82. LAS CAMPANAS DE ISABELA DE LUZON

Dr. Troy Alexander G. Miano

15 December 2018

President Rodrigo R. Duterte witnessed today the turnover of the Transfer Certificate of the historic Balangiga Bells from United States (U.S.) Deputy Chief of Mission John Law to Philippine Department of National Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana in Balangiga town in Eastern Samar province. The certificate was then handed over to Balangiga Mayor Randy Graza. In his speech, Duterte said that the return of the bells was possible due to "several efforts made by both Americans and the Philippines."

For the past years, I have been doing research and documentation on Spanish-era Roman Catholic bells of Isabela. I have been very particular on the inscriptions on the campanas which include: the date of casting, its weight, name of the saint to whom it was dedicated, name of the town for which it was commissioned, name of the cura parroco when it was casted and even the name of the bell caster or foundry.

Most of the bells found in the province known as “Sentro ng AgriKultura” (Center of AgriCulture), were commissioned by the Order of Preachers or Dominicans who were in-charge of the ministry of the valley for three centuries. In the old San Pablo town, originally the site of the first Cabagan, two Spanish-era bells hung tightly at the belfry considered the highest in Cagayan Valley; a 1787 dedicated to Nuestro Padre Santo Domingo de Guzman and an 1894 dedicated to Nuestra Señora del Rosario. In the sister town of Cabagan, four bells can be found at the modern belfry but only one can be traced during the Spanish period dated 1850. In the adjacent Santa Maria town, three Spanish colonial campanas dangle on top of the present-day bell tower; two 1893 bells, one dedicated to La Purisma Concepcion and the other a gift from Don Generoso Gam-ma. The third bell only has the inscription “AÑO” with the rest of the words faded and erased by time and nature.

The next parish to the south is San Matias de Tumauini which houses four bells at the unique cylindrical belfry built in 1805. The Church christened as a National Cultural Treasure by the National Museum of the Philippines and a National Historical Landmark by the National Historical Commission of the Philippines has three Spanish era bells and one 20^th century. The first bell is one of the oldest recorded in Isabela dated 1783. The second was casted in 1790 and dedicated to Santa Catharina during the tenure of Fray Domingo Porto as cura parroco. The third bell is considered Spanish period though the date and other inscriptions are blurred and showed wear and tear with the remaining mark:  “...PUEBLO...S. MATHIAS...” The fourth bell is of modern-make.

The capital-city of Ilagan has three Spanish period bells. The imported bell of San Antonio de Padua made in Gerona, Spain in 1891 can be viewed and touched anytime at the historic Tabacalera Casa Administration in San Antonio. Another Ilagan bell located in one of its barrios was casted in 1893. Dedicated to San Jose, the campana can be found at the belfry of the Santa Isabel de Portugal Parish in Barangay Santa Isabel Sur on the other side of the Cagayan River where the old Bolo (forerunner of Ilagan) was situated. At the poblasyon, three bells hung obscurely at the 241 year old belfry of the San Fernando de Ilagan Parish with the main bell dated 1786 while the remaining two were casted during the American period.

Originally a part of Ilagan pueblo during the Spanish colonial period, the small church in Barangay Yeban Norte in Benito Soliven town housed two bells both dated 1895 with one dedicated to San Rafael Arcangel and the other to its patron, San Isidro Labrador. Old residents narrate that two Spanish era bells existed in a chapel situated on a hill in the old barrio of Maluno (now Maluno Norte & Maluno Sur) until the bells fell and broke after a typhoon and was brought to the town by the mayor. Unfortunately, no traces of the twin bells can be found as of present time.

The Santa Rosa de Gamu Parish belfry is the home of four Spanish period bells. The oldest, dated 1794, was dedicated to Maria delos Dolores. The second bell was a campana of the old settlement of Furao dated 1831. The third, dated 1875, has no other inscriptions while the fourth bell, dated 1888, was dedicated to Santa Rosa de Lima. Gamu was originally composed of three missions during the Spanish evangelization in the 1600s: Itugod, founded in 1678 and now barangay Lenzon; Gamu’t – also known as the 2^nd Batavag founded in 1686 in memory of the 1^st Batavag; and Furao, founded in 1740 and now a barangay of Gamu.

Reina Mercedes, established in 1878 as Calanusian, has two Spanish period campanas at the belfry of the San Antonio de Padua Church. The first bell dated 1885 is dedicated to Santa Barbara and the second dated 1890 to San Juan Bautista.

