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For a person who grew up in Betis, the paet of the mandukit is mightier than the pen of the writer or the brush of the painter. With his hands, the mandukit can make astonishing curves and foils out of hardwood. He can make them breathe as if they were real flowers ready to be smothered by bees and butterflies.The woodcarving tradition in Betis, a simple town along a riverbank in one of the municipalities of Pampanga, reflects the people’s way of thinking. This art and industry has survived the rage of calamities as well as the advent of technology, continuously feeding the people generation by generation.
Very little is known about this Betis. There have only been a few articles written about the material culture of this town. Most of these only tackled the annual festivity celebrated on the 30th of December. This festivity is a tribute to the town’s patron saint, St. James of Campostela, or Santiago Apostol-the local name by the towns people. But when it comes to the origin of the town, as well as the world-class quality furniture that the people in Betis have, contemporary writers seem to ignore the significance and the talent of the mandukit. It was only recently that university researchers started to make some documentations of the woodcarving tradition in this town.
The carving tradition in Betis is as old as the town itself. Although it can be assumed that it progressed and gained an international reputation during the time of President Diosdado Macapagal in the 1960s when the Philippines started to become active in international trade, it was actually more than five centuries older.old. Even before the arrival of the Spanish colonizers, Betis people were well-known as blacksmiths, carvers, ship builders and carpenters.
It can be stated that one of the major factors in the implantation of Western culture in this town was when it became an encomienda in the 1770s. Being an encomienda meant becoming a melting pot of all things Asian and European. It was in an encomienda where trades and the introduction of what was new in Europe were being given, regardless ifgiven itwhich canthe benative modifiedpeople forlearned theto nativemodify peoplewith orethnic not.materials. In the case of the Betis people, they easily embraced what was akin to their aesthetic sensibilities: furniture-making.
The first furniture carvers in Betis were not really Betisoriginally people.from Betis. During the time when religion was a means to salvation and of business, Catholicism was also a weapon and played a major role to propagate Christianity. Augustinians needed to build churches by means of cheap but quality labor from the Chinese—foreigners who came first before the Spaniards. It was from the Chinese artisans, with indios as apprentices, where the first rebulto and retablo were made. Beautification of the interior of the church was a must. And theseThe Chinese artisans definitelywere masters of knewthis how.craft. Copying from prints and cataloguescatalogs taken by the friars from Spain, these artisans who later became permanent dwellers in Betis taught the rudiments not really of art-makingwood butcarving thethrough artimitating ofprinted imitation.images. The indios, who were probably great imitators, later developed the technique as their own.own technique.
TheDurin this time, there was a growth in number of the elite was inevitable.elite. Several ilustrados in the Philippines and as well as from Betis who were able to visit European countries brought back European influences, especially in terms of taste. They wanted the interior of their houses decorated as if they werelived in royalty.Royal dwellings. The elegant sillion de fraileros of the friars later became the common luklukan of the padre de pamilya.
It was from this germinal idea of luklukan that simple imitation had become profitable business. In the opening of the Suez Canal in the 19th century, furniture-making was at its full bloom in Betis. And the mandukit—he was making a full interior decoration of a sala set, grandfather clocks, console tables, side tables and history as well.There were several fallacies about the history of this carving tradition. Many contemporary writers thought that it was just a recent phenomenon, that it started in the early 20th century. But based on the remnants seen in some old bahay na bato in Betis, this art and industry is much older. Some say that a certain Juan Flores, who was born in 1900 in Betis, was the one who introduced the art to the townsfolk. But Spanish accounts and documents from the National Archives in Manila state even farther back. According to these accounts, the Adrillanos and Nuguids as well as Davids, who already owned woodcarving workshops in the 19th century, were well- known because of their export-quality dukit. But still,
Juan Flores may just be considered as an artist who re-lived the Betis woodcarving tradition when he won the Grand Prize in the Richard Nixon Bust Sculpture-Making Contest in Washington, D.C in the 1970s. Because of this,this recognition, he was commissioned by Imelda Marcos to do the chandeliers in Malacañang as well as the interior decoration of some sections of the palace. It was a good marketting medium that the Betis town was promoted through this.Any furniture made in Betis is considered world-class. Most of the styles are copied from catalogues, but modifications have always beenof thedifferent casestyles inmake thisthem town.unique. Eclecticism is almost synonymous to huge profit. The more elements carved on a certain piece of furniture would mean more clients that a certain showroom of furniture will attract. It is perhaps in this style that Betis furniture, although of European influence, came to have its own unique identity.
