K-Balen! Baculud at Bamban: Dng Balen a Mengasagsag
Nung ing Baculud ya mong lalto pekapusu na kanita ning Pampanga, ing Bamban naman ya mong pekapasbul ning Tarlac. Manibat anyang me-Pinatubu la dng dakal a balen keti Kapampangan (dane ning Tarlac-Pampanga), dakal lang menga-apektwan a balen-balen. Mupin metung karing maragul a pamagkasakit keti dng balen ning Concepcion , Porac, Mabalacat, Sta.Rita, Guagua, lalung-lalu na ing Baculud, at Bamban. Ing Baculud ikwa dang misalbag dng keyang memalen, kabang ing Bamban naman inabandona dane dng tau na. Mupin kng Baculud, dng tau kng Baculud la pa murin bobotu at makanyan lapang ‘mamanuli’ dng keyang memalen antimo potang atin maulagang pamagmasusi anti ing Biernes Santu at Pyestang La Naval. Kabang kng Bamban naman matumal pa ing bili ning pamagbalik da ring tau katunayan dakal na karing dating botanti na ing e na pakarehistru kng dating lugal da. Ing Baculud pilit deng tatalakad ing sentru ning pulitika at kultura anya makanyan deng babalikbalikan ing Pisamban San Guillermo, at makanyan yang mibabalik kasikatan ing iskwelang Don Honorio na metung na ngening state university. Kabang kng Bamban, ing munisipyu na mitalakad lang malawut karing pikukumpulan da ring memalen – alayu kng dating kabalenan na kalupa ning Baculud.
Ing Bamban milako ya ‘kabalenan’. Katunayan, mengayna yang tutu ing matwang palengki niting matwang kabalenan (San Nicolas), kabang ing palengki ning Dapdap e bitasang megamit mula pa anyang lumipat la ring tau kng resettlement keti. Ing metung naman na mitalakad kng dating iskwela ning Anupul e ya pa bitasang mibuklat kng publiku. Nanupata, dakal a pigastusan ban mitalakad la reti dng mengasayang mu at minta kng alang nanu. Kabang ing Baculud milako ya ‘pibandyan’ uling alalu dng tau na at dakal dng ati karing bayung labwad – dng resettlement areas na pakasantung karing miyaliwang balen. Keti makanyan lang antimong mangawala munaman dng memalen ning Baculud uling dng anak da ring balang pamilyang memagbakwit kanita lehitimung memalen nala keraklan karing balen nung nu la ati dng karelang tuknangan ngeni.
BALEN A MAWAWALA
Malambat nang panawun mula anyang maumpisa ya ing pekamumunang modern resettlement project keti bangsa. Iti ing Sacobia Development Project kanita pang panawun ning First Lady Imelda Marcos. Masanting a umpisa dapot ngeni nukarin ya? Ati ngeni iti kng magusut a pisasabyan nung nu sangkut la dng balen ning Mabalacat at Clark Freeport Zone. Deti dng kayabe karing mamag-claim a dake kng masasabing sakup ning Bamban. Kng dane ning pangulu naman, dng ‘matwang baryu’ ning Bamban makanyan la naman mengaigut kng kasiping nang Balen Capas. Nanung malilyari? ing Baculud malapad ya pa gabun mupin ditak ya tau, ing Bamban naman dng bisang mamagbalik ala nong babalikan uling dakal nang dayu at balen dng memangwang gabun.
Kasalungsungan, dakal mu naman karing pakatuknang karing resettlement areas anti kng Dapdap dng e tau keti. Ing newly reclaimed areas kng dane ning dating Lourdes , Banaba etc. dakal noman dng mirinan gabun dng e tau keti. Dng dating manuknangan keti bayu ing pamanyalanta ning bulkan, makanyan nomang ala nang balikan. Metung kng masalang kabapustan ing alang malino at eksaktung sukad ning land area at definitve socio-political boundary. Bage na maulaga ban apamalino ya ing ustung pamag-budget ning municipio.
Kng Baculud, lalto magusut pati ing isyu ning pamag-quarry. Dakal lang sasabi na matas munaman ing babayad da ring tau keti kng balas a kukwanan da ban panambak da mu pin naman karing sular a buri dang pasibayung talakaran bale. Bage na pagmasakit dang tutu dng tau.
PASYALAN A E MIDADALANAN
Nanung prublema? Atin yang national highway ing balen ning Bamban, atin yang mangasanting a lugal pasyalan at marangle dapot alang makibalu kng legwan at kayapan nang iti.
