Niña Catherine Calleja (Inquirer)
EVIDENCE of Hispanic influence in the small Laguna town of Pila, 90 km south of Manila, have remained intact for centuries in spite of wars and recurrent typhoons.
Ask the residents how they have preserved the 35 ancestral houses and an old church in their town, and they would answer: “Our town is blessed.”
Stories passed on by the elderly say that a miracle happened during World War II when Japanese forces bombed towns and cities, including churches across the country.
“When the Japanese were about to hit the town and the church, what they saw was a vast body of water,” 86-year-old Dr. Eden Relova said. “Why and how that happened has remained a mystery until now so the people have called the town Bayang Pinagpala (Blessed Town).”
Relova is a member of the Pila Historical Society Foundation and owns an ancestral house. The foundation consists of residents who have taken the task of preserving the town’s cultural, historical and environmental heritage.
Established in 1993, the foundation organized the repair of the structures and led the research on Pila’s history. Its efforts bore fruit when the National Historical Institute (NHI) on May 17, 2000 declared the town center a national historical landmark.
Since then, the town has attracted curious foreigners and scholars.
Oldest resident
Relova, whom the parish office secretary said is the oldest resident alive, maintains their family’s 80-year-old house.
A 1958 graduate of Medicine from the Manila Central University, Relova can vividly recall the names of her ancestors and the memories behind their home.
She is the second to the youngest of 12 children of Arcadio Diaz Relova, the mayor (then Presidente de Municipales) of Pila who ordered the construction of the still existing municipal building in 1937, and Benita Dimaculangan, the first woman to wear a wedding gown in their town.
During her mother’s time, brides commonly wore the “saya” (Filipina dress during the Spanish era), Relova said.
Their grandfather’s surname used to be San Antonio, but the Spanish government issued an order prohibiting the use of the names of saints.
Thus, her grandparents changed it to Relova, from the word “relyebo,” which means “change.”
Hers is a family of politicians, Relova said. Her grandfather was a cabeza de barangay (barangay head) while several cousins became mayor and officials of the government.
A brother of her grandfather joined the Katipunan, a revolutionary organization during the Spanish regime.
Unlike her brothers and sisters who eventually moved to Manila, Relova chose to remain single and stay in Pila. Her adopted child and two caretakers accompany her now.
After graduating from the university, Relova worked as a doctor at the Laguna Provincial Hospital in Sta. Cruz town, a 30-minute travel from Pila. She also practiced in her hometown, she said.
“I was also known here as a midwife,” she recounted. “All of the infants I helped to be born became my godchildren; my services for them were for free.”
She could no longer remember the names of her godchildren, however.
Relova became active in politics, serving as councilor in 1956 and provincial board member in 1976.
Memoirs
Relova said she maintained the house as it was before.
“We cannot easily remodel and transform our house because there are so many things to recollect here. And besides, this is communal to family members and we only inherited the house from our parents,” she said in Filipino.
Relova can still remember her elder sister, Luz, practicing ballroom dancing in their house.
“She was one of the most beautiful women in town; I can no longer count the suitors who visited her,” she said, pointing to a huge photo of her sister in a white gown.
But Luz died early of pneumonia, she said.
During World War II, the Relova house was transformed into a hospital for wounded Filipino guerrillas.
Back then, Relova was only a college freshman. She said her family temporarily moved to Manila, except for her father who chose to help in the hospital.
Relova preserves family memories by collecting pictures and organizing them in albums with labels of date and occasion.
Even the photos of actor Dominic Ochoa, who, she said, is her first cousin’s grandson, are displayed in the house.
Indeed, Pila’s heritage never degenerated because its residents have been enthusiastic in preserving the old houses.
Lalaine Noceda, granddaughter of the owner of a century-old house, is among those who want to retain the old look.
“As much as possible, we (the family) will maintain the house. This house is very important because our ancestors had lived here,” Noceda said.
Old church
The town’s pride, its church under its titular saint, Anthony de Padua, has existed for almost two centuries.
Parish records show that it took 18 years to finish the church which was established after the pastoral work of the Franciscan friars in 1578.
The church was then made of bamboo before it was rebuilt using stones.
In 1880, the people were forced to move from Sitio Pagalangan (now Victoria, Laguna) to its present site because of frequent flooding.
Parish office secretary Yolly Abello said the bricks and stones of the church from the previous site were also used to build the existing church. She said the foundation of the old church can still be seen in nearby Victoria town.
On July 9, 2002, the parish church was declared the Diocesan Shrine of St. Anthony of Padua.
Treasures
The NHI has also recognized the town as the most important archaeological site in the country. Apart from the historical structures, the town has a museum, the only one in Laguna that contains artifacts dating back to the 12th to 18th centuries.
An archaeological excavation in the 1960s led by architect Leandro Locsin in Pinagbayanan, Pila’s former site, yielded rare glass beads, gold jewelry and porcelain potteries with both Philippine designs and Chinese trademarks.
Pila Museum curator Eduardo Monteza said that during the excavation, tools used in calligraphy and Chinese ceramics dating back to the 11th century were found.
A paper written by researchers and historians led by Dr. Luciano Santiago, titled “Treasures of Pila,” claimed that cremation was a burial practice based on the kinds of vessels found. These include small, brown, four-eared jars and large brown stoneware jars.
“Students from various schools and even foreigners visit this place just to have a glimpse of the artifacts,” said Monteza.
Municipal tourism officer Lerma Torres said the officials had ensured that no establishment would be put up at the heritage site.
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