Concepcion

by way of a history

The Municipality of Concepcion in southeastern Tarlac, is a 245.7 sq. Kilometers of

verdant plain that conjuncts the melting pot province of Tarlac with Pampanga and Nueva Ecija
in the heartland of Luzon. It is bounded on the south and east by the said provinces of Pampanga
and Nueva Ecija on the north east by San Miguel, Tarlac City, the west by the municipal of
Bamban.
Except for the imposing Mt. Arayat on the backdrop, the terrain is generally low-leveled,
so characteristic of the region’s central plain and as such has served as a catch-basin of the
province. Two large rivers, the Parua and Lucong, aside from a network of tributaries, have
provided the water needs, though at times have overdone themselves by encouraging devastating
floods at so many nodes in the town history.
Concepcion has two pronounced seasons like the rest of the country, the rainy seasons,
which falls between the months of June and October with a monthly average rainfall of 10.7
inches. Temperature during this period remains steady between 26 to 28 degree centigrade. The
other season is the dry season, from November to May. The hottest time of the year is during the
months of March, April and May, when the temperature shoots up to between 76 and 79 degrees
Centigrade.

THE SPANISH PERIOD (1605 – 1892)

The history of Concepcion could be traced as early as early as 1590s, only decades after
the Christianization of the Philippines in 1565 and the arrival of the Spaniards in Luzon in 1571.
The bulk of what was to become the Kapampangan portion of Tarlac province including what
would become Concepcion started out as visitas of Porac which was accepted as a convent by
the Augustinian Chapter of October 31, 1594 and dedicated to Santa Catalina De Alexandrian
as the patroness. Inhabited by bellicose people, these were Tarlac, Magala, Garlit, Micavalo,
and Paitan, situated along the route to Pangasinan . However,though the mission at Porac was
begun before 1600,as Daniel Doeppers noted, it remained for almost 200 years a small rather
isolated center concentrating on the coversion and resettlement of the nearby Negrito
Population.
In another Augustinian definitorion, though, dated “29 diciember, 1598, Tondo”
Magalang or Magalao was identified as a visita of Arayat, not of Porac. Except for hasty
conjectures, the etymology of Magalao could not yet be established.It could be that of Magao,
another old barrio of Concepcion. Kapampangan speaker in the area pronounce the final
diphthong as “o” thus it becomes Mago, similar to Amuco (officially Amucao), a barrio of
Tarlac. It is a linguistic phenomenon that both ara barrios bordering a Kapampangan community
with a non-Kapampangan one.
 At this incipient period, local historical traditions and some Spanish and Augustinian (the
friar order that commenced the evangelization of the area as well as the whole of the Philippines)
mentioned the existence of a pioneering pseudo-town (balen-balenan) known as Macapsa,
among the barrios of Almendras, Malabug , and Sabanang Tugui (located between the present
towns of Magalang and Concepcion) and which came to be know of Magalang . Not much had
lingered about Macapsa except for the fact that during the Andres Malong Rebellion, in the
ending months of 1660,it became a sanctuary for some troops of the Pangasinense rebel and
which caused its initial abandonment by the inhabitants.

By the 1700s, record show the site of Magalang to be in San Bartolome and its church
dedicated to St. Bartholomew the Apostle. In 1842, for example, (San Bartolome de) Magalang,
“which served as a vestibule to the provinces of Pangasinan and Ilocos” had 1,2070 and ½
tribute-payers(roughly around 5,000 population) with eleven barrios. Among the old barrios that
could be related to the present town of Concepcion include Sta Rita, Macauala (Santiago),
Matondo (Sto.Nino), Bucsit (Sta.Rosa), and Garlit (Murcia), aside from the poblacion (San
Bartolome) itself.
A massive flood of September 22 1858 dissolved for the second time the town of (San
Bartolome de) Magalang (which has devolved into a barrio hence and presently it belong to
Concepcion). An account of the then Comandante, Sebastian Hernandez, related that the flooded
town had the semblance of a lake at the time of the catastrophe, until 1864, the Magalang-
Concepcion parish accounted for 10,053 souls. People abandoned San Bartolome and it became
known as ‘Balen a Melacuan (Abandoned Town)’.
Archival document relate other interesting facts that were never incorporate in our
present information on the history of Concepcion. In the early months of 1858 (prior to
September 22) a Royal Decree was already passed creating the town of Concepcion, which
consisted of some barrios of Magalang (i.e., Matondo, Sta. Rita and others) and Tarlac. It is
noteworthy that the Parua River was then considered as the demarcation between Magalang and
the new town. Unfortunately, the massive flood of September 22, 1858 engulfed this settlement,
together with that of Magalang.
It was only five years and three months later that the towns were rehabilitated (on
December 13 and 14 respectively) and it was only by this time that the exodus of the long-
considered pioneering families of Concepcion materialized. It could be pointed out, at the
juncture, that the naming of Concepcion in its former site of Sto. Niño – Matondo already took
place prior to the deluge and that there were settlers in the area of Matondo.