Panawun na pa ning pistaym, kabalitan ne kanita karing mangasanting nang pasyalan ing balen. Katunayan, metung ya karing minunang atin azucarera kayabe ning Azucarera ning Tarlac at Pasudeco ning San Fernando at nitang kng Floridablanca. Dakal ya ilug a mangalinis, modern resorts, karinderya at restorant a magtindang manganyaman a pamangan. Iti ing peka-hinterland ning Clark Air Base kanita na pagmulalan da ring Amerikanu at turista kanita. Bayu la memanyikat dng antimo Razon’s Halo-halo ning Guagua at Kabigting’s ampo Jurado’s ning Arayat kng Pampanga at Menila, ing Bamban sikat ne kareting makule at manyaman a pagmarimla – deti deng titinda da kanita ring pakapwestu kanita kng pamosu nang sidepark anti dng karinderyang pakapatulug kng dating Lugay Park. Deti kayabe ning pamamisita kanita kang Apung Lourdes Grotto, at pamamasyal karing dakal a Japanese tunnels, music jamming karing pamosung jukebox kanita, ampo ing minindal a pansit luglug dng kukumpletu kng expiryensya da ring turistang darayu. Katunayan, dakal a natural at makasalesayang lugal dng manaya mung mipasyalan karing potensyal a turista. Ara pin “Nananu ta pa?”
Ing Baculud makanyan munaman. Iti lalu na inyang mekilala yang “Atenas ning Kapampangan” anti nemu waring lugal a pipag-quarry? Nung kasalesayan at gelingan mu naman, iti na ing atin pekamalalam a pibandyan. Salamat namu mika-metung a batas na mikaupayang sumawup ban mibalik ya ing dating legwan ning balen a iti. Iti ing HB 3389, na maglayun ban ma-rehabilitate ya ing mesabing balen. Ban emu kang ‘Santino’ o ken balas ya sumikat pasibayu ing balen nunge mibalik yang tutu ing legwan na niti kalupa na ketang milabas. Sayang pin uling kalupa ning Bamban, dalan-dalanan nemu ning progresung pasibayung tatamasan da ring siping nang balen anti ing Lungsud San Fernando , Guagua at Lubao. Ing Balen Baculud daralanan nemu naman ning Jose Abad Santos Highway (dating Olongapo-Gapan road), metung karing pekamaulagang dalan keti Kalibudtwang Luzon, na manatad kng pang-maragulang kalakal at pamanasensu keti bangsa.
KABYAYAN A MAYAP BIAYAN
Ing Baculud metung yang bukud a balen a atin pekamarakal a tau na mitmung gelingan karing miyaliwang adle ning kabyasnan, legwan at aliwa pang dake ning kayapan dng memalen keta pa mang mumunang aldo. keti la mengabayit dng dakal a gobernador ning Pampanga, ambasador, huwes ning Korte Suprema, doktor, siyentipiku, mambabatas, at miyaliwang lider. Kng malagwang salita, iti ing balen na e lintong memagkasakit kng aske ning pamangabyayan ketang mengapapauna uling bista man at midalanan yang dakal a gera, kalamidad at sakuna dakal ya matenakan a anak a pilit mangitalakad kaniting balen. Katunayan, iti ing dating kapitolyu ning Pampanga at meging kapitolyu ne mu naman ning bangsa ketang panawun ning pamanyakup da ring Ingles. Mupin uling dala na pin ning milabas a Pinatubu at pamaglahar, metung ya pin iti karing balen a mitambunan a kabyayan. At keti la mengapilitan mamagbakwit dng tau at magdatun na pin man karing dakal a resettlement karing miyaliwang balen keti Kapampangan.
Kng kasu na naman ning Bamban, mitulak lang mamaglako dng dakal a memalen anyang panawun na pin ning Pinatubu. Deti memanintunan la kng lwal ning balen. Dakal la ring memanasensu kng lwal, at makanyan namang matumal ing bie kng kilub ning balen.
Kasalungsungan, dng balen ning Porac, kayabe ing Mabalacat pati na ing Baculud manikwa lang mangaragul a panakitan kng pamag-quarry. Kabang ing Bamban nung nu ya dating metung karing manimuna kaniting pamag-quarry ngeni sarili na nang melakwan. Nung kapilan merakal ing balas, makanyan yang lalung megkasakit at mengaramalas.
Kng dane ning Baculud, ing Lungsud San Fernando, Lubao, pati na ing Guagua kayabe ing distritu ning Betis, dng mangatalik a memanasensu. Deti dng balen-balen a pakapatulug kng Baculud. Ing Capas at Mabalacat, pati na ing Concepcion naman dng pakalugal kng dane pangulu at mawli ning Bamban. Ing San Fernando ikwa nang meging lungsud, kabang dng balen ning Capas at Mabalacat ila dng manimunang balen na maka-uring 1st class ngeni. Kabang pilan pang banwa ing milabas anyang makbung ya ing Pinatubu. Iti dala na ning matalik dang pamanasensu, at makanyan la namang papunta kng estadung cityhood. Ing balen Bamban, kalupa ning Baculud, dalan-dalanan ne ning national highway a Mc Arthur na pakadugtung at pakalibutad karing mayasensung balen, melakwan neng palak a kabilyan. Dng memalen keti, manulu na la wawa kabang lalawe la reti kng panyulung a tatamasan dng balen ning Capas, Concepcion, ning Mabalacat, Porac at Botolan – dng limang balen a kasiping ning Bamban. Kabang ing Baculud, makanyan ya pa murin magpumilit na migising. Makalungkut pin uling ing mesabing “Atenas” ning Amanung Siswan eya pa taganang magluwid uling buri da ring aliwang pulitikung managalan na “mabuhay” ya iti imbes na "magluwid" bage na anting tampaling kng sentru ning indung amanung Kapampangan.
