PONDOL

Pondol is a rural coastal barangay situated west of Balamban. Its terrain is characterized by flatlands and scraggy hills. It has a total land area of 578 hectares. It is bounded by Aliwanay & Cambuhawe on the north, by Cansomoroy on the east, by Abucayan on the south, and by the Tañon Strait on the west.

It is politically subdivided into ten (10 sitios, namely: Menteryong Daan, Pundok, Kabitoonan, Centro, Bung-aw, Sam-ang, Katunggan, Ibo, Lamac, and Tubod.¹

NAME-ORIGIN AND BRIEF HISTORY OF THE BARANGAY

There several places in the Visayas which bear the name of Pondol like a barangay in President Roxas, Capiz; a barangay and a city in Southern Leyte; and two barangays in Loon and Jagna, Bohol.

Based on the intonation and accent of the local dialect of the barangay, it could be well-established that the early settlers of the place were migrants from Bohol. 

In history, influx of migrants coming from Bohol to Cebu had proliferated during the time of Miguel Lopez de Legaspi. Though Bohol migrants had migrated to Balamban since the latter part of the 16^th century particularly in Arpili and Abucayan who probably had expanded to some parts of Pondol, it would be very probable that Pondol was only established as a barangay in the early 1900’s after the arrival of migrants from Loon, Bohol, particularly from a barangay named Pondol, who had escaped away from the cruelty of the Americans who had burned down 20 pueblos to subdue the alleged remaining members of an anti-American movement in Bohol. Corroborating with this was the fact that the barangay’s annual fiesta celebrated last June 4, 2011 was considered as its 95^th fiesta celebration; hence, the local church must had been established in 1916. The presence of a church with its own patron saint in the barangay could mean that it was a separate entity from the municipality.

The said migrants from Pondol in Loon, Bohol had probably named their new home after their original home. Pondol in Loon, Bohol was named after “pundok-pundok”, “pundo-pundo” or “pondol”, a description of the place which has several “lawis” or points jutting out into the sea; or after “tubig nga gapundo”, or pools of stagnant water found in the place. The earliest settlement of the said migrants must be Sitio Pundok since aside from the similarity of its name from the name-origin of Pondol in Loon, Bohol the oldest shallow water well of the barangay was located there. Early civilizations flourished near a freshwater source since potable water was the prominent basic need.²

However, there are certainly a lot of oral traditions espousing the origin and creation of the barangay. One version tells of the first settlers noticing plenty of trees standing tall but without leaves and branches. These trees were presumed to have withered and died as a result of a catastrophic climactic event like a strong typhoon. Other folks also narrated that this barangay may have experienced grave infestations by virulent insects that viciously attacked the trees and other vegetations causing them to go bald and leafless. As a consequence, the barangay was initially named Pugdol, meaning leafless and branchless and was later named Pondol.

Another version speculated that the barangay was named after the winter melon, Benincasa hispida, which is also called variously as white gourd, ash gourd, wax gourd, or Chinese watermelon and locally as ondol, gondol, and kondol. It is a vine grown for its very large fruit, eaten as a vegetable when mature. The fruit is fuzzy when young. The immature melon has thick white flesh that is sweet when eaten. By maturity, the fruit loses its hairs and develops a waxy coating, giving rise to the name wax gourd, and providing a long shelf life. The melon may grow as large as 80 cm in length. Although the fruit is referred to as a "melon," the fully grown crop is not sweet. Originally cultivated in Southeast Asia, the winter melon is now widely grown in East Asia and South Asia as well. 

In China and Taiwan, the winter melon is used to make soup in the same way as daikon radishes, and is often combined with pork or pork/beef bones. 

In North India and Pakistan, the vegetable is used to prepare a candy called Petha. 

In South Indian cuisine, it is used to make curries. Occasionally, it is used to produce a fruit drink which has a very distinctive taste. It is usually sweetened with caramelized sugar, which enhances the taste. 

In Southeast Asia, the drink is widely marketed as winter melon tea. 

