CULTURAL VARIATIONS

OF CATBALOGAN CITY
OBSERVATIONS, ISSUES AND
RECOMMENDATIONS

HECTOR BAILEY G. CALUMPIANO

MAEd Social Sciences
#1
ORGANIC
ECONOMIC
GROWTH
ORGANIC ECONOMIC GROWTH
Catbalogan City is a society organized
according to a self-sufficient economy.
The residents has always been engaged in the
merchandize of their own local products, such
as fishing, hardwood and eateries.
According to a Jesuit missionary Fr. Francisco
Alcina: “Food is never lacking [in these areas],
whether they catch at sea, travel or hunt.”
ORGANIC ECONOMIC GROWTH
Credit is due to the Catbalogan ancestors
who grew rice, ube, gaway, payao,
artichoke, ybing and saguing.
There have always been a variety of beans
as well; the Chinese introduced nicama (or
singkamas) and nantac (a bean variety).
The Catbaloganon developed a merchant
culture of self-growth.
ORGANIC ECONOMIC GROWTH
Feodor Jagor, a German naturalist, made
this observation to Catbalogan: “This town
has always been the center of maritime
trade. Even merchants from Catarman
traveled to Catbalogan. The number of
major crops, such as coconut and rice,
maybe few, but products from the forest
and sea were legions.”
ORGANIC ECONOMIC GROWTH
An American observer even once noted of
Catbalogan: “The nature of the commerce in
Catbalogan shifted from imports to the sale of
main commercial products. As such, many
Catbaloganons are making their fortunes in
local trades.”
But this local economy has lagged outside
franchises to be established, thus “slowing”
the economic race of Catbalogan City.
#2
CULTURAL
COMMERCIALISM
CULTURAL COMMERCIALISM
Catbaloganons have now become an active
participant in cultural commercialism.
A “modern fever” has caught up with
Catbalogan, a dragnet of bawdy, rowdy,
and bustling presentations characterized
by frenzied street dancing, tribal
showcases, and superficial art resembling
toys and dolls.
CULTURAL COMMERCIALISM
The Waray cultural life, surrounding Catbalogan
in the past, was once dictated by gentler rules
of behavior with defined social decorum.
This was evidenced by the practice of local
zarzuelas, operettas, and some sponsored
cultural productions.
In the recent past, many Catbaloganons assumed
themselves as danceurs, composers and
musicians.
CULTURAL COMMERCIALISM
But the Catbaloganons’ high artistic
standards and devotion for aesthetic
appreciation have been impeded by politics
and patronism.
Series of conflagrations, beginning in the
1950’s and 1960’s, razed Catbalogan and
halted the unique, lavish local productions as
the community began thinking of means of
how to recover from its losses.
CULTURAL COMMERCIALISM
By the 1970s, the community saw a surfeit
decline of operettas and other musical arts.
Lesser known and more socially realistic
productions were created, influenced by
brewing political instabilities and social
discontent, where artists and culture
aficionados had to renew their discipline to
support a rapid clamor for change.
CULTURAL COMMERCIALISM
 Local
productions have begun to dwindle, which has
become our present trend.
 The
celebrated cultural productions today requires more
competitive determination but lesser appreciation.
A “rock-and-roll” entertainment pursuit is chosen over
the delights of quiet indigenous cultural presentations.
 Withlesser cultural symbols and indigenous icons that
served as benchmarks of our thriving cultural past, the
unique Waray culture of Catbalogan is threatening to
become extinct.
#3
STORYTELLING
AS A FISHING
RITUAL
STORYTELLING AS A FISHING RITUAL
Samarnon fisher-folks have always been
song weavers and music lovers.
During “Maqueda Bay nights,” the deep
silence of the waters can be pierced by a
haunting song from a sole fisherman, or a
chant of a fish worker while they are
lifting the net, or nagliliba.
STORYTELLING AS A FISHING RITUAL
But what makes the Catbaloganon fishing
ritual unique is the practice of the following:
the fisher would often wash a meal with the
family with coconut wine, or tuba, which is a
early bay night activity done ashore.
Prior or after the fishing expedition, the fishers
would regale the family with storytelling sessions
which always kindled the imagination.
STORYTELLING AS A FISHING RITUAL
 Over his daily dose of one intero of tuba, the
family would gather around the fisher and hear him
tell wonders of the seas and secrets of the trade.
They include stories of mermaids, merfolks and
beautiful underwater princesses; the escape from
santilmo, or sea fire; the fight with the
rumpikandado, or swordfish; the powers of the
ikog pagi (the whip tail of a stingray), and many
other adventures at sea.
STORYTELLING AS A FISHING RITUAL
 The stories were endless until the intero runs dry
or if the fisher intends to put the children to sleep.
 But these voyages of the imagination ended with
the arrival of electric power.
 The once lively story hours at the bay were
replaced by cable TV and movies.
 The storytellers and their stories have slowly been
fading away from the minds of the people of the
bay.
#4
THE DIASPORA AND
“OLD CATBALOGAN”
THE CATBALOGAN DIASPORA
 The majority of the population of Catbalogan is
now made up of migrant families from neighboring
islands and interior towns settling at the
peripheries.
The hillsides of Brgy. 13, even alongside the roads,
are families from Calbiga, Pinabacdao and
Villareal.
New families in new houses have already lined the
coasts of Burak (Mercedes).
THE CATBALOGAN DIASPORA
 Bo-ao, a very densely populated part of
Catbalogan, is a bustling barangay of migrants,
now rivaling the size of Paranas.
 Many of the old Catbaloganons have left the
homeland in search of “green pastures” of Metro
Manila, America and the Middle East.
 Catbaloganons are even spread across Europe,
Asia, and with established roots in New York,
California, the Midwest, etc.
THE CATBALOGAN DIASPORA
 Travelers of surrounding areas, and also the
northern and eastern provinces, have
permanently settled in Catbalogan.
 In towns like Villareal and Zumarraga,
residents have chosen to stay, after rowing
their boats all the way to the city.
 The migratory influx and Catbalogan diaspora
have not yet dissipated, and may go on for
some time.
 PROFILE OF
CATBALOGAN CITY
IN PICTURES