DALAN NING DANGALAN
Makalungkut isipan na kng kekaba-kaba ning panawun a delanan dng balen areti, bigla man o ali makanini nemu wari bili deti?
Lalung makalungkut nung sakali, nung kng kerakal-dakal dng tatagal at kakandidatu ngeni, sana kayabe no man kareti dng mangayap, mangatinu, mapagmasabal, maka-tau, matakut kng Dios at dng tune mamuntukan para kng panyulung dng balang balen.
Sana akit tala dng tutung masilbing kasangkapan, para mibalik la tiwala dng keraklan da ring tau keti. Dng tau na mayap mangipakit kng tutung pamangubyernu at karing sara-sariling gelingan dng balang metung kekatamu. Uling ing tutung laban alalu kng ligligan da ring kulayit dng pulitikung kakanditatu karing alalan. Iti atiyu karing dapat, karing platapormang magagawa potang pakalukluk no reng menga-alal a opisyalis. Uling dng tutung lider a mamuntukan aliwa detang "honorable" a balamu ginu lang mangasyas batal potang ati nalu karing munisipyu da ring balang balen, atilu karing tune a susuyu detang e kakargang angin ban e la daragul a buntuk, detang manatili kng lalam at susuyu para kng ikanawa da pamibiebie da ring kapara tamung tau, karing keraklan at ali dng mung mapilan.
Aldo mayaslag pu, kabalen!
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http://www.tarebalakdiscovery.blogspot.com/
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
“Kapampangan as a Tool in Learning -2”
Panagkat mi ya pu…
Center for Kapampangan Studies
Holy Angel University
Angeles City
“Kapampangan as a Tool in Learning -2”
Kapampangan Linguistic Lecture Series No.6
with Dr. Anicia del Corro as Resource Speaker
To be held at CKS, Holy Angel University, Angeles City on March 13, 2010 (9:00 am – 11:am)
Epiphany and finally, a breakthrough
Robby Tantingco
Dr. Anicia Hizon del Corro’s lecture last Saturday on DepEd Order #74 (the Department of Education’s directive making regional languages the primary medium of instruction) was a gathering of hawks and eagles refereed by a dove.
The hawks were the cultural advocates: Fr. Venancio Samson (translator of the Kapampangan Bible and Bergaño dictionary), cultural activist Siuala Pangilinan, Prinsipe ning Parnaso Romeo Rodriguez, Rey Maniago (representing ANASI), Edwin Camaya (DILA), Dr. Lino Dizon, Abraham Tayag, Kragi Garcia, Fray Francis Musni, the officers of the HAU Center for Kapampangan Studies, TSU Center for Tarlaqueño Studies, AUF Institute for Kapampangan Studies BSU Center for Bulacan Studies and representatives of groups like KATATAGAN, AGTACA and Akademyang Kapampangan.
Across the meeting hall were the eagles: Division officials of Pampanga and Angeles City, District supervisors, school principals, and teachers from both public and private schools from towns as far as Arayat, Macabebe, Masantol, Apalit, Minalin, Tarlac and Concepcion.
We expected only 25 attendees but more than 70 showed up—a sign that DepEd #74 was, indeed, a hot topic.
Thank God we had the brilliant and articulate Dr. Del Corro as guest lecturer. Her gentle demeanor and stature as the highest authority on Kapampangan linguistics calmed the tension that potentially existed between the cultural advocates who were pushing for Kapampangan above all other languages, and the educators who wanted only the child’s education regardless of what language was used.
The cultural advocates were also eager to take advantage of the window of opportunity opened by DepEd Order #74, and getting impatient that some educators appeared to be either ignorant of the Order, or confused about its provisions, or slow in implementing it.
As a linguist, Dr. Del Corro reiterated that the sole purpose of a language is to make communication easier, and the sole objective of a medium of instruction—any medium of instruction—is to facilitate the child’s learning. If Kapampangan hampers communication and the learning process, why in the world should we insist on using Kapampangan in the classroom?
Fortunately, DepEd Order # 74 agrees with cultural advocates that Kapampangan does facilitate a child’s learning. This should have settled the debate, but Dr. Del Corro wanted to make sure that the educators appreciated the linguistic principles behind the Order so that they’d understand why they do what they are ordered to do.
She reminded everyone that since the Order’s real intent is not to please cultural advocates but to help classroom teachers teach better and students learn faster, the Kapampangan that should be used in instruction is the kind of Kapampangan that’s easily understood by the students. In other words, the classroom is not the place for cultural advocates to advance their cause of promoting or purifying the language. Language is a tool for education, not the other way around.
In teaching math in Kapampangan, for example, it’s better for the teacher to say “Adua times adua” instead of “Adua ipaspas me king adua,” where the child still needs to know the meaning of “ipaspas” on top of solving the mathematical problem. Obsolete Kapampangan words resurrected from ancient dictionaries or new Kapampangan terms coined by imaginative scholars may please cultural advocates but they don’t help pupils very much.