The re-foundation of the towns of

Magalang and Concepcion

Around that year (1863), the displaced people of Magalang decided to resuscitate the
town by moving southward, in an area known as Talimunduc or San Pedro. They were led by
Don Pablo Luciano. However, some of the families disagreed with the act and moved northward
instead to resurrect as well the ill-fated town of Concepcion a day after. Their first destination
was a sylvan district called Matondo or Matandoc (now Sto. Niño) where they made clearings
for their settlements. A story had it that the place was full of snakes and it was the intervention of
Apung Concepcion that freed the settlers from the much feared reptiles. Of course, the icon of the
immaculate Concepcion was that of the blessed Mother trampling upon a snake and the faithful
people for their fervor, had attributed this as a miracle and thus renamed the place Concepcion in
her honor. This legend about Apung La Purisima Concepcion is now an indispensable part of our
available data on the history of the town.
The resuscitated town of Magalang – Concepcion and the subsequent binary independent
pueblos were parcels of the Comandancia Militar de Tarlac, a semi –provincial, politico-
military set-up that was aimed to prevent lawlessness in the vicinity then largely a hinterland.
Interestingly, the Commandancy was instituted in 1858, at the exact year of the deluge, and was
in existence for more than decade.

In the listing of gobernadorcillos of the Concepcion, the Second (after Don Pablo
Luciano, who administered both towns until their separation) was Don Honorio Yumul (1864-
65) and it is most probable that it was during his tenure that the town gained its independence
from the matriz of Magalang.Thereafter, on August 20, 1866, the Archbishop of Manila also
created an independent parish for the new town and it was dedicated to Our Lady of the
Immaculate Concepcion. However, it was only seven years later, on July 2, 1873, that the new
parish would be having its own cura parroco, Fr. Nicolas Guadilla, OSA. Fr. Guadilla would be
in Concepcion until January 3, 1880. For his contributions and evangelical labor, one of the
prominent streets of Concepcion was named in his honor.
It was also on the year of arrival of Fr. Guadilla in Concepcion that the Province of
Tarlac was created. The town hitherto became a principal municipality of the youngest province
of Central Luzon.

THE KATIPUNAN AND THE PHILPPINE

REVOLUTION, 1892-1900

A score later, the youth of both the province and the town was not a deterrent in the
commencement of the revolutionary struggle in this portion of the Philippine soil. In 1896,
Tarlac was one of the first eight provinces that fought openly against Spanish oppression.
Concepcion, in particular, was already ripe enough to contribute in such activities. By 1893, for
example, a Masonic lodge, Paraoao, was already convened by W.M. Celestino Aragon in the
town. By December 1896, General Mariano Llanera of Nueva Ecija had included Concepcion in
its battle of operations. Synchronously, through the initiative of General Francisco S. Makabulos,
the would-be General Servillano Aquino had formed a Katipunan chapter in the town, kwon as
Buenavista. Many prominent citizens of Concepcion, including Cols. Francisco Timbol and Luis
Cortes, Don Santiago Mallari, Don Andres Yumul, Don Felix yumul, Major Raimundo Panlilio,
and Don Cayetano Rivera helped much in the recruitment of Katipunan members and the fanning
of the revolutionary flame.
It was in 1898 that Concepcion was finally liberated from Spanish colonial-rule. During
this period, the Municipal President of the Aguinaldo Republic in the town was Don Moises
Castro. In the subsequent Philippine-American War, Concepcion was also the encampment of
various revolutionary brigades, particularly those of Generals Venancio Concepcion, Luciano
San Miguel, and Servillano Aquino. It was in the borderlines of the town that the fiercest
skirmishes between Filipino and American soldiers in Tarlac province took place.

THE AMERICAN PERIOD, THE JAPANESE PERIOD,

and THE LIBERATION

In 1901, Captain James Smith established the American Government in the town and
appointed Don Marciano Barrera as the first Filipino Municipal President. At that year, public
education started was also started in the town by American teachers (particularly Mr. Frank
Russell White and L. H. Bonelli, Jr.) and their Filipino Counterparts at escuelang laun (which
also become known as Gabaldon later, now the Concepcion South Central School).
In 1935, during the Commonwealth Period, Don Gregorio Palma was installed as the
Municipal President.
During the Japanese Occupation of 1942, Hon. Nicolas Y. Feliciano served as the mayor.
When the Japanese forces left Concepcion in 1945, the HUKBALAHAPs lodged a provisional
government in the municipio which lasted up to three weeks. The US Civilian Intelligence Corps
restored erstwhile Commonwealth government in town and installed Judge Alfredo Castro as the
provisional mayor. In 1948, Concepcion had 30, 785 population.

THE RECENT AND CONTINUING HISTORY

For some time until the middle of this present century, Concepcion continued to be a
hotbed of dissidence. Things have changed, however, and it is now one of the most peaceful
places in Central Luzon. Concepcion is also the native land of heroes who have made the
Filipinos worth dying for, particularly the late senator, Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino, Jr., who serve
as its mayor from 1956 to 1959.The current mayor Hon. Noel L. Villanuva.
Presently, Concepcion is a first Class municipality and a hub of dynamic economic
activities in Tarlac. The 2007 census placed its population at 135,213 among the largest in the
province.
 The Toponyms of Concepcion Tarlac
The Local History of a southern
Tarlac Town Reconsidered

