“Joroan, A Bikol Musical,” an original theater production, was presented in May 2024, at various locations in Legazpi City, Tabaco City and Ligao City. It was based on the libretto titled “Walong Milagro ni Nuestra Señora de Salvacion,” written by Abdon M. Balde, Jr. It was adapted as a musical with permission and re-named “Joroan, A Bikol Musical.” The music was composed by Victor Buenconsejo, and additional songs were written by Jan Aldrin Belisario and Sari Saysay, with script and direction by Sari Saysay and musical direction by Jan Aldrin Belisario. The musical was produced by the Diocese of Legazpi and Our Lady of Salvation Parish and Diocesan Shrine (Joroan, Tiwi, Albay) in collaboration with Sining Banwa, The Dawani Project, and the Provincial Government of Albay.
On August 17, 2024, “Joroan, A Bikol Musical“ was presented at the Joroan Pier in Tiwi courtesy of the Joroan Shrine Parish Priest Fr Joseph Salando. The production stage was set on the pier, barely 2 meters from the precipice right at the edge of the Lagonoy Gulf waters. The stage was covered with makeshift tarpaulin. Around 500 spectators watched the program on chairs and benches set on the open air area in the pier where vendors peddled food and water.
At the curtain call, with the cast taking their final bow, Fr Salando, producer, Mayor Jaime Villanueva, chief sponsor, Sari Saysay, Sining Banwa director, Dee Jai, production coordinator, Victor Buenconsejo, musical composer and Jun Balde, primary writer of the libretto, “Walong Milagro ni Nuestra Senora de Salvacion” (The Eight Miracles of Our Lady of Salvation) were called to the stage. They joined the entire cast to sing and dance “Magtubod ka…”
This article is based on the historical write-ups posted by the author on his FB page on August 12, 2022, August 9, 2020, and August 13, 2019.
Origins of the Devotion
Nuestra Señora de Salvación (English: Our Lady of Salvation), also known as Our Lady of Light, is a special title attributed to the Blessed Virgin Mary as the Co-Redemptrix of mankind. The Marian devotion to the Lady of Salvation is based on a wooden statue of the Blessed Virgin in a small town of Joroan in Tiwi, Albay. On August 25, 1976, the image was canonically crowned by the Roman Catholic Church as the heavenly patroness of the province of Albay, Philippines.
The original image of the Blessed Virgin Mary as the Lady of Salvation is in itself full of symbolism that reflects her role, according to Catholic doctrine, as Co-Redemptrix. In the original 18th Century image, the Virgin Mary is portrayed as carrying the Child Jesus in her left arm. Her right arm on the other hand is gestured as depicting her saving power by holding in his wrist a man who is about to fall to the devouring head of the devil. An angel is also portrayed as kneeling at the foot of the Blessed Virgin and can be seen as offering to the Child Jesus a basket full of burning hearts. The Child Jesus is also holding in his right hand a burning heart while his left hand is stretched out in the act of accepting the hearts offered by the angel.
Much of the history regarding the statue of the Lady of Salvation and the Marian devotion centered on it rely heavily on the written accounts, based on existing traditions, of the first parish priest of Joroan, Fr. Lamberto S. Fulay (1919–1935), in his booklet “An Kasaysayan Kan Ladawan Ni Birhen de Salvacion sa Horoan, Tiwi, Albay.”
According to the written accounts of Fulay, In the 1770s, a certain haciendero named Don Silverio Arcilla assigned a tenant called Mariano Dakuba in one of his vast estates in Joroan (formerly known as Kagnipa). On a certain day, while the tenant was clearing parts of the hacienda, he chopped off a big Calpi tree. Although already severed in the base for a period of time, the leaves did not wilt and maintained its life and freshness. A sculptor named Bagacumba was commissioned to have an image carved from the Calpi trunk. A total of three images were produced: the Our Lady of Salvation, the Our Lady of Solitude, and St. Anthony of Padua. On August 25, 1776, the image of the Lady of Salvation was lent to Joroan with the condition that the residents construct a chapel at the center of the barrio.
The Miracles of Nuestra Señora de Salvacion
Joroan, according to Fulay, was a common target of Muslim marauders due to its proximity to the sea. In an event of an attack, the residents of the barrio would flock to the image of the Lady of Salvation and offer their prayers to the Blessed Virgin for protection. There were initially eight miracles attributed to the patroness:
a. It is said that every time the Muslims attacked Joroan and attempted to burn their houses, the torch would not ignite. This phenomenon, according to tradition, is considered as the first of the many wonders attributed to the Blessed Virgin.
b. A widowed caretaker named Hermanang Tiray was captured by the moro pirates and brought to a faraway land. She prayed to the Virgin to save her. A deer appeared and she followed it until she miraculously returned to Joroan.
c. A pilgrim from Catanduanes swore that a woman borrowed and lit a candle from him at night while he was on the shores of Joroan and that the following day he found the candle unlit in the altar of the Virgin.
