Thursday, March 28, 2013

HINGATMONAN



NAME-ORIGIN OF THE BARANGAY

The place is named after an elephant apple known locally as “katmon” which was abundant in the area in the past. The word “hingatmonan” is derived from the Cebuano prefix “hing-“, rootword “katmon”, and suffix “-an” which means literally “a source of elephant apples or a place where elephant apples are harvested”.1 The elephant apple is a wild tree that usually dwells in riverine forest which is endemic to the Philippines and is also known as the Philippine dillenia. It is an evergreen large shrub or small to medium-sized tree growing to 15 m tall. The leaves are 15–36 cm long, with a conspicuously corrugated surface with impressed veins. Its branches are used to make good firewood. The flowers are large, 15–20 cm diameter, with five white petals and numerous yellow stamens. Its characteristic round fruits are large, greenish yellow, have many seeds and are edible. The fruit is a 5–12 cm diameter aggregate of 15 carpels, each carpel containing five seeds embedded in an edible pulp. The fruit pulp is used in Indian Cuisine in curries, jam, and jellies. Fruits (including peel), young shoots and flowers are used as flavoring for sour fish soup; ripe fruits are eaten fresh; peel and fruit segments are used in traditional medicine especially in the preparation of cough syrup, also used as hair shampoo; red dye is obtained from the bark; wood for general utility, constructions, poles, interior works, furnitures, boards and panels, veneers, plywoods and wooden articles.2

The elephant apple which is also known as “balale”, “kalambug”, “palali”, “biskan”, “bolobayawak”, “pamamalien”, “kalambugui”, “kambug”, and “kalambok” in other parts of the country is listed as one of the threatened Philippine plants under DENR Administrative Order 2007-1.3

In local folklore, it was said that forest of mostly elephant apple trees grew beside the river that surrounded Hingatmonan. But the people were afraid of getting nearer to the elephant apple trees believing that its fruits and flowers were poisonous. They believed that the forest was contaminated with the poison of the legendary freshwater giant clam known as “tangub” believed to dwell in the river. It was said that this mythical giant clam would open up and close down during the ebb and flow of the sea respectively. It was feared accordingly due to its saliva that could kill anybody being touched by it.Then there was a time as the legend continued warriors came to the rivers to hunt down the said mythical beast but instead of finding it at the boulders of rocks in the river what they found out were the lovers sitting on a rock and sweetly eating the fresh fruits of the elephant apple. From then on the place was called as “Hingatmonan”.

At present, there are still few elephant apple trees growing in the area.

GEOGRAPHICAL DESCRIPTION

Hingatmonan is an upland barangay bounded by Singsing, Biasong, Liki, Lamesa, & Vito. It has a total land area of 832 hectares.

It is politically subdivided into six (6) sitios, namely: Abante, Pitogo, Hingatmonan Proper (Patag), Suron (Sauron), Ibo, and Oyong.

BRIEF HISTORY

Hingatmonan was established as a barrio in 1950 with Agapito Sasam as its first teniente del barrio. He was followed by Adrino Rabanes, Pedro Sasam, Vicente Himaya, and Sotero Himaya. During the Marcos regime when the barrio was renamed as barangay and the chiefs were called as barangay kapitan, the first barangay captain was Juan Indino. He was followed by Petronilo Pacquiao, Emeliano Sillar, Florencio Pesanon, and the current first lady barangay captain, Lucia A. Ripdos.4

5 comments:

  1. Hi,

    Just came across your article through google and I'm quite fascinated at the history you have regarding my birthplace. I lived in this used-to-be remote area in my entire childhood and moved out since then but has been keeping in touch with my relatives who are still there. Quite frankly, I don't know about this "Katmon" plant ever existed along the banks of the river or maybe I wasn't that curious enough to know what it is. My grade teacher at the local school used to tell us that the origin of Hingatmonan was taken from the word Himatngonan (discovery) after some folks discovered that malaria existed in that place. I didn't like how that story rolled though but your article provides another perspective how that place got its name. BTW, there are interesting facts about the place. It is rich in ground water and it supplies the lowland communities for drinking and irrigation. In fact, without those springs called "Tubod", "Lawis", etc, the river would have run dry by now. There are several stories behind that Tubod, some claimed to have seen cooked(dead and reddish) shrimps coming out from that big hole and sometimes it came out white. I myself saw it turned the whole river into milky white. Not sure if it's connected to some other water deposits but who knows?

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    1. I also came across with that version that Hingatmonan was named after the Cebuano words "pagmatngon" (be cautious or keep safe), "matngon" (notice, learn, or discover), or "paghimatngon" (to become cautious). In that version, which is still retold at present, the two lovers were killed by the two mythical monsters and in the place where they died a big and red flower grew which was discovered later by the villagers. Yet, I chose not to include this since etymologically speaking it is wrong and to include this, in my judgment, will only add to another mistake. Anyway, thank you for visiting my blogspot. Have a good day. God bless.

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    2. By the way, about the springs, its contribution to local civilization, and the unusual phenomenon happening there, I found it very interesting. I hope you could elaborate on that via my e-mail. Perhaps from the information that you could share we could also ask the assistance of the LGU for some environmental -- geological and volcanological -- studies on the said areas. Who knows the springs that you are telling about are actually geysers? What do you think? LOL

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  2. I agree, it is really interesting especially that there are a lot of living witnesses that can provide more details regarding that Tubod. It is a hole from a ground where water flows out from it. I don't think it is a geyser as far as I've seen it. That spring is found at the foot of the hill where locals used to take a bath and do their laundry. (sigh) With the current water distribution system in the barangay, I'm not sure if they still go there. Good riddance as I call it as they're no longer polluting the river with detergents. (BTW, there used to be a swine industry that polluted the entire river years ago. Fortunately, it closed. I can see that jobs were lost but I was more concern on the long term effect of the environment). Anyways, if you go to proper Patag area and ask the folks there who live that area , I'm sure they're going to tell you first hand information what they had witnessed. With the cooked shrimps coming out, I was thinking that there could be volcano underneath. Not sure, but that's my educated guess. It's worth the study but if I only have money, that is something I could build on and preserve the river or do some ecotourism.

    Thanks!

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  3. If you were really thinking that there is a volcano underneath that area then it will also be true that the spring if not a hot spring is a geyser since geysers in general are located near volcanic areas and a geyser effect is due to the proximity of magma.

    I am quite busy right now but as soon as I can have a more free time I will positively go there and check the area or ask that first-hand information from your folks. Right now, all I can do is to tell this bit of information of yours to some people in the MENRO-Balamban for them to check the area and probably ask the assistance of geologists and volcanologists regarding this matter.

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