ABSTRACT
Toponymy, or the study of names and places, has not been taken seriously by Philippines
Scholarship, except in the fictional area of folklore and literature. This paper take more than a
casual glance on Kapampangan places names in considering the local history of the town of
Concepcion in southern Tarlac Province ,Central Luzon, Philippines. Through a military survey
of these toponyms,,suggesting a metholodological inquiring involving though not limited to
historical linguistics,geography,and an local historiography, it is the aim of this paper to draw
out and identify from such the proto-historical or Austronesian identities of the terrain and its
vicinity, highlighting definitive areas as a geographical contours, flora and fauna, and early
patterns of migration and settlements. Even with the obliteration of these toponyms, perpetrated
mostly by the sanctification and deodorization of the later Spanish and American period and
the onset of the technological and modern age that resulted in controversies and debate of their
provenance, it is also the intention of this paper to deliver that a cogent place name though
generally taken for granted, are portent historical markers, a proper treatment of them can have
the potential of demarcating and re-identify the Kapampangan, and Filipino native mentality and
its ancient cultural identification and affinities.
Everyone told me a different set of names for them until one day a sailor came and name
them all with all such authority that I believe him. So I penciled an outline of the horizon on a
sheet of paper and labeled the lobes …
In the past toponymy, study or the study of place-names has not been taken seriously by
Philippine scholarship, except in the fictional areas of folklore and literature. Orthodox or
traditional history, in particular has never really considered the value of the etymologies of
geographical regions as much as it always prioritized political events and careers of their
dominant personalities. Recently however with the conscietization of the discipline concerning
it’s “of the people” origin it has taken a more concerned reception on their lore and world view,
regardless of the class and status; in what is now termed by Filipino historians as “pagbabalik sa
bayan” or “balikbayan” approach. After all, applying human psychology and practice and
refuting William Shakespeare (“What’s in a name?...”), one can well remember the totality of a
person by a mere mention of his name ( or to paraphrase Gertrude Stein: “a name is a name is a
name…”).
Filipinos, as case, consign dominant value on their names. Working in a Tagalog
environment in the 1960s for example, an American anthropologist noted that there are several
names by which a person can be designated: apelyido {surname, from the Sp. apellido),
pangalan (given or Christian name), palayaw (familiar or shortened form of the given name) and
bansag (‘nickname’, both as inherited or acquired by the individual because of some personal
characteristic or event pertaining only to him [also tukso]). These designations could also be
found in other Philippine ethno-linguistic groups at various nodes of their history, especially
among the Kapampangans, the subject of this study. Therefore, why are we not using this
technique in tracing also the history of their towns, barrios, or mere sitios (hamlet) by the names
assigned them?
If one is to indulge in a ‘toponymical exercise’, an advantageous start would be his
hometown and his amanung sisuan (lit. ‘suckled word’) or native tongue. Since the researcher is
from Concepcion, a Kapampangan town in southern Tarlac, Central Luzon, Philippines, most of
the samples were taken from this area. The Municipality of Concepcion is fairly recent, as
compared with other matriarchal towns of Tarlac (e.g. Camiling, Paniqui, and Tarlac, all founded
in 1686 or there about). Concepcion was established only during the mid-19 th century (the
popular year of foundation is 1863), then belonging to the province of Pampanga. It was later
ceded to Tarlac upon the creation of the province a decade later (1873), but the period is more
than enough to trace and distinguish the effects of various cultures and peoples in the passage of
time. And Toponymy, as purported, can help in the process.
Since the protohistorical or the Austronesian period, the Concepcion terrain has been
dominated by the Kapampangans, or the ‘people by the river-banks’. Their language,
Kapampangan, based on current affinity, belongs to the Austronesian family5 and is spoken
mainly in Pampanga province, and also in parts of Tarlac, Nueva Ecija, Bulacan, and Bataan
Provinces, Central Luzon. There are about 1,897,378 (1990 census) speakers of the language or
about 3.4% of the Philippine population.
It is not our intention for the moment to engage in an in-depth study. Notwithstanding,
since most of the data were taken from legends and other fictional materials, aside from what
could be culled from historical linguistics, geography, and local historiography, a historian has
the obligation to utilize them properly. Even the proponent of oral historiography, Jan Vansina,
cautions the employment of toponyms (he classified them as linguistic expressions or folk
etymologies); that, even if they are major inputs of oral history, “a discussion of how they are
generated, how to gather them, and how to use them is of paramount importance to oral
historians.”
We could not blame historians if previously they have been turned-off with the use of
toponyms or etymological data since these are often filled with blatant misinformation and
anachronism. A good example is the case of the barrios of Aranguren (Aringoring) and
O’Donnell in the adjacent municipality of Capas. In the first, the inhabitants have called the
placed Aringoring (which according to some was in honor of a vendor named Aling Goring!) and
it should be in memory of an old Recollect missionary, Fr. Jose Aranguren, who became an
archbishop of Manila in 1840s. And in the latter, O’Donnell (a former town) is still considered
by some as an American origin; it is hard to convince them that this name was already existent
since the Spanish times, as early as 1861. It was actually in honor of Carlos O’Donnell, the
President of Spanish Ultramar, who visited the then Philippine colony that year. And what about
that Kapampangan town which Spanish cronistas listed as Sexmoan for many centuries, only to
be reverted to Sasmuan during the American period when the English language was introduce,
proponents claiming ‘native’ orthography being the primary reason rather than proliferation of
the witty syllabication of ‘sex’ and ‘moan’.
A classic case in Concepcion was that of the barrio of Darabulbul that has to be renamed
Corazon De Jesus since it was supposedly vulgar. People love to derive its origin from dara
(aunt) and bulbul (pubic hair) and it should not be. Darabulbul is an archaic Kapampangan term
for a gushing liquid as Dadapulpul in daya (Blood gushes) and it has something to do with the
loud, bubbling water of a river (dadabulbul), usually its mouth, in the place which has been a
long noted phenomenon (the barrio was already listed as early as 1853). What is funny, if not
additional vulgarity, however, was that people has called the river Ilog Burat (prick river).
Whether vulgar or not, it is observable that a short time as a half-century or less is more
than enough to forget so much about the past. And when this happens, so many suppositions and
legends creep in, as in the case of etymologies of places. What is sad is that etymologies are as
potent as historical markers carved in stones. They register so much in the people’s mind, and it
will be very hard to correct them from thereon.
On the Etymology of Concepcion

