by Restituto C. Basa - From the Saltbeds

ON NOVEMBER 21, 1982, the venue of the annual feast of the Cristo Rey was the town of Mabini in Western Pangasinan.

Just when the image of the Sto. NIño was most needed at the altar, to serve as the center piece of the celebration, the icon was missing.

So the feast went on, minus the Sto Niño icon. Sayang. The Sto. Niño is the patron saint of the town.

When the church authorities started preparations for the Cristo Rey fete, the icon of the Sto. Niño became the center of attention.

One of those whose attention was attracted by the image was a thief. What attracted the thief were the precious metals used in the making of the icon.

Its crown and “Santa Boda’ were thickly plated with gold; its face, hands and feet were of ivory. These priceless artifacts caught the attention of the thief.

It reminds us that when the real Cristo Rrey was crucified on Mt. Calvary, he was nailed on the cross between “two thieves”.

So He was no stranger to thieves. And He forgives them. “They know now what they do,” He said.

Mabini is one of the original nine Zambal towns in the west that in 1903 separated from their mother province of Zambales and joined Pangasinan. The eight other Zambal towns who seceded from Zambales and joined Pangasinan include Infanta, Dasol, Burgos, Agno, Bani, Bolinao, Anda and Alaminos.

These nine towns, which constituted Northern Zambales, had petitioned that the capital of Zambales be moved from Iba to Sta. Cruz, as they could be close to the center of the provincial government.

This petition was referred to by the people in a plebiscite. After the votes were counted, the majority of the electors voted ‘no’.

Those who voted ‘no’ were the residents of the southern towns of Zambales.

Rebuffed in the referendum, the nine Northern towns executed ‘a military left face’; joined Pangasinan and became Western Pangasinan. The year when this occurred was 1903.

As a Zambal town, Mabini was known as ‘Balincaguin’, meaning home of bats. It was founded as a town by the Augustinian Recollect fathers in 1610. It originally included what are now the towns of Dasol, Burgos, Agno, Bani, Bolinao, Anda, Alaminos and Sual. Its name was changed to Mabini in 1928 through a law entrhoned in Congress by Rep. Enrique Braganza.  

(2nd part to follow)