WITH THE Abacan River back to its
placid state, Angeles City stirred to life anew. Edgardo Pamintuan, with an
overwhelming mandate as elected mayor, electrified his constituents with the
clarion call Agyu Tamu (We Can!) to inspire confidence that
the city could rise, phoenix-like, from the volcanic ashes.
Pamintuan was inspired by a few intrepid city entrepreneurs who refused “to
heed the voice of reason” and stayed put in the city to rehabilitate their
factories and revive their productivity, foremost of whom was Ruperto Cruz who
resumed his manufacture and export of high-end furniture within 45 days after
the eruption.
To jumpstart the local economy, Pamintuan and his confidant, the activist Alexander Cauguiran, hit the buttons that sparked the city’s vibrancy – the entertainment industry.
Thus was birthed Tigtigan, Terakan Keng Dalan, street dancing and music in the Mardi Gras mold.
To jumpstart the local economy, Pamintuan and his confidant, the activist Alexander Cauguiran, hit the buttons that sparked the city’s vibrancy – the entertainment industry.
Thus was birthed Tigtigan, Terakan Keng Dalan, street dancing and music in the Mardi Gras mold.
The whole stretch of MacArthur
Highway in Barangay Balibago was closed to traffic. The strip shone bright
again in a kaleidoscope of lights. Bands on a makeshift stage on the highway
itself played all types of music, from country to rock, rhythm and blues to
OPM. Restaurants set their tables on the sidewalks. Food was aplenty. Beer flowed
like – in the spirit of the times – lahar. Thousands rocked and rolled in a
celebration of renewal, of rebirth.
The shroud of grief over the Pinatubo tragedy had been lifted – in Angeles City.
THAT WAS the capping piece subtitled Happy days of the chapter Lahar! in our book Pinatubo: Triumph of the Kapampangan Spirit.
Tigtigan, Terakan Keng Dalan marked a defining moment in the deathly struggle and ultimate victory of the Angeleno over the devastations of the Mt. Pinatubo eruptions.
Much similar to Bacolod City’s Masskara Festival which signature smiles defined that city’s rise from the hardships that came in the wake of the collapse of the sugar industry in the ‘80s, if I have my chronology right.
That Tigtigan, Terakan Keng Dalan became the signature festival of Angeles City was a testament to its lasting impact on the psyche of the city residents, and a recognition of its prime value to their survival as a people.
So at its every staging in the last weekend of October since 1992, Tigtigan, Terakan Keng Dalan serves as a look-back to the nights of fear and anxieties, to the days of hope and struggles until the rebirthing of the city now soaring in the firmament of economic development. Truly a cause for celebration…
The shroud of grief over the Pinatubo tragedy had been lifted – in Angeles City.
THAT WAS the capping piece subtitled Happy days of the chapter Lahar! in our book Pinatubo: Triumph of the Kapampangan Spirit.
Tigtigan, Terakan Keng Dalan marked a defining moment in the deathly struggle and ultimate victory of the Angeleno over the devastations of the Mt. Pinatubo eruptions.
Much similar to Bacolod City’s Masskara Festival which signature smiles defined that city’s rise from the hardships that came in the wake of the collapse of the sugar industry in the ‘80s, if I have my chronology right.
That Tigtigan, Terakan Keng Dalan became the signature festival of Angeles City was a testament to its lasting impact on the psyche of the city residents, and a recognition of its prime value to their survival as a people.
So at its every staging in the last weekend of October since 1992, Tigtigan, Terakan Keng Dalan serves as a look-back to the nights of fear and anxieties, to the days of hope and struggles until the rebirthing of the city now soaring in the firmament of economic development. Truly a cause for celebration…
SO, I wrote here October 24, 2008.
As much an institution of Agyu Tamu, the embodiment of the true grit of the Angeleno, TTKD serves as a
celebration of a friendship, indeed, a comradeship truly engaged in the service
of the people – that of Pamintuan and Cauguiran, which, to sound like a cranky
record now, was forged in the crucible of the Marcos dictatorship.
Come to think of it, in parallel lines
what EDSA Uno won for the Filipino, Agyu
Tamu accomplished for the Angeleno. Both effecting a people’s liberation –
from tyranny in the first, from desolation in the second.
An iconic image of the former is the salubungan of Ramos and Enrile in front
of camps Aguinaldo and Crame. In not-so-dissimilar fashion, the march of
Pamintuan and Cauguiran through the TTKD stretch of Balibago. Re-enacted,
reprised at each celebration, as in the former, so in the latter.
Alas, politics has come to cleave in
its passing. Agyu Tamu to Mas Agyu Tamu evolving. Plain pun to the
uninitiated, but to the mulat that
intensifier mas less for effect as
for highlighting some ideological schism.
On one hand the subordination of
ideals to the exigency and expediency of the moment, at best; the perversion of
core values to suit contradictory interests, at worst. On the other, principled
stand at whatever cost.
The classic irresistible force
colliding with an immovable object. Which shall prevail?
We can only wait with bated breath.
In the meantime, drink, dance, sing,
sway, revel. That’s what this fun weekend is for, after all.
Still, Pamintuan con Cauguiran, main
entrée in TTKDs past, will the Angeleno be served anew this October 26 and 27?
Whatever, it won’t ever be the same
again.
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