Story behind the Banaria Hills

New GK Site Rises to Provide Legacy of Hope

Groundbreaking ceremonies for Dean Pascasio S. Banaria (PSB), Sr. GK Village or Banaria Hills,  were celebrated by the late Dean Banaria's family last September 24, 2006 in Towerville, San Jose, Del Monte, Bulacan.  The GK Caretaker team led by Pol Casino, together with GK Provincial Head of Bulacan Mon de Leon, were all present, in full support of the event.  It was a successful and very memorable groundbreaking event, as the PSB family honored and ensured the legacy of Dean Banaria by committing to build a Gawad Kalinga village of 50 homes, for the poor and relocated families in Towerville.  It was a day of hope -- most especially for the beneficiaries of Banaria Hills, as they welcomed the family with thanksgiving, love and appreciation.  Phil Banaria, in his speech, honored the memory and achievements of his father, declaring that PSB's legacy will indeed live on through the families of Banaria Hills; PSB's legacy, he emphasized, was first and foremost about helping people in need.  And as such, it is this PSB legacy that the Banaria family hopes to ensure, in partnership with Gawad Kalinga.  Ernie Banaria, the eldest son, also shared how the family sought and worked together in committing to remember Dean Banaria, through helping beneficiaries in Towerville build and restore not only their homes, but also their hopes and dreams.

Dean Banaria's legacy and memory embody how an ordinary Filipino can rise above poverty and his situation --  exemplify a quiet but true form of heroism -- through hard work, sacrifice and helping those in need. 

Banaria Hills, to date, is the 13th GK village in Towerville, where the BMW English GK Village, donated by an Englishman, Dylan Wilk who is a Gawad Kalinga icon and ABS-CBN's "2006 Pipol of the Year" Awardee, is also located, together with Aldaba Hills GK Village, donated by the family of CheChe Aldaba Lazaro, among others.

A FEW STORIES RE:BATAAN DURING WW2

 

The above photo is real, one of the stark vignettes during those dark days in the Philippines. Ask any survivor of that era and he will agree that indeed WAR IS HELL..

IN A TV DOCUMENTARY, some of the survivors described how life was before, during and after April 9, 1942..

There were about 75,000 US-Filipino soldiers that were hiding inside Bataan. Only a few thousand were left, rescued by the returning Americans in a POW camp in Cabanatuan, Nueva Ecija.

Some said after their food supply was gone, they had to eat rats, cockroaches, "anything that moves..". One said, "hell, it was better than nothing, it was a source of protien"

A Japanese speaker of that documentary commented the Japanese were brutal because that was how they were trained.."The officers harassed the privates, treated them like animals...So the privates had nobody else to vent their anger and frustration, except the POWs.."

The documentary showed that whatever brutality you heard re: the war, (e.g. POWs and babies used for bayonet practice by the Jap soldiers, ) were true. Photos were shown to attest these events.

The late Mayor Alejo of Asingan was one of the victims during the war years. He preferred to die, according to the story, rather than reveal the names of so called "guerillas" to the Japanese authorities. He died, they said, with water torture--#

October 7, 2006

NY-NJ-PA Friends of Asingan

394 Stegman Pkwy, Jersey City, New Jersey 07305

Dear Kailians:

Greetings family and friends!

In January 2005, after the passing of our father/grandfather and hero, from Barrio Toboy, Asingan, Pangasinan, Pascasio Salcedo Banaria Sr., our family committed to a partnership with Gawad Kalinga by constructing 50 homes for the poorest of the poor.

We are honored to announce that the groundbreaking ceremony for the Dean Pascasio S. Banaria (PSB), Sr. GK Village or Banaria Hills, was celebrated by the late Dean Banaria's family last September 24, 2006 in Towerville, San Jose, Del Monte, Bulacan, Philippines.  Please find the picture below showing the groundbreaking ceremony. It was a successful and very memorable event, as the PSB family honored and ensured the legacy of Dean Banaria. The GK beneficiaries, along with the Caretaker team, are now set to construct the first 12 homes with the foundations of 3 homes already up with our commitment to build the rest of the 50 homes.  Dean Banaria's legacy and memory embody how an ordinary Filipino can rise above poverty and his situation --exemplify a quiet but true form of heroism -- through hard work, sacrifice and helping those in need. 

 

Thank you to all those who have joined us in this endeavor! With your help we were able to raise $14,000 enough to build 12 homes. In this regard, we are still in humble need of your continued support. We invite you to once again be part of building the Dean P.S. Banaria Sr. GK Village! Our effort is not simply about building homes for the poor, but about empowering the weak and thus truly effecting social change.

We would like to have the opportunity to discuss this further. We shall be looking forward to your most favorable response. You may contact the undersigned at 589 Plymouth Road, Hillside, NJ 07205 or at graciabe@aol.com or cellphone 908-265-7866.

