BULALAKAW - Pandan Antique Newsletter
Official Publication of
Pandan Antique Foundation and Pagtatap Foundation, Inc.
PANDAN WOWS INTRAMUROS
By Arden Rod Condez, Philippines
Hundreds of people, mostly Catholics, formed serpentine lines at the façade of the Manila Cathedral to feed their need to see the remains of Cardinal Sin. For most Pinoys, the week was for mourning the passing of a man clothed with eminence and prominence. But for Pandananons and other Antiqueños, June 26, 2005 was a day of celebration as they witnessed the province's participation in the Wow Philippines site in Intramuros.

Knowing about the event two weeks before made me super excited. Nothing could be better than seeing fellow Pandananons in another place, especially in people-packed Manila. I had been here in Manila for two months, surfing the city for a job. And I was then one of them, sharing the same hunger to have a taste of my little town in the northwestern part of Panay. It intensified my wanting to see this jungle of skyscrapers and poverty that gets boring and sadistic as time flies by.

Tribu Tugbong, Brgy. San Andres, Pandan, Antique, Philippines Two days after the opening of Wow Western Visayas, I went with my college friend to see the clamshell. It saddened me to see Antique's booth as the smallest. I thought, "Does this mean that Antique is the province that has the least to offer?" My excitement ebbed, but the moment I heard that Tribu Tugbong of Brgy. San Andres of Pandan would perform on the 26th, my excitement came back, like a prodigal son returning home and I was the father welcoming him with longing embrace. I then said that even if Antique had little to exhibit, it has its people to show off.

Along with high school friends, we were the first ones from Pandan to conquer the clamshell at around 12:00 PM after the mass in Sto. Domingo. We were so excited. Then, more familiar faces invaded the site. The faces I saw seemed so close to me at that I gave them my widest smiles sandwiching words of "uy kamusta?", "diin kaw gaobra?", "nagputi kaw!," and worse, "nagtambok kaw ah!"

At around 4:00 PM, Tribu Tugbong's drums started beating down the streets of Intramuros. Their tropical sounds and music set the festive mood. The mourners of the Cardinal were either disturbed or confused as to whether to continue singing dirge or dance. I even speculated that Cardinal Sin's soul was forced but failed to go back to his remains and decided to go dancing with the tribe, which started to wiggle and wobble around the streets enveloping the Wow Philippines site. Headed by Mayor John and his proud wife, we followed the tribe around with our head high like Spanish conquistadores, declaring to all that we had conquered Intramuros. The Pandananons had the largest number of Antiqueños that flocked the event. This was the Pandananons' way of saying that we are the people who are most concerned of our province and we have the most number of reasons to be proud as Antiqueños.

After the sadsad, Tribu Tugbong portrayed the Maragtas through exotic dancing. With occasional clapping from the audience disturbing the drumbeats, the tribe told the story of the Barter of Panay. I wished that the introductory narration wasn't long. The narrator robbed the dancers the opportunity to showcase more the story of Panay through their dance. It would have been more challenging and artistic if they just danced the story without the talk. But judging from their energetic dance movements, the San Andresanons were very proud to be storytellers of Antique's history and culture. The performance ended with the audience clapping aloud and the Antiqueños saying, "I'm home."

This is just the beginning of the Pandananons conquering Manila and the rest of the world. We can offer more than charcoaled skin in G-strings. Pandan is peopled by Antiqueños with great minds and giving hearts. One of them might still outdo the prominence of Cardinal Sin.
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