Retro: Tacurong at a Glance
During the 50’s up to the early 70’s
By Apolinario Villalobos
While Tacurong was gaining momentum towards
progress as a town many years back, I remember what we enjoyed as simple
luxuries when I was a kid.
Easily recalled was the Polar ice drop sold
by the Valencia family. Hundreds of the cooling popsicles were loaded on the
first tripper bus, Cotabato Bus Company (CBC) that left Cotabato City at dawn.
After a grueling dusty travel over unpaved and potholed highway for four hours
or more, the boxes filled with sticks of ice drop secured in plastic bags and
protected by layers of newspapers and crushed ice and salt would finally arrive
at the terminal where the patriarch of the Valencias was on hand to receive
them. While some of the boxes went straight to their home where they were made
more secure with packs of crushed ice, the rest went to the north entrance of
the market where the ice drops were sold by the Valencia children, Remy and
Fernando, while the youngest, Bobot, was spared the task as he was very young,
then.
During the early 70’s an honest-to-goodness
home-based ice drop business was opened by the Panes family, in front of the
Notre Dame. Students would flock to their store during break time while those
who preferred to sit the break period out, spent their time at the Sara’s Store
where soft drinks, bread and biscuits were sold.
If we wanted to enjoy our snacks
comfortably, we went to “Angelita’s Halu-Halo “where the best chiffon cake and
halu-halo were served. The halu-halo’s fame has spread even to neighboring
towns. The cool delicacy was served in a big bowl or tall glass with fruits in
season, boiled banana, yam jam and leche flan. The joint was operated by the
couple, Angelita and Pacio Palmes, helped by their children, Marites and Rene,
as well as, relatives.
A few meters away, fronting the bus
terminal was the Dainty Refreshment specializing in cakes, pastries with coffee
and soft drinks as “downers”. There were days when the establishment served
meals. It was owned and personally operated by Flor de la Rosa during her days
off, as she worked as Secretary of Mayor Jose Escribano during on weekdays.
Inside the market, beside the stalls that
sold tobacco and betel nut was the “Laspe’s La Paz Batchoy”. The owner brought
with him his love for this Ilonggo delicacy when he joined a group of migrants
from La Paz, Iloilo, to seek their fortune in Tacurong. I enjoyed gawking at
the owner cut strips of meat with a sharp set of scissors. One of his daughters
was my classmate in elementary, Dioleta, a sprinter who always won in track and
field during athletic meets.
For oriental foods, we would go to the two
Chinese restaurants, one beside the Ideal Theater, and the other between Nonoy
and Prince theaters. They served, of course, as there were no other choices,
the best chop suey and Chinese noodles (pancit) either sautéed or with broth –
with plenty of cabbage, chayote and spring onion, as the carrot was considered
a luxury, hence, scarce. The two restaurants had lodging rooms on their second
floor that catered to salesmen who frequented our town.
And, of course, for the grilled chicken,
locals flocked to the “Mauring’s Chicken Barbecue” owned by the Pernatos. As
with other family-operated establishments, members of the family pitched in.
The culinary tradition has been handed to two children who are now operating their
respective barbecue restaurant using the ingredients that their parents used in
the marinade.
The entertainment was provided by four
“cinemas” – Real Theater in front of the north gate of the Market, Prince
Theater fronting the sourtheast corner of the plaza, the Ideal Theater on the
east side of Alunan Highway, and Nonoy Theather, fronting the Ulangkaya
building. The cinemas provided wooden tick-infested seats. As they were not
sound-proof, the dialog of the actors could be heard out in the street. We were
amused then, by the moans of actors when erotic films were shown. Those with
“added sexy scenes” were advertised with hand-written, “Plus-Boom” (plus bomba),
as the erotic films were then called, “bomba films”.
An ice plant provided our town and the
surrounding areas with the very important commodity as it was also used by fish
vendors. The downtown outlet of blocks of ice was owned by the Sanque family.
The Mariἧas family got their ice from the Sanque outlet for the ice cream
that they prepared to be sold around the town, in which one of the sons, Jaime
also helped. Later on, another ice cream maker opened his home-based “factory”
which was peddled by a high school classmate, Rogelio Gallega.
The office supplies and a handful of books
were sold by the Goodwill Bookstore. First class fabrics were sold in a market
stall by the Sandigs, and motorcycles were the exclusive goods of the Paragas
family. Even with a small town such as our place, there was already an agent
for insurance policy – Felipe Lapuz who was the local manager of Philam Life.
Later, better hotels were opened, such as
the one operated by the couple, Menandro and Prax Lapuz, located near the town
plaza; and, Edgie Hotel owned by Eddie Lopez that occupied the east end of the
commercial building where Ideal Theater was also located. The entrance of the
hotel was right beside the Uy store, owned by the father of my classmate in
elementary, Jimmy Uy who later married Elsie Dajay, another classmate.
There were no beerhouses then. Those who
would like to get tipsy, went to the carinderia of the Gialogos inside the
market where the stalls of the dried fish were also located. The Gialogos sold
the freshest/sweetish and the best “bahal” (day-old) coconut sap wine (tuba),
served on “Bols” jars. Finger foods were grilled tilapia, mudfish, gurami, and
catfish. Some days, the elder Gialogo would cook “dinuguan” (pork innards
cooked in ginger and pig’s blood). The son, Ernesto who was also a classmate,
continued the carinderia tradition, minus the tuba, with his restaurant in
front of the Notre Dame campus.
Much later, as Mayor Escribano loved music,
he opened the Bayanihan Club near where the market/public toilet was located.
The “unit 1” of the The Fireband provided the entertainment, with singers Helen,
Lito and sometimes, Femy Alcon and Grace Perales, consistent winners in the
“amateur” singing contest. The “unit 2” of the Fireband during the time, played
at a popular night club in Pasay City….that was how the two bands became
self-liquidating, as the players who doubled as town firemen had no fixed wage.
The band got “caught” by the sweeping camera during the filming of a Fernando
Poe, Jr. film….I forgot the title of the film
As a further manifestation of his love for
the good life, the mayor opened the first “resort” in the middle of the town –
inside the plaza, complete with an elevated swimming pool to the delight of a
Spanish immigrant, Mr. Fernandez as he was fond of swimming and had the prowess
for board diving. The facility also provided the mayor with a comfortable
office as it was shaded by plenty of trees. What was nice about the mayor was
that, he allowed the drying of rice and corn grains on the basketball court and
the circular skating rink of the town plaza.
The medical services were provided during
the time by the Baroquillo and Ventura clinics, later joined by the Tamondong
Hospital. The biggest stores were those of the Suana’s, Lee Kay Kee, Paciente’s
and Rapacon’s. Dental Services were provided by Dr. Casipe and Dra. Tabuga.
Later on, an optical clinic was opened by Dra. Pareἧas, beside which
the first boutique, Noeleen’s, was also opened by Nenita Astillero-Bernardo.
Today, the City of Tacurong is making big
leaps as big establishments compete with each other in filling up commercial
voids that used to be swampy patches of land.
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