Extant local annals of Concepcion relate its provenance from the patron or pintakasi,
Apung La Purisima Concepcion (Immaculada Concepcion). The choice of the name supposedly
took place after a deluge, a massive flood (which the Comandante at that time, Sebastian
Hernandez, related that it had the semblance of a lake) erased the old town of Magalang-
Concepcion in 1858, then still situated at San Bartolome or Balen a Melacuan (‘Abandoned
Town’, which presently belong to Concepcion). A group of people chose to go southward, in a
sylvan district called Matondo or Matandoc (now Sto. Nino) where they made clearings for their
settlements. The place was full of snakes and it was the intervention of Apung Copncepcion that
freed the settlers from the much feared reptiles. Of course, the icon of the Immaculate
Concepcion was that of the Blessed Mother trampling upon a snake and the faithful people,
known for their fervor, had attributed this as a miracle and thus renamed the place Concepcion in
Her honor. This legend about Apung La Purisima Concepcion is now an indispensable part of
our available data on the ‘history’ of the town.
Archival documents relate other interesting facts, which were never incorporated in our
present information on the history of Concepcion (actually this available history which I have
learned when I was in Grade 5 at the Concepcion North Elementary in the late 1960s has never
been update, hitherto). In the early months of 1858 (prior to September 22) a Royal Decree was
already passed creating the town of Concepcion, which consisted of some barrios of Magalang
(i.e., Matondo, Sta. Rita and others) and Tarlac. It is noteworthy that the Parua River was then
considered as the demarcation between Magalang and the new town. Unfortunately, the massive
flood of September 22, 1858 engulfed the new town, together with that of Magalang. It was only
fove years later that the towns were politically rehabilitated (on December 13 and 14
respectively) and it was only by this time that the exodus of the long-considered pioneering
families of Concepcion materialized. It could be pointed out that the naming of Concepcion in its
former site of Sto. Nino – Matondo already took place prior to the deluge and that thereb were
already settlers in the area of Matondo. It is my conjecture that the present site of the cabalenan
(or poblacion, town center) was already a sitio of Matondo by that time and there is another
information that some families have abandoned again the place not because of the snakes but
because of the cold reception they receive from the original settlers in the area.