In China, the winter melon is dried and sweetened and eaten at New Year festivals. In China and Taiwan, it is one of the bases of mooncake for the yearly Moon Festival. The winter melon requires very warm weather to grow but can be kept through the winter much like winter squash. The winter melon can typically be stored for 12 months. The melons are used in stir fry or to make winter melon soup, which is often served in the scooped out melon, which has been intricately decorated by scraping off the waxy coating. The shoots, tendrils, and leaves of the plant may also be eaten as greens.

Other version said that Pondol was a coined word from “pondok sa doldol” (a group of silk-cotton trees). The Silk Cotton or Ceiba Tree, Ceiba pentandra, is one of the largest trees in the American tropics. It is a rapidly growing deciduous tree that reaches heights of 80 feet or more, and a diameter of five to eight feet above its buttresses. The buttresses themselves can be up to ten feet tall and extend ten feet from the main trunk. The tree has a broad, flat crown of horizontal branches. The leaves are compound with five to eight lance-shaped leaflets that are three to eight inches long. From December to February the tree produces numerous five-part whitish to pink flowers which occur in dense clusters and bloom before the leaves appear. The tree produces three-to-six-inch long, elliptical fruits. These fruits contain many seeds surrounded by a dense mat of cottony fibers. The tree gets its common name from these fibers which rain from the tree when the fruits ripen. The fibers are almost pure cellulose, buoyant, impervious to water, and have a low thermal conductivity, but they do not lend themselves to spinning. Called Kapok in Asia, the fibers are used for insulation, padding in sleeping bags and life preservers, stuffing mattresses and pillows, and in making floss. The leaves and bark of the tree can be used medicinally. In Suriname's traditional medicine, the seeds, leaves, bark and resin, from the kapok tree are used for: dysentery, fevers, venereal diseases, asthma, menstruation bleedings and kidney diseases. Silk cotton wood has been used to make coffins, cricket bats, and much earlier, canoes. The round seeds of the silk cotton, the size of peas, are eaten on the Indonesian island of Celebes. The seeds also yield kapok oil, used in making certain edible products and in the production of soap. The ground seeds are used in animal feed. Java is the main supplier of kapok to the world.

Occasionally homeless people live in the trunks of silk cotton trees, finding shelter from sun, rain and wind in the hollows between the buttresses growing from the trunk. Other creatures, notably snakes, sleep under the silk cotton and even lay eggs there. 

The silk-cotton tree is often associated with the supernatural. 

In Africa, the silk-cotton tree is also considered sacred. It is said that sleeping on pillows made of kapok cotton will bring good luck, purify and empower your material and spiritual energy and bring good dreams and saintly vibrations. Slaves brought to the Caribbean often slept on mattresses and pillows stuffed with kapok. Interestingly enough, this custom was often shunned by white planters and plantation overseers who believed that sleeping on kapok pillows brought about nightmares.

In Puerto Rico the tree was often planted in the center of plazas for shade, and it is considered a valuable honey tree.  

The silk-cotton tree has long been considered sacred by the indigenous peoples of America. 

The Mayans believe that the silk-cotton tree, which they call ceiba (the Spanish name for canoe), is the tree of life whose roots extend to the underworld and whose branches hold up the heavens. It is often planted in the center of their plazas and villages and is rarely cut down even if it happens to be in an inconvenient location. In others, before cutting down a silk cotton tree village folk would pour a libation on its roots or ceremonially make an offering of corn, or sacrifice a chicken.

The Taino also had a spiritual relationship with the silk-cotton tree. Because of its great size, its tendency to grow straight, and because the wood is soft and more easily worked using primitive stone tools, the silk-cotton tree was chosen to make the great canoes used by the Taino to travel from island to island. Before cutting down a silk-cotton tree, the Tainos needed a sign that the tree spirit was amenable to being transformed. According to Taino myth, the tree would talk to the woodsmen and tell them if it was all right to cut it down. The tree spirit would also specify how it would like to be carved and painted. Those who were involved in chopping down these trees would then have a life-long responsibility to care for the transformed spirits and to make offerings to them. In some Caribbean countries, the silk cotton tree is called the “god tree’ or the “devil tree.” 

In Guyana, it has been called the “jumbie tree.” The tree has been regarded by some as having a soul or a resident spirit. But it was most often it is considered to be associated with the souls of the dead, living possibly in its roots and branches. 