Cauayan City has two Spanish period bells now displayed on a pedestal at the Our Lady of the Pillar Parish grounds. The city’s eye catchers are both dedicated to Nuestra Señora del Pilar dated 1792 and 1843.

The campana of the Nuestra Señora de Atocha Church in Alicia town, casted in 1876, was the first bell I observed in the late 1990s when I saw it sitting at the right side of the facade of the century-old church. At the turn of the millennium, it was transferred on a platform in front of the belfry. Alicia, created a municipality in 1949 and formerly Angadanan Viejo, was the site of old Angadanan after it was transferred from its first site along the Angaranan Creek in Nueva Vizcaya province at the Palali Mountains before Solano poblasyon. According to the history of the parish, before the 1876 bell, three other bells existed and were handed over to the parishes of the municipalities of Quirino, Cabatuan and Cordon.

Like Alicia, Cabatuan was created as a town only in 1949 but it has a 160 year old bell dedicated to Santo Domingo de Guzman. It was one of the bells of Nuestra Señora de Piat in Cagayan province which was later given to Angadanan Church, now Alicia Church. In the 1950s, it was transferred to the newly constructed San Andres Parish Church in my hometown.

The three antique bells of the old pueblo of Echague are now displayed on a plinth in front of the newly constructed parish office of the Saint Joseph the Worker Church. The oldest of the three, with limited marks, is dated 1795. The other two bells were both casted in 1890 and dedicated to San Jose and Nuestra Señora del Rosario. Camarag, the old site of Echague and a one-time capital of Nueva Vizcaya province, has an existing ruin of an old church. During my research, I was told that after the Camarag Church crumbled, the bell was transferred to the Echague Roman Catholic Church. Camarag is now a barangay of the neighboring San Isidro town.

The old pueblo of Oscariz founded as a town in 1881, originally named Vallecillo and later to Begona, has two antique bells. The first, dated 1882, was dedicated to Nuestra Señora del Rosario while the second, dated 1894, was dedicated to its patron, San Isidro Labrador. Both bells are hung on a modern belfry. Local residence narrates that a third bell existed but was transferred to the parish of San Mateo town.

Santiago City, founded in 1743 as Carig, has one Spanish-era bell which lies lonely at a corner of the compound of the Santiago Apostol Parish. Stripped of its glory which it held for two centuries, the bell has full inscription though hard to read because of its artistic font is dated 1758 but with an 1805 dedication to Dominican Manila Archbishop (1804-1824) Juan Antonio Zulaibar y Aldape during the watch of Fray Jaime Ninerola. The Spanish period bell of Pueblo de Carig was dedicated to Nuestra Señora Nieva.

Palanan Church located in coastal Isabela was the last I documented with three old bells permanently displayed atop the modern belfry. The oldest ringing metal has an 1800 date followed by an 1870 dedicated to Santa Maria Magdalena, the town’s patron since 1609. The third bell has no markings except for the traditional Roman Catholic cross on its waist but it is believed that it was casted during the Spanish period since its features are very similar to the two other bells.

Eleven of the thirty-three Spanish bells were casted at the foundry of the famous metal smith Hilario Sunico y Santos (176 bells, dated 1872-98; last known bell dated 1937) at Calle Jaboneros, San Nicolas District in the old capital city of Manila. Thirty of the thirty-three bells were commissioned by the Dominicans while the three Palanan bells were commissioned by the Franciscan missionaries.

Throughout society and culture around the world, bells have a multitude of meanings and purposes. For religious institutions like the Roman Catholic Church, bells are said to represent the “voice of God.” Bells have a deep symbolic meaning that is associated with the mind and the expansion of consciousness. Bells gather people by summoning them to church or events. Bells are also associated with clocks, indicating the hour by ringing. The word “clock” comes from the Latin word “cloca”, meaning “bell”. In Balangiga, Eastern Samar, the bell was used to signal the ambush of the colonizing Americans by the native Warays which killed 48 and wounded 22 of the 78 men of the unit with only four escaping unhurt and four missing in action. In the Province of Isabela, the bells assisted the missionaries in the evangelization of the natives during the Spanish colonization. After a couple of centuries, 33 bells still exist, withstood the wrath of nature and war and served as a lasting proof of our existence as Christians.