, or muscular numbness due to exhaustion. Another possible etymology is salpitik, which is the Kapampangan for “graded paper” or “brave person.”
Quebiawan (Kebiauan) is another barrio near Malpitik and Maimpis. Its name obviously came from the noun kebiauan meaning “a place where sugar cane juice is extracted.” The process uses rotating cylinders locally known as atlu bola, which were made of either wood or stone. There was a time when Pampanga was the country’s number-one supplier of sugar.
Surplus is another barrio name with a World War II provenance. Discarded military vehicles, uniforms and paraphernalia probably littered the place after the war, or were traded there.
Telabastágan literally means “frame-like;” it can be the bastidor-like frame used in weaving fishing nets or dase ebus (native mat made of palm leaves of Corypha utan Lam.). Some old folks associate its origin to the early game venue of jueteng.