The Pioneering Towns and its Barrios

 Much of the accessible information concerning Concepcion was derived from the works
of the late Gelacio Coronel and the Historical Data Papers of Municipalities (HDP). The latter
was prepared in early 1950s by school teachers and a copy is now on file at the Philippine
National Library; my mother (Cleopatra Lenon), then still a maiden and a new teacher in the
town, was part of the team. The setback of these sources has something to do with the lack of
documentation, particularly archival research. Checking and crosschecking these materials can
help in resolving the incongruities that we now have in our available sources.
Magalang, the name of the original town, means in most Philippine languages as
“respectful and courteous” or “Sp. cortecia” in the olden times. It probably evolved from prefix
Ma (many) and the root “galang” or benefaction (ale[Tag. alay]) in offertories. In the
Kapampangan dictionary of Diego Bergano, O.S.A. [1732], however, it also meant “abundance.”
An old adage of the Kapampanagan goes “Balamu yata eca pa mecapangan pale-Magalang (it
seems that you have not yet eaten Magalang-palay)” and it was meant to allay a disrespectful and
irreverent person. It will not be far-fetched that Magalang has something to with a fertile terrain
that was then very suitable for rice-farming.
Begano also cited that galang is bracelet (Sp. pulceras); other Philippine languages, e.g.
Maguindanaoan, galang is bronze or precious metal; suggesting enormous jewelry entitled one
with honor and respect. Until the late 1960s, during the biniag San Nicolas, a pseudo-baptismal
rite in honor of this Augustinian ascetic, the pintacasi of baked products, there was brawny,
bracelet-shaped bread given to Kapampangan known as galang-galang.
According to Spanish historians, like Font and Cavada, Magalang was founded in 1605,
in an area known as Macapsa, among the barrios Almendras, Malabug, and Sabanang Tugui. At
present, there is a barrio Almendras in Concepcion, yet the toponym was not mentioned by any
of the listings of 1800s. Malabug and Sabanang Tugui could not be located at the moment.
Malabug, ‘murky or unclear’, suggests that the area could have been adjacent a water system,
probably a riverbank. Sabana is actually savanna or tropical grassland and tugui (Cordyline
roxburghiana) is bowstring hemp common in thickets and hedges. These were not also cited by
Fr. Gaspar de San Agustin in his Conquistas, rather the cronista mentioned that the proto-town
of Magala[ng] started out as a visita of Porac (accepted as a convent in 1594, in honor of Santa
catalina de Alexandria) together with Garlit, Micavalo, Tarlac and Paitan. The first two would
become visitas in the eventual elevation of Magalang as a town. Tarlac (alledgely from a native
sugar cane; tanglar in Ilocano, balaho and tanlac in Tagalog), the present capital of the province
of the same name, was erected as a town only in 1686, indicative that it was also a visita of
Magalang for some time. Paitan could not be pinpointed yet. The term could have originated
from pait usa, deer tripe or gall (which is made into a steamy but bitter stew, papaitan; this is
still a delicacy though it has been replaced by goat). If so, it could have meant the vicinity of
capas or Patling, then included among ‘cazadores de venados’, the deer-routes. In 1817, the
Estados was reporting that in Tarlac area alone, 7,000 deer were butchered; a fact that vwas
confirmed by Jean malat in his 1840s travelogue.
The proto-town of Magalang was abandoned in 1600s die to Malong Rebellion, when a
big army of Pangasinense rebel made an encampment in one of its visitas. This could have been
contributory in the elevation of Tarlac as a township two decades later. By 1734, in the
relaciones of another historian, Fr. Pedro Murillo Velarde S.J., the town of Magalang was
situated in the barrio of San Bartolome, which is actually adjacent to the barrio of Almendras at
present.
In 1818, as cited in said Estados of the Ayuntamiento de Manila, the visitas of
Magalan[g] had grown only to five; with Bucsit and Matondo added to the original list of
Macahalo (Macaualu), Garlit and the poblacion.
Macaualu is the present barrio of Santiago. According to the HDP, it was supposed to
have been name after a ferocious reptile believes to maraud the area. The nomenclature is still
used for the breed of snakes that is found in the town, though it is not that rapacious as the
account alleged. Bergano cited it as ‘Ualo’; the term could have been drawn from the serpent
shaped as the number 8. Other terms that toponym could be connected would be that of
camulalu (Bergano listed it as camamalu, being ‘culebra ponzonosa’ [poisonous snake]; this is
the Philippine cobra, ulupong in Tagalog), which is more ferocious, and the liwalu (or the
climbing perch). The prominent geographical feature of the barrio was its proximity to the
Lucung (concave or hollow) River and in the olden times it was a favorite site for the “jira”
picnic of the people. This place was mentioned in 1660 as an encampment of Melchor De Vera,
the aide-de-camp of the rebel Andres Malong (of the Malong Uprising fame), with his army of
6,000 sent to invade Pampanga from the Spaniards. The said barrio could have been the site of
the battle that ensued thereafter between De Vera and the Spanish reconnaissance under General
Francisco de Esteybar, during the administration of Governor-General Sabiniano Manrique de
Lara. Gaspar de San Agustin made a precocious mention about its inhabitants in the 16 th century,
that “despite the distance between Micavalo and the Tarlac being very short, the difference
between the natives is great. Those of Micavalo are tall and corpulent while the others are small
in stature.
Garlit, another old barrio whose provenance was believed to be also Negrito, is now
officially known as San Agustin and for some time (and still popularly) as Murcia (after a
province in Spain). In Garalita ampong Pamisulatmap Kapampangan (Kapampangan Grammar
and Orthography), there is also a term for garlit, i.e., apostrophe or the [‘] symbol used to
substitute an omission of a letter in a word. It could mean, in politico-geographical parlance, as a
detachment from the main territory (e.g., the transformation of a sitio to a barrio) An Augustinian
account placed its foundation in 1755, through the intercession of Fray Sebastian Morono,
O.S.A. In 1888, Murcia, together with the barrios of Bucsit, San Juan, and San Miguel (of
Tarlac) became an independent pueblo from Concepcion.
Matondo, as already mentioned, is the present barrio of Sto. Nino. An account calls it also
Matandoc. It should be Matundoc, if the etymology was from the proliferation of tundo/tundok,
or plantain (banana) tree. A favorite banana species among the people of Concepcion is the La
Tondan. The barrio was believed to have been founded in 1750s by the Amurao and Lindo
families.

Bucsit, according to the HDP, was named after the Negritos who were the original settlers
of the area, is the present barrio of Sta. Rosa. The account of Fr. Antonio Mozo, O.S.A.,
published in 1753, cited this Zambal village as Bucsi in May of 1702, being site of catechism and
baptism done by the Augustinian friars. In Kapampangan, bucsi is the bird’s crop and it is used
used to describe people who eat voraciously or haphazardly without proper digestion (mamucsi).
However, Bergano identified the Kamp term as a “sige (shell) used for polishing or smoothing”,
indicative of the riverine identify of the place and thus a proto-Kapampangan, or ‘settler by the
riverbanks” situs. Another missionary activity cited in the area (this time as Bucsic) was in 1759,
under Fray Gonzalo Salazar, O.S.A.