In the open forum, some teachers aired their worries: Will our graduates become less proficient in English and lose their global competitiveness? How will this Order be received by parents who send their children to school precisely to learn English and Filipino? Where are the Order’s implementing guidelines? Will there be enough Kapampangan materials? What happens to heterogenous classes where minority Visayan, Ilocano, Bicolano and Korean students have as much right to learn as the majority Kapampangan students?
For their part, cultural advocates aired their concern over the apparent foot-dragging in the implementation of the Order, and wondered why some schools haven’t even received a copy of the Order, which was issued last July 2009 yet. They also worried if the Order would be consigned to oblivion just like many other Orders before it, especially with the impending change of leadership in the Department of Education after the May 2010 elections.
At that point Siuala Pangilinan raised the room temperature a few more degrees when he asked why Kapampangans always hesitate to use Kapampangan in the presence of non-Kapampangans. I don’t understand, Siuala said, why we always have to go out of our way to accommodate them at the expense of our own language. Since it was their choice to come and stay and earn a living here, the effort to adjust is theirs to make, not ours.
Just then one teacher stood up and asked her fellow teachers the most important question of all: As teachers, did they sincerely believe that it’s better to use Kapampangan in the classroom? Because if they did not, she said, the Order was doomed right from the start.
I learned, long ago in literature class, that there is a literary technique called epiphany, where a character who’s in the middle of a sticky situation experiences a flash of illumination when everything suddenly becomes crystal clear in his head. This enables him to resolve his predicament and the story gets a happy ending.
What happened in that meeting after the lady asked her question was, I think, a collective epiphany: suddenly confronted with a loyalty check, everyone in the room started professing their love for their amanung sisuan.
One teacher stood up to testify that she had experimented with Kapampangan in her math class and discovered that indeed, it improved her students’ grades. Another said many teachers had actually started translating their textbooks because as Kapampangans themselves, they already knew how to.
A Division official gave the assurance that the Division Office had taken concrete steps to implement the Order and would no longer wait for other provinces or the central office to issue more guidelines because, she said, “we all love our amanung sisuan and want it promoted anyway.”
Romeo Rodriguez and Rey Maniago, speaking on behalf of ANASI and the poets laureate, offered translation and consultation services, and the Center for Kapampangan Studies promised to reproduce the Kapampangan instructional materials it has collated and distribute them to schools. .
We exhorted the educators to seize the golden opportunity and not waste time waiting for more guidelines and being overly cautious by perfecting methodologies and materials before implementing the Order. Kapampangan teachers, being native Kapampangan speakers, are, according to Dr. Del Corro, experts of the language and therefore already qualified to translate and create Kapampangan instructional materials themselves and teach the kind of Kapampangan that pupils can relate to. They can just consult cultural advocates for refinement and integration of Kapampangan culture, history and values.
Cultural advocates, for their part, should realize that they do not have a monopoly of expertise and that they should trust teachers to carry on their own cultural advocacy in the classroom. They should just take comfort in the fact that Kapampangan—any Kapampangan—is now being conveyed to future generations, thus ensuring the survival of the amanung sisuan. It may not be the form of their liking, but it’s still the amanung sisuan.
We all agreed to meet regularly to compare progress reports and share best practices, and to resolve the orthography issue and prepare a grammar book. Dr. Del Corro concluded by giving teachers the assurance that learning Kapampangan does not diminish English proficiency. She suggested that English be taught not as a second language but as a foreign language, whose methodologies and strategies are more focused and stringent and therefore more effective.
We ended the meeting on a happy note, celebrating the hope and the promise that no Kapampangan child will ever again be punished or ridiculed for speaking Kapampangan in the classroom, and that educators and cultural advocates, having finally come together, will now proclaim that yes, Kapampangan is not a hindrance but in fact a key to success.
Published in the SunStar Pampanga newspaper on January 26, 2010.
Center for Kapampangan Studies
Holy Angel University
Angeles City
“Kapampangan as a Tool in Learning -2”
Kapampangan Linguistic Lecture Series No.6
with Dr. Anicia del Corro as Resource Speaker
To be held at CKS, Holy Angel University, Angeles City on March 13, 2010 (9:00 am – 11:am)
Epiphany and finally, a breakthrough
Robby Tantingco
Dr. Anicia Hizon del Corro’s lecture last Saturday on DepEd Order #74 (the Department of Education’s directive making regional languages the primary medium of instruction) was a gathering of hawks and eagles refereed by a dove.
The hawks were the cultural advocates: Fr. Venancio Samson (translator of the Kapampangan Bible and Bergaño dictionary), cultural activist Siuala Pangilinan, Prinsipe ning Parnaso Romeo Rodriguez, Rey Maniago (representing ANASI), Edwin Camaya (DILA), Dr. Lino Dizon, Abraham Tayag, Kragi Garcia, Fray Francis Musni, the officers of the HAU Center for Kapampangan Studies, TSU Center for Tarlaqueño Studies, AUF Institute for Kapampangan Studies BSU Center for Bulacan Studies and representatives of groups like KATATAGAN, AGTACA and Akademyang Kapampangan.
Across the meeting hall were the eagles: Division officials of Pampanga and Angeles City, District supervisors, school principals, and teachers from both public and private schools from towns as far as Arayat, Macabebe, Masantol, Apalit, Minalin, Tarlac and Concepcion.
