AUTHOR’S NOTE: I am reproducing here a series of articles that appeared in my SISAY KITA? column in the Catanduanes Tribune under the pseudonym “tataramon.” Part 3 was in the October 25, 2023 issue.

Editors’ Note: We thank the author and THE CATANDUANES TRIBUNE for allowing us to feature this article, Part 3 of a series of 4. THE CATANDUANES TRIBUNE is a monthly print and online publication. It was founded in 1981.

In the second part of this series, we focused on the two plaza complexes of downtown Virac and touched on the political implications. In this third part, we delve on the socio-economic and commercial aspects as revealed in the 1936 photograph. Much of the attributions and claims I will make here are based on what I heard from old folk, on personal knowledge, plus some interviews with informants. I could be wrong. So, I encourage the readers to examine the picture themselves and check out my information. I would appreciate any corrections and additional information. But more than that, do take a journey through the picture and look for details related to your own biography. Let us reconstruct together what Virac was in 1936, towards greater knowledge of Sisay Kita?

In 1936, the abaca boom was still prevailing in Catanduanes, supplemented by copra. This was eminently represented in the photo. At least three commercial buildings engaged in abaca and/or copra trading were prominently visible. All of them were nestled along the seacoast, on those deeper parts of the bay conducive for boat docking, that was from Salvacion to Santa Cruz. This was a curving part of the coastline then called Kapandanan. The commercial houses were those of the Dos Hermanos Gutierrez enterprise, the huge Almacen, and a third one situated where the current Eastern hardware stands. The first two still exist. The Dos Hermanos was business quarters-cum-residence of the proprietor Don Agustin Cavada. At three storeys, it should be the first high-rise in Virac built of reinforced concrete. It used to be an imposing structure topped with a half-circle crest that indicated that it was built in 1926. Immediately after the Liberation of Virac in 1945, this building served as the quarters of the guerillas and the Philippine Civil Affairs Unit (PCAU) which facilitated the transition from wartime to normal governance. Now stripped of trimmings, it serves as storehouse of copra and abaca belonging to the CTL enterprise.   

The Almacen used to be called prensahan because that was where they pressed the abaca into bales.  It was first owned and operated by the Chinese Suyo Tan. As a young boy, I used to see emblazoned up the wall of the Almacen a graffiti saying “University of Prensahan” (parodying University of the Philippines). Some folk working there called it kiddingly their eskwelahan. It was then acquired by Jose Guerrero for which it got its current name “Guerrero Warehouse” that would later be used by the National Grains Authority up until recently. Now it had changed ownership and is being rented by a Chinese abaca trader.  Clustered near the Almacen were various other structures that appeared to be business enterprises, either owned by Suyo Tan or other Chinese. It must have included the Treding (Trading) which sold dry goods such as textile, and which was memorialized in a local song that I heard from my aunt in Rawis titled Ako ang Daraga and told of wearing chic clothes “binakal sa Treding.”  Sta. Cruz during that time would have some claim of being a commercial center. 

The third building is something that I cannot make out as to the original owner. It may have been of the Chinese Jam Sam. In any case, it appeared in the 1936 photo to have engaged too in abaca and copra trade because just like the two other buildings, it was connected to its own wharf of wood propped up by stilts. So in all, there were three docking facilities in Virac devoted to abaca and copra export, testament to the robust trade of these commodities. But then, such type of facilities were only suited for large cargo bancas called balandros and its smaller version the paraw. Tiya Salud Camacho, erstwhile chronicler of barangay Sta. Cruz, related that the first President of the Commonwealth Manuel L. Quezon visited Virac in the mid-1930s wherein his boat docked on the pier fronting the Dos Hermanos building. Years later (probably after the war), the old wooden wharfs would be made obsolete by the construction of a concrete sea port that would allow large ships to transport the export products of Catanduanes. I still remember that three ships regularly plied the Manila-Virac route namely Neptuno, Breeze and Eucaly. Communities along the poblacion coast would hear the loud menacing blare of these ships as they come in and out of the port. The trade was quite lucrative it employed an army of stevedores that was organized into the Union Obrero which was the biggest workers’ union in Catanduanes. Their Labor Day parade was such a huge event in town.

In between the Almacen and the Dos Hermanos stood proudly the Parola or lighthouse. It formed part of a national network of lighthouses throughout the Philippine archipelago (which too included the one at Sialat Point in Codon).  We know that the tending of this facility has been handed down through the family line of the original master of the lighthouse Señor Agustin Tabligan father of the Miss Tabligan of our glorious elementary days at Paylut.

