CULTURAL TREASURES

OF MABALACAT
MCC101: Mabalacat Studies
 CULTURAL TREASURES OF MABALACAT

What’s there to see in Mabalacat City? Is there

anything that will excite a visitor? This underrated
northern town of Pampanga will surprise you if you
know where, when, and how to look!
 1.
MISIONEROS
RECOLETOS
IN
MABALACAT
MISIONEROS RECOLETOS IN MABALACAT

• Mabalacat was the only town in Pampanga

administered by the Recollects.
• The rest of the province were administered by
Augustinians.
• The Recollects were the only Spanish missionaries
who dared evangelize the thickly forested, head-
hunters-infested northern areas.
MISIONEROS RECOLETOS IN MABALACAT

• The Recoletos (OAR, Order of the Augustinian Recollects),

an offshoot of the Augustinian reforms in 1598,  were the
5th religious order to arrive, landing in Manila on 31 May
1606, with Fr. Juan de San Jeronimo leading the
missionaries.  By then, though, most of the areas have
already been assigned to the earlier groups, with the
Augustinians dominating in most Pampanga towns.
MISIONEROS RECOLETOS IN MABALACAT

• Fr. Juan Perez de Sta. Lucia, the priest who built the
world-famous Bamboo Organ of Las Piñas, was an
ex-parish priest of Mabalacat.
FR. ANDRES
DE SAN
FULGENCIO
 FR. ANDRES DE SAN FULGENCIO

• Fr. Andres De San Fulgencio was one of 3 Recoletos that

began ministering in Mabalacat, Capas and Bamban
sometime in 1712, along with Frs. Juan de Sto. Tomas de
Aquino and Manuel de San Nicolas. His namesake saint is
shown on this estampita.
2. LUBENAS
 LUBENAS

• Pampanga and Tarlac are few of the remaining towns

that still do it.
• Mabalacat can claim to have one of the most
traditional, most elaborate versions.
 LUBENAS

• Almost all of the 27 Barangays set off their

respective lantern processions every night from
December 16-December 24 (nine days or novena,
corrupted to “lubenas”).
• It is culminated on Christmas Eve in a grand
assembly called Maitinis.
3. PASTORELA
 PASTORELA

• Mabalacat is one of the last (if not the last) remaining

parishes in the Philippines where, during each of the
nine simbang bengi (dawn masses).
• The choir sings Kyrie (Greek - Lord Have Mercy),
Gloria (Glory), Credo (Creed), Sanctus (Santo),
Agnus Dei (Lamb of God) and other Latin hymns.
 PASTORELA

• These are sung with such operatic flourish and

musical melodrama you would want to wake up the
next dawn and experience it all over again.
4. PENITENTS
ASSEMBLY
 PENITENTS ASSEMBLY

• The whole province explodes with tens of thousands

of flagellants and all kinds of penitents during the
Holy Week, but the biggest gathering occurs in
Mabalacat in he early morning hours of Good Friday.
• They come from all directions, causing traffic jams
before converging in the parish church patio.
 5. PUNI
FESTIVAL
 PUNI FESTIVAL

• From the church patio, hundreds of penitents proceed to

various roadside shrines (called "puni") where pious ladies
chant the pasyon and the penitents prostrate themselves for
a ritual of whipping and prayer.
• Local artists make an effort to turn these puni into works of
art and again, if local organizers invest more time and
money on these little shrines, they can create a puni festival
that will invite comparison with the Belenismo of Tarlac.
6. CARAGAN
FESTIVAL
 CARAGAN FESTIVAL

• Aetas were once reviled as headhunters and today

they are marginalized as peddlers and beggars, but in
Mabalacat they are given the credit due them--as
founders of the original settlement, led by their leader
named Caragan.
 CARAGAN FESTIVAL

• This fact is memorialized in a modern festival which

has become too popular for its own good, focusing
too much on pomp, pageantry and politics at the
expense of ethnic correctness.
• A little tweaking and this celebration can become
again the genuine cultural treasure that it was.
7. APU SHRINE
 APU SHRINE

• Mabalacat has its own Santo Entierro image, shrouded in as

much mystery and mysticism as the Apung Mamacalulu of
Angeles City.
• Owned by Vicenta Dizon and with the Sacay family as
caretaker, the antique image has its own private chapel
which can become a public shrine like its more popular
counterpart--if and when the owner and caretaker decide
they are ready for the influx of pilgrims and tourists.
8. LOLA
NOR’S
 LOLA NOR’S

