Batac, Home of Great Leaders

Batac native Noralyn Dudt speaks before members of the Annak ti Batac-Canada 

On May 10, 2025 the Annak ti Batac Association of Canada held its 21^st  Inaugural Ball to celebrate and to induct its new officers. Noralyn  Onto Dudt was invited to deliver the keynote address and below was her message:

Naimbag nga rabii yu amin apo kakailian. It was nice getting to meet so many of you yesterday at our “Meet & Greet”. So many wonderful memories of my childhood in Batac came flooding back. I'm very thankful to Dr. Rubio—my Manong Don—and the officers of the Annak ti Batac Association of Canada for giving me this opportunity. It's quite an honor and I will be forever grateful.  I hope I will not disappoint.

Let us focus on why and how Batac is called the "home of great leaders." Notice the "great"....it's not just leaders, but GREAT Leaders!

But allow me to tell a little story as a prologue to that. At our Lutheran Church in Bethesda, Maryland we had a friend named Douglas Hackett. He passed away about two years ago but I'll never forget how we came to know him. Douglas was a Navy Captain during the Vietnam War and later worked for Naval Intelligence in Washington DC. He was also in the Philippines and spoke fondly about the time he played golf at Camp John Hay in Baguio City. We have a Dinner Club whose purpose is to bring members closer together, a wonderful opportunity for participants to get to know each other better outside of the religious functions of the church.  A coordinator sets up six in a group and asks someone to host. Well, we found out later that Doug who volunteered to host the dinner,  specifically asked Katherine the coordinator to put me and Phil in his group. And why? Because Phil had worked as an Architect for the Navy,  and Doug apparently found out that I was born in Batac, Ilocos Norte and had spent my childhood across the street from President Marcos' house. Having been aware that he enjoyed his time in the Philippines,  I cooked chicken adobo and pancit when it was my turn to host and Doug really loved them, and even took some home. He said it brought back wonderful memories.

I'm a full-blooded Batacqueña. Naiyanakak diay Batac ken idiay ti dimmakelak.  I was there in elementary school iso nga ti tonok ket Batac. You hear me speak Ilokano and you'll know right away that I came from Batac. I remember when one election day, the Apo Lakay President Ferdinand Marcos came home to vote. As a Batacqueño, his voting precinct was at the Batac Central School. We heard the chop-chop-chop of a helicopter and we all ran to the church yard where the presidential helicopter would land. It was quite exciting, to watch the whirl-whirl-whirl  of the helicopter blades.  And then the President got off, and under those whirling blades, he said, "Komusta kayo kakailian " in his native Batac accent. To me that was beautiful—here was the president of the Philippines talking like me! It was a scene that made me proud.

And then when I was in high school in Laoag, I stayed at the Esperanza Dorm whose owner was the well-known Esperanza Albano Sales, a very gracious lady who had hosted American ambassadors and dignitaries from Japan and the United Kingdom. But most importantly,  Mrs. Esperanza Sales was the best friend of then Governor Elizabeth Marcos Keon.  When Governor Elizabeth was in town doing her official duties at the Provincial Capitol, she would come to the dorm to have lunch with Mrs. Sales which was quite often.  And.... you guessed it....she spoke with a Batac accent,  and I may add, with pride. I listened to her and I became so ashamed of myself because as a kid that age, I had been trying to fit in...with the Laoagueños. My "wun" had become "wen".

Batac had always existed of course. But to the west, it was "founded"  by the famous Conquistador Juan de Salcedo way back in 1577, shortly after he established sovereignty in Vigan. The year 1577 was about five decades before the English  Pilgrims landed on Plymouth Rock in Massachusetts.  And to be sure,  Batac is much older than Harvard University.

You are all familiar with the Arch, the Arco that says, "Batac, the Home of Great Leaders" as you enter the city. How did Batac get to be designated as such?  How do we define what a great leader is? What does a leader do? What is the difference between a leader and a commander?

William Shakespeare known as the Bard of Avon in his lifetime was a poet, a playwright,  and an actor. In his plays, he captured the best and worst of the leaders and leadership of the Elizabethan period from 1558 to 1603. In many of his work, Shakespeare implies that a leader who wants to be followed or listened to, must set an example. Setting an example, "walking the talk" as they say, is a way to instill confidence in the people you want to lead, confidence that would naturally lead them to trust and follow your lead.

Let's go back 125 years and take a glimpse of events that changed the course of history.

Did you know that Batac was once burned to the ground?

Spain ceded the Philippines to the Americans after the mock Battle of Manila Bay in 1898. The Americans then started moving up north and met resistance and pitched battles along the way. In Batac, however, the Americans were up against very fierce and brave people. These folks were not going to be pushed around. They were not going to give up without a fight. Bishop Gregorio Aglipay and his troops devised a way. The whole town was mobilized to fight back. Although they didn't have the needed ammunitions, they had a battle plan. Except for the commanders, they were not trained for battle. Women volunteered. They would be in the forefront, with the hope that they would be spared.  But they were not spared. They were shot. The Americans did not spare the women. So many people died. Burning the town was the Americans' response to their growing frustrations at how Gregorio Aglipay and his troops evaded them so many times. How could