The wood-carving tradition in Betis, commonly known as dukit still exists today. It is a tradition being transferred generation to generation and has become a way of life for the people who live here.
Almost everything that is being said about the history of Betis’ furniture-making tradition was only derived from oral history transferred from generation to generation, half of it founded on myth. One story relates that the name Betis was derived from a certain species of a tree named Bassia betis merr. It was said that the tree was so huge it could shade a wide area of land, which later became the seven barrios that comprise the town today.
But there came a time that the tree withered, perhaps due to old age, and died. Because of economic reasons, the natives wasted no time in applying their productivity and started to carve and make different objects out of the tree’s debris. These creations were used for trade. Today, part of the folklore of the town is the belief that the very structural foundation of Betis church as well as the carved main door, which shows “Joachim“Jacob Having a Dream,” and the retablo were made out of the wood taken from this fallen gigantic tree.
But this is just mere myth and part of the folklore of the town. The story is quite interesting and adds to the rich cultural heritage of Betis. The real story comes from Blair and Robertsons’ book, The Philippine Island printed in 1911.
While on their way to San Lucar from Siviglia (modern-day Seville in Spain), aboard a ship,
Magellan’s biographer Antonio Pigafetta recorded an account of passing through a river called Gadalcavir. The river is located in a place near a community of Moors called Gioan del Farax. This happened in the first quarter of the 16th century—a time when this fleet of Magellan’s never yet reached what was to be known as the Philippines.
Gadalcavir is an Arabic word, which means “a wide river.” The Moors were the ones who renamed this place after a conquest of the Vandals in the 8th century CE. But the original name of this wide river was Betis.
Betis was a pre-Roman name given to the wide river lying along these banks of the Iberian peninsula-the modern-day Spain. During this time, this western part of Spain that is now present-day Seville was called Hispania Baetica—the Latin name of the place where the word Betis was taken. Original dwellers of this place were the Romans.
In 1576, there were Spanish reports made by the fleet under the command of the last Spanish conquistador Juan de Salcedo about the Muslim inhabitants dwelling along the two major rivers in Pampanga: one was Lubao River, the other was what is now known as Betis River. The fleet tried to pacify the Muslims living in this place. But the Muslims resisted and could hardly be defied. It was perhaps because of the physical resemblance of Gadalcavir to this particularly wide river of Pampanga where the Moors dwelled that the Spaniards named the place as Betis. It took over a year before the Spaniards were able to pacify the place. Betis, now an independent town of Guagua, was one of the Hispanized names given as well to other Pampangan towns in the last quarter of the 16th century. Pampanga was then ruled by the one notably named as Malangsic. He and his ancestors were originally from Borneo. Everything changed when the Augustinians arrived in these places. From then on, they started to build their churches. Starting from 1660, under the authority of Father Jose De La Cruz, the preliminary structure of a church in Betis was built. It took over a year before the final structure was finished. This church is still the same one that remains at the heart of the town. Today, it is called the Betis church, in the town called Betis.
Sources:
Published in UE Today.February 2007 issue. Edited by Mr. Bert Sulat.
University of the East. 2007
Blair, Emma Helen, d. 1911, ed. The Philippine Islands. (1493-1898)
Cavada y Mendez de Vigo, Agustin de la. Historia, Geografica, Geologica, y Estadistica de Filipinas. 1894. Originally published in Manila, Impr. De Ramirez y Grauder, 1876.
Coseteng, Alice M. L. “The Good Wood”. Filipino Heritage: The Making of a Nation. Vol. 4. Ed by Alfredo Roces. Quezon City. Lahing Filipino Publication. 1977-78.
Henson, Mariano. The Province of Pampanga and Its Towns (AD 1300-1965). 4th revised edition.City of Angeles, Pampanga. December, 1965.
Larkin, John. The Pampangans: Colonial Society in Philippine Island. Originally published in 1972 by the Regents of the University of California. New Day Publishers. Quezon City, Philippines. 1993.
”Marxist Sociological Perspective”. Art History’s History. Vernon Hyde Minor. Phaidon Press.1989.
