SOCIAL ORGANIZATIONS IN ALFONSO

SOCIAL ORGANIZATIONS IN ALFONSO

PRE-SPANISH SOCIETY
Conservatism, tradition, and poor transport facilities during the pre-Spanish period made Filipinos then somewhat less the social beings that they are today. The family was the main and the most stable social unit, the anchor to which the “baranggay” was tied.
Association between the two genders was taboo until such time as the parents deemed it “proper” to marry off their children.

POST REVOLUTION SOCIETY
It is a fact…sad for females, happy for males…that since the beginning of history, there have been more girls than boys, more women than men. There is reason to believe that 8 out of 10 born babies are girls. During the Spanish times, the ratio was one boy to five girls.
Today, only heaven knows what the ratio is. At any rate, Alfonso girls of Spanish times, having been introduced to Western thought and ways managed to shed off a good amount of inhibition, organized themselves, and turned more sociable. Under the leadership of Dolores Angeles and Concepcion Rosanes, they held dancing parties quite regularly. Their dancing hall was the old house of Capitan Inso.
Since Alfonso is the kind of town where everyone is almost related to everyone else, gentlemen callers had to come from neighboring towns. Courtship ended up in marriage – for most. For the less lucky, there was spinsterhood and old bachelorhood to fall back on.
Social instinct got the better of Alfonso folks, despite the dictates of conventions not to be too sociable. “Sa Liwanag ng Buwan”, as the name implies, was agroup of moon-lovers whose cycle of social activities depended on the cycle of lunar changes. Relatives and friends joined in for rounds of dancing, jokes, story-telling and eat. Among the active members were Dorotea Malabanan, Bonifacia Aviñante and Josefa Vidallon. Perhas because people have a natural inclination for self-expression through rhythmic ways or perhaps because songs somehow help ease the burden of life, some people in Alfonso got together to form a singing group called “Alulong” (probably because at night, they used to go around the town bringing with them musical instruments and singing popular songs, so that people compared them to howling dogs).
This music-minded group gathered nightly over a certain delicacy alternately prepared by each one of them. After eating they went around serenading, sometimes up to early dawn. The members: Olimpio Ortega, Juan Aviñante, Pablo Gloriano, Anastacio Añonuevo and Ireneo Alano.

WORLD WAR II SOCIAL ORGANIZATIONS:

During the Japanese Occupation, natives of Alfonso who resided elsewhere were all forced by circumstances to come home. There was nothing much to do because of the stresses of war. Several organizations evolved and there was a great competition both in athletic and social activities. This made the town very active, and each day was lived as if no war was going on.

“MARIBUZA” was organized long before the coming of the Japanese but it dried up and was only activated upon organization of other clubs.
Maribuza was coined from the first syllable of the four main streets of the Municipality: MA-bini, Ri-zal, BU-rgos, and ZA-mora.

BASTON: Composed mostly of elder boys and some girls, they busied themselves with dances and dramatics. The boys later joined the Guerilla movement against the Japanese, together with members of other clubs.

WAWAW: It was made up mainly of teenagers. Like Baston, Wawaw was also very active with many social activities.

SERENDAERS: As the name implies, members were the singers in town who indulged primarily in nightly “harana”. They also tried their dramatic talents through some “dramas” which they presented at the public market.

AMPHIBIANS; They did not walk on water or on land, but they made themselves popular through softball game which they usually played in the Plaza against other teams.

DAMAPOSA: It could have rightfully be called the Gambler’s Club, for the groups was composed of those who played DA-is, MA-jong, Po-ker, and SA-bong.

GOGARACAMATI: Composed of GO-do, GA-ra, RA-mon, CA-sto, MA-rcial, and TI-rso,

RAMBOGIE: Composed of very young boys who organized themselves to compete with the equally young other group who called themselves….

WINGS: The main opponent of Rambogie.

With so many organizations, there was never a dull moment in town.
There were singing contents, dramatic presentations, dance parties, athletic competitions. Petty fights ensued once in a while among the different groups.
But the spirit of unity and cooperation was maintained and visitors from other places were very much impressed. In fact, many of the evacuees decided to stay in Alfonso evern after the war, like the Ferreros family, De los Angeles family and many others.

POST WAR ORGANIZATIONS

After the Japanese War, attempts were made to revive the World War II organizations, but due to changes in trends of life, members of former organizations were scattered to different directions. The attempts were unsuccessful. On the other hand new clubs and civic organizations started sprouting from all sectors of society, all of which were instrumental in the social rehabilitation.

THE AMOR MIO CLUB: It was unintentionally organized in 1951 by a group of close friends who decided to give their group a name.
About a year later, it went on very glamoroualy with the affiliation of numerous civic-minded youths. It was active and somewhat prestigious. Later on, though, its prestige was a bit diminished in 1955 when other clubs were born.

THE VALIANT CLUB: Originally a basketball team named AVENGERS in 1953, it was later made a club by organizer Ading Dimaranan in order to increase the membership. It turned out to be the greatest competition of the Amor Mio Club who first predicted a life span of three months for the Valiant Club. The two clubs tried to outdo one another in all aspects. This was one competition that proved to be very beneficial to the town.

THE HIGHLANDERS: Aside from being good in Basketball, the Highlanders also made a name in social and intellectual activities.