 

Yours sincerely,

Grace Banaria-Espiritu and the Banaria Family

Daughter and Treasurer, NY-NJ-PA Friends of Asingan Association

Dean Pascasio S. Banaria Sr. GK Village (Banaria Hills)

Towerville, Bgy Minuyan, San Jose Del Monte, Bulacan, Philippines

Groundbreaking Ceremony, 24 September 2006

******

MORE PHOTOS SOON!!

MORE BABY PHOTOS!

There are 4 Donato Costeses in our family. First is Donato Costes I, my dad's dad. He served an incomplete term as Mayor of Asingan  in the '20s. He died before his term ended.

Then my brother Donato Costes II. He and I left Asingan for Toronto in the '70s. He is an a-1 auto mechanic and a tireless handyman.

Then Donato Costes III is his only son, in fact his only child. He now works for Sony in California.

4th of a series is DJ, born on  Dec. 25. The whole world celebrates when he celebrates his birthday!---#

HISTORICAL PHOTOS OF WW2 IN THE PHILIPPINES

A photo essay of  World War 2  photographs in the Philippines...

FEEDBACKS ON GUERILLIA MONEY

Once again, Mr. Costes, your journals and pictures breathe life into some  things that I have only read about in books or seen in documentaries.  Keep them coming please!

--Bartlett

 

Hi Mike..I will be too happy to write more re: memories of the war in my hometown as related to me by my parents and kinfolks..Samples here are some paper money I found scattered in our living room around 1948..Quite a bundle of them were stacked in an old wooden chest in my grandma's room..It looked like a treasure chest from an adventure movie..The only difference is that, all these bills were useless after the war, after armistice was signed. They could not even be used in the toilet; the sizes are too small!

So what we kids did was to use the bills ( known already at that time as Mickey Mouse money ) for playing store. During  Saturdays or Sundays  we pretended to be merchants selling assorted stuff ( rocks, flowers, leaves, some scrap iron, etc ) in our yard and we used the Mickey Mouse money as currency. Neighbouring kids would come over and join the game which kept us out of trouble practically the whole day.

These Japanese currency were printed the same way as real money was. Fine artwork, serial numbers, the whole shebang.  They used familiar vignettes like Rizal's monument or an abaca plantation just to give it the "Philippine" look.

Life was cheap and volatile during those days of occupation. I heard from my Mom that one morning, my dad was picked up by some men ( called Makapilis ). Maka-Pili is a derivative of  Maka Pilipino which means Pro-Pilipino. In reality, these were opportunists, carpetbaggers, the scum that thrive on the absence of law and order in a country. My grandmother was rich before the war having pioneered so many kinds of businesses in Asingan. When the Japanese arrived, anarchy set in. Makapilis aimed to fleece money from the rich. The men picked up my dad ( and my grandma was not able to do anything but cry her eyes out ). My aunt's husband, according to the family lore, promised to help my dad since he ( my uncle) knew the captors personally. Maybe they were his drinking buddies.

Anyways, some hours later, my uncle came back and told my grandma to give him some ransom money  so he can "save" my dad. So my grandma handed him a big bag of money ( I hope it was some Japanese currency ) and that same night, my dad arrived, very pale and haggard. I never learned what they did to him, but I knew it was not something very nice.

Well, some say my uncle was a makapili himself. Hard to tell really. During war time, things and people are not what they  appear to be.---#

GUERILLA CURRENCY IN THE PHILIPPINES DURING THE WAR

The Guerilla money in the Philippines during WW2

 

If you think money is hard to find now a days, think of the dark days during the Japanese occupation.Above is a sample of the money they were using during those days..Read the following story from a historical article..

There was hardly a corner of the Philippines in which guerilla groups did not flourish, although ill-equipped, ill fed and living in daily confrontation with death. Financing the guerilla resistance played an important role during the war and a large variety of paper money was issued in each province, Pangasinan included. In fact, the incredible number of notes issued indicated indicated the faith and courage the Filipinos had in the future. No printing presses, little paper and the lack of ink were just a few of the problems faced in producing these notes. Wood blocks, vegetable dye and scrap paper were used to prepare a wide variety of notes that became widely accepted as legal currency.

Instant Death

It took courage for the Filipinos then to accept these guerilla notes. To be caught by the japanese in possesion of these outlawed notes meant extreme torture or instant death. And to refuse these notes from fellow Filipinos was taken as a sign of collaboration with the Japanese, and somehow, collaborators have a strange way of dissapearing. Either way, these notes represented a signed death warranty to the bearer.

After the war

The remainder of the war was recorded in the history books. McArthur came back as promised. It is to the large credit of  the Philippine and American governments that a large percentage of the guerilla currency was redeemed during after war, in most cases, dollar for dollar. Naturally, not all of the notes were turned in. Because of the death of many Filipinos, the notes they hid became forgotten. To these day, small hoards may still exist in some cave or any kind of hiding place.--#