Region 1
Region 1
ILOCOS REGION
Ilocos Norte,
Ilocos Sur,
La Union, &
Pangasinan
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ILOCOS REGION
PROVINCE CAPITAL
Ilocos Norte Laoag City
Pangasinan Lingayen
= Regional Capital
ILOCOS NORTE FOUNDED:1818
The islands are dispersed along the Lingayen Gulf and have a total land area
of 1,844 hectares or 18.44 square kilometers. There are 124 islands here but
one gets submerged in water during high tide.
03
MA-CHO TEMPLE,
SAN FERNANDO
LA UNION
A picturesque temple found on top a hill. It is the first Taoist
temple and only one in the Philippines that is dedicated to
the Chinese sea-goddess Mazu. Some of its interesting
features include the towering main building crowned by an
unusual spider-type dome, the Majestic Five Door Gate, and
interiors filled with ancient Chinese decorations. As you can
imagine, a lot of people come here to get a selfie with the
sign “Macho.”
04
BANGUI
WINDMILLS
These windmills have become one of the major
attractions of Ilocos and have since become a symbol for
Ilocos Norte. It was constructed primarily to provide
electricity throughout the province. It is conveniently
located at a 9 kilometer stretch farm that faces the South
China Sea, the right spot for strong winds.
05
PAGBURNAYAN
OF VIGAN CITY
Pagburnayan, comes from the root word burnay.
It refers to the hand-crafted earthenware pots
made from Vigan. Bantog clays these are called.
They’re dug from the western barangays of the
city.
06
Kapurpurawan
Rock Formation
Found in the rocky parts of Burgos, Ilocos Norte, these
rock formations cannot be classified as something
common as they are formed over years and years to a
formation that you’d unexpectedly see. For some reasons,
seeing Kapurpurawan Rocks makes you realize that when
nature works, it’s definitely something that no human can
ever accomplish.
N O TA B L E
PERSONS OF
ILOCOS REGION
Diego Silang and Ferdinand
Gabriela Silang Jose Burgos Marcos
WEDDING
TRADITION
DEATH
TRADITION
VIVA VIGAN
FESTIVAL
PANDANGO
OASIWAS
BINASUAN
DANCE
But the professional gamblers had money. They sat in the fish
MY FATHER’S
house at the station and gave their orders aloud. The loafers and
other bystanders watched them eat boiled rice and fried fish with TRAGEDY
silver spoons. They never used forks because the prongs stuck Short story by Carlo
between their teeth. They always cut their lips and tongues with Bulsan
the knives, so they never asked for them. If the waiter was new and
he put the knives on the table, they looked at each other furtively
and slipped them into their pockets. They washed their hands in
one big wooden bowl of water and wiped their mouths with the
leaves of the arbor trees that fell on the ground.
The rainy season was approaching. There were rumors of famine. The grass did not grow and our carabao
became thin. Father’s fighting cock, Burick, was practically the only healthy thing in our household. Its father,
Kanaway, had won a house for us some three years before, and Fathers had commanded me to give it the
choicest rice. He took the soft-boiled eggs from the plate of my sister Marcela, who was sick with meningitis
that year. He was preparing Burick for something big, but the great catastrophe came to our town. The
peasants and most of the rich men spent their money on food. They had stopped going to the cockpit for fear
of temptation; if they went at all, they just sat in the gallery and shouted at the top of their lungs. They went
home with their heads down, thinking of the money they would have won.
It was during this impasse that Father sat every day in our backyard with his fighting cock. He
would not go anywhere. He would not do anything. He just sat there caressing Burick and
exercising his legs. He spat at his hackles and rubbed them, looking far away with a big dream.
When mother came home with some food, he went to the granary and sat there till evening.
Sometimes he slept there with Burick, but at dawn the cock woke him up with its majestic
crowing. He crept into the house and fumbled for the cold rice in the pot under the stove.
Then, he put the cock in the pen and slept on the bench all day.
Mother was very patient. But the day came when she kicked him off the bench. He fell on the floor
face down, looked up at her, and then resumed his sleep. Mother took my sister Francisca with her.
They went from house to house in the neighborhood, pounding rice for some people and hauling
drinking water for others. They came home with their share in a big basket that Mother carried on
her head.
Father was still sleeping on the bench when they arrived. Mother told my sister to cook some of the rice. The
dipped a cup in the jar and splashed the cold water on Father’s face. He jumped up, looked at mother with
anger, and went to Burick’s pen. He gathered the cock in his arms and went down the porch. He sat on a log
in the backyard and started caressing his fighting cock.
