Daily Archives: 8 April, 2007

Stopovers at Sariaya (Quezon) and San Pablo City (Laguna)

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After 4 days in Marinduque where we attended the Moriones Festival and did a lot of sightseeing, it was now time to return to Manila.  It being Easter Sunday, we wanted to avoid   the huge afternoon rush for tickets going home so we went to Balanacan Pier very early in the morning.  I was able to secure tickets for the 8:30 AM trip back to Dalahican Pier in Lucena City (Quezon) on board the Roll-On Roll-Off (RORO) ship MV Maria Rebecca of Montenegro Shipping Lines.

Disembarking the MV Maria Rebecca

The 2.5-hr. boat trip was uneventful and we arrived at Dalahican Port by 11:15 AM.  We promptly boarded my parked Toyota Revo and left the harbor for the return trip to Manila.  Upon reaching Sariaya, we stopped over at a local eatery for a much needed lunch.  As the others were still eating, I decided to burn some calories by making a quick tour of the town, especially the Rodriguez Ancestral House where Jandy and I once stayed in 8 years ago.

The Rodriguez Ancestral House

Together with the others, we dropped by the town’s Church of St. Francis of Assisi. At the back of the church, we visited the devotional park where life-size statues  re-enacting the Last Supper were set up.

We just had lunch but now we’re joining the Last Supper

We again boarded the Revo and continued on our way, exiting Quezon Province and entering Laguna Province at San Pablo City where we made a short stopover at the stone balustrade across the street where we had a panoramic view of the 105-hectare Sampaloc Lake, the largest, nearest and most accessible of the city’s 7 iconic lakes and, from afar, the hazy silhouette of Mt. Cristobal.

Lake Sampaloc

 

The Pugutan (Gasan, Marinduque)

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After our Nagtangco Island hopping tour, we returned to our resort, had dinner and then left again for the next town of Gasan to watch the Pugutan, the re-enactment of the beheading of the Roman centurion Longinus, which was held at an open-air stage.


The past days, the physically draining habulan (chase) was re-enacted wherein Longinus merrily races through rice fields and the streets, pursued by moriones, to the delight of onlookers.  Part of the play is a simulated fight between the escaping Longinus and the moriones.  He is captured three times, escapes each time and is eventually captured on the fourth try and brought before Pilate.  


The Pugutan we were watching is the continuation of this play.  Longinus is escorted up the open-air stage by a brass band  where he is presented to the people and subsequently tried.  The dialogue is in Tagalog.  As Longinus refuses to renounce his faith, he is ordered executed.  He is given the opportunity to say some last words and a prayer before his beheading (pugutan).  At his funeral, Longinus’ body is borne on a bamboo stretcher by moriones devotees.