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Candaba, Pampanga
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Candaba (formerly Candawe) is a 1st class municipality in the province of Pampanga, Philippines. Candaba represents the lowest point in Central Luzon. According to the 2000 census, it has a population of 86,066 people in 15,541 households.
Candaba is noted for its wide and scenic swamps, the habitat of mudfish and catfish. The popular "burong isda", a distinct Kapampangan fermented delicacy, is made from catfish or mudfish produced in Candaba.
aba is noted for its farmlands which produce watermelons.
The swamps are communal fishing grounds encompassing some 430 km˛ of highly arable land.
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Encyclopedia
Candaba (formerly Candawe) is a 1st class municipality in the province of Pampanga, Philippines. Candaba represents the lowest point in Central Luzon. According to the 2000 census, it has a population of 86,066 people in 15,541 households.
Candaba is noted for its wide and scenic swamps, the habitat of mudfish and catfish. The popular "burong isda", a distinct Kapampangan fermented delicacy, is made from catfish or mudfish produced in Candaba.
Introduction
Candaba is noted for its farmlands which produce watermelons.
The swamps are communal fishing grounds encompassing some 430 km˛ of highly arable land. Here the province's best produce, watermelon, muskmelon, which find their way to world markets, are produced.
Candaba swamps are very fertile due to its sustained deposits of humus and decaying vegetable residues. Migrant wild ducks and various bird wildlife escape winter winds from China and Siberia making Candaba their yearly sanctuary. Hunting birds in the swamp are a tourist attraction.
Climate
There are two seasons, the wet and dry, wet during the months of May to October and dry, the rest of the year. During the months July to August, the temperature is between 25.8 degrees Celsius, the months of January and February are the coldest.
Urbanization
Candaba has a very high economic potential but the lack of good infrastructures such as paved roads especially the long delayed Candaba Road stretching from the municipality of Baliuag Bulacan to the town proper of Candaba. Because it is the lowest point in Central Luzon, floods frequent this area causing many planted farmland along the Candaba road to submerge during rainy season, this leads to inability of the local folks to transport their goods to the town proper and in other areas. Trade between the people of kapampangan and tagalogs is rare as access between their goods is hampered and challenged by this infrastructure, environmental challenges and to some extent, the linguistic differences among them. The tagalog folks are often trading and spending more outside, most in the town of Baliuag which is more proximate than the town proper.
Way back in the late 1990s, there was a proposal to divide the area into two municipalities of Candaba: for the kapampangan region, and Bahay Pare for the tagalog. The latter's name is derived from the largest barangay in terms of population named Bahay Pare
List of Barangays
Candaba is politically subdivided into 33 barangays.
History
Iniâ ngéni kng Kandáuâ,
Méging ílug at pinak na,
Iti ing sadiang karinan na,
Níti nang bunduk Aláya.
A verse from the kurírű above narrates how the sun god Ápűng Sínukűan, who in his incarnation as Carguen-cargon, formed the 30,000 hectare Pinák when he transferred Bunduk Aláya from Candába to the nearby town of Aráyat. The inhabitants believed that Candába is as ancient as the gods portrayed in the kurírű.
Candába may have been the first and oldest settlement in the entire Kapampángan homeland, populated centuries before the formation of Luzon Empire . Ancient terrestrial navigation recognizes only two directions ~ paraláya or “going to Bunduk Aláya” and paráuâ (paróba) or “going to dáuâ or Kandáuâ” ~ suggesting that in the beginning, there was only Bunduk Aláya and Candába. Moreover, the oldest archaeological artifact ever found in the region was a 5000 year old stone tool used for building boats. Thousands of pottery shards dated before the existence of trade with China are scattered all over.
