Lyra D.

Gurimbao

BSCE – 2B August 22, 2019

Papel Blg. 2

Hero of a Child

We all grew up with stories that filled us with wonder and had left us in amazement. As

cliché as it sound, these stories are often starred by a certain or group of protagonists as well as

antagonists. In the world full of stories that have already circled our life, epic is just one among

them. Just like any other stories revolving through our childhood up till now, epic was usually

told by stories when the truth is, epic is actually written in a long poetic manner that also tells the

protagonist or hero’s success in each challenges or quests.

Biag ni Lam-ang is one of these stories I have read since a child. It was also included in

our textbooks but I was able to read it in a children book and I am more acquainted with it as a

children story. This was one of the stories that fascinated me in my childhood and was engraved

in my mind since then. As a child, naïve as ever, it made me thought that impossible things can

be possible. Starting with Lam-ang as a child, he began talking right after his mother gave birth

to him, I thought to myself, “Now, why didn’t I talk like that? If I did, my name would be

different and of my choice,” (because I always hated my name, lol). But now in my right mind,

of course that was silly. Having read this poetic version of Biag ni Lam-ang, it was hard, but

after reading through it, of course there was not much difference. Though, in the children’s book,

the reason why Lam-ang’s father left was not clearly stated, and in this story, it was the opposite.

He left because he was ordered to go by his wife to fetch some things for her birth delivery. But,

it is said, he was able to produce what his wife had wanted, so I guess, it was the same as the

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children’s book, we never knew why he trekked up to the mountains to fight the Igorots. Why

did he went just to fight the Igorots? Is there any reason? Even his wife, Namungan, doesn’t

know why he was killed, it was implicitly said that he was murdered. To what I have researched,

in some accounts, it is believed that Don Juan Panganiban left to fight the Igorots to defend their

tribe. Another accounts said that Don Juan Panganiban left to revenge his village for the Igorots

attacked their village once. But, we still can’t believe to these hearsays.

Another thing, the timeline was a bit messy. First, he left as a child and we all think that

he also came back as a child but it was stated that Lam-ang said, “For nine years have passed,

since we last visited our palay called samusam”. Take note of the “we”, so meaning, it was

already after nine years when he came back but he also said, “during the day-long battle

yesterday’, again, implying that he was a child when he came back. Also, it was stated that he

wore amulets during his journey to the Igorots and these amulets helped him defeat the tribe of

the Igorots. Now, I don’t remember him having such, from what I remember, he defeated the

Igorots because of his immeasurable strength and also his anger, which would have doubled his

strength. Also, from what I remember, he did came back as a grown man and women were easily

attracted to him, that they willingly bathe him in a river where the fish died and the water

blacken. It was not told that he fought a crocodile in the river out of nowhere, or maybe he just

want to eliminate threats for the villagers. Another difference in the story was his knowledge

about Dona Ines Cannuyan. To what I read, there were rumors about this beautiful maiden

around the place and Lam-ang upon having heard such, decided to court Dona Ines. This type of

courting is still present nowadays in our culture however, only a little percentage of the

population since now, people tend to court through chat boxes or messages. Another difference,

Lam-ang had fought a rival for Dona Ines where he killed it and also there was a Saridandan, a

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maiden which was implicitly stated, waited for Lam-ang’s return but Lam-ang still continue to

go to Dona Ines. It is also said, that after they seeing what Lam-ang’s “pets” have done, they told

Dona Ines to dress up and meet Lam-ang which actually meant that Dona Ines have favored

Lam-ang among all the other suitors.

Pamamanhikan is one of our tradition when marrying someone, and in the story, it was

implicitly stated that Lam-ang gone through this stage, and after that they were married. But it

was not the end, for the time came where lam-ang need to dive for shellfish and since he can see

the future through his dreams, he already warned his wife and gave instructions so he can be

resurrected. And after that, like any other stories, they lived happily, or so we assume.

It is said that the story of Lam-ang was documented during the Spanish colonial period.

So we can see, the story has a touch of the Spanish period, like the church wedding, the parish

priest and some which we still do after the wedding, the dancing of the fandango. But it has also

a touch of our early people because of the amulets that Lam-ang wore during his journey. Our

early people worshipped anitos, our early form of gods which is kind of similar to amulets,

believing some kind of magical powers it have. Another one, Lam-ang being a family oriented

person which we Filipinos are also known of.

The Biag ni Lam-ang and the Ibalong are both epics which tells us their heroic stories.

Ibalong on the other hand, tells a story how he conquered Bicol and how he fought monsters that

inhabited the place. He drove them or killed them one by one, and they considered this as a

victory. The poem told us that these battles among the monsters had lasted for so long until

Handyong was old and Bantong slain the oldest monster Handyong couldn’t defeat.

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 These stories have depicted our culture and as who we are as Filipinos. As a child, we

grew up hearing these stories but these stories were told not for us to fantasize about impossible

things to be possible but for us to learn and pass it down to our children. Epics or stories,

whatever form they may be, we all have our stories that there was once a hero in our lives, but

let’s all be aware that we are all the heroes in our life stories. As heroes, we’ll continue to fight

what’s up ahead and face every challenge how Lam-ang,Handyong and any other hero did,

because that was heroes do, continue fighting even with just a glimpse of hope to hold on to.