The new Antique

I’ve always associated the province of Antique with the poll violence that took place there in the 1986 Snap Elections — not with its culture as rich as Muscovado sugar, heritage as precious as the gems of Sibalom, seas the color of sapphire and rivers as transparent as crystal.

The Antique I saw last week when I visited Sen. Loren Legarda during the fiesta of its capital San Jose was a diamond not so much in the rough anymore. Some of its facets were already beginning to shine, like the bright sun over its beaches (the entire province is embraced by the sea on one side and has one of the most scenic coasts I have seen).

What’s Loren doing in Antique? She has roots in Antique and during her visits to the province, found much potential in it, like a talented ingenue waiting for the right break.

“Sabi nga nila, I have accomplished so much already for the province. I’ve done it already for so many years even when I was not even aspiring, intending to run,” says Loren, who is now running to represent Antique in the House of Representatives.

Her late mother Bessie Gella Bautista (who married Tony Legarda of Laguna) has roots in the town of Pandan in northern Antique. Bessie’s mother, Carmen Gella Bautista, is from Pandan. Her grandfather Ariston was the province’s first pharmacist and was the lone representative of the province to the Malolos Congress, and her granduncle Vicente, a former governor.

The author and STAR’s Büm Tenorio Jr. by a 1982 mural depicting the barter of Panay by National Artist J. Elizalde Navarro at the provincial capitol of Antique.

Now a resident of Barangay Mag-aba, Pandan, Antique, Loren unearthed several cultural treasures on the road from the north to the south of the province, which unfortunately, remains among the poorest on Panay Island. According to the Philippine Statistics Authority, Antique had the highest incidence of poverty in Panay (18.3 percent) in the first semester of 2018. (According to the report, Capiz is the most prosperous, followed by Aklan and Iloilo.)

Few know that aside from being the home of the late National Artist J. Elizalde Navarro, whose mural depicting “the barter of Panay” dominates the lobby of the provincial Capitol, Antique is home to some of the country’s most talented artisans.

We met weavers in Bugasong and Tibiao towns who learned the art of weaving piña, cotton and abaca from their elders. According to the leaders of their associations, Loren immediately got both the National Commission on Culture and the Arts and the Philippine Fiber Industry Development Authority to support them with threads, looms and invitations to Manila trade fairs. If you receive a patadyong or a shawl woven by the women of Antique on your birthday, it means Loren likes you a lot.

Now, the women (and some men) are getting themselves organized, their looms buzzing to meet orders from Manila.

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The church in the town of Anini-y didn’t escape Loren’s eye, either. The early 17th-century church is the only Spanish colonial church still standing in the province. Originally built by the Augustinian friars, Anini-y church or the Parish of St. John of Nepomuceno is the only preserved church in Antique. According to a marker on its façade, the church is “yaring coral” (made of coral). Rebuilt in 1879 and 1973, it houses a metal bell forged in Spain in 1898 and a centuries-old statue of the Blessed Mother. Thus, a solid yakal door, the focal point of the central church, seemingly stands guard over the treasures within, including an old baptistry.

The church underwent restoration in 2017 through the initiative of Loren, in partnership with the National Historical Commission of the Philippines. The newly restored church was the venue of the Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra’s concert in March 2018, 25 years after its first performance in Antique.

Indeed, old treasures are preserved in new Antique.

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In San Jose, the capital, we were billeted in the tastefully built and furnished Xela Hotel, owned by Alex and Marlene Yao. Marlene introduced to us the “Antique salad,” which is a mix of ampalaya (bitter melon), ripe yellow mangoes, tomatoes, onions and topped with crisp dried fish. Marlene also introduced us to an Antique version of halo-halo (topped with cornflakes) and her own version of mangga con hielo (her secret: Alpine milk).

We usually were served Muscovado sugar with our coffee, and no wonder. Muscovado sugar’s known provenance is the town of Laua-an in Antique. The Philippine Postal Corp. has, in fact, released commemorative stamps to mark the centenary of Laua-an in Antique province as a Muscovado town in the country. Loren, a health buff, has supported its  production in cooperation with the Department of Trade and Industry.

Practicing an art handed down through generations.

“So, from Muscovado sugar, to weaving, and cacao, I have initiated projects. I even have itlugan, manukan for poor families,” says Loren, who also aims for “zero open defecation” in the entire province if she is elected.

In Loren’s hometown of Pandan is the Bugang River, which is known as “the cleanest inland body of water in the Philippines.” In 2014, the Senate commended the local government and community of Pandan for their conservation efforts and cited their case a successful model for community-based ecotourism.

I got the sense during our visit to Antique that it was no longer a dusty hotbed of poll violence but a hive of culture, heritage and talented people waiting to flourish.

“Loren has put us on the map for a different reason now,” says former Antique governor Sally Zaldivar Perez. 

(You may e-mail me at [email protected]. Follow me on Instagram @joanneraeramirez.)