Philippine History: Chapter 30 - Don Felix Montinola Memorial College of Victorias, Negros Occidental

(The bust of Don Felix Montinola that was displayed at the administration office of his school.)

In Chapter 16, I wrote about Don Felix Montinola, Sr. and his legacy in the town of Victorias, and in the same chapter (read blog here), I mentioned about his family's founding of a school two years after he died. The school was established with the encouragement and help from his nephew, Don Agustin M. Jereza, the son of Don Felix's older sister, Valentina. Don Agustin, an engineer by profession, founded his own school in Cebu City, the University of Southern Philippines (USP) that attained university status on July 8, 1949. That same year, on September 25, Don Felix died.

When he was still alive, Don Felix Montinola, Sr. already envisioned opening a school and even discussed the idea with his wife, Doña Dorotea Montinola y Magalona, and his children. In 1937, Don Felix saw firsthand the success of the University of Southern Philippines, then named The Southern College, when he visited USP in Cebu City to receive an honorary degree honoris causa. He was recognized for his contributions to the town of Victorias. Although he was the 9th mayor of Victorias, serving from 1934 to 1940, he was already an active civic leader even before he was elected mayor. In 1907, he directed stage plays to raise funds for the town's small municipio made of nipa (read Chapter 11 here). Taking after him, two of his sons, Hector and Benito, became the 12th and 14th mayors, respectively (read Chapter 21 here).

On September 24, 1951, the Don Felix Montinola Memorial Institute was set up and its location was right at the town center of Victorias, across the public plaza on a land owned by his family. The school building started with a few classrooms and gradually grew using strong timber from Mindanao and with a simple letter 'L' lay-out that would maximize the lot size over which the school would stand. The school library would be on the second floor along with the principal's  and administration offices, while most of the classrooms would be on the ground floor. There were two staircases, each with a landing, going up to the second floor, both made of sturdy wood that would produce loud thumping sounds when students ran up and down, especially when rushing late to a class. From the main entrance, one could use either the right or the left staircase going up. The school canteen, located on the ground floor, was right below the library. The canteen had big windows on its Osmeña-Highway side through which anyone at the street could buy refreshments. During recess, students and teachers could walk in to get some snacks, while other students brought their own lunch, or balon, and could in the school premises, but some students crossed over to the Victorias public plaza, sat under the shade of the big trees, and enjoyed their balon with their classmates. In those days, their balon would be wrapped in banana leaves, then wrapped again in an old newspaper. The balon was accompanied only by a spoon; no need for a fork. On rainy days, the main concrete corridor on the ground floor that connected the main entrance to the last room at the western end of the school was turned into a path where CAT officers and cadets practiced their march and drills as it was about 50 meters long. In the original design of the rooms on the ground floor, the rooms could be turned into one, big connected room as they were all separated by accordion doors that could be closed during classes and opened when there was a program or seminar. 

The entrance of the school was oriented to the southwest, facing the Osmeña Highway. The flagpole that was erected on concrete foundation in 1952 was at the eastern end of the school campus. Then, the students had a dirt playground using the adjacent lot that is now a commercial area. This dirt area used to host the sports games with the four flag poles for the colors of the freshmen, sophomores, juniors and seniors erected next to the concrete structure that housed the toilets.  In the later decades, more classrooms would be added on the second floor when the school included college courses to its curricula. In the afternoons after dismissal, the school's drum and bugle corps would practice its drills and march along the Jover and Miraflores Streets, filling the neighborhood with its lively music and drumbeats. On Saturdays, the Citizens' Army Training or C.A.T. sessions for juniors and seniors were held on the dirt playground. 

From the start of the first school year, the University of Southern Philippines had lent its support to the school by providing its experience, faculty, and curricula. This was why most of its earliest faculty members were from Cebu. USP's support made Don Felix Montinola Memorial Institute (later, Don Felix Montinola Memorial College) a popular private school with students even coming from nearby municipalities. Its tuition fees were affordable even to the daily wage earners, and its location was very convenient to the young students.

