By Rex Catubig

 

“INTSIK tsonga”, “Tsikwa”– are just two of the monikers they are condescendingly called, implying disdain in how they are regarded, which reveals our bias and cultural ignorance.

My father was privileged to enjoy a close association with the Chinese in the lumber business. I grew up and looked up to the likes of Lee Sim, Tang Kai, Tan So, Chua and other business pioneers. And in their company, I was initiated in the culinary opulence of a 15-course Lauriat.

In barrio Calmay where I spent my boyhood, we had a Chinese apothecary, eponymously referred to as “Onga”. It’s where you bought cure-all liniments and had your first taste of champoy and huamei. It’s the dream store for the barrio lasses who swore by the chalk face powder that held the secret to the Chinese porcelain complexion.

The Dagupan Chinese are purveyors of historic legacy and cultural aspiration. Innovative and enterprising, they are unarguably, the pioneer builders and developers of the city. One cannot walk along downtown AB Fernandez, originally Torres Bugallon, without coming across a Chinese establishment—whether it’s a restaurant such as De Luxe, La Suerte and Luzon Hotel and Restaurant; a grocery like On Sieng, Lim Pan, and City Grocery; hardware like Taya’s and Tan Commercial; dry goods like Ang Ka Tong and Kim Pian.  And uptown, the venerable lumber stores such as New Dagupan Lumber, Lee U Lumber, etc.

While city residents stricken with insecurity begrudge the Chinese “invasion” of Dagupan, the other side of the picture shows that without their aggressive ventures, Dagupan would not be as dynamic and prosperous as it is today.

Harking back to our history, the Chinese immigrants who evolved into Sangley Mestizos, the Chinese who married into the native populace, are credited as a potent driving force in the emergence of the middle class and the rise of nationalism in the country.

Correlating that to our city, aside from their role in the boom of business and economy, the Chinese have emerged as a political force to reckon with. Endowed with both wealth and business acumen, coupled with vision, they are destiny ordained leaders in the evolution of Dagupan.

Yet, there has developed an unbridgeable gap between the two political rival camps, the leaders of both being of Chinese parentage, that threatens to subvert its growth and undermine the welfare of the Dagupenos.

It is disconcerting that as we enter the year of the Wood Snake that augers renewal and transformation, its venomous bite and its being a prey are the qualities that are made to reign, leaving Dagupan wallowing in political bloodbath and cursed to constantly lick its wounds

How this vengeful animosity will play out in the long run, with the midyear elections in the offing, is the stuff of feng shui divination.

Happily, cultural bond proves stronger than the vagaries of politics. We salute the Dagupan Chinese community and their leaders, for their show of force and unity by gathering the various organizations, and rallying the joint celebration with the city of the Chinese New Year and Heritage Day, creating awareness of what we are, what we have been, what we could be.

In the year of the Wood Snake, we hope to shed the old skin and come clean, reinforcing the ideal of growth, evolution, transformation, and the endless coil of prosperity.

Gong Xi Fa Cai! Mabuhay!

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