Lakad Pamana of Bustos , Bulacan ( Part 2)

Bustos – Bulacan

We decided to take a quick stroll while everyone is busy taking photos at the newly constructed Bustos Museum and Tourism Office .  Took the side entrance and went to the famed Pan de Bustos bakery  .

Pan de Bustos bakery

Some of those who went there ate their breakfast that this bakery near the municipal compound along the main street. The bakery started their operations around 3 years ago . Their bread is like the ordinary pandesal but is smaller and sweeter .

Pan de Bustos

The bread only cost Php 2.00 each and this is a MUST for everyone that is visiting the town. We decided to buy some for some tasting .

old municipal town hall

Bustos Municipal Hall

Closer view of the main facade of the Bustos Municipal Hall . It was first built during the early American era in bahay -na- bato style and the current building was built from 1956 to 1959 .

Bustos Municipal Hall

commemorative marker

staircase going to the second floor

The main hall was quaint with a grand wooden staircase and large painting which depicts the history of the town .  We were allowed to get inside the hall despite it was sunday .  There were several awards  like seal of good house keeping, galing pook awardee and among others that were prominently displayed at the main lobby going up to the second floor .

portraits of the previous town mayor

Mayor Arnel F. Mendoza ( incumbent mayor )

Origin :

Bustos was a part of Baliuag ( Baliwag )  during the Spanish and American colonial period. The town was separated from Baliuag by a tragic incident when around 1860, a rainy Sunday, a group of natives from Bustos with babies in their arms were on their way to Saint Agustine Parish Church of Baliuag  for baptismal when they drowned when the raft or planceta they were riding capsized while crossing the river of  Angat due to the strong water current. This fateful event led the people of Bustos to request and build their own parish church and decided to choose the Hold Child Jesus (Sto. Niño) as their patron saint in honor of those infants that died in the river.

school children dress in a period baro’t saya and barong tagalog

The group waited for the Tugyaw ( Tugtog at Sayaw) and Santo Nino parade to start .

santo nino dressed like a baker

There are several hundreds of Santo Nino statues that were accompanied by dancers from children to teenager and adults .

santo nino dresses in yellow dress ( notice the candies were part of the processional carriage)

different images of santo nino being driven by a lady pedicab

There are a lot of images of santo nino and are dress-up in different outfits and some are owned by private individuals and families.

santo nino being paraded on the main municipal ground using pedicab

The santo nino procession had different kinds of dance beat from the ati-atihan , sinulog , turumba , modern and even Ms. Willie Revillame -igiling-giling

The mood was very festive and some processional carriages throw away candies , packs of biscuits and snacks.

children had their own processional carriage with miniature sized holy child jesus

Zeny’s Minasa

Zeny ‘s Minasa  one of the 3 iconic bakery which had preserved the age -old tradition of making Minasa along with Fe’s Minasa located along the highway by Ms. Lourdes Luz and Aling Liling’s Minasa.

making of minasa

The group was given a short demonstration on making minasa and its traditional wood mold .

minasa dough

minasa dough before baking and the utensils, wooden mold, used for making the dough

There is also a large Minasa cookies , ideal for giveaways and pasalubongs.

Aling Zeny’s Minasa is located near the municipal hall with large tarpaulin poster and a small store. Their specialties also includes barquillo , lengua de gato and uraro biscuits. They are most in demand by OFW and Balikbayans as their keep-sake food stuffs for their families, friends and work mates in foreign countries where they stay.

Ms. Febe Sevilla together with Ms. Elena de Lara ( proprietor ) seated

Ms. Elena D. De Lara is a third generation minasa maker , according to her , The art of making traditional minasa was taught to her grandmother then to her mother .  She was interviewed and featured on television stations , newspaper and blog sites.

The group was also given some samples of minsa cookies and the store almost ran out of minasa cookies stock on that day.  Everyone bought some minasa cookies in plastic jar and other sweets. According to one of the store staffs ( They are usually open for half day during sunday )

Small plastic minasa jar cost Php 110 and large one cost Php 150 each

The original minasa cookies uses arrowroot flour and now uses cassava flour.

Address: #6 Tanawan , Bustos , Bulacan

Telephone (044)-761-0007 / 0917-200-9757, 0943-521-2465

email :zenyminasa@yahoo.com.ph

Special Thanks to Sir Gilbert Diño of San Miguel de Mayumo together with Bustos municipal tourism officer , office of the mayor.

Please Visit the Link :

Lakad Pamana of Bustos , Bulacan : https://renz15.wordpress.com/2016/01/18/lakad-pamana-of-bustos-bulacan/

Lakad Pamana of Bustos , Bulacan

Bustos, Bulacan province-Philippines

I woke -up early around 3:30am took a bus ride to Baliwag bus station along EDSA . The bus that i rode did not stop at the Kamuning or Cubao area ( later the bus conductor told me that they will take the ilalim route -under the bridge route ) . The bus driver took us off at the Main street which is about 500 meters away from the station . So i took another bus north bound going to Cubao ( Baliwag bus station) . The bus ride was indeed a hell raising experience . The travel was less than 25 minutes south bound from Fairview/ Novaliches area.