Candába may have originally been called Kandáua, where dáua was in ancient times a large earthen vessel used to catch rain water. The Spaniards originally wrote the name of the town as Candáva where the letter “v” was supposed to be read as “w” instead of “b”. Candába becomes exactly like a dáua during the rainy season. Some historians however, seeing themselves better off for being more westernized than the proudly indigenous Candabéńo had suggested that Candába was derived from dáuâ, the Kapampángan word for millet ~ a grain they considered inferior to rice ~ and therefore suggesting that the people of Candába were as backward as they were ancient. But Candába has always proven itself very progressive economically, politically and culturally since ancient times.
According to folklore, the people of the port settlement of Mandásig once traced their ancestry to Malangdî, the wife of Malangsî, who was the son Balagtas, who was in turn said to be the son of Bulkiah, the ruler of Brunei who attacked Lusňng Guo before the turn of the 16th century. After the conquest of Lusňng Guo in 1571, the Spanish colonial administration awarded the vast territories of Candába as an encomienda or estate-grant to Royal Lieutenant Amador de Arriarán. One settlement so noted for its antiquity however was excluded from the encomienda. It was administered directly by the colonial government in Manila exclusively for the King of Spain and was given the name La Castillilla.
The evangelization of Candába was pioneered by the Jesuits who built a church and convent in honor of Saint Andrew the Apostle in 1575. Three years later, the Jesuits were replaced by the Agustinian Order.
In 1585, Candába was the scene of the first organized revolt against Spanish rule since the conquest of Lusňng Guo in 1571. The uprising was organized by the displaced nobility of Lusňng Guo headed by Don Juan de Manila and Don Nicolas Mananguete of Candába. Originally, the organizers civilly petitioned the colonial authorities to limit their abuses and to respect their dignity as the traditional rulers of their region. Their protests led to violence and ended in much bloodshed when the colonial authorities ignored their petition. Three years later, a similar revolt was being organized by the displaced nobilities of Tondo. Among the leaders was Dionisio Capúlong, son of Lakandúla of Tondo and former ruler of Candába.
In the 1590s, the Spaniards discovered that the Candába nobility were secretly buying gold from the natives living along the headwaters of the Indűng Kapampángan River. Candába immediately became the staging point for the conquest of the Cagayan Valley and the Northeast Frontier.
In 1640, Nicolas Alónso, a young Kapampángan nobleman from Candába, was listed as one of the few privileged sons of the Kapampángan nobility allowed to study at the Jesuit College of San Felipe de Asturias in Manila. The college was founded by Governor General Hurtado de Corcuera for the purpose of Hispanizing the native Kapampángan nobility.
In 1784, the colonial authorities decided to resettle 200 Christian Chinese along the Pinác de Candába. Evidence of their presence can be seen in the last three Chinese tombstones found right on the doorstep of the Church of Saint Andrew. One has the name “Jose Tecson”(????) clearly written in Chinese characters. His tombstone indicates that he died in the Bing Chen Era (1796-1820) during the reign of Qing Emperor Renzong(???).
The Pinák or Candába Swamp, with its fertile soil and abundant fish and game, had always been a haven for various rebel groups throughout history. During the Philippine Revolution, it was the haunt of rebel-messiah Ápűng Ipę Salvador and his armed pro-Utopian and anti-Foreign peasant religious army, the Santa Iglesia or Colorum. In 1898, Ápűng Ipę and his Colorum army marched triumphantly into Candába town after chasing away the last of the Spanish colonial militia. A year later, they would return to the Pinák from which to harass the new invaders, the Americans. Their fight against American Imperialist Rule continued up to the 1930s and their movement attracted other peasants in nearby towns and provinces. The establishment of the Socialist Movement in the 1930s attracted most of the members of the Colorum. The Socialist Movement formed the core of the Hukbalahap during the Japanese occupation. The Pinák served as their impenetrable stronghold against the Japanese. Dayangdáyang (Felipa Culálâ), a daughter of Candába and Chief of General Welfare of the Hukbalahap led a series of successful raids against the Japanese Forces in 1943. After the war, the Pinák once again served as a haven for the Peoples Liberation Army (HMB) who fought against the American-sponsored Philippine Republic. In 1945, the Philippine Commonwealth troops entered in the town of Candaba, Pampanga with other Kapampangan guerrillas against the Japanese forces at the end in World War II.