In the 19th century it was common to find people who would affirm that silk cotton trees could, of their own accord, move about and gather together as if to consult one another. In Trinidad, there were huge silk cotton forests. These forests were frequented by followers of the Rada Cult of Belmont who worshipped Damballah, the great snake god, and the silk cotton tree at Belmont Circular Road was the subject of many strange stories. According to legend, Gang Gang Sara, the African witch of Tobago, climbed a silk cotton tree in Les Coteaux and tried to fly back to Africa. She forgot that because she had eaten salt (reminiscent of the ol’ higue or hag or sucouyant) she could no longer fly. Gang Gang Sara died instantly. Her grave is one of the tourist sites in Tobago. Obeah men claimed to be able to cast a spell by driving a nail into a silk cotton tree, then call on an evil spirit to cause someone’s soul to leave his body and live in the tree. Picton, the British Governor of Trinidad from 1797 to 1802, had most of these silk cotton trees cut down because they were frequented by the practitioners of “native arts.” In Jamaica, it was said that the Spanish would bury treasure under a silk cotton tree then kill the slave who buried it, so that the slave’s spirit would guard the treasure and no one would dare dig for it. The same story is told in Guyana, except that it was the Dutch, rather than the Spanish, who would use this method to guard treasure. The Halfway Tree, which gave its name to a district in Kingston, was a silk cotton tree which dated from the British Conquest of 1655 and survived until the late 19th Century.  Port of Spain occupies an area that was once called “Cumucurapo” – the place of the silk cotton trees. This name was recorded as Conquerabia by the Europeans. Likewise in Balamban it was believed that an image of the Señor Santo Niño could be found inside the silk-cotton tree if it would be cut open vertically at the center. Hence, the said tree is believed to have a miraculous healing power especially to insane person who would be tied on it for a whole day under the hot yellow sun.

It is noteworthy to notice that in Sitio Menteryong Daan there is still a few number of silk-cotton trees growing. The said sitio was used to be an old Spanish cemetery connected to the poblacion with a Spanish bridge that was made of blocks of stones. The said bridge was popularly known as “taytayan sa Katsila”, the same name applied by the local folks to a newer bridge built parallel where it used to be. Both the said bridges where associated with legends about a ghost of a Spaniard who was said to haunt a lone passer-by in the silence of the night and lure him to his destruction. The souls of those lured passers-by would then be taken accordingly to a convention of opías, the spirits of the dead, in the cave near the Cambuhawe Spring. According to the Spanish belief, one could identify opías because they lacked navels similar to elemental spirits called by the natives as “dili-ingon-nato” (not like us) who are said to be identifiable due to the absence of a lip canal. The said ghost was said to be the soul of a Spanish guard of the old Spanish bridge who used to play “dama”, an Arabian chess which became a favorite past-time game among early Cebuanos, with a passer-by or of a Spanish cacique (a landlord) who used to collect tolls from any passer-by at the Spanish bridge when he was still living. Looking at this angle, it was very possible that Pondol during the Spanish time at the latter part of the 19^th century was not yet a barrio but part of the poblacion and only served as a cemetery for the Spaniards which was separate to a public cemetery for the Balambanganons at Baliwagan.

Aside from the silk cotton trees, local cotton plant known as Gapas tuod (Gossypium arboretum or Gossypium herbaceum) was said to grow abundantly in Pondol. Hence, since the Spanish period a viable loom-weaving industry already existed in the barangay. The local women of Pondol used the large looms introduced by the Spaniards in loom-weaving even until today.

Nevertheless, it had been observed that even the pre-hispanic women of Balamban had already woven their own clothes. Based on archaeological findings, it was found out that the early Cebuanos wore clothes made of the barks of certain trees, as evidenced by the bark beaters in local archaeological sites, especially those which have been untouched by looters, as in Camotes. Later, they learned to strip the skin of the trunk of the abaca plants to extract the fiber and make abaca cloth. Still later, they started to spin thread from the local cotton plant, as evidenced by the finding of spindle whorls in archaeological sites.