. I met Mr. Philip Reyes ( blogger friend ) at the Baliwag Bus station  , He was there around past 4:30am and told me that the first bus left (The bus had a Baliwag town signage) .

I arrived past 4:50am and we waited until past 5:20 am for the next bus going to the town of Cabanatuan . ( with Plaridel town signage) . There were a lot of people waiting to ride the bus and We are quite fortunate to get a seat .  It took less than 10 minutes before the bus was filled-up and some commuters were even standing . The travel from Cubao to Plaridel is quite fast . We manage to arrive around 6:30am at the meet-up / pick -up area at the Waltermart -Plaridel .The usual travel time from Cubao to Plaridel is around 1 and 1/2 hours.

entrance arch

We were fetch by 2 vans on our way to the town of Bustos around past 7:00am . The group passed by the town of Baliuag then Bustos ( around 14.5 kilometers)  . It took us about 20minutes to reach the municipal hall grounds.

name tags

We were greeted by the municipal tourism guide and staffs, pre-registerd participants got their name plates with proper identification .

huge minasa cookie at the Bustos municipal park

LAS MINASAS GIGANTES represent the iconic and historical confection of Bustos,Bulacan,the MINASA,cookie conceived during the Spanish era at the time when the privileged families of the town built houses made of adobe using egg whites to glue the bricks together.

letras y figuras

Letra y Figuras a stone carving of the municipal’s name, “BUSTOS” in all caps, inspired by the intricate design of the Mercado Stone House , art of letter writing with floral with caricature designs and the people of Bustos’ most favorite finger food, Minasa. It was installed on April 7, 2014.

akalatan bayan ( town’s library )

There is a quaint town’s library that used to share an office with the municipal tourism office.  It had a unique  green roof.

Ambu – The town official mascot

Ambu is an acronym for Asenso Mamayan ng Bustos . This was conceived about 6 years ago and symbolizes by the hardworking , progressive and friendly nature of the town’s people. While Green is the adoptive color which means progressive an environmental consciousness efforts of the government .

 There is also a mini-zoo within the plaza, with reticulated python  , albino python and eagles .

commercial stalls

Within the municipal ground there is also an agro-commercial trade fair , where more than 100 stalls offering different kind of products from Bustos and nearby provinces .

Princess of nutrition 1989

This statue was installed to commemorate an event in 1989 where 14 students from 14 Bustos  barangays . They were able to realized to build Paraiso ng mga Bata during the incumbency of Mayor Pablito V. Mendoza and the sangguniang bayan led by Barangay Captain Martin Perez. The project was successfully initiated by Dra. Rosalinda F. Mendoza.

Conrado Mercado

Mr.Conrado C. Mercado Jr. –  hails from Bustos, Bulacan, Philippines. He was born on (October 20, 1945 – February 27, 2010) to parents Conrado, Sr., a civil engineer and to Conception nee Camacho, a former school teacher.

The youngest of three sons, Conrado is the only one who showed a penchant for the art. His entry into this field is by ni means an accident. He holds A Fine Arts degree from the University of Santo Tomas, Manila which has produced a long line of fine artists.

 cocoon -year 2001

He is the founding president of Figure Artists and chiefly instrumental in reviving the then-dormant Society of Philippine Sculptors in which he served as president from 1993 to 1998.

valley of the dolls- welded bronze 1993

close-up view of the art work

giraffes

Website: http://conradomercado.com/

There is also a battle memorial plaza ( Bulacan Military Area )  which commemorates the 1945 battle with the Japanese forces.

There is also an electronic time clock  timer which had a countdown time in time for the 100th anniversary of the founding of Bustos.

post office branch

There is also a small post office with some old P.O. boxes and letter box near the municipal town hall. Since it was sunday , The post office is close.

native orchids like Dendrobium anosmum ( sanggumay ) Dendrobium aphyllum ( lesser or fairy sanggumay ) and native ferns

Our group got a short private tour within the house of the mother of the current town’s mayor which is located near the town hall.

cacti collection

large tarpaulin poster within the municipal grounds

There are several large tarpaulin poster within the town’s main plaza advertising the calendar of events and activities .

Here is the official video uploaded by the Bustos Municipal government

We took a quick walk around the municipal town hall , post office, Zeny’s Minasa, Pan de Bustos and we were welcomed by the mother of the current town’s mayor .

Mayor Arnel F. Mendoza 

Mayor Arnel Mendoza and Ms. Aprille Keith Lazaro ( member of sanggunian bayan  and chairperson of the tourism council ) gave a short welcome speech and gave a short history of the town and various projects.

Bustos tourism office and museum

We were also one of the first group of people who witness the formal opening of the newly constructed Bustos Tourism and Museum .

group photo

Please Visit :

Lakad Pamana of Bustos, Bulacan  Part 2 : https://renz15.wordpress.com/2016/01/19/lakad-pamana-of-bustos-bulacan-part-2/

Website: http://bulacan.gov.ph/bustos/index.php

Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/bustos.gov