186. 1927 DULAG CARNIVAL

THE 1927 DULAG CARNIVAL. Celebrating the beauty of Leytenas, under the American Regime.

1927 was the first and only time that a Miss Leyte was named to compete in the Manila Carnival search for Miss Philippines; the winner was Amelia Zialcita Romualdez, a cousin of Imelda Romualdez (Marcos). Her participation inspired municipalities to hold their own carnivals and elect their own royalties, even at a local level only.

One such town that held its own carnival festivities that same year was Dulag, a large and progressive coastal town of Leyte fronting the Leyte Gulf, just 36 kilometers from the provincial capital, Tacloban. Dulag was an important commercial hub in its heyday; ships from all over would dock at its port carrying merchants who traded their products for Philippine abaca, copra, tobacco, rice and wine with the natives. At one time, the shores ofDulag were lined with large warehouses filled with goods that were imported to foreign countries.

As a toast to its prosperity, the municipality organized its very own Dulag Carnival of 1927. Queen Teofila I and her retinue of princesses and escorts were elected to serve as the carnival royalties, as preserved in this rare photo. The details of the event as well as the background of the queen-elect have all but been lost to oblivion. But the 1927 Dulag Carnival must have been a grand and pompous event, complete with the Philippine-American trappings and trimmings of a royal coronation.

Ruined by the last World War, Dulag would rise again and earned the distinction as a “Liberation Town”. Many veterans still claim that it was in Dulag that Gen. Douglas MacArthur first landed upon his promised return—and not in Palo, Leyte as historians believed.

177. Carnival Beauties: LILIA H. LOPEZ, 1930 Miss Philippines Candidate

LILIA H. LOPEZ of Leyte, Candidate of Atalaya newspaper to the quest for Miss Philippines of the Manila Carnival 1930.

Lilia Hidalgo Lopez was born in 1912 in Leyte, the child of Honorio Lopez of Leyte (b.1888/d.1974)  and Fermina Hidalgo (b.1894/d.1944). She had 3 other sisters (Aida, Herminia and Emma) and two brothers (Honorio Jr.and Tirso).

In 1930, the budding beauty was sponsored by the Visayan publication Atalaya to compete in the Miss Philippines quest of that year’s Manila Carnival edition. Her campaign, however, was thwarted by a fellow Visayan belle from Iloilo—Consuelo Acuña, who was crowned as the 1930 Miss Philippines.

Still, Lilia had a great experience as one of the muses of the Carnival. Just 18, she also had her studies to think about as well as the admirers who had come to woo her. One of them was Dominador Medalle Tan, (b.21 Mar. 1905) a young lawyer of the University of San Carlos in Cebu who passed the bar in 1927.. Once the din of the Carnival died down, the young couple were married in 1930.

The couple would have two children--Dennis and Anamarie. Anamarie was sent off to St. Scholastica where she became a classmate of our future female president--Cory Aquino. Lawyer Dominador Tan,  on the other hand, enjoyed a successful political career, becoming an assemblyman (undefeated, from 1935-1969) and a Congressman of Leyte's 4th district. Serving under the Commonwealth government of Pres. M.L. Quezon, Tan was one of the authors of the 1935 Philippine Constitution.

The Tans would set up house in Ormoc, and their mansion was known for its beautiful architecture set amidst lush,landscaped gardens. Their residence was finished a year before World War II.

But the war would bring unfathomable sorrow to the Tans. On 16 Dec. 1941, the Tans boarded the ship S.S. Corregidor and departed from Manila for southern Philippines. It was approaching La Monja when it struck a mine between Corregidor  and Sisiman Cove. It quickly sank taking away the lives of more than 900 passengers. Among those who perished were Lilia and her two children, Dennis and Anamarie. Lilia was only 30, and her kids, about 8 and 7, respectively. 

The congressman survived the tragic accident but he was so devastated that he rarely talked about the family he had suddenly lost. To make matters worse, his grand residence was commandeered by the Japanese and was partially destroyed during the Battle of Ormoc bombings.

He would eventually  recover from this profound personal losses and marry a second time to Patria Macandog, She was an actress who went by the screen name, Patria Rosal, and who had a brief career doing movies under Philippine Films. They remained together until Tan, regarded as the "Father of Ormoc" and one of the country's outstanding congressman,  passed away on 6 Oct. 1992. Today, the ruins of the Tan-Lopez mansion still stands, a sort of a memorial to our history, when beauty was in flower--as personified by the lovely belle of the 1930 Carnival, Lilia Hidalgo Lopez. 