The export of high-grade cotton cloth became a large-scale industry in Cebu, especially in the southern towns. It appears that merchants from Cathay (China), Cipangu (Japan), and other Southeast Asian countries such as Siam (Thailand), Annam (Vietnam), and Champa, as well as Arab countries, regularly travelled to this island in their trading ships to barter their goods with those of the natives.

This explains the presence of beautiful porcelainware from China, Thailand and Vietnam included among the bahandi interred with the bodies of local residents in pre-Hispanic times, as well as other items not produced here.

Unlike the large loom which was introduced by the Spaniards, pre-Hispanic Cebuanas used a simple backstrap loom, which many tribals in the Cordilleras of the north and the remote areas of Mindanao are still employing at present.

This loom was handier, since it could be simply attached to a beam inside the house, or a sturdy branch of a tree in the yard in fine weather. The weaver simply sat on the floor of the house, or on a smooth rock in the yard, with the strap of the loom circling her back (thus the term “backstrap loom”) as an anchor.

To dye their abaca or cotton cloth, the residents used natural substances: red was extracted from the bark of such trees as sibukaw, blue from indigo (tagum), yellow from duwaw or turmeric, orange from a native saffron called kasuba, and black from a kind of black soil.¹

EQUI FRILI BRIUM

Dr. Hilario Camino Moncado del Prado (middle) in Berlin

Pondol was also known to be a cradle of great men like Dr. Hilario Camino Moncado Del Prado (1898–1956), the founder & supreme Commander-in-Chief of the Filipino Crusaders World Army. Dr. Hilario Camino Del Prado Moncado was born to a very influential and rich family on November 4, 1898 in Pondol. He was the son of the Spanish mestiza Celia Camino of Pondol and of Msgr. Fermin Moncado Del Prado, the closest descendant of the royal family of Spain and a very influential Spanish friar who built the biggest museum in Madrid the Museo del Prado and who owned a vast amount of estates like any Spanish Friars in the Philippines and he had plenty of farmers working for him, and he maintained caretakers and accountants to look after his assets. At the age of six, Dr. Hilario Camino Moncado Del Prado was sent by his father to Calcutta, India for mystical studies on the universal mystery of nature and at the age of nine he graduated with honor from the College of Mystery and Psychics and obtained the degrees of Doctor of Philosophy of Kabal, (K. Ph. D.); Doctor of Philosophy of Numerology (N. Ph. D.); Doctor of Philosophy of Human Nature (N. H. Ph. D.). The degree of Doctor of Philosophy, termed Kabala, is the highest degree in that country. Incidentally, Dr. Hilario Camino Moncado Del Prado had the rare distinction of finishing course in three years. The requirements of every student was to be six years of age and to secure his degree before he reached the age of fourteen, otherwise he was automatically disqualified as a student. Dr. Hilario Camino Moncado Del Prado was called home by his parent at the age of 10, and remained with him for six months after which he returned to Calcutta, India for the important purpose of teaching at the College of Sages. At the age of 11, was given his mystic and psychic name "Equi Frili Brium", meaning, "I am the way of equality, I am the truth of fraternity, I am the life of liberty and the Master of Equi Frili Bricum”. At the age of 12, he was elected Supreme Grand Master of the Grand Order of the Mystic and Psychic Masters of India, which organization at that time had a membership of over fifteen million, and which in 1927 had been increased to two hundred million Mystic and Psychic people. He still holds the same position in that order. At the age of 13, he authored, "Watch 1927-1935," which dealt on the terrible conflict which would occur between the nations at that period and the future independence of the Philippine Islands, India, Ireland and many other small nations that also received his particular attention. Then he wrote a book in the Kabalistic language, entitled "Equi Frili Bricum", meaning equality, fraternity and liberty. Two hundred million people in India read the Kabalistic language. He also authored “Sun, Moon and the Star”; “Matahari of India”; “Mikado of Japan”; “Re-Vizaya of the Philippines”; & “Divinity of Woman”. He used his paternal grandmother's surname (i.e., Moncado) as a pseudonym being a writer which later on he became famous for since then he uses that alias.