(The lady in a white dress and black belt is Miss Nita Castellano, a teacher, while the other lady is Miss Julieta Barrientos who worked in the administration office. Taken in the late 1950s along the Osmeña Highway in front of the Victorias public plaza. The school is on the right side of the photo. Read blog here.)

(March 8, 1955: the College Day celebration with the school's muse at the stage with her escort. The other pairs at the foreground are (from the left):

Virgilio Hollero and a lady from Escalante; Cesar Torema and Rosario (?) ; Igong Lozande and Thelma Seballos; Aniceto Carumba and Lilia Estribo.

The young lady in a white gown is the young Ms. Estela Fermin, a great granddaughter of Don Felix. Her father was former Victorias mayor, Jesus Fermin.)

When the school celebrated its 40th year in 1991, it published a souvenir program that included a list of past principals and assistants to the principal as well as its faculty that year. 

These are the past directors, principals, and assistant to the principals of DFMMI as appointed for the school year indicated, until 1991:

1951 - 1952: Mr. Arturo Filoteo was appointed as school director; he was affiliated with USP. Mr. Moises Villegas was the principal; he was also from USP.

1952 - 1953: Mr. Alberto Farol was appointed director and was also sent by USP. Mr. Felipe Garcia was the principal and was also from USP.

1953- 1954: Miss Mamerta Mendoza was appointed as principal; she was also from USP.

1954- 1955: Miss Mamerta Mendoza remained as principal.

1955- 1956: Miss Carmen Saso was appointed as principal; she was also from USP.

1956- 1957: Mr. Felipe Garcia was appointed as director; he was also from USP. Miss Leticia Villegas appointed as principal; she was the first Victoriahanon to become the school's principal.

1957 - 1958: Mrs. Luisa Campos-Montinola was appointed as directress, while Miss Leticia Villegas remained as principal. (Mrs. Luisa Campos-Montinola was the wife of Mr. Benito M. Montinola, son of Don Felix Montinola and also a former mayor of Victorias).

1958: Rev. Fr. Vicente Montinola became the director, while Miss Leticia Villegas remained as principal.

During the school year 1985-1986, when the school added college courses like junior secretarial and degrees in education, it tied up with the West Negros College and Dr. Potenciano Julom was appointed dean, while Mrs. Nelly H. Parreño became the principal and assistant to the dean.

For school years 1986-1987 and 1987-1988, Dr. Julom remained as dean, while Mrs. Lorna Garcia was appointed principal. From 1989 to 1991, Mss. Montserrat T. Villalba was the dean and principal. In 1990, more classroom were built on the second floor to accommodate the increasing number of high school students and the evening classes for college courses.  

(The photo above shows a section of the graduating class of 1955 with class officers sitting in front with the teachers. Those seated from the left are: Rolando Ancan (student class officer), Rosario Dequiña(?) (student class officer), Mr. Pajares, Mr. Hernani Fuentes, Miss Cui, Miss Jesena, Mr. Arturo Filoteo (director), Miss Mamerta Mendoza (principal), Miss Padilla (who later married Mr. Hernani Fuentes), Mr. Villegas, Miss Erlinda Ynayan (student class officer), and Ramon Delgado (student class officer). This was taken in front of the municipio of Victorias.)

(The photo above shows Section II-A of 1952-53, meaning Section A of second year students. The girls' sections were separated from the boys, and the higher sections were reserved for girls. The man seated in the center with hands on his lap is Mr. Arturo Filoteo.)

