DATELINE: MANGATAREM
I took a sabbatical 'leave" as contributor to your AJ blog; I came home to Mangatarem to imbibe the sweet nectar of nostalgia, the "tiki-tiki" of old age. Presently, I'm typing this message at an Internet Cafe along Zamora Street, the 2-km stretch of road which joins our parish church along the National Highway and our town cemetery in Bgy. Torre, along the road to Urbiztondo, Pangasinan.
In our high school days 48 years ago, we call Zamora "The Street of No Return". Let me give you a short backgrounder of Mangatarem. It sits on the crossroad of two cultures --- Ilocano and Pangasinan --- making Mangataremians generally fluent in both dialects. This attribute allows the Ilocano and Pangasinan translations of the English word "rat" to peacefully co-exist in the town peoples' minds. It is bounded in the south by San Clemente, Tarlac, a purely Ilocano town; in the east by Urbiztondo (purely Pangasinan), and in the north by Aguilar (purely Pangasinan). In the west lies the Zambales mountain range which serves as the province's "relief valve".
When Pangasinenses (mostly) get fed up with the present dispensation, they seek refuge here and live as non-entities with no permanent address. When their number grows, they spill over to Sta. Cruz, a town on the other side."Foreign" Easterners (from Urbiztondo and beyond) or Northerners (from Aguilar and beyond) are easily spotted where they're in town. I was told by a story of a "tahong" vendor from Binmaley (purely Pangasinan) who loudly advertises his merchandise in the public market one Sunday morning this way: "Gumatang kayon, tahong nagimas, saan pay nga nakaraman ti yelo". One scandalized Mangataremian immediately siddled up to him and whispered in Pangasinan: "Don't shout the words 'nagimas' and 'nakaraman' in public. In Mangatrem, those words can be erotic and titillating to the ear!" ---#
Hopefully SS will send more articles of local color written first hand in Mangatarem..:)
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