Mother went on with her washing. Francisca fed Marcela with some boiled rice. Father was still caressing
Burick. Mother was mad at him.
“Why do you say that to me?” Father said, “I’m thinking of some ways to become rich.”
Mother threw a piece of wood at the cock. Father saw her in time. He ducked and covered the cock with his body.
The wood struck him. It cut a hole at the base of his head. He got up and examined Burick. He acted as though the
cock were the one that got hurt. He looked up at Mother and his face was pitiful.
“Why don’t you see what you are doing?” he said, hugging Burick.
Mother looked sharply atme. “Shut up, idiot!” she said. “ You are becoming more like your father every day.”
I watched her eyes move foolishly. I thought she would cry. She tucked her skirt between her legs and went
on with her work. I ran down the ladder and went to the granary, where Father was treating the wound on
his head. I held the cock for him.
It was Sunday, but there were many loafers and gamblers at the place. There were peasants and
teachers. There was a strange man who had a black fighting cock. He had come from one of the
neighboring towns to seek his fortune in our cockpit.
His name was Burcio. He held her our cock above his head and closed one eye, looking sharply at
Burick’s eyes. He put it on the ground and bent over it, pressing down the cock’s back with his hands.
Burcio was testing Burick’s strength. The loafers and gamblers formed a ring around them, watching
Burcio’s deft hands expertly moving around Burick.
Father also tested the cock of Burcio. He threw it in the air and watched it glide smoothly to the ground. He
sparred with it. The black cock pecked at his legs and stopped to crow proudly for the bystanders. Father
picked it up and spread its wings, feeling the tough hide beneath the feathers.
The bystanders knew that a fight was about to be matched. They counted the money in their pockets
without showing it to their neighbors. They felf the edges of the coins with amazing swiftness and accuracy.
Only a highly magnified amplifier could have recorded the tiny clink of the coins that fell between deft
fingers. The caressing rustle of the paper money was inaudible. The peasants broke from the ring and hid
behind the coconut trees. They unfolded their handkerchiefs and counted their money. They rolled the paper
money in their hands and returned to the crowd. They waited for the final decision.
“It’s too soon for my Burick,” Father said. His hand moved mechanically into his pocket. But it was empty. He
looked around at his cronies.
But two of the peasants caught Father’s arm and whispered something to him. They slipped some
money in his hand and pushed him toward Burcio. He tried to estimate the amount of money in his
hand by balling it hard. It was one of his many tricks with money. He knew right away that he had
some twenty-peso bills. A light of hope appeared in his face.
“This coming Sunday is all right,” he said.
All at once the men broke into wild confusion. Some went to Burcio with their money; others went to Father.
They were not bettors, but inventors. Their money would back up the cocks at the cockpit.
In the late afternoon the fight was arranged. We returned to our house with some hope.
Father put Burick in the pen and told me to go to the fish ponds across the river. I ran down
the road with mounting joy. I found a fish pond under the camachile tree. It was the favorite
haunt of snails and shrimps. Then I went home.
Mother was cooking something good. I smelled it the moment I entered the gate. I rushed into
the house and spilled some of the snails on the floor. Mother was at the stove. She was stirring
the ladle in the boiling pot. Father was still sleeping on the bench. Francisca was feeding
Marcela with hot soup. I put the nails and shrimps in a pot and sat on the bench.
Mother was cooking chicken with some bitter melons. I sat wondering where she got it. I knew that
our poultry house in the village was empty. We had no poultry in town. Father opened his eyes when
he heard the bubbling pot.
Mother put the rice on a big wooden platter and set it on the table she filled our plates with chicken meat
and ginger. Father got up suddenly and went to the table. Francisca sat by the stove. Father was reaching for
the white meat in the platter when Mother slapped his hand away. She was saying grace. Then we put our
legs under the table and started eating.
It was our first tatse of chicken in a long time. Father filled his plate twice and ate very little rice. He usually
ate more rice when we had only salted fish and some leaves of tress. We ate “grass” most of the time. Father
tilted his plate and took the soup noisily, as though he were drinking wine. He put the empty plate near the
pot and asked for some chicken meat.
Mother was very quiet. She put the breast on a plate and told Francisca to give it to Marcela. She gave me some
bitter melons. Father put his hand in the pot and fished out a drumstick.
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http://wsosapercu.blogspot.com/2010/08/my-fathers-tragedy-by-carlos-bulosan.html
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