During this period he traveled extensively. One of his Mystic and Psychic Masters accompanied him through India, China, Japan, Korea, Africa, New Zealand, Borneo, Sumatra, Java, Celebes, Australia and the entire Philippine archipelago. He had an elder sister named Macaria Del Prado who owned two ships the Augusta and the Benedicta which she used for travel and trading purposes around the world. She received a certificate as the first woman navigator of the world. Dr. Hilario Camino Moncado Del Prado spoke 11 languages fluently like his sister Macaria. He could also speak and understand three Filipino dialects; Hiligaynon, Tagalog and Ilonggo. He never used tobacco, drugs or alcohol. He was a great pianist and a dancer, he always attended and participated all of Zarsuela shows conducted by his sister Macaria Camino DelPrado.

Dr. Hilario Camino Moncado Del Prado was the owner and editor of Filipino Nation, a semi-monthly Filipino magazine published in English. The Filipino Nation magazine was established in Los Angeles, California on November 1, 1924. He was the only Filipino to be ever listed in the billionaire's association in America and in Europe. In 1932, he wrote “World Travel memories and America, the Philippines and the Orient”. In 1934, he was Commissioned Brigadier General of the National Volunteer as an Officer of the Commonwealth of the Philippines. During that year he wrote “Women's Suffrage”. In 1935, he was one of the delegates to the 1935 Constitutional Convention.

In August 1941, Dr. Hilario Camino Moncado Del Prado went to the Philippines via Honolulu, in order to run for President. He told his members that if they heard information that he was dead, they should not believe it. He said that he did not expect to win and that soon after election the Japanese forces would take over the Philippines and the President - elect would run out of the country. He predicted that the Japanese could not hold the Philippines for more than three and a half years or 42 months. It indeed, came true! As soon as the Japanese forces entered Manila, the capital of the Philippines, they arrested him for being pro - American and put him in prison. Not only that, they tortured him and confiscated his car and his house because they claimed that the money he used to buy those properties was from America. It was not enough that they killed people on the way. In Intramuros, there was a deep well where the Japanese army threw Moncado to its bottom together with other Filipino captives. They poured gasoline into it and put it on fire.The soldier were dancing around the glassy well. Dr. Hilario Camino Moncado Del Prado believed that if he had no power, he would have gone forever due to that incident.³

At present the Church of Equi Frili Brium is standing at Pondol. Its followers are called Moncadistas. Not very far this church also stood the churches of Aglipay and Iglesia ni Cristo.

Although Pondol is predominantly Roman Catholic it caters freely different faiths and religions. It is even a haven of most faith healers famous in the town among ordinary people.

      

EDUCATION

Pondol has one public elementary school named Cornelio Melgar Elementary School after the donor of the school site and one private elementary school, the Little Angels Montessori. The current Assistant Schools Division Superintendent of DepEd-Cebu Province, Dr. Gregorio Cyrus R. Elejorde, is hailed from this barangay.

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

There is lot of stores selling motorcycles, spas, pizza houses, apartelles, and boutiques sprouted recently at an area opposite the house of its current barangay captain, Hon. Bernabe “Thymus” V. Gonzalez Jr., who is also the current ABC President of Balamban and who also served as Sangguniang Bayan member of Balamban for three terms. There is also a gasoline station of Petron in Pondol.

Pondol also caters a lot of beach resorts but the most famous is the Costa Roca Resort, which was formerly known as Binghay Marine Mark, which is owned by Msgr. Binghay.

The Costa Roca has the advantage of easy accessibility from the poblacion. It has a well-kept restaurant that serves delicious food, and the facilities are so designed that many people have used it for parties and other occasions. But what makes it more attractive is its close proximity to a very clean mangrove stand and the invigorating, unpolluted sea breeze that sweeps through it.

In general, Pondol is a highly residential area. Binghay Residences is among them. It is where Mayor Ace Stefan V. Binghay, Hon. Dave John B. Karamihan, and their respective families are residing in. Most of the middle and upper classes of the town are residing in Pondol.

On the other hand, the common people living in the barangay are mostly living on fishing and farming while most of those who have graduated high school are now working at the shipyards either at Arpili or at Buanoy.¹