We expected only 25 attendees but more than 70 showed up—a sign that DepEd #74 was, indeed, a hot topic.
Thank God we had the brilliant and articulate Dr. Del Corro as guest lecturer. Her gentle demeanor and stature as the highest authority on Kapampangan linguistics calmed the tension that potentially existed between the cultural advocates who were pushing for Kapampangan above all other languages, and the educators who wanted only the child’s education regardless of what language was used.
The cultural advocates were also eager to take advantage of the window of opportunity opened by DepEd Order #74, and getting impatient that some educators appeared to be either ignorant of the Order, or confused about its provisions, or slow in implementing it.
As a linguist, Dr. Del Corro reiterated that the sole purpose of a language is to make communication easier, and the sole objective of a medium of instruction—any medium of instruction—is to facilitate the child’s learning. If Kapampangan hampers communication and the learning process, why in the world should we insist on using Kapampangan in the classroom?
Fortunately, DepEd Order # 74 agrees with cultural advocates that Kapampangan does facilitate a child’s learning. This should have settled the debate, but Dr. Del Corro wanted to make sure that the educators appreciated the linguistic principles behind the Order so that they’d understand why they do what they are ordered to do.
She reminded everyone that since the Order’s real intent is not to please cultural advocates but to help classroom teachers teach better and students learn faster, the Kapampangan that should be used in instruction is the kind of Kapampangan that’s easily understood by the students. In other words, the classroom is not the place for cultural advocates to advance their cause of promoting or purifying the language. Language is a tool for education, not the other way around.
In teaching math in Kapampangan, for example, it’s better for the teacher to say “Adua times adua” instead of “Adua ipaspas me king adua,” where the child still needs to know the meaning of “ipaspas” on top of solving the mathematical problem. Obsolete Kapampangan words resurrected from ancient dictionaries or new Kapampangan terms coined by imaginative scholars may please cultural advocates but they don’t help pupils very much.
In the open forum, some teachers aired their worries: Will our graduates become less proficient in English and lose their global competitiveness? How will this Order be received by parents who send their children to school precisely to learn English and Filipino? Where are the Order’s implementing guidelines? Will there be enough Kapampangan materials? What happens to heterogenous classes where minority Visayan, Ilocano, Bicolano and Korean students have as much right to learn as the majority Kapampangan students?
For their part, cultural advocates aired their concern over the apparent foot-dragging in the implementation of the Order, and wondered why some schools haven’t even received a copy of the Order, which was issued last July 2009 yet. They also worried if the Order would be consigned to oblivion just like many other Orders before it, especially with the impending change of leadership in the Department of Education after the May 2010 elections.
At that point Siuala Pangilinan raised the room temperature a few more degrees when he asked why Kapampangans always hesitate to use Kapampangan in the presence of non-Kapampangans. I don’t understand, Siuala said, why we always have to go out of our way to accommodate them at the expense of our own language. Since it was their choice to come and stay and earn a living here, the effort to adjust is theirs to make, not ours.
Just then one teacher stood up and asked her fellow teachers the most important question of all: As teachers, did they sincerely believe that it’s better to use Kapampangan in the classroom? Because if they did not, she said, the Order was doomed right from the start.
I learned, long ago in literature class, that there is a literary technique called epiphany, where a character who’s in the middle of a sticky situation experiences a flash of illumination when everything suddenly becomes crystal clear in his head. This enables him to resolve his predicament and the story gets a happy ending.
What happened in that meeting after the lady asked her question was, I think, a collective epiphany: suddenly confronted with a loyalty check, everyone in the room started professing their love for their amanung sisuan.
One teacher stood up to testify that she had experimented with Kapampangan in her math class and discovered that indeed, it improved her students’ grades. Another said many teachers had actually started translating their textbooks because as Kapampangans themselves, they already knew how to.
A Division official gave the assurance that the Division Office had taken concrete steps to implement the Order and would no longer wait for other provinces or the central office to issue more guidelines because, she said, “we all love our amanung sisuan and want it promoted anyway.”
Romeo Rodriguez and Rey Maniago, speaking on behalf of ANASI and the poets laureate, offered translation and consultation services, and the Center for Kapampangan Studies promised to reproduce the Kapampangan instructional materials it has collated and distribute them to schools. .
We exhorted the educators to seize the golden opportunity and not waste time waiting for more guidelines and being overly cautious by perfecting methodologies and materials before implementing the Order. Kapampangan teachers, being native Kapampangan speakers, are, according to Dr. Del Corro, experts of the language and therefore already qualified to translate and create Kapampangan instructional materials themselves and teach the kind of Kapampangan that pupils can relate to. They can just consult cultural advocates for refinement and integration of Kapampangan culture, history and values.
Cultural advocates, for their part, should realize that they do not have a monopoly of expertise and that they should trust teachers to carry on their own cultural advocacy in the classroom. They should just take comfort in the fact that Kapampangan—any Kapampangan—is now being conveyed to future generations, thus ensuring the survival of the amanung sisuan. It may not be the form of their liking, but it’s still the amanung sisuan.
