SENIOR BYAHERO
As a traveler, I never considered Batangas City as a travel destination before but a gateway to visiting many tourist destinations of the southern islands. To be more specific, the Batangas Pier is where you go to take the boat to Puerto Galera and the rest of Mindoro, to Romblon, and even to Boracay. I never really bothered to explore Batangas City, to get to know more about its heritage and history, as the time spent in the city has always been rushing to the next island destination.
But things have changed since my retirement. The appeal of island hopping was replaced by the charm of taking it slow and getting to know the history and heritage of the towns and cities I passed before. I now get more excited entering an ancestral house than entering the cool, blue sea, or climbing up a century-old lighthouse compared to climbing a challenging peak.
I now enjoy joining heritage tours by the Advocates for Heritage Preservation or AHP. Their latest one in Batangas City made me realize how much I was missing.
The tour in Batangas City started with a traditional lunch of Batangueno favorites such as sinaing na tulingan, adobo, kilawin and steamed vegetables with patis balayan. After lunch, I was able to peek at the Capitol Building, built in 1926, a massive, neo-classic building that symbolizes the Batangueno’s love for freedom.
Atty. Tunying Pastor at 94
On the right side of the Capitol is the old Governor’s Mansion, built in 1950s, which now houses the provincial museum. We gathered in front of the museum to witness the traditional devotional dance called subli, a prayer-dance-song performed with the beating of the drums in honor of the Holy Cross of Alitagtag. The dance ends with a solemn prayer sang by the performers.
Our next destination was the Minor Basilica of the Immaculate Conception. Founded in 1578, the present church was built in 1857. The church has a unique feature on the left of the altar, the Papal Church, that is reserved for the Pope when he visits the Basilica. Right next to the Basilica is the Batangas City Museum. Inside the museum one can find interesting information about Batangas City: that it was named after “Batangan” or abundance of logs, that the old Batangas was once fortified like Intramuros, where only the rich lived inside the walls, and the common people lived outside. The Batangueno fought hard against the cruelty of the Spanish colonial government, and when they attained freedom, they rejected everything that reminded them of Spain. All the names of streets inside the walled city were changed. Plaza Espana became Plaza Mabini, Calle Conception became M. H. del Pilar, and Calle Sto. Nino became Rizal Avenue.
Subli Dance
But there is one house that survived from the Spanish era, and it was our last stop in our Batangas City tour. This is the Acosta Pastor House, built in 1883, which has been preserved by generations of Pastors and Acostas.
We were welcomed by the man of the house, the 94-year-old Atty. Antonio Acosta Pastor or Atty. Tunying, a lawyer, and a realtor by profession. He recounted how the house survived the burning by the Japanese during the war because their front door was too massive and too heavy for the Japanese to open.
Minor Basilica of Immaculate Conception
Atty. Tunying was also a graduate of the UP Conservatory of Music, and is an accomplished classical pianist and singer. After we finished our tour of the mansion, he called us all to gather around the grand piano for an impromptu performance. “Today, I wish to perform the piece I played during my graduation recital” he said as he stood beside the grand piano. Slowly he sat down, took a few moments before he placed his fingers on the keyboard. As he started playing the piece, I immediately recognized that he was playing the third movement of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Piano Sonata No. 11 in A major, K. 331 / 300i, the "Rondo alla Turca", or "Turkish March". It was a very difficult piece, particularly as it tries to imitate the sound of Turkish Janissary bands, the music of which was much in vogue during Mozart’s time. But to the hands of this 94-year-old man, it was performed with power and elegance like it was his graduation recital over half a century ago.
Batangas Capitol
As I looked at the eyes of Atty. Tunying as he played the piano, I could see that he was very happy. He joked that his secret for long life is “no wife” but I think this is not not true. His secret is that he likes doing what he loves most, like playing the piano, singing, performing.
140-year old Pastor Mansion
Retirement gives us the opportunity to explore new things, see the world from a different perspective. In my case, it is the love for travel and discovering new things that make me excited to wake up every morning.
(The author is a senior who recently retired from work as an engineer in an auto manufacturing company. He used to be a regular contributor to MB's Cruising Magazine. His taste for adventure has not kept him from travelling, usually via not-so-usual routes.)