PINILI, Ilocos Norte—Manila Standard night editor Honor Blanco Cabie Tuesday extolled balikbayans—returning Filipinos who are working and living abroad—for their role in uplifting the living standards of their families back home.
“There is in fact another crucial role balikbayans play aside from the financial help they provide and the boxes they send home to their families,” Cabie, award-winning journalist and poet, told his audience at the Pinili Amphitheater during the first night of the five-day town fiesta in honor of San Isidro Labrador.
Cabie, who wrote the first comprehensive historical book on the 17th town of Ilocos Norte, was welcomed by balikbayans and leaders of the Local Government Unit headed by retired Col. Samuel Pagdilao Sr. and Vice Mayor Rommel Labasan as well as former Mayor Anunciacion Pagdilao.
He told his audience who packed the amphitheater they “are the guardians of the Filipino culture abroad and played a crucial role in preserving that savoir-faire” as they hacked out a living in countries in the different continents.
Cabie noted that the balikbayans, more than their annual physical homecoming, had formed abroad various organizations to realize the vision to preserve the culture of their roots.
“They celebrate Philippine Independence every year and promote Filipino culture through different activities like the Santacruzan or the Flores de Mayo, the Block Rosaries, and offer workshops that teach the younger generation of Filipinos by blood dances and songs and even the Filipino language or the mother tongue in their regions of origin,” he said.
He added: “They host the Simbang Gabi or the Miatinis, among us Ilocanos, in their respective parishes, often serving arroz caldo and the vinegar-sautéed jute mallow leaves in the Ilocano communities after Mass which showcase an admirable Filipino tradition and hospitality.
“They have also promoted Filipino cuisine to the rest of the world by making pansit, lumpiang shanghai and adobo as staple dishes during potluck parties.”
In a nutshell, the balikbayans, are the ambassadors of the Philippines – of Ilocos Norte and of Pinili, the province’s garlic producing town under the government’s One Town One Product Program, according to Cabie.
“They are, you are, in the best position to promote not only the Philippines but the Filipino – strong reasons why the descendants of the original Filipino immigrants to the United States have kept their love for the Philippines,” he said.
Pinili, which sits atop a hill overlooking Luzon Bay, became Ilocos Norte’s 17th town on Jan 1, 1920 through a Proclamation by then US Governor-General Francis Burton Harrison.
It was in the thickly forested areas of this place, 457 kilometers north of Manila, where rebel Catholic priest Gregorio Aglipay, vicar of the Philippine Revolution, and his local guerrillas fought against advancing better-armed American troops during the Philippine-American War at the turn of the 20th century.