THE EVERLASTING CLUB: One of the many organizations formed in the fifties, this one did not last long. Some members were absorbed by the Amor Mio Club while the others voluntarily joined the Valiant club after its president, was killed by another members during a fight that was triggered by an intrigue.

THE TWELVE BROTHERS CLUB: The Amor Mio Club and the Valiant Club were both busy with their own chores when suddenly the twelve Brothers erected a concrete Arch on the east portal of the Church Plaza that stood up to year 2008 when a new, wider, stronger and supposedly more modern arch was erected together with the fensing of the Church Plaza..

THE NO REKLAMO: Not to be outdone, some married men organized the No Reklamo Club. Led by D. Rodolfo Poblete, the group raised funds for the purchase of street lamps. Ironically, the No Reklamo Club died a natural death, not long after.

ONE PESO FAMILY: Upon disintegration of the No Reklamo Club, the One Peso Family was born. So called because its organization was initiated by one peso worth of “pansit”, it was just a kind of comraderie among close friends, composed mainly of professionals in town.
It did not last long when envious gossips started creating rumors about the members.

THE RAIN OR SHINE: It was composed of the happy-go-luck boys and girls in Alfonso. Its appeal was in its stress on being “actively carefree”. The group met and bonded together in all kinds of weather. Later, members voluntarily joined the Valiant Club.

THE INQUIRY MOVEMENT: Members called themselves QUERISTS. It was a socio-spiritual youth movement founded by the author who was at the same time the Moderator. Ther movement had no formal officers and was open to anyone. The primary intention was to bring the youth closer to Christ and closer to each other in all their activit ies.
Aside from frequent seminars on “any topic under the sun”, the Querists were ls o active in ahlet ics and other important community projects.

THE ZERO HOUR CLUB: It was then a softball team which was not active in social and other affairs.

THE KUYUG: Is an offashoot of the MARIBUZALI,m different from Maribuza duri8ng the Japanese time. The Kuyug was involved in a kind of cooperative that somehow kept the group intact.

THE STARIRAY: It was a happy-go-lucky group of married couples that st arted very actively. They got involved in almost all community activities and important projects but as they were quickly organized they dis int egrat ed just as fast. What remains of them was organized into a small sing ing group called the Marian.

IT DEPENDS:. Organized ahead of the Stariray during the lat e seven ties they also star ted with a bang and faded out like the fading sound of a r eal “bang”.

The Grasshoppers, The Kayakas, Von-Vivant, Blazer and the likes were all peer groups involved mostly in ordinary social gat herings just t o keep them together e specially during vacation time. They were all absorbed by t he GALLANT when it was organized instantly in protest against the 1986 Flores de Mayo election of officers.

THE ALTINIG: It was an all male choir composed of rep resent at ives f rom all walks of life. It made anmae in the whole province of Cavite during the November 1985 Marian Concert. To be able to sing Handle’s Allelujah and San Pedro’s Bayang Magiliw, female voice was needed so the Altinig invited some girls to j oin the group. They were called friends.
The”Friends” got so carried away by the Altinig , and was later accommodated thus converting the all-male choir into a mixed choir.

THE KULIGLIGS: Another sing ing g r oup that made a nme in the lat e seventies. They were responsible in soliciting funds they used in buying the electric organ for the Church. They were guided and supervised by Rev. Fr. Andres Coral.

ALFONSO WOMEN’S CLUB: Upon its organization it immediately ventured into a big project: The modern concrete stage. Like other organizations they disintegrate ed after the task.

THE HAPPY QUONDAMS: It was a Socio-cibic, Non-politicasl, Non-sectarian and Non-profit organizat ionm composed of self-sacrificing, civic-spirited, “youth” of alf onso, Cavite, forty years and above in age. They share their Time, Talent and Treasur e with the yout h of Alfonso in the fulfillment of the Youth’s dynamic activities.
Unfortunately all the good members were ac tively involved in many other activities that t hey could not give t heir full a ttention to the works of the group.

JAYCEES (ALF NSO Siklab): A relatively young organization composed of young men and women, mostly professionals who are actively involved in many civic projects. They are affiliated with the National Jaycees.

ALFONSO NIÑA: A civic organization of young women who separate ed from the Jaycees. They were all very active in the beginning but did not last long enough.



Let us all hope that today’s active organizations remain alive and that the Filipino disease of “Nigngas Cogon” will not burn them up. After all social contact still is…and will always be a…basic human need, and we , the alfonso folk, should encourage and help them for whatever they’re worth.
At any rate, both the Amor Mios and the Valiants surviVed the test of time and both have accomplished much despite their shortcomings. At present, both the Amor Mios and the Valiants are actively on the go.
Clubs and organizations shall always be around for as long as there are boys and girls seeking attention among their peers. For that matter there shall always be competitions, intrigues, misunderstandings, quarrels and occasional real fights but these are all part of growing up. For a young boy and a young girl to be well-rounded not only intellectually but also physically, emotionally, psychologically, morally, spiritually, politically and socially, he or she must be allowed and be given a chance to get involved for who was he who said: “All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy, all play and no work makes Jack a parasite, but enough work and enough play makes Jack a man”.

From the book TINGKORAW: Alfonso's History and Legend by jett e. avinante, m.d.d