44. NUANG AND THE FESTIVAL OF SAN AGUSTIN

NUANG AND THE FESTIVAL OF SAN AGUSTIN

Dr. Troy Alexander G. Miano

28 September 2017

I was invited to grace the 18th Nuang Festival and 68th Founding Anniversary of the Municipality of San Agustin, Isabela as judge and to deliver a message as Provincial Tourism Officer. We arrived at the town center right after the parade of nuangs or carabao (water buffalo) reached the finish line. The annual festival started on September 26 with a parade of all best models of Honda Ace City followed by a dance contest and Barangay Night. The following day was the street dance competition participated in by the secondary level schools, the ritual showdown and DepEd Night. Today, Day 3, was the formal opening of the “Nuang Festival” which was commenced with a parade highlighted with the nuang’s marching with locals. The launching of the Philippine Dairy Buffalo Breed or “Pinoy Buffalo” was attended by no less than the representatives of the Philippine Council for Agriculture, Aquatic and Natural Resources Research and Development (PCAARRD), Philippine Carabao Center (PCC), Department of Agriculture, Office of the Provincial Veterinarian and other stakeholders. This was followed by the awarding of bulls, piglet “hounding”, giving prizes to farmers and buffalo contest: Best Milker, Best Draft (male), Best Dressed Female Buffalo, Best in Talent, Best in Dairy Caracow (inahin), Most Number of Buffaloes Participating and Cookfest Contest for 1001 Carabeef Recipes. Governor Faustino G. Dy III was present together with former 4th District Congressman Giorgidi G. Aggabao, Partylist Representative Harry L. Roque, Jr. of the Kabayan (Kabalikat ng Mamamayan), Sangguniang Panlalawigan Member Alfredo V. Alili and Mayor Leticia L. Sebastian of Jones. The day’s program was culminated with the Recognition & Awards and LGU Night and the Invitational Hip Hop Dance Competition.

When I was researching data for my book “Chronological History of Isabela”, I stumbled on the name Agustin Daguro Agpaoa in the files of old Jones town and to my surprise I encountered the same name in the history of the neighboring San Agustin town. Hon. Agustin Daguro Agpaoa is the acknowledged founder of the Municipality of San Agustin. With naughty thoughts, the mayor may have named the new LGU after his first name but on official records it was named after the patron of the new town. There are seven towns in Isabela named after its founders but used the prefix “San” (Saint) to remove the idea of being self serving. The town of San Mateo was named after Mayor Mateo Cadeliña y Acierda, San Guillermo after Mayor Eugenio S. Guillermo, San Pablo after Don Pablo Marasigan, San Mariano after the Kalingan chieftain Mariano, Santa Maria after Doña Maria Marasigan (changed to “Masigan” for easier pronunciation) daughter of Don Pablo Marasigan and Santo Tomas after Don Tomas Gatan and Don Tomas Bautista the first two gobernadorcillos of the mother-town of Cabagan.

Callang, also a town in Isabela, was recommended to be rechristened as “San Mariano” after the name of Mayor Mariano Garcia. However, there would be two “San Mariano” towns in Isabela, hence, the proposal was scrapped. Since there were already towns named after Quezon and Roxas, the mayor recommended the first name of the former presidents instead, thus the name “San Manuel”. Only Santiago and San Isidro towns were really named after the saints, Santiago Apostol and San Isidro Labrador, respectively.

Hon. Agustin D. Agpaoa had a very colorful public service career. Finished only Grade VII at Echague Elementary School, he served as a Clerk of Echague (1927-1929), Councilor of Jones (1930-1933), Vice Mayor of Jones (1934-1936), Mayor of Jones (1937-1939), Councilor of Jones for the second time (1946-1949), Mayor of San Agustin (1950) and three-termer Councilor of San Agustin (1956-1959, 1960-1963 & 1964-1967). He was born on August 28, 1901 in Laoag, Ilocos Norte to Eutiquiano Agpaoa and Irene Daguro. He was married to Margarita Pascua of Echague and had the following children: Juliana, Natalia, Bienvenido, Rosita, Ernesto, Jose, Manuel Rosario and Romulo. He died on June 18, 1972.

In the 1982 book entitled “Isabela” released by the Provincial Government offers a short historical development of the Municipality of San Agustin, Isabela. In the old days, the present site of San Agustin was a hinterland inhabited by headhunting Ilongots and some scattered bands of Aetas locally called “Pogot”. It was then a part of the municipality of Echague. From this historic town sailed forth a band of intrepid pioneers led by Juan Gumpal, Antonio Pintang and Vicente Taguiam. They penetrated the wilderness and explored the rich valleys along both sides of the Cagayan River then known as Rio Grande (Big River). They put up scattered settlements which were often plagued by malaria, the most dreaded disease at that time, and the marauding Ilongots and Pogots. But the brave pioneers stayed put and in the end they were able to befriend the Ilongots and Aetas and at the same time they were able to lick malaria. Not long after the scattered settlements grew into sitios and one of them was Lakay-lakay (named after the creek) on the western side of the Cagayan River. The place is now called “Masaya” the seat of the municipal government of San Agustin.

When Jones was organized into an independent municipality in 1921, 30 barrios were separated from the municipality of Echague and one of them was Masaya. Because all the barrios of Jones prospered beyond the inhabitant’s expectations and since there were no good roads connecting the barrios at that time, the people of Masaya and adjoining barrios petitioned the President of the Philippines to organize their barrios into a regular town. The petition was favorably considered so that on September 28, 1949, President Elpidio Quirino issued Exective Order No. 269 creating the Municipality of San Agustin with Masaya as the seat of the municipal government.

San Agustin is fast growing as the dairy capital of the valley. Its nuangs are no longer used to plow the fields since modern agricultural technology has already been implemented in the countryside. Nuangs are now bred for their milk and meat and its produce are proudly showcased in the agri-booth in this year’s celebration of the 18th Nuang Festival. Proudly San Agustin-made. Proudly Isabela-made. And proudly Philippine-made!