Kalag-kalag

Cheers, Happy Halloween! To celebrate, I took a pumpkin and tried to see if I can turn it into something squashterrific. Oh no, I'm not about to carve a pumpkin for Halloween. I'm thinking of turning it into something sweet and delicious for a treat.

Here is the outcome of the rest of it - a pumpkin flan. I think I burned the caramel. Talk about scary thrills and eerie tales. Horrorific!

Sinaluan

In one of those lazy Sunday mornings, I decided to perk up my day by going on a look-see at the Yakan Weaving Village located on hilly ground alongside the road to the west coast of the city. The sheer blaze of colors, imagery and atmosphere that greeted me there did wonders to brighten up my day.

One of the first things you’ll notice is the jovial and friendly people in this village. You’ll soon find out that they are in one way or the other in kinship to one another. They are Yakans, one of the moro tribes people of Mindanao, originally from Basilan who have resettled in this area. 

Their houses are simple wooden structures, some noticeably with ornate folk-Islamic designs on their rafters. The fronts of their homes invariably serve as shops for their handcrafted arts and designs ranging from shell inlaid wooden chests, Kris dagger and swords, brass ornaments, shell trinkets and of course, a dazzling array of their famous hand-woven fabrics and their derivative products.

Yakan weaving is awe-inspiring, formed from various patterns like rainbow, python skin, diamond and bamboo reed; rendered in interplay of colors; creating designs that may be similar in basic patterns but each uniquely its own. The Yakans are truly gifted people with a passion for their art, an art that is somehow thriving but caught in the crossroads of the past and the present.

After taking ample shots of their display and shop-hopping from home to home, I got into a casual conversation with one lady shop owner while viewing one of the most intricate cloth pieces on display. I learned that this piece of design is called the “Sinaluan” one of the finest and hardest to weave among their tribe treasures of woven cloths. This cloth is used to make the traditional pants of their menfolk.   

I also learned that it is now rarely being done by any of their weavers not only because it is painstaking and arduous but the threads available now are of the slippery texture and no longer of the quality that makes for this fine weaving.  

She confided that her mother is one of the very few living artisans who can make this kind of weave and that she herself has not taken the art from her mother. The children of other weavers she knows from here or in Basilan have likewise chosen not to continue their parents’ craft in favor of more lucrative jobs in the nation and abroad.

I cringed at the thought that the art that created that beautiful piece of fabric on my hand will one day no longer be available. My sense of regret turned to a longing for the preservation of this art, a wish that this art will be handed down to the next generations. But how do we do that? I’m afraid we are in a dilemma. Yet my hope is we can find a viable solution while there’s a fighting chance, something that will uphold the proposition that “a stitch in time saves nine.”

Belleza

Who is the first Zamboangueña to win a national beauty title? Imagine my surprise when I found out. I’m more surprised that nobody ever remembers her now. Her amazing achievement must have been relegated to the dustbin of history and her memory blotted from the collective consciousness of the present day generation of Zamboangueños.  

Here is the telling account of how a Zamboagueña lass from Barangay Ayala, staged a formidable coup for a national beauty title and won the hearts and admiration of many Filipinos including that of the person who was holding the highest position of the land.

After reading of her inspiring story, I am persuaded she is deserving of an esteemed place in our city’s rich and colorful history. Her piece of contribution to Zamboanga’s proud past ought not to be forgotten. If we can relive her memory, she can be as relevant to Zamboanga’s present and future. Her impressive triumph in a national beauty pageant can serve as an inspiration for our young aspiring candidates to win national beauty titles as well.

Though we had a number of local beauty queens making it as finalists in national competitions, there has been a dearth of national title holders. About the only one to succeed in recent history is April Rose Perez who won Miss Philippines Earth 2002.

If the story of Carmen Fargas is retold and her achievement institutionalized, not only shall we perpetuate her memory, show her worthy respect, and recognize her contribution to local pageant history, we also give back to Zamboanga a source of pride, and entrench someone homegrown and original to serve as role model, inspiration and example for all our beauty queens to be.   

I am making a case for institutionalizing “The Carmen Fargas Award” to be bestowed on a local candidate who wins a major, nationally recognized beauty pageant title. I propose April Rose Perez as the first recipient of this award in ceremonies timed with the holding of the Miss Zamboanga Pageant. Hope some well-meaning legislators in the city council would gladly take up the cudgels.  

To Mr. Alex R. Castro, who big-heartedly gave his permission to reprint this article from his blog “Manila Carnivals” and conveyed his support to this endeavor, Muchas Gracias! 

1926, Miss Pearl of the Orient Seas, CARMEN FARGAS

THE PEARL OF THE ORIENT SEAS. Carmen Fargas, 1926 Miss Zamboanga. She gave the 1st Miss Philippines, Anita Noble, a stiff fight in the 1st National Beauty Contest of the Manila Carnival, that judges gave her a special title.

In 1926, the 1st National Beauty Contest was started, as a parallel pageant to the Manila Carnival Queen search. It was the first truly national quest for a queen as provincial representatives, each wearing the sash of their province, came to Manila to vie for the title of "Miss Philippines". It was also different in that, unlike Manila Carnival Queen which relied on public balloting, the selection was done by a panel of judges.

From Zamboanga came Carmen "Carmencita" Fargas, a mestiza beauty born on 16 January 1918 and bred in Aplaya, Ayala in Zamboanga. She was a student of Normal College when the contest beckoned, and was installed as an early favorite as the elected 1926 Miss Zamboanga. She found stiff competition from the 1926 Miss Batangas, Anita Noble, whose lineage included patriots and heroes from both sides of her family. But Carmen held her own, and as the judging reached its final stages, she found herself on top of the judges' list, a major contender for the crown.

In the first ballotting, the regional winners were easily determined, but it was a deadlocked tie for the Miss Philippines crown--between Carmen and Anita. A 2nd balloting did not resolve the issue, and it was only past midnight when Pres. Manuel L. Quezon stepped in and offered suggestions to the tired judges for a quicker resolution to the problem. As related in the previous entry, a final scrutiny of the contestants was done, this time with another judge added.

Thus, it was in this manner that the tie was broken--with Anita Noble pipping Carmen and emerging as Miss Philippines of the 1st National Beauty Contest. But so keen was the competition till the last minute that a special title --"Miss Pearl of the Orient Seas" (Perlas ng Silangan) was awarded to the equally deserving Carmen. At the proclamation of Miss Philippines, the Pearl of the Orient Seas also had her rightful place of honor. In the entire history of the annual Carnival, the 1926 edition was the only one that had 3 beautiful muses reigning together.

After the contest, Carmen went back to her schooling but her life was never to be the same again. Back in Zamboanga, she was caught in a whirl of activities-- attending provincial functions, crowning petit fair queens and participating in Rizal Day festivities. As Miss Zamboanga, she was succeeded by Manolita Villaescosa.

MISS PEARL OF THE ORIENT SEAS WITH MISS VISAYAS 1926

Carmen Fargas (1926 Miss Zamboanga) and Aurora Reyes (1926 Miss Samar)

Carmen managed to finish school and in her later life, she married Dr. Herminio Caguiat. Carmen was a whiz in the kitchen, both as a baker and cook. She was fond of Cadbury chocolates and enjoyed ice cream all her life. The beauty who almost became our 1st Miss Philippines, lived to be 82 years old, and passed away on 4 October 2004.