Featured in 40th anniversary souvenir published in 1991 were the following faculty members, the candidates for the Search for Miss DFMMC 1991, and the board of trustees and administrative staff that year:

                   College Department faculty:

High School Department faculty:

Candidates for Miss DFMMC 1991:

Board of Trustees and Administrative Staff:

By the way, in Chapter 18 of the History of Victorias City, a chapter devoted for some scary stories known in Victorias, the school was mentioned because of a 'kapre' that was believed to have been haunting its premises at night (read blog here). The 'kapre' who made his presence felt in the DFMMC grounds was 'captured' in a black-and-white photograph taken as students posed at the main entrance of the school. 😱

The photograph, which was in the possession of the school's treasurer, was borrowed by a former faculty member and was never returned. Taken during daytime, it showed a group of students standing and smiling at the entrance of the school, while the 'kapre' was seen leaning on the Jover-Street side of the building towering over the students as his height reached the windows of the principal's office. He wore white trousers and a white shirt tucked in with a black belt. His face, although seemingly complete with human features like eyes, a nose and a mouth, was shaped differently and did not exactly look like the face of any local. As an alumnus, did you have a scary story about the kapre in Don Felix?😱

Although the school closed in 2015, it produced thousands of alumni who continue to keep alive the spirit of a Felixian every year through their alumni homecoming.😋

#donfelixmontinola #donfelixmontinolamemorialcollege #victoriascity #victoriaslgu #history #historian #USP #universityofsouthernphilippines #victorias #negros #philippines 

Philippine History: Chapter 18 - The Unseen Victoriahanons

Chapter 18. The Unseen Victoriahanons

During my research for this history blog, I came across some interesting stories that came to light. And I also came across other interesting stories that came out of the dark.

Sifting through the stories I gathered, I realized I was writing about Victoriahanons whom I could picture as a fellow citizen of this town, someone who walked down the street and someone whom we could meet, greet and socialize with on a sunny day in the neighborhood. But if they were the Victoriahanons whom we could see, are there Victoriahanons whom we could not?  

You have an idea what I'm talking about?😀

Yes, there were (or still are?) inhabitants of our city, a city that used to be town, that used to be a village and that used to be a rich, uninhabited forest. Uninhabited by noisy, gossipy Victoriahanons, that is. 

These Victoriahanons were already here even before the Negros Island came to be named Buglas, or even before a settlement at the mouth of a silty river came to be known as Malihao.

It's time we talked about one such unseen Victoriahanon, one that our mythical culture calls...kapre! 

Yes, that tall, hairy, dark creature of the night, usually living on an old tree that manifests itself to humans whom he wanted to befriend or pester. Known to be a smoker, a kapre puffs a long cigar made of rolled, dried tobacco leaves whose smell wafts to announce its presence to anyone unaware of its existence.

In an old school building in Victorias, named after Don Felix Montinola and the one that sat along the highway, stories about a kapre had been told over the years when it was still full of students during the day and inhabited by an unseen being at night.

When the janitor had closed all the classrooms and locked the school gates early in the evening, it was a matter of time when unusual sounds were heard from inside the school.

(Image credit: mythicalcreaturesguide.com)

On some mornings, when the Tío Mateo, the school janitor, opened the classrooms, the chairs would be scattered all over even though, the late afternoon before, he closed and locked the rooms behind him with everything in order and ready for classes the next day. 

The poor Tío Matéo (or Tio Mating to students) he must have had to rearrange the chairs again when this happened while cursing the resident unseen prankster. (Tio Mating succeeded Tio Serafin as the school's janitor).

Of all people in the school, he must have been the most vexed by Siyáno, a name one student said to be the name of the kapre; the student was known to have had a 'third eye', meaning she was psychic. 

That student was said to have encountered the kapre at the teachers' office at the second floor of the school on one early evening during an overnight event at the grounds. It must have introduced itself to her. She never stayed late at the school ever again.

On occasions, when passing by the school late at night, one would hear chairs being thrown around inside the school library that was on the second floor of the building standing next to the highway. 

In the 1970s, when vehicles were rarely seen passing through Victorias around midnight, it was almost quiet all around the school's neighborhood.

A policeman, Mr. Maeng J., who was patrolling the area just outside the school one late night heard noises coming from the library of the school. It was close to midnight and he could hear sounds as if chairs were being thrown around. At that time, people could watch late movies at the defunct Vic Theater, a cinema located at the building where LBC is now located.