We all agreed to meet regularly to compare progress reports and share best practices, and to resolve the orthography issue and prepare a grammar book. Dr. Del Corro concluded by giving teachers the assurance that learning Kapampangan does not diminish English proficiency. She suggested that English be taught not as a second language but as a foreign language, whose methodologies and strategies are more focused and stringent and therefore more effective.
We ended the meeting on a happy note, celebrating the hope and the promise that no Kapampangan child will ever again be punished or ridiculed for speaking Kapampangan in the classroom, and that educators and cultural advocates, having finally come together, will now proclaim that yes, Kapampangan is not a hindrance but in fact a key to success.
Published in the SunStar Pampanga newspaper on January 26, 2010.
Sapang Balen Timeline
Sapang Balen Timeline
Angeles City
By Joel Pabustan Mallari and Robby Tantingco
In 1796, when founder Don Angel Pantaleon de Miranda cleared a wooded area called Culiat to make way for a new settlement, he chose the spot near a creek that would later be known as Sapang Balen.
Sapang Balen is actually Taug River, which originates in barrio Cuayan and is an offshoot of Ebus River, an upland creek that emanates from the foothills of Mount Pinatubo and joins Abacan River near barrio Anunas. As Taug River nears the town proper, it assumes the generic name of Sapang Balen. According to historian Mariano A. Henson, Taug River/Sapang Balen regularly inundated the town of Angeles, until its headwaters gradually dried up and Taug River disappeared, leaving behind only the downstream Sapang Balen, which today begins as a spring in the grassy area between Carmenville Subdivision, Enclave and Cuayan. In the cataclysmic rearrangement of the landscape following the 1991 eruption of Mount Pinatubo, Taug River reappeared, wreaking havoc on the town proper of Angeles, like it had done so many times in the past. Today it has disappeared once again, and houses and subdivisions have sprouted in its wake.
Kabalasan (or Mabalas) River is the name given to Sapang Balen as it leaves Angeles City and proceeds to San Fernando. It joins Sapa Calulut River and Sindalan River before losing much of its water and becomes Maimpis River. It is called Kabalasan River because the river turns sandy at this point, 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 deccelerate, thin out, and turn shallow, thus becoming meímpis. This spot is what is known today as Barrio Maimpis.
1811
Don Angel puts up his first house “on the northwest corner of the intersection of Sapang Balen creek and the road to Porac” (present Robin Theatre).
1850
Town population: 4,452. Number of houses: 742. Nipa palms (sasa) are still abundant in Angeles, especially along Sapang Balen in Mangga and Pulung Bulu.
1851
Townspeople build the first concerete bridge over Sapang Balen. Called Santo Rosario Bridge, it is located on the present Plaridel Street.
1854
The second concrete bridge, the Santo Angel Bridge, is built. It is located on Sto. Entierro Street, in front of the church.
1859
The third concrete bridge, the San Jose Bridge, is built . It is located near the Bale Herencia.
1881
Taug River overflows and destroys all three bridges on Sapang Balen, including several houses in barrio San Jose. Its floodwaters reaches as far as the present Villa Teresa Subdivision.
1885
Taug River again overflows into the Sapang Balen and finishes off the three bridges.
1912
Don Jose P. Henson (Mariano’s father) builds a levee to prevent the converging streams Sapang Bayu and Sapang Ebus from flowing into Sapang Balen.
1919
Patangue River and Taug River between barrios Cuayan and Pampang swell and wash away bridges in town
1972
Sapang Balen and Abacan River wreak havoc in Angeles during the monsoon season; dozens of houses in Pulung Bulu and San Jose are washed away.
1991
On June 15, Typhoon Yunya crosses Angeles at the same time that Mount Pinatubo erupts. As a result, a mixture of water, ash and mud from the slopes of the volcano flows in quantities more than the Abacan river channel can take, destroying all the bridges in its path. In downtown Angeles, the Sapang Balen also overflows its banks. Residents evacuate en masse. US servicemen and their families have also evacuated earlier.
1994
In August, the Pasig Potrero River nearly overtops Delta 5 Watchpoint, the area where it is nearest to Sapang Balen.
2003
Mayor Carmelo F. Lazatin and the Environmental Management Bureau of Department of Environment and Natural Resources (EMB-DENR) initiate a sustainable program in maintaining the cleanliness of waterways in the city. A memorandum of agreement (MOA) is signed affirming the respective tasks of various sectors in eliminating or minimizing pollution of water flowing through the Sapang Balen River.
Holy Angel University (HAU), represented by President Bernadette M. Nepomuceno, commits to conduct continuous community public education information drives for the sustainability of the project and to participate in actual monitoring. The barangay councils of San Jose represented by barangay chairman Benito Tiatco; Sto. Rosario, headed by barangay chairman Jose "Jiji" Paras Jr.; and Pulung Bulo, headed by barangay chairperson Gloria S. Tanhueco, also pledge support.
2009
In May, Bishop Pablo Virgilio David leads hundreds of volunteers and supporters in a river clean-up drive. Organized by the Social Action Center, “Sagip Sapang Balen” aims to raise consciousness especially among riverbanks residents and inspire in them a sense of personal responsibility for the cleanliness of the river.