The same toponyms were still intact when Fr. Manuel Blanco OSA prepared his Mapa
Del Territio de la Pampanga in 1832. Another early referent on the composition of the town was
an 1842 arreglo (listing) of the ‘oficiales de Justicia.’ Magalang, “which served as a vestibule to
the provinces of Pangasinan and Ilocos” has 1,270 and ½ tribute-payers (roughly around 5,000
barrios were to be founded near the poblacion, and would eventually become the present town of
Magalang. Except for the poblacion, most of the pioneering visitas were actually on the northern
side of the Parua River. And each of them (including the former poblacion on the other side)
would become part of Concepcion during the division of the old town. And there was to be only
one visita added in the list, Sta. Rita, a foreign topnym that erased the monopoly of pre-colonial
‘Autronesian’ or Kapampangan identities for more than two centuries after the coming of the
Spaniards.

Sta. Rita, after Santa Rita de Casia, a popular Augustinian saint, is still the present name
of a populous southern barrio of Concepcion. It was then situated a la vista media hora (half-
hour walk away) from the Tribunal (the town hall, in San Bartolome). Its emergence could have
been made possible by the creation of settlements on the opposite river embankment of the
poblacion.

A decade later, in 1853, the barrios of Magalang-Concepcion mushroomed to 35! Aside

from the listed above, some of the barrios that could be assigned to Concepcion include
Darabulbul, Minane, Panalictican, Pitabunan, San Juan, San Martin, Tacde and Tinang. Until
this period, it could again be noted that most of the toponyms were still in Kapampangan.

Darabulbul, as already mentioned, derived its name from the loud, bubbling sound of
river [dabulbul / dapulpul]. It is presently known as Corazon de Jesus. The HDP is no longer
aware of the antiquity of the place; it only mentioned the area as Bayung Baryu (New Barrio) in
the 1950s, under the conglomerate san Miguel. This consisted of five big barrios (Darabulbul,
Ppitabunan, Talimundoc, Tinang and Mabilog) recomposed during the American Period (prior to
1940s).

Minane, presumed to have been derived from the infestations of termites or “ane”, is
more popular now with the different subdivisions that have sprouted in its terrain; e.g, Rose
Park, Fadiz, Castro-Aquino, and the GSIS-Teachers Village. Being adjacent to the present
poblacion and opposite a creek known as Sapang Cuartel, old people called it Cangatba [other
side of the river]. The HDP mentioned that it was once a sitio of San Francisco, but basing from
the 1853 source, it could be indicated that it was actually an old barrio (actually, San Francisco
was still nonexistent by this time).

There is a barrio of Concepcion now known as Panalicsican [Panalictican]. It was

derived from salicsic or “penetrated” signifying that its pioneering settlers had to permeate a
forested area and clear it to be able to start their settlement. The HDP, however, lists its creation
only by the 1900s; as an offshoot of the migration of people from Concepcion, Magalang, and
Mabalacat. Some accounts mentioned that it used to be a sitio of Magao, though a document
attested that this particular barrio was actually under the jurisdiction of La Paz in 1842. In
OrAus, there is a term t’it’k, similar to the Kamp. Siksik, “search for and pick off lice.” Could it
be that the Kapmpangan male had compared his search for a clearing on cogon-infested terrain
as akin to his wife who spent most of her time lice-picking her neighbor by the bamboo stairs of
their hut?

Pitabunan, according to the HDP, was derived from tabun or reclaimed land (from Sp.
terraplena), so-called because its inhabitants always ‘re-claimed’ their land which was annually
inundated by the floods caused by the Parua River. Tabun in Kamp. also means “buried,” e.g.
mitambunan, as that barrio of Mabalacat barrio that was recently ‘buried’ in lahar due to
Pinatubo eruption. The Estados pointed out, however, that Tabun is actually a bird that was then
very visible in the said town. The Pampanga town of Sasmuan (a.k.a. Sexmoan), as its citizens
believe, evolved from tabnuan, a Kapampangan term for gathering and assembly, and is the
place where “a band of patriotic Pampangos from nearby towns used to assemble and plan attack
against Chinese and Spanish insurgents (sic).” Actually, it could have meant a riverine or coastal
area where people can meet and exchange commodities, presaging the birth of markets. The
Kapampangan verb dulung, which mean going down or going to the market could have evolved
due to the fact that the early markets were in boats where merchants ply their goods. Popular
accounts had it that Pitabunan was a former sitio of Sto. Nino although documents account for its
prodigious existence as a barrio. It has the same fate, in terms of conversion and re-conversion,
as that of Darabulbul, with the clustered barrio of San Miguel.

San Juan is still the name of the western Concepcion barrio lying as the border with the
town of Capas. Together with Garlit and Buscit, the barrio was component of the defunct town of
Murcia from 1888 until 1902 when the barrios were returned to Concepcion.

San Martin, after St. Martin de Porres, was one of the more pronounced river settlements
of Concepcion that was greatly affected by the Pinatubo volcano eruption in 1991, with the
onslaught of the lahar or mudflows. It was known in the olden times as Dalayap (Citrus
aurantifolia), an acidic fruit (panaslam) used for ade and for flavoring food like leche flan. But it
was also suggestive of Dalayat, the toponym of an Kapampangan sea-barrier, considering that
the barrio was also a natural allua (Sp. barra del rio / river-barrier).

