We are back!Holy Week in Jordan: 50 years of Balaan Bukid, 30 years of Pagtaltal
By: Jo Martinez-Clemente with reports from: Rosalie Joven
Sonja Malinen and Timo Sahja are practicing psychiatric nurses from Finland out on their 5th week of vacation exploring Southeast Asia. They were in Guimaras during the Holy Week to see Jordan’s “Ang Pagtaltal” and to climb “Balaan Bukid.” They read about these from the website of the “Lonely Planet.” Balaan Bukid means Holy Mountain as atop it is a big cross and a shrine of the Blessed Mary while Pagtaltal means to remove. In the context of Jordan’s Lenten presentation, this means “removing the body of Christ from the Cross.”
From the Valle Verde Mountain Resort where they stayed, Timo said they woke up at 1:30 am and trekked from the Resort to the Provincial Highway and there took a ride to Barangay Balcon Melliza, where the climb to Balaan Bukid starts.
The two were joined by Eleanor Garcia from Bacolod City whom they met at the Resort. Eleanor who incidentally is also a nurse was taking a respite provided by the Holy Week and had chosen Jordan for it. The three said the climb to the mountain before sunrise as well as the scene from the top – overlooking Panay Island was cool. “You want to freeze the moment,” the three said.
Rey Pansia is a 45 year old beautician from Pavia, Iloilo. He heard about Pagtaltal from the radio as well as from friends previously doing pilgrimages to the site. Even as Jordan is but a 45 minute boat ride from Iloilo City, Pansia said it was only now that he was able to cross to the area on a Good Friday. “The experience was very rewarding. I know now why my friends keep on coming back,” he said.
Timo, Sonja, Eleanor and Rey are among thousands of people who spent Good Friday, some, even their entire Holy Week in this Island Province.
Balaan’s Miracle
Asked if miracles happen in Balaan Bukid, Jordan Parish priest, Fr. Jose Manuel Escanlar says there is no recode nor any incident so far ever forwarded for investigation or study to the appropriate body in the Catholic Church. Still, Fr. Escanlar unto whose care the Shrine had now been handed over believes that even as there are no sensational or well publicized claims to miracles, the silent conversion of a people enlightened by their pilgrimages to the Shrine are now enjoying the fruits of their conversion is the modern day miracle. “And I pray that there will be more miracles of this kind,” he said.
Ang Pagtaltal
“Ang Pagtaltal” which tells the story of passion, death and resurrection of Christ made its debut 30 years ago. The stage play was conceptualized, written and directed by Aquilino Secosana better known here as ‘Tatay Quiling’, the Father of Pagtalatal. Mang Quiling said their maiden presentation was in mime – no dialogues, just simple acting. But it was a success and people liked it so that the following year, they improved on it and started to put in the dialogues and improve the costumes. The harder thing to do then he said was in looking for the cast of characters and a narrator who can deliver the story in Ilongo.
Since 1979, Ang Pagtaltal already had at least 4 persons who played the role of Jesus Christ. The first was Arturo Segubre who took on the role for 21 years. The second was Luis Herrera, Lolito Gadyon and now, Jerry Robles. The actors of Pagtaltal are ordinary folks of Guimaras. They are tricycle drivers, boatmen, housewives, farmers. In contrast, those who come to Jordan, Guimaras to watch the Lenten presentations are the top honchos of government and private corporations to include the diplomatic community such as the Ambassadors of Spain and Mexico to the Philippines.
In time, the play evolved. In recent years, the dialogues were pretaped in the vernacular but English translation of the story is flashed on the wide screen so that those who could not understand the local dialect can follow the story.
The story of Jesus is presented during the Holy Week in many ways across the country but what sets the “Ang Pagtaltal” apart is the very character of the area. Here in Jordan, Guimaras, a pilgrim or plain tourist is moved back in time as the Roman costumes adorned by the actors dwell perfectly with the Islands ambience. From the town’s amphitheater where the play is staged, the actors and the audience move out into the streets following Christ as he carries his cross to a hill. The array of Roman guards that line the streets are led by a horse riding soldier.
Mt Golgotha takes form from a mound now fenced and maintained by the town government of Jordan especially for the annual Lenten play. But those who watch the “Ang Pagtaltal” are more than tourists. Many are really on pilgrimage to the area who caps their Holy Week with the passion play. On Thursday afternoon or earlier, these pilgrims do the Stations of the Cross through a trek of Balaan Bukid.