165. TANGHALAN NG PILIPINAS: A Philippine Showcase at the 1912 Primera Exposicion Filipinas

(translated from ‘Sariling Tala ng Renacimiento Filipino’, February 12 issue)

ILOCOS NORTE
The farming industry and probably, in the future, mining, is the source and wellspring of wealth of Ilocos Norte.I The woven products of Paoay are charming and durable. Praiseworthy too are the blankets and towels that they make. The natives take advantage of the abundant bamboo and rattan that grows there; they are made into chairs, salakots, beds and many more. The wood cut from the mountains of Solana, Piddig, Vintar and other towns are made into clothes cabinets (aparadors), tables, beds, hampers, hats and other items of note. The leaves of the ‘sarakat’ (a palm variety) plant are woven into sleeping mats and table runners in Banggi. We also noted that they make beautiful salakots of fine finish. There are knives with very good blades.

Palay is also one precious commodity valued by the province; the natives have more than sufficient supply, and the surplus is brought to nearby provinces—what more if there was a better water irrigation system.

Those, however, are not just the province’s riches; there are also its cotton threads, and in the earth’s belly comes valuable ores and minerals like magnesium, asbestos, yeso (gypsum), almagre (red ochre), coal and many more. It is hoped that these ores would bring a never-ending fountain of richness for Ilocos Norte.


PANGASINAN
The pleasing arrangement of the objects on display and the artful, visually-appealing product presentations are what make the Pangasinan exhibit impressive even to those with discriminating taste. At the door, the visitor gets the distinct impression of entering an expansive palace.

That’s because Pangasinan is the province that leads in palay harvest nationwide—and the husk (ubay) of the palay was used to decorate the interior of the booth, all the way to the center stage. Adding more appeal is a mandala of palay that serves as a centerpiece. Surrounding this mandala are spaces that contains the names of the wide rice variety of the province.

The interior columns inside the palace-like palay pavilion are wrapped with coconuts.

In the captioned picture placed in the center of the booth, we read of Pangasinan’s harvest tally for a year: 15 million pesos worth of palay, 2 million and 400 thousand pesos' worth of tobacco, 1 million and 800 thousand worth of coconut and hundreds of thousands’ worth of “pawid” (nipa roofing sheets), monggo and sugar which constitutes about 24 million pesos in value.

One should not also miss the sombreros from Calasiao: there were many of these on display made by a few women.

Pangasinan won a prizes for ‘the most artistic booth’.

MOROLAND
Moroland’s showcase is full to the brim with valuable objects. There are large conches filled with corn grains or pearls, and there are many Moro attires, rattan chairs, wooden tables, hat racks and utensils made of brass, chalk ware, beautiful mats, whips, fish nets and many, many more.

On one side, one can view a variety of sharp spears, gleaming krises and blades; also here are hand-made ‘lantakas’ (cannons) and other Moro battle gear.

It is important to know that these are in great demand in Europe and America where they are bought for good prices, including rubber, almaciga wood, kala (tortoiseshell) or karey, sugarcane, palay, abaca, monggo, camote (yams), linga (sesame), peanuts, dapo (orchids), corn, tobacco, coffee, assorted stoneware and many more. The provinces of Moroland also have wooden produce like gibo, balakbakan, narig (all hardwood trees), lumbayaw (a rice variety), lawan, kalantas (lumber trees), yellow narra and many more.

The cynosure of many visitors’s eye is a small house where resides Datu Diki-Diki. This Moro has a height of just 2 feet, 10 inches and weighs 30 pounds at 37 years of age.

This showcase was given a prize for it’s “biggest number of quality goods”.


SAMAR
The showcase is decorated with abaca, which rivals the best abaca in the land. Samar, other than abaca, also produces palay, kalibiib, earth ore, vegetables like ube, gabi, squash , araro (arrowroot), and other harvests.

The natives are fond of making luxurious mats, salakot and tampipi (woven storage chests). They also weave piña fabrics. From the forests of Samar, one can get long and sturdy rattan. There are about 23 kinds of wood that can be used in the making of very durable wooden items. There are also many varieties of shell from the sea. We also saw a few mineral produce like black coal from the earth.

A live snake about 30 feet long, with a circumference as wide as a man’s thigh was kept in a cage—the object of the crowd’s fascination. Samar was awarded a prize for 3rd class provinces.

CAMARINES SUR
Ambos Camarines (Southern Camarines) won’t be left behind with its display of unique treasures. This province also produces abaca, palay, corn, sugar cane, coconuts and many more. Like the others, it also turns out good and sturdy rattan seats and polished sombreros that are of very good finish.


Wood of varying durability and long, thick rattan can be found in the forests and mountains of Camarines.

The more valuable display of this province are its mineral ores that are a source of paracale and tumbaga (low class gold). In the shores of some of its towns, one can also find many paka and all sorts of shellfish.