At present Tacde (Kapampangan for arm, presumably because of its shape) is only a sitio
of the barrio of Sta. Cruz, situated east of the town proper. The term designated can also signify
an extension or an attachment, known in Spanish times as anejo. This was a similar case with
that of Garlit. Another is Maca-sicu, or ‘elbowed’, pronounced as Mexico by Spaniards and
which some quarters believed that it was so named due to the proliferation of Guachinangos
from the Central American colony of which the Philippines was engaged in the so-called Nao or
Galleon trade for many years. The people of Concepcion are no longer aware that Tacde was
already existent as early as 1853 and the possibility that it was actually the primal site of the now
considered matrix of Sta. Cruz.

Tinang, in local history accounts, was supposedly in honor of Indang Tinang (Maria
Cristina), the benevolent wife of a German who started an homestead out of an area of a thick
forest in the 1900s and was thus named caingin Aleman for some time. This old document will
now attest that it is not so since a barrio of the same appellation was already in existence as early
as 1853. Some Aetas as the Mag-aanchi of bamban, incidentally, call their G-string as tinang
(pinang).

Geographical Contours

In the 1853 listing of the components of Magalang-Concepcion, there is a barrio known

as Paruao. This could not yet be identified though an old barrio of Concepcion which has been
identified by the HDP but which is nonexistent in the 1842 and 1853 listings was that of Balutu,
believed to have been named after its Negrito chieftain Balbaluto. Some old inhabitants of the
barrio, however, attribute the term as a type of banca (boat) which is used to ply the river in the
olden times. It is interesting to cite here that there is also a barrio called Balbaloto in Victoria,
Tarlac and its agreed provenance was that of the said banca. At present, what the people know of
Paruao is Parua River (the Concepcion portion of the Bamban-Sacobia River). This river has
actually contoured the town’s history. It was its whims and schizophrenia, or with its “seasonal
pattern of overflow and aridity” as one writer puts it, that defined the lifestyle of the taga-
Concepcion through the years. With its mighty waters, the land have been fertilized and made
Concepcion, at least prior to the Pinatubo eruption, one of the rice granaries of Tarlac province.
But in its outburst, as the floods of 1858 and 1972, the lahar of 1991, and hitherto, it can
submerge a wide portion of the town with its torrents.

Parua was, according to Dr. Medina, could have been derived from Ilokano paruar, to
exit (as the river flows out of the Chico River onto the Rio Grande de Pampanga). But since it is
within the Kapampngan domain, it could have been palual (‘to exit’ also in Kamp.), especially
with the linguistic tendency of the people in reverse lallation [substitution or interchanging of the
r and l, as paralis (vehicular accident) with palaris]. Other terms for the river during the Spanish
times were (though most probably typographical errors by the writers as Cavada and Bravo-
Buzeta) Parnao and Parnad.a most probable etymology was that of an 1875 account of a
principalia and cura parroco of Bamban as “Paroba”, which is the Kapampangan term for
“south” and thus “the Southern River (which merely purports Concepcion as a southern town).”
Yet, it could also be from the boat “Prau”, in the same league with its other name of “Baluto”.

For all the probabilities and inconsistencies on the providence of Parua, what could be
ascertained for the meantime is that a couple of Concepcion toponyms have something to do
with the river, and that a great number of barangays are sprawled out on its appraised banks or
tarundun. This will attest that settlement in the old town, as elsewhere, were riverine in
orientation. In the 1853 listing we have Sapangbalayan (brook-town) and Sapangbulu
(Bamboocreek) that rested their identities with the river. Presently, we have a barrio (as well as
sitio in the barangay of Caluluan) known as Dungan (a Kapangpangan term for the river bank).
The embankment is also perceivable in the barrio of (San Nicolas) Balas (sandy profile, denoting
the domain is a riverbank), and the sitios of San Antonio, another barrio on the Parua, i.e. those
of Balas Lacio and Balas Gueco. A sitio of Caluluan is known as Maranac, suggesting a
drenched or a muddy terrene.

Another barangay that is related with the course and with the history of the Parua river is
that of Telabanca, (which, as an account went, actually means “let us ride a boat” since at that
time riverways were the most convenient thoroughfares). Believed to have been founded in
1890, it thrived as a community when luscious trees in its domain were felled and set adrift on
the river towards the tablun (lumberyards) initiating, indeed, an early case of illegal logging
activity.

The network of waterways, both natural and man-made, shaped a number of barangays.
Terms like Pritil and Paligi (Parulung) are prominent. Of course, there is always Darabulbul
with its protuberant background music from the noisy ripples of a concave (lukong) river.

As a catch basin (wawa) of the Parua, the terrain of Concepcion is generally plain and
low. Exceptions to this are the inadequate hilly portions of the town. Attuned to this topography
was the Kapampangan term “Talimundoc” (from the metathesis of ‘tela- or shaped like, and
bundok, mountain), which was the name of an old barrio of the Magalng matrix. This is still the
name of the present-day barrio of the said town, which was supposedly the site of the evacuation
after the deluge of 1858. Since both Magalang and Concepcion have been largely made up of
lowlands, the talimundoc portions were very much sought after the recurrent flood-visitations.