Commerce in 1936 was dominated by Spanish and Chinese nationals. The Gutierrezes were Spanish, and so were two other prominent business entrepreneur families. One was the Achavals who owned the other high-rise in town, the three-storey building in Sta. Elena along Rizal Avenue (then called Calle Real) of the characteristic white paint and of decidedly American architecture. It later became known as “Old Capitol” that housed the provincial government under Gov. Juan Alberto. It has been restored and now houses the Museo Catanduanes, the Provincial Tourism Office and the Development Bank of the Philippines. The other Spanish old rich in Virac was the Dela Riva family. Their fortunes, however, appeared to have derived from agriculture as they had extensive landholdings. Their house was visible in the 1936 picture on a corner behind the church, now the Verso office and school supplies store. At that time it was used as business quarters of Miyoshi Arata, the Japanese civilian whom the guerillas saved during the Liberation, brought to safety in Leyte and eventually deported to Japan. He had come to Virac with two other compatriots about a decade before the war to do retail business (and to spy according to some accounts). He also did small-scale manufacture of candies and had a native common-law wife.

It can be assumed that the “big three” abaca traders along the seashore supplied the abaca bales used in the final assault of the Japanese garrison on February 7, 1945. These bales were rolled on towards the munisipyo serving as cover for the advancing guerillas. When close enough to the enemy holding place, the abaca were doused with petrol and lit, suffocating and burning the occupants inside. The abaca served the Catandunganon well, in war and in peace.

The Chinese were more numerous than the remnant Spaniards in town (Catanduanes always had a mere handful of Spaniards even at the heydays of the Spanish occupation). Aside from Soyu Tan, we know of other names from the memory of old folk. This writer was not able to establish most of their exact locations in the 1936 map. Lianko was then called Macao probably due to his origin in mainland China. He operated a bakery at the same location his family currently occupies on a corner opposite the public market. There was too Jose Dy Arcilla also known as ”Kiwa” whose large house is visible in the photo, up along the road to Gogon chapel from the bridge, located in a corner beside the residence of former mayor Primo Panti. Kiwa must have engaged in retail and small-scale abaca and copra trading. His daughter Celestina would marry Florentino Abundo who was father to Engr. Rafael Abundo and former CNHS principal Carmen A. Arcilla.  Two Abundo residences were prominently visible in the 1936 photo, dominating the “triangle” just across the chapel. One was that of Florentino and the other of Severo. The latter’s son Atty. Clemente Abundo would become one of two Catandunganon delegates to the 1973 Constitutional Convention.

Another Chinese heard from the old folk was Iyoy Chona. A song popularized then referred to him. It goes: “Diyos marhay na bangui (2X), Iyoy Iyoy Chona/Haen si Elena (2X) ta huhuritan ta. . .”  It continues to advice that Elena should not dress in black (luto) if nobody has died so as not to scare people.  Apparently, Elena went to a pabayle dressed in black cocktails. She must have had exposure in the mainland city where black was chic but which the locals found inappropriate.  Other Chinese that may have already been doing business in Virac in 1936 could include the Go’s whose heirs included Mrs. Osita Go-Abundo; Chao Kang; probably Sima (Lim), Johnson and Inciong. Another wave of Chinese immigrants would arrive in the early 50s, those who were evading Communist persecution in mainland China and included Sana, Lupyu, Li Piak, and Chua Sian. In any case, this aspect of Viracnon society and history is yet to be fully described and understood.

What about agriculture outside of abaca and copra production? As already mentioned in Part 1 of this series, there was extensive rice lands in Virac just off the poblacion area. These would have been owned by the petty mestiza class that also held political power. We can mention the Sorretas, Guererros, Arcillas, Surtidas and Tablizos. Would Virac have been self-sufficient in rice then? The answer would be no. Even then, we had to import rice. Outside of abaca and copra, agricultural food production was mostly for domestic consumption. The ordinary folk particularly maintained small-scale vegetable, swine and poultry production in their backyards or else in their small llati (homestead gardens) located in rural areas outside of town and the nearby mountain sides.

In those days, the staple rice was supplemented with corn, camote, cassava and gabi. Tales of hardship included the eating of bayukbok for regular meal and having to shun from talking and laughing lest you choke. Bayukbok is roasted corn cereals grounded and mixed with sugar and grated coconut, if available. But the direst form of poverty was the eating of gamat, a wild tasteless and fibrous root crop growing in the wild. According to folklore, this plant thrives in times of crisis such as during the war years, like a miraculous divine provision. What helped sustain ordinary Viracnons in their food needs was that most of the vegetable items in their diet were not bought but gathered from respective gardens, or else it was routine to ask neighbors for free malunggay, kalamansi and camote tops. 

The other major livelihood of course was fishing. They did deep sea fishing for the big game, but also fished the reefs during low tide. The rivers were abundant for additional food. In the 1936 photo, the spaces just off the shores of Ilawod were already teeming with houses that must have included those of the ibongnons from Tabaco – the Broñolas, Bonetes, Bruns, etc. – who migrated to Virac to practice their trade of fishing. Tang Ciriaco Broñola introduced the practice of sinsoro. According to my grandmother, herself the daughter of a local fisherfolk, her father and those other native fishers caught only the big game and left small fish alone. She said that it was the ibongnons who first fished the malughaw, turay and other smaller fish. Later, I remember that it was only in the nineties that galunggong appeared on the market stalls in Virac.

In the last part of this series, I will tackle on the socio-cultural aspects such as education and popular religiosity and the circumstance of life for the ordinary Viracnon.