When someone he knew came along after watching a late-night  movie at Vic Theater, he asked him to stop and listen to the noises. His friend was surprised to hear the very unusual sounds that should not be happening but was coming from the inside of the school library. It was close to midnight and the students had long gone as school had been closed hours before. 

"Who could be inside throwing chairs around?", they both asked themselves. Not wanting to be involved with whatever that was making those noises inside the school, they both walked away.😱

Other than the chairs being thrown around, on rare nights, the school bell would ring continuously. The normal ringing of the bell would just be in intermittent intervals to signal the start or end of classes. 

But on those nights when the bell rang, it was as if someone pressed the button and left his fingers longer than it should. So, who would be brave enough to go up the dark stairs to the second floor of the school and turn the power off to stop the ringing? 😱 Someone had to. Fortunately, Tío Mateo lived nearby.

But do you know that Siyano, the academic kapre, was actually captured on film? 

In a rare black-and-white photo that used to be in the collection of the school registrar, a towering man, whose height reached the second floor of the school, was seen posing with the students of the school as they were being photographed at the main entrance. 

The kapre was wearing white pants, a white shirt and a black belt, and was casually leaning on the school building which was to his left while giving a weak smile. His face was round and dark, and looked humanoid. I should know; I saw that photograph! 😱

More than a decade ago, I asked the lady who owned the photograph whether I could see it again. She said it was borrowed by a former teacher who never returned it. (I know the teacher; I'll try to ask him to give it back so I can share it here. 😊)

So, what happened to Siyano? It was said that it lived in a kamunsil tree within the school grounds, so they had it cut down. From then on, they noticed that the disturbances and noises disappeared. 

Although the scholarly kapre was kicked out of school, it would have been interesting if the old janitors had told stories about their own encounters with the kapre!😁 

Aside from a kapre as our unseen Victoriahanon, do you know that there were (or still are?) engkantos around our town?

One scary story is about a domestic help, Violeta, a young woman who came from the hacienda of a landed family here in Victorias. 

She was just working for a few days when, on a Sunday noon, Violeta was sent to the public market to buy something. But as she was passing through the Victorias public plaza, she said there was a man who befriended her.

Violeta came back with the merchandise she bought but seemed to act strangely. She complained that the man who befriended was outside and wanted her to go with him. Everyone was alarmed. Could someone have molested her while she went to the market?

Suddenly, everyone in the house realized it was more than just a common admirer she brought to the house along with the merchandise. Because when they asked her where the man was, Violeta pointed outside and there was nobody there, only passing vehicles, but no gentleman, nor an admirer with flowers.

This was the time when Violeta's cousin, who was also part of the household, shared with everyone that Violeta could see engkantos and that this was not the first time one followed her home.

Still complaining about her unwanted follower, Violeta would suddenly growl with her facial expressions changing. When she was given a holy rosary, she threw it away because it was 'hot' when she held it.

While her fellow household help teased the unseen engkanto standing outside the house, telling the engkanto that they needed some boyfriends, too, Violeta remained quiet at the corner with her eyes widened with fear. 

It was only then when a religious member of the house brought out a bottle of holy water and sprinkled it over Violeta while she was being held to subdue her resistance. A few sprinkles of the holy water were also made by the window to drive away whatever was out there menacing Violeta.

After a moment, Violeta's normal voice returned. She went back to being a shy girl from the hacienda with no memory about what happened.

Was she temporarily possessed by the engkanto? She earlier said the man who befriended her was standing next to the big, tall tree at the Victorias public plaza when they met. 

And how about duéndes?

Those are little elves, or dwarves, that live in a mound, an old house or even trees. They only manifest themselves to a few. Some duéndes are good to humans and some are mischievously bad. They are generally described as small creatures with big pointed hats or pointed shoes, with long beards for old-looking duéndes. 

Duéndes are elementals, those creatures that live and exist in nature; specifically, duéndes can be labeled as earth spirits. The word came from the shortened Spanish term 'dueño de casa' or owner of the house.