In Concepcion, particularly, Talimundoc would become a favorite palayo (appellation) of

many localities. These include the present Dan Francisco (only the old folks still call it by that
name) and that of Talimundoc-San Miguel. Another is a barangay badrift on the Parua,
Talimundoc-Marimla, which according to accounts was so named because of its cool ambience
and the canopy its luxuriant trees provide (masalilung in Kapampangan). A topographical
opposite is the barrio of Parulung, from dulung, which means “downward”.

In many instances, the terrain dictates the nomenclatures. For Concepcion localitites on
the crossroads and roads diverged from the centros (barrio centers), there is Corba (curve, e.g.,
Alfonso and San Vicente) and that of Macabacle in San Francisco. Another barrio on the main
thoroughfare towards the town of La Paz is that of Matalusad (slippery). It was so named by
complaining passers-by because of its soil and gravel compositions that become sleek during the
rainy season (and its fortunately difficult to encounter them now since the road has been
cemented recently). The barrio of Mabilog, in the vicinity of of the Hacienda Luisita, wa
knownin the Spanish times (as some old residents still do) as Pasajes, or passageway. And for
the Concepcion of yore, one cannot totally obliterate from his memory the obtrusive rice and
sugar cane fields that have predominated the generally plain landscape of his childhood (aniang
milabasan). Place-names like Parang (a barrio) and Pabungan (a sitio of Balutu), in spite of the
mushrooming of subdivisions in its stead, can always be enduring bookmarksof what the town
had been incipiently.

Flora and Fauna

Most of the toponyms in the Philippines were named after some flora and fauna species
typical of the place. The prefix Ma- implies their proliferation. In Concepcion, we have
Mcangcong (a sitio of San Francisco) and Matondo. The Estados of 1818 reported that banana,
of which there were 57 known varieties, was already harvested daily in this part. There are
expectations, however, like that of Magunting. It could not have meant the abundance of gunting
(scissors) in the sitio but it is plausible that it was so named since it is forked (scissor-liked) with
the aforementioned Matalusad and the twins make up the barrio of Sto. Rosario.
 Culatingan, Bangkal (sitio of Malupa), Pao, Yangca (sitio of Santiago), Almendras,
Biabas (sitio of San Isidro), Tangan-tangan (sitio of Balutu and San Bartolome), Calius-Gueco
and Dalayap (San Martin) are other examples of the flora-origination of some localities. Dutung
a Matas, which became prominent during the military career of Don Servillano Aquino in the
Philippine-American War, implies the quondam forestation of the area (it is now known as
JEFMIN Village and there are no more tall trees (dutung a matas) to speak of). Apunan Awak,
the popular name of San Isidro, in southern Concepcion, means Crow-Roost in Kapampangan.
As a pirulunan (boundary) of Concepcion with the Pampangan town of Magalang, it was said to
be a transient point of the Emprestito (the controversial revolutionary fund of General Antonio
Luna) from Angeles, Pampanga, as related by Don Tiburcio Hilario regarding a memoir circa
1899.

Café, a former sitio of Sta. Cruz, on the other hand, does not actually mean the
proliferation of coffee in the barrio. It was so named because of the folks’ hospitality of offering
the beverage (kape baraku?) to their visitors.

In the Magalang-Concepcion census of 1853, there was an interesting toponym,

Quematayangdapu, which could be loosely translated as “where somebody was killed by a
crocodile.” The place could not really be identified (item no. 19 in the age-old census) but it was
reflective of a feared reptilian at that time. The same goes for a dreaded serpent Macaualu, as
already discussed (which is now Santiago, one of the bigger barrios in the town.

The eastern barrio of caluluan was named after the liwalu (caliwaluwan) or the
archerfish, a toponym quite familiar with other towns of Tarlac and Pampanga (e.g., Maliwalu).
Its former sitio that became an independent barrio, Pando, was known for some time as Coral
Cambing, since it was the place where a Spaniard (Martinez) had grazed his goats. Interestingly,
this Martinez was married to the aunt of the famous Tarlaqueno general, Francisco Makabulos,
Dona Paula Soliman, and indeed the acknowledged pioneering families of the barrio were the
Solimans (the matriarchal name of the general). Lilibangan, was once devoted to cattle and
carabao grazing. Another interesting toponym was that of Buntuc Babi (pig’s head), now known
as Santa Monica. Different accounts have it that it was named as such in memory of a Negrito
chieftain who had the preference of hanging a pig’s head to celebrate his exploits; others narrate
that it was the practice in the barrio to hang the animal’s head by the verandah during the fiesta.
This place-name was cited by the cult leader, Felipe Salvador of the Santa Iglesia in his
testimonies of 1902 ‘which is by the side of the river, where he meets a friend name Juan who
makes a living by gathering buri-palm shoots (tulod ng bule) whichare sold in the towns.

Migrations and Settlers

Concepcion was originally an offshoot of the Kapampangan region. But not for long. As
one of the remaining hinterland of bthe 18 th century in Central Luzon, it had invited other
ethnolinguistic groups in its fold. Cajalo, the former name of San Nicolas-Balas, was called as
such because it had become an amalgam of various cultures as the Ilocanos and the Tagalogs.
Other places that resonate the migration patterns include Padpad (which means non-native) and
Baritan (outskirt), both in the poblacion’s domain.
 Castillo, from the Spanish “castle” is a southern barrio on the Nueva Ecija border. An
account mentioned that it was