2010
On March 13, Sagip Sapang Balen Concert with Noel Cabangon as guest is held at the HAU Chapel of the Holy Guardian Angel Piazza. Sponsored by the Social Action Center, the concert also features poetry reading and mural and painting exhibits.
Angeles City
By Joel Pabustan Mallari and Robby Tantingco
In 1796, when founder Don Angel Pantaleon de Miranda cleared a wooded area called Culiat to make way for a new settlement, he chose the spot near a creek that would later be known as Sapang Balen.
Sapang Balen is actually Taug River, which originates in barrio Cuayan and is an offshoot of Ebus River, an upland creek that emanates from the foothills of Mount Pinatubo and joins Abacan River near barrio Anunas. As Taug River nears the town proper, it assumes the generic name of Sapang Balen. According to historian Mariano A. Henson, Taug River/Sapang Balen regularly inundated the town of Angeles, until its headwaters gradually dried up and Taug River disappeared, leaving behind only the downstream Sapang Balen, which today begins as a spring in the grassy area between Carmenville Subdivision, Enclave and Cuayan. In the cataclysmic rearrangement of the landscape following the 1991 eruption of Mount Pinatubo, Taug River reappeared, wreaking havoc on the town proper of Angeles, like it had done so many times in the past. Today it has disappeared once again, and houses and subdivisions have sprouted in its wake.
Kabalasan (or Mabalas) River is the name given to Sapang Balen as it leaves Angeles City and proceeds to San Fernando. It joins Sapa Calulut River and Sindalan River before losing much of its water and becomes Maimpis River. It is called Kabalasan River because the river turns sandy at this point, 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 deccelerate, thin out, and turn shallow, thus becoming meímpis. This spot is what is known today as Barrio Maimpis.
1811
Don Angel puts up his first house “on the northwest corner of the intersection of Sapang Balen creek and the road to Porac” (present Robin Theatre).
1850
Town population: 4,452. Number of houses: 742. Nipa palms (sasa) are still abundant in Angeles, especially along Sapang Balen in Mangga and Pulung Bulu.
1851
Townspeople build the first concerete bridge over Sapang Balen. Called Santo Rosario Bridge, it is located on the present Plaridel Street.
1854
The second concrete bridge, the Santo Angel Bridge, is built. It is located on Sto. Entierro Street, in front of the church.
1859
The third concrete bridge, the San Jose Bridge, is built . It is located near the Bale Herencia.
1881
Taug River overflows and destroys all three bridges on Sapang Balen, including several houses in barrio San Jose. Its floodwaters reaches as far as the present Villa Teresa Subdivision.
1885
Taug River again overflows into the Sapang Balen and finishes off the three bridges.
1912
Don Jose P. Henson (Mariano’s father) builds a levee to prevent the converging streams Sapang Bayu and Sapang Ebus from flowing into Sapang Balen.
1919
Patangue River and Taug River between barrios Cuayan and Pampang swell and wash away bridges in town
1972
Sapang Balen and Abacan River wreak havoc in Angeles during the monsoon season; dozens of houses in Pulung Bulu and San Jose are washed away.
1991
On June 15, Typhoon Yunya crosses Angeles at the same time that Mount Pinatubo erupts. As a result, a mixture of water, ash and mud from the slopes of the volcano flows in quantities more than the Abacan river channel can take, destroying all the bridges in its path. In downtown Angeles, the Sapang Balen also overflows its banks. Residents evacuate en masse. US servicemen and their families have also evacuated earlier.
1994
In August, the Pasig Potrero River nearly overtops Delta 5 Watchpoint, the area where it is nearest to Sapang Balen.
2003
Mayor Carmelo F. Lazatin and the Environmental Management Bureau of Department of Environment and Natural Resources (EMB-DENR) initiate a sustainable program in maintaining the cleanliness of waterways in the city. A memorandum of agreement (MOA) is signed affirming the respective tasks of various sectors in eliminating or minimizing pollution of water flowing through the Sapang Balen River.
Holy Angel University (HAU), represented by President Bernadette M. Nepomuceno, commits to conduct continuous community public education information drives for the sustainability of the project and to participate in actual monitoring. The barangay councils of San Jose represented by barangay chairman Benito Tiatco; Sto. Rosario, headed by barangay chairman Jose "Jiji" Paras Jr.; and Pulung Bulo, headed by barangay chairperson Gloria S. Tanhueco, also pledge support.
2009
In May, Bishop Pablo Virgilio David leads hundreds of volunteers and supporters in a river clean-up drive. Organized by the Social Action Center, “Sagip Sapang Balen” aims to raise consciousness especially among riverbanks residents and inspire in them a sense of personal responsibility for the cleanliness of the river.
2010
On March 13, Sagip Sapang Balen Concert with Noel Cabangon as guest is held at the HAU Chapel of the Holy Guardian Angel Piazza. Sponsored by the Social Action Center, the concert also features poetry reading and mural and painting exhibits.
Sagip Sapang Balen Concert
Sagip Sapang Balen Concert
On March 13, 2010 Sagip Sapang Balen Concert with Noel Cabangon as guest will be held at the HAU Chapel of the Holy Guardian Angel Piazza. Sponsored by the Social Action Center, the concert also features poetry reading and mural and painting exhibits.