One such place in Victorias where many have experienced duéndes is in the old Gabaldon buildings of the Victorias Elementary School.

(A Gabaldon building that shows an elevation 

and a hollow space underneath the classroom
(Photo credit: wikimapia.org)

The school building is called a Gabaldon building, named after Mr. Isauro Gabaldon, a former Assemblyman, who drafted the bill in 1907 to put up school buildings around the Philippines during the American colonial period. The buildings were designed by Mr. William Parsons using the elements of the native Philippine hut, the bahay-kubo, and they are protected under the law from being altered, demolished or relocated.

Since these buildings were constructed with an elevation above ground of about four feet, they had hollow spaces beneath them for purposes of cooling the building as cool air goes underneath it as well as to prevent rising waters from entering a building during floods.

But one such Gabaldon building at the Victorias Elementary School became notorious for duéndes. Students would see 'small creatures' underneath the buildings, including tales of seeing dwarf white horses! On occasions, the students would light candles and offer food to the 'inhabitants' living under these buildings.

As the school grounds were mostly open during weekends, tales of weekend ambulant vendors who made the space underneath the Gabaldon buildings a public dump were widely known. This, of course, became a Monday ritual to most teachers who had to send students to sweep or clean up the mess as the smell would fill the classrooms from the human excrement deposited underneath them.

And one such story was about a student who was asked by a teacher to sweep the smelly space, which turned out to be the student's traumatic introduction to the underworld.

According to the story, the student went down to the dark, dirty space (some very young students could squeeze under without stooping) with a 'bukog nga silhig' (walis ting-ting) and had already started his chore when he realized he was not alone. 

Standing a few feet from him, a few 'small creatures' that looked like 'old men' were watching him as he swept. The duéndes must have appreciated the clean-up as they were probably suffering from the bad odor as well. 

Shocked and frozen in fear, the student at first did not realize what he was seeing. And since he, too, had heard stories about these mysterious dwellers, he then recognized what they were and unfortunately came to terms with the fact that this scary moment was some lesson he never expected to learn at school.

Dropping his thin broom, he rushed out still stooping knowing that bumping his head at the wooden flooring above him would prolong his stay in that unwanted space.

The student would have planned to devote his vocal chords to singing Lupang Hinirang that morning. Instead, he ended up screaming "Ma'am! Ma'am!" so loud that other students around were startled.

The incident left the kid traumatized that he never went back to school for days and had to be brought to an 'albularyo' for healing as the faith healer believed the duéndes must have done something to him other than manifesting themselves. 

Although we wouldn't know if the poor student finished his elementary years at Victorias Elementary School, what we do know is that the duéndes living in those Gabaldon building must have learned their ABC's and all nursery rhymes all those years, although they probably knew they wouldn't get their diplomas even if they showed up at the graduation rites. It would have been one story to tell if duéndes actually attended the commencement exercises and even received medals for their supernatural academic achievements.  The space under the buildings had been cemented since.

Our hometown was not ours in the first place; we were not its first inhabitants.

Let's remember, more than a hundred years ago, this place we now call a city was a thick forest full of those acacias, lunók and other tree species endemic to this island. Just imagine those tall trees spread all over when there were no roads, no houses, no buildings, and no município. 

(Man encountering engkantos)

(Photo credit: JBBallaran, deviantart.com)

Just big trees all over the place. 

And you have an entire settlement of engkantos, kapres, tikbalang, and even mythical creatures living in the ancient Malihao and Magnanud Rivers. Remember Maria Makiling and her engkanto admirers? Unfortunately for us, what's left are primitive creatures in Victorias. You should be able to spot them when you see them on the street or at....😊 

Those unseen beings were the original Victoriahanons. The unseen Victoriahanons who took care of this land before we all came along and ruined it for them.😠

So, do you also have a scary story about the unseen Victoriahanons or the engkantos in Victorias?😱

Chapter 19. The current seal of Victorias City has an error

Complete history blog: "Ang Kasaysayan sang                                                 Victorias"