Balaan Bukid
Access to Balaan Bukid could be done two ways. One is through the original route taken by Rev. Fr. Bargil Pixner, OSB and Crisogono Domingo when they first searched the area some 50 years ago as they looked for a place to house the stattue of Mary and her Child. This route takes on Bondolan Bay right up the mountains from a boat. Along its path are Stations of the Cross which were made by patients of the Leprosarium in Sta. Barbara, Iloilo. In time, it was gathered that these were replaced by another set that came in from Spain.
The other is the route taken by recent visitors of the Island like Timo, Sonja and Eleanor. Coming from the Province’s interior, the best route is through the heart of Barangay Balcon Melliza. From here, the trek would take about an hour. Compared to the Bondolan Side, this route is less tedious as the sloping is not as steep. The Stations of the Cross distributed along its path are not statues simple laminated colored pictures. In some of the stations, concrete pews were placed for the faithful to kneel on. The pictures are mounted on huge trees or stonewall. Some parts of the trek are lined with calachuchi trees and just as Holy Week is remembered by the Catholics here, these trees are abloom with white fragrant flowers. Atop the Balaan Bukid is the Ave Maria Shrine. The shrine was inaugurated on May 1, 1956, some 6 years after it was conceived.
In a published article, Fr. Pixner narrated to Secusana the beginnings of Balaan Bukid:
A Mill Hill priest, Fr. Pixner was chaplain of the Leprosarium in Sta. Barbara, Iloilo from 1950 to 1956. One of the members of his Legion of Mary was Crisogono “Goning” Domingo. His wife was Candelaria. In his account to Secusana, Fr. Pixner said that Goning sought his help to fulfill a “Panaad” (promise) he made 10 years earlier.
The promise was made at the height of the Japanese occupation when he and his wife together with some leprosy patients escaped from an island and landed in the shores of Panay. The Japanese got to know the escape and started shooting the lepers they could get sight of. It was while they were hiding in the woods and soldiers came searching for them that he made a promise to Mary to give her a gift if he and his wife would survive the ordeal.
Noting Goning’s natural flair for the arts, Fr. Pixner suggested that he create something for the Virgin Mary. Said he: “Goning you have a natural gift for artistic work. You have painted the Virgin sang Barangay for Mr. Gaston in Bacolod City. Everybody loves that Filipino Madonna. Another lively picture you made was the Mother Mary with the Hammock and you also have carved many beautiful things and statues. I suggest that in fulfillment of your pana-ad, you make a statue of Mary with child. We will find a place for it.”
That said Goning carved a small statue as model. This according to the story was brought to the Mill Hill House at Slingerlands in Albany in the United States by Fr. Pixner. The bigger statue was soon made by Goning. Fr. Pixner then informed Archbishop Jose Ma. Cuenco of Jaro about it. After seeing the statue, the archbishop suggested that since the Spanish Cardinal Quiroga was visiting Jaro that time, he might as well bless the statue.
The search for a place to enshrine the statue brought upon Fr. Pixner through a dream where he saw himself in an island climbing a rocky mountain. As he was also looking after a group of young Christian workers at the Sta. Teresita Parish in Iloilo City then, Fr. Pixner asked them to climb with him the highest rock of Guimaras Island which lay across Iloilo City. Upon seeing the area, it was decided that indeed, the place was ideal for a shrine.
Guimaras then was still a part of Iloilo Province. As chaplain of the Knights of Colombus of Iloilo, Fr. Pixner also sought their support. In 1954, which is a Marian year and during the Feast of our Lady of Guadalupe, the statue was brought to this highest rock of Guimaras. The trip further encouraged the members of the Knights of Colombus to build a small church there to house the statue. Grand Knight Lopez Vito endorsed it and so did Charlie Jalandoni and Dr. Piamonte. Another officer of the Knights of Colombus who is an architect, Isaac Matangakay designed the chapel. The chapel now known as Ave Maria Shrine was constructed through the generosity of Rosario Ledesma who shelled out the amount needed and through the hard work of the boys and girls of Barangay Hoskyn who carried sacks of sand up the mountain.
For his part, Arch Cuenco issued a Decree that the Diocese of Jaro would make every 1st day of May each year as a pilgrimage day to Balaan Bukid.
In time however, Ang Pagtaltal evolved and the Stations of the Cross along the path of Balaan Bukid enroute to the Ave Maria Shrine had become part and parcel of this Holy Week trek in the islands. While these two have brought many visitors to Jordan and would indeed give a big boost to its tourism program, Mayor Felipe Hilan Nava had always maintained the religious character of the Pagtaltal and Balaan Bukid. It is a pilgrimage he said, not an ordinary tourism festival and we give the faithful due respect.
And rightly so, after all, this serene and beautiful Island has so much to offer those who opt to extend their stay beyond Good Friday.
WV Magazine, Volume 1, No. 1, May 2005
Other article of Jo M. Clemente
We are back!
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