Typhoon-hit Aurora observes 404th township of Baler amid devastation

BALER, Aurora – Amid the destruction wreaked by typhoon Labuyo which destroyed an estimated P500 million in infrastructure, agriculture and houses in northern Aurora, officials and residents will gather here today to observe the 404^th anniversary of this capital town in the post-Angara mayorship.

          Capitol officials led by Gov. Gerardo Noveras, Vice Gov. Rommel Angara and town officials led by Nelianto Bihasa and Vice Mayor Karen Ularan-Angara will lead the anniversary rites at the spanking P100-million new town hall, considered more austere than in previous years. 

          Also joining the celebration - which coincides with the 135^th anniversary of late Commonwealth President Manuel Quezon and in honor of the town’s Patron Saint San Luis Obispo de Tolosa - are Sen. Juan Edgardo Angara and former three-term governor and now Rep. Bellaflor Angara-Castillo.

          This year’s rites were in stark contrast to past years, including in 2009 when organizers erected a 40-feet-high monument that towers over this capital town’s skyline symbolic of its emergence from a once-sleepy municipality into a bustling and flourishing model for rural development on its quadricentennial two years ago.

          Located 232 kilometers north of Manila on the shore of a horseshoe-shaped coastal valley overlooking the Pacific Ocean, this town is a treasure trove of cultural heritage not only as Quezon’s birthplace but also for being the last bastion of Spanish forces during the Spanish Revolution. It is  the center of festivities for the Philippine-Spanish Friendship Day which is celebrated every 30^th of June.

          The old Kinagunasan (township) was wiped out when a “tsunami” struck on December 27,1735, killing 500 families. Only five families survived, including the Angaras.

          Several stories account for the origin of the name Baler, the most popular of which was believed to have come from the word “Balod,” a large Paloma Montes (mountain dove) that abounded in the place.

Baler, to historians, was a place where pigeons came home to roost or a place to come home to. And that no matter where Balerianos go in their search for glory and fortune, they would always hope of coming back.

From a depressed town, Baler has emerged into a progressive municipality housing a public market, a fish port, sports complex, people’s center, a P130-million integrated rice processing complex, a polytechnic college, and other institutions of higher learning. (Manny Galvez)