Candaba, as also told by Dr. Juan P. Gatbonton, one of the more knowledge chroniclers of the town, derived its name from Candawe, a name of a place close to sitio Culumanas in Candaba. Candawe was later corrupted to Candaba. Another school of thought, based on folklore perpetuated by word of mouth thru the years, tracing origin of the word Candaba from "Cang Daba" or Brother Dana (Daba is a term used for a big earthen jar and obese people are teased by likening them to a Daba) thus, it came to pass that every out-of-towner buying fish and famed "bur" (pickled fish) were almost invariably referred to Cang Daba. The town later on came to be called Candaba.
The rest of the account by Gatbonton follows.
"A Franciscan Priest, Father Placencia, wrote that even as early as 1577, the administrations of the towns in the country was in the hands of Filipinos called "datus". The Spaniards arrived in Pampanga in 1572 with the Augustinian missionaries. Candaba even then was already recognized as their settlement. Candawe was a sitio where the first church in Candaba was constructed because it represented the highest, uninundated part of Candaba, near what is sitio Culumanas today. Candaba lies at latitude 15 degreed 05 and longitude 120 degrees 49 and its boundaries are: Arayat (Pampanga) and Cabiao (Nueva Ecija) to the south; San Miguel and San Ildefonso to the east; Baliwag to the north and San Luis and Sta. Ana to the West.
Basically a fishing and farming community, the place was administered by datus as early as 1577.
Bird sanctuary
On January, 2008, a Philippine record of 17,000 birds (in the 24-hour census) visited the 32,000-hectare Candaba Swamp, sanctuary for migratory birds. Michael Lu, president of the Wild Bird Club of the Philippines (WBCP), stated that 80 species of migratory birds were sighted at the 100-hectare fishpond of Mayor Jerry Pelayo in Barangay Dońa Simang and in Barangay Paralaya. The rare birds spotted were: the Shrenck’s Bittern, Great Bittern, Gadwall, Coot, Philippine Mallard or ducks, and Eurasian Spoonbill (Platalea leucorodia). Robert S. Kennedy’s book “A Guide to the Birds of the Philippines” lists endemic and migratory birds which visit the Philippines. Pelayo organized the Ibon-Ebon Festival (“birds and eggs”) on February 1-2. The WBCP recorded 3 rare species in Candaba swamp: the Purple Swamphen (Porphyrio porphyrio), Chinese Pond Heron (Ardeola bacchus) and the Black-Crowned Night Heron (Nycticorax nycticorax).
Bibliography
- Gatbonton, Manuel, Ing Candawe, excerpts, 1933.
- Henson, Mariano A., Pampanga and Its Towns (AD 1300-1965), Angeles: 1965.
- Licuanan, Virginia Benitez and Jose Llavador Mira, The Philippines Under Spain: A Compilation and Translation of Original Documents, Quezon City: 1993.
- Pangilinan, Michael Raymon M. (Siuala ding Meangubie), Five Thousand Years of Antiquity: A Timeline of Candaba History, Kapampangan Magazine, ed. by Elmer G. Cato, ISBN 1656-5592, Year 2004, Issue XV, pp. 11-12.
- Pangilinan, Michael Raymon M. (Siuala ding Meangubie), Candaba: Timelessly Mystical, Kapampangan Magazine, ed. by Elmer G. Cato, ISBN 1656-5592, Year 2004, Issue XV, pp. 16-17.
- San Agustin, Gaspar de, Conquistas de las Islas Filipinas; 1565-1615, 1st Bilingual Edition, Intramuros: 1998.
- The Historical Data Papers, Candaba, Bureau of Public Schools, 1953
- The Contemporary Chinese Dictionary (Chinese-English Edition), Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press, Beijing 2002.
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