d. A group of moro pirates attempting to raid Joroan retreated when it saw a thousand armed horde protecting the shorelines.
e. A church donor named Don Miguel Casas wished to repair the church, and commissioned a builder who unfortunately had a paralysis. Nevertheless, when the architect proceeded to do his work, his illness just disappeared.
f. The boat of a group of devotees from Partido in Camarines Sur on the way to Joroan capsized when caught by a gale, but all were saved and when they reached the shore, all their clothes were dry.
g. A woman with a child appeared to a rancher in Tigaon named Gregorio Baduria and solicited two cows for the people of Joroan who were helping her build her house, when the cows were sent, he discovered that what was being built was the church for the Virgin.
h. Then there was a time when the whole church was completely destroyed by a strong typhoon, everything was toppled, except the image of the Virgin, which has simply turned around from the sea and was found the following day facing the back of the village.
Because of these many miraculous events, the church of the Lady of Salvation became a holy pilgrimage site.
The Traslacion of Nuestra Señora de Salvacion
The people of Tiwi were also ardent devotees of the Lady of Salvation. Tradition gives account that whenever the fiesta in Tiwi was approaching, the parish priest would personally get the image from Joroan. This practice is also called as a Traslacion. The arrival of the image to the town of Tiwi was a moment of great rejoicing, and a musical band would usually greet the image.
However, this practice was short lived by the typhoon that devastated Joroan in 1895. The Chapel was completely destroyed but the image was miraculously still standing in its pedestal unharmed. From the debris, the people of Joroan reconstructed half of the chapel. But later on, everything deteriorated. The long rift of bitterness between the people of Joroan and Tiwi started and since Joroan was under the jurisdiction of Tiwi, Fr. Francisco Borondia took the image to Tiwi until a proper chapel is built in Joroan.
Meanwhile, the traslacion is reversed and it was now the people of Joroan who would borrow the image during fiestas. The people of Joroan greatly resented the idea. They almost lost their right to it; that is why they had to spend a lot of time, effort, and money to recover it, and had to inevitably incur so much displeasure from the people of Tiwi. This practice is recently performed through a fluvial procession from Joroan to Tiwi.
The Patroness of the Province Of Albay
On December 8, 1975, Bishop Teotimo Pacis of the Diocese of Legazpi formally declared the Virgin Mary with the title of Our Lady of Salvation as the heavenly patroness of Albay. In 1976, the Diocese formally celebrated the Bicentennial Jubilee of its patroness. Bishop Pacis blessed the shrine on August 21, 1976.
In August 25 of that same year, as a culmination to the Bicentennial year, Archbishop Jaime Cardinal Sin of Manila crowned the Lady of Salvation while the shrine in Joroan was proclaimed as a Diocesan shrine.
Every year, during the month of August until September, devotees from all over the Bicol Region visit the shrine of the Lady of Salvation in Joroan. The last Saturday of August is traditionally reserved as a special day of veneration wherein pilgrims would walk in a procession for 9 km from the St. Lawrence Church of Tiwi to the Diocesan Shrine in Joroan. This procession will be held again this Sunday, August 27.
Header image and various pictures of the fluvial procession, photography by Bennett Templado.
About the author:
ABDON M. BALDE JR. is the Poet Laureate of Albay and presently the consultant for Cultural Affairs of Albay 2nd Congressional District under Rep. Joey Sarte Salceda. He served as Head of the Historical-Cultural Section of Albay and Komisyoner of the Komisyon sa Wikang Filipino.
He is active in leadership roles of writers organizations: Writers Union of the Philippines, Filipinas Copyright Licensing Society, Wika ng Kultura at Agham, Kabulig Bikol Writers Organization, and Albay Writers Group. He is a consultant of the National Bookstore.
He is a recipient of the 2012 Outstanding Albayano Artist Award for Literary Arts, the 2010 Ani ng Dangal Award, given the 2009 South East Asian Writers Award by the Royalty Thailand, the 2009 Bikol Regional Jesse Robredo Artist Award for Literary Arts and the Arejola Foundation Lifetime Achievement Award in Literature.
He has written and published 26 books, four of which won the National Book Awards. He wrote the libretto for “Sayaw kan Tulong Bulod” for the Daragang Magayon Festival and the dramaturgy of “Daragang Magayon, An Istorya ni Mayon” staged in CCP February 2013. He won the 2012 NCCA Writers Prize for “Ibalong, Pagbuo ng Epikong Bikol,” the 2003 Palanca Memorial Award for Literature and, in the same year, the “Rokyaw Ibalong Most Outstanding Bikol Award for Literature.”
He was born and raised in Busac, Oas, Albay by farmer parents. He studied in St. Michael Academy of Oas. He graduated with a civil engineering degree in Legazpi College, now University of Santo Tomas, Legazpi. He had a 33-year career in construction projects engineering before shifting to literature. He lives in Tiwi, Albay, with his wife, a daughter, a son, two grandsons, and three dogs.