Sagip Sapang Balen
Neng Anac ning Arenas
ing ilug ning Sapang Balen a balu na
ngani'ning testigu "inyang malati ya",
a menuknanganan keng calye Miranda
"malino yang danum cristal qng kaclara
nung nu detang asan dakal kakawe la
balulungi't bulig king kerakalan da"
neng bandang kaleldo pagtampison da pa
bista man maigit nang limampulung banua
ngana pa, "canita atatandanan cu
ing dating Gobernor Kitung Nepomucenu
darala no ilug karin magpa-presku
ding kaluguran na Letran nyang colegiu
dapot umpisa nyang datang ing progresu
bale at kumpanya dinatan deng todu
gewa deng tambakan, pitak na balamu
sabe ning basura 'bat king mataderu"
keni mang maki'dad a tau San Jose
ngana'ing, "Sapang Balen atatandanan ke
dakal ya masayang alaala keng bie
karin ke manasan, mandilung kakawe"
karen mang aliwa pasyalan deng pane
istung malisangan, ilug puntaan de
ding minunang baryu, keya la binebe
at ing danum uran ken ya mamalebe
ing ilug mike ya keng pangapabustan
dala ning progresu keng pangkalakalan
at dening keng balen tamu manungkulan
balamu mine deng akalimbatawan
migkulang la karing sapat a paralan
ban apanatili ya keng kalinisan
at ing Sapang Balen a ilug tang yaman
ngeni ilug nya mung nanung katang-katang
mika-"Sagip Sapang Balen" banuang metung
nung nu ing pisamban menyad yang prusisyun
dapot ing sangkan ning meging pamitipun
e mu espiritu ampon king relihiyun
at e la kandila ding karelang daun
nune saku, palis, suput ampon bayung
ban miyabe-abe at misasanmetung
sagipan ya'ing Sapang Balen tamung bugtung
dakal a sinaup mialiwang memaryu
tau Cuayan, Cutcut, at Sto Rosario
Pampang, San Nicolas, at Sto. Domingo
Pulungbulo at San Jose carin tau
ding Sta Trinidad dintang la, atilu
escuelang pribadu't escuelang publicu
ding Barangay Councils at dakal pang grupu
misaup-saup lang minambag sacoru.
at mengabigla la, mengapamulala
king dakal basurang e makapanwala
tone-tonelada ing dinat dang ikua
gagato, makalbug, misaksak, misapa
kulang pang panakut, trak mang labing-adua
nganing Bishop David, paring mengasiwa
"iti umpisa ya", nganang meninasa
ing pamiligtas da king ilug ding sabla
dakal la ding grupung susuporta keni
kaugne ning gubyernung Angeles City
deng lider king Parish of Holy Rosary
ing Kuliat Foundation, ampo ding Rotary
ding Knights of Columbus, Angeles University
HAU at Holy Family Academy
Angeles Businessmen's Association pati
deti mengacu la at andang masisti
dapot libutad ding sablang pamagpagal
ding mialiwang grupu at tau dang dakal
mas migit kaniti'ing kailangang pairal
ding bale't kumpanyang dapat midian aral
ban ing Sapang Balen luminis yang tutal
ala yang mitagan basura at sukal
uling sablang iti muli mu imburnal
cabang deng mumugse e la magmasabal
Sagip Sapang Balen
Neng Tarebalak Pangpang
Sisilim kng ilug, makanyan ku mong dinulung
Malungkut kung menakit, ala metung mang bulung
Uling ala nang bie tutubu metung mang dutung
Batung mengalumud eno murin makabulung
Kanitang minuna, ena mo rugu kalupa
Dakal pang bie a keti kan’ta mamanyampaga
At king sapang iti keti ya pin megumpisa
Ing matwang Balen Culiat ta’mung pamalsinta
Keti la menatagan ding minunang tau
Karing kapangpangan ning sapang paglwalu
Meyawus yang Sapang Balen lagyu nang masuyu
Makanyan yang minusbung at ngeni mayasensu
Keti kng sapang iti, minatsat ya’t siningkad
Kng progresu ning balen iyang meging pusad
Dakal bale’t, gusali, plantang mengatalakad
Ing dating malating baryu, lungsud neng malapad
Lungsud Angeles, “Syudad ning Pamikaluguran”
Iti na ing bansag tamu kng syudad a pakamalan
Mupin, nu ya anti ing lugud a keti disan
Nung kng kapaligiran meging berdugu neman
Dng ilug at sapa ding meging tambakan dinat
Lasun-kemikal, takla, basurang dakal sukat
Mangaugseng minu-minutu matalik mikalat
Anti ing sapang iti, lalanging singap-singap
Makatakut ya ngening lalawen iting sapa
Likidung marayuput kukusad gigitata
Mete ne ing bie keti, dagis man eno bisa
Dakal nang sakit, ampo mamagbantang sakuna
Ngening sisilim, malapit ne rugung makmul
Ing dalumdum ning bengi keti king sapang sawul
Sana bayu mabak, linisan neng kawul-kawul
Tara magpuyat tana, pakabyen la ring sibul
A-12 Marsu, 2010