BACOLOR, Pampanga (PLDT/WeRoam) — Last Friday we visited this town that we have always called by its old name Baculud, which means “level ground” referring to that time before geologic shifting and volcanic lahar flows raised it some 37 meters above sea level.
Baculud is a third-class town of only 25,500, yet is acknowledged as the Athens of Pampanga. Also, for two years, then Spanish Governor General Simón de Anda Y Salazar made it the national capital after Manila fell to the British in 1762.
The best known of its sons and daughters who have contributed significantly to arts and letters is Juan Crisostomo C. Soto, the father of Capampangan literature. If Tagalogs have their Balagtasan (inspired by Francisco Baltazar of Bulacan), Capampangans also have their Crissotan poetical jousts. In fact, Crissotan antedates Balagtasan.
We came here to join the commemoration of Crissot’s 145th birth anniversary and witness the crowning of colleague John C. Manalili as poet laureate at age 40. The rites, held beside the Crissot monument, were marked by the recitation of poesia in fine formal Capampangan.
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‘SANDIRIT’: John’s latest work is a body of more than 200 poems packed in a 262-page book titled “Sandirit.” The term means
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