Mindorosas 2.0, Lubang Island

Vice-President Leni Robredo will be coming to a famous island in my province Occidental Mindoro at around 9:00 AM tomorrow, April 26, 2022, and the venue is Plaza de Francisco M. Sanchez. Last April 6, the TRoPa held their sorties on mainland Mindoro, specifically in San Jose, Occidental and Calapan City in Oriental.

Lubang Island is known for being the hiding place of Hiroo Onoda, the Japanese World War II straggler who made the island his home and battleground long after the war was over. His story was made into a motion picture in 2019 directed by Arthur Harari. The movie Onoda: 10,000 Nights in the Jungle was an entry to Cannes Film Festival 2021 and bagged the Best Original Screenplay at César Awards, France 2022. Click HERE to watch its trailer.

But other than the Onoda story, the folk dance Pandanggo sa Ilaw is said to have originated from the place. It is generally danced in couples, with traditional clothes for both women and men. They carry lighted glass oil lamps on their heads and the back of their hands. Dancing to the rhythm of lilting music, they sway and balance, go around the stage or dance floor, intermingle, manipulate the glass lamps with amazing and spectacular deftness, and maneuver for the dramatic and arresting position on the floor. Swiftly of hands and agile feet, the dancers do not trip or drop the glass lamps that they carry. The oil lamp is called tinghoy.

Cabra Island, also part of the Municipality of Lubang, is the site of the alleged apparition of the Virgin Mary to eight children in December 1966.   The children were pupils at the Cabra Elementary School and this incident hit the headlines and became the subject of debates among theologians and the clergy themselves.  The purported apparitions eventually inspired the 1982 Ishmael Bernal drama film Himala, starring Nora Aunor and with a screenplay by Ricky Lee, which took place from 1966 to 1972.

Lubang too is the place of birth of world renowned human rights advocate Sr. Mariani Dimaranan, SFIC. She was born on February 1, 1921, and her name is synonymous with Task Force Detainees of the Philippines (TFDP), founded in 1973, where she served as its chairperson from 1975 up to 1996. She worked hard for the release of political detainees despite being jailed by the Marcos government.

Lubang is also known for Pasandal. It is part of traditional Flores de Mayo aside from Santacruzan. In Lubang, it became part of their tradition to have 8 days of dancing known as Pasandal. On the morning of the 9th day, which is the Santacruzan, a mass was held and in the evening, selected beautiful sagalas dressed in gowns to join the religious pageant.

Lubang Island consists of two municipalities, Lubang and Looc. In 2019, according to the records of the Commission on Elections (COMELEC), the former has only 13,490 voters while the latter has 7,684 registered electorates. Regardless, the Leni-Kiko tandem went down in history for giving special attention to this small but lovely island in my province. The tandem finds time to visit and build a lasting relationship with those even in far-flung areas or the outskirts of society.

The name of this island came from lumbang, a kind of tree that grew profusely on this island during the early days.  Due to constant use for so many years, the name became Lubang, according to historian Rudy A. Candelario.

The rally organizers selected pasandal as its campaign theme tomorrow.

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Photo: VP Leni Robredo's FB Account