TABAN, a barangay three kilometers away from the poblacion of Minalabac, has been marking for the past nine years the March 10 organization of the Milicias Territoriales de Camarines y Catanduanes by the Resistance volunteers who chose in 1900 then Col. Ludovico Arejola to head them. The site of this gathering of some 10,000 freedom fighters who had resisted the invasion of the American colonizers was Taban. In 2000, the local government of Minalabac marked the Centennial Anniversary of Philippine Independence with a local color and chose Taban and Arejola as the figures of their concern and commemoration. Since then, the Barangay of Taban has been marking the date with a simple program and wreath-laying rite in the presence of identified descendants of the members of the Milicias and more importantly, of children of school age.

        Happily noted is that children of elementary school age in Taban have included in their vocabulary the name Vicong Arejola and in the symbols of March 10, a marker and a gnarled stump of a round wooden post, believed to be what remains of the tambobong, a storage for harvested palay used to feed the revolutionaries, after it was put to the torch by advancing American troops in their Reconcentration offensive against the Resistance movement.

        What is very ironic yet significant in this simple commemoration rite is that the children in Taban are becoming conversant about Arejola and his troops, more than their counterparts in the City of Naga, where the umbilical cord and mortal remains of Arejola were buried. Practically the children of Taban --- with the encouragement of their elders, with or without the aid of the Office of the Municipal Mayor --- have adopted Arejola as their native hero and enshrined his memory in their barangay. The City of Naga, on the contrary, couldn’t care less about its native son-hero.

        What is emerging in Taban is a strong regard for local history. The gathering of data about this historical event is left to the hands of the elders in the barangay while this emerging tradition is passed on to children who are publicly charged to keep the tradition alive year after year and pass it on to forthcoming generations.

        There are several municipalities in the province of Camarines Sur which have strong regard for local history, of the likes of Canaman which commemorates the formation of the Tangkong Vaca Guerillas, or of the City of Naga which remembers the martyrdom of the Quince Martires de ‘96. These government units, however, have much in their history worth preserving and commemorating since they used to be the centers of influence and power, unlike Taban which is a remote village in an equally remote municipality.

        Considering the availability of their resources and the concern of the stakeholders for their local history, the elders and children of Taban have set an example for, that deserves emulation by, more urban and highly developed communities.

        In the propagation and preservation of local history --- in addition to scholarly research --- what is essential is the contribution of the elders in the community who are still conversant of, and have committed to memory, the important events in their community. Equally essential is the preparation of the youth to take on the task as recipients and vessels of transmission and preservation of data from historical researches.

        No municipality or city in Camarines Sur can take to task the cultural efforts of the people and children of Barangay Taban in the Municipality of Minalabac, Camarines Sur without feeling a sense of their own guilt and omission in the name of history and culture.