• Once a backyard eatery behind the church, now an

elegant restaurant along the highway, Lola Nor's
authentic Kapampangan cuisine has put Mabalacat on
the radar of culinary tourists.
 LOLA NOR’S

• It should push its cultural advocacy one step farther

by featuring Mabalacat's great but little-known food
products (e.g., putung babi, Apung Nanang's
pindang, etc.), as well as Aeta culinary traditions like
binulu dishes, in recognition of the Aeta cultural
legacy in Mabalacat.
9. CLARK AIR
BASE
 CLARK AIR BASE

• Today, Mabalacat claims about ¾ of the Clark

Freeport Zone, which is the main reason our town
qualified as a city and the reason it is one of the
richest cities not only in Pampanga but also in the
Philippines.
 CLARK AIR BASE

• The history, culture, society, mindset, worldview,

values and lifestyles of Mabalaqueños have been
shaped by the overwhelming presence of the United
States military base (the largest in the world at one
time), making them (and Angeleños) unique among
Kapampangans.
 CLARK AIR BASE

• Pinatubo's eruption in 1991 erased all that, but we are

now more resilient and self-reliant as a result. The
ashfall buried not just our landscape but also our
passivity and colonial mentality!
10. HERITAGE
STRUCTURES
 THE
DELA CRUZ
TOWER HOUSE
 THE DELA CRUZ TOWER HOUSE

• At the end of the Sta. Ines Expressway exit, one can find the
1932 house of the prominent sugar planter Vicente de la Cruz
and wife Felipa Lim.  
• It is most notable for its tower, rivalling the church belltower
in height, as it once was the most visible feature of
downtown Mabalacat.
• It was built for daughter Constancia, who had suffered from
tuberculosis in her youth.
 THE DELA CRUZ TOWER HOUSE

• The family believed that fresh air would be good for her
lungs, so every day,  she ascended the tower via a spiral
staircase to spend a few hours there.
• The roof tower fell down in 1991 due to an earthquake and
a typhoon blew it off shortly after, but the owners always
replaced it.
 THE DELA CRUZ TOWER HOUSE

• Well-kept through the years, the house had only minor

refurbishments; it still retains its original  80 year old Puyat
furniture.
• A few Dela Cruz grandchildren currently live and maintain
the house, the way their grandparents have lavished it with
their love and care.
PEDRO G.
MORALES
MANSION
 PEDRO G. MORALES MANSION

• The beautiful home of lawyer  Don Pedro

Morales (b.1886/d.1945) and Magdalena Hizon, was
designed by his wife’s cousin, Arch. Fernando H.
Ocampo in Mabalacat.
• A typical 30’s house and it was furnished with Puyat
Furniture.
 PEDRO G. MORALES MANSION

• When the couple perished in he 1945 liberation of

Manila, their lone surviving child inherited the house,
and moved it to Magalang.
• Unfortunately, a fire destroyed the ancestral Morales
house.
 MORALES
ANCESTRAL
MANSION
 MORALES ANCESTRAL MANSION

• The Morales Ancestral Mansion, built by the Atty.

Rafael Morales of Mabalacat, for his bride, Belen
Lansangan of Sta. Ana in 1924, utilized the artistry of
Betis craftsmen and master carpenters. 
 MORALES ANCESTRAL MANSION

• This is the 2 –storey Morales ancestral house, an 84

year-old stone and wood structure with an
architectural style that harkens back to the days
of bahay na bato, yet infused with geometric, floral
and art deco elements considered “moderne” in those
times. 
MABALACAT
TRAIN
STATION
 MABALACAT TRAIN STATION

• The train station of Mabalacat, was part of the second

portion of the Manila railroad line inaugurated on 22-23
February 1892 by Governor-General Eulogio Despujol and
Manila Archbishop Bernardo Nozaleda .
• The town was thus connected to Manila and Bulacan
through these “iron horses” that eventually were expanded
all the way to Dagupan. 
 HERITAGE STRUCTURES

• Mabalacat is older than its more heritage-sensitive

neighbor, Angeles, but it doesn't seem to have
anything to show for it.
 HERITAGE STRUCTURES

• Things will soon change because the city has laid the
groundwork for the creation of a culture zone
(heritage district) that includes a restored Municipio,
the Gabaldon-style elementary school, the train
station, several old houses, stalls for living traditions,
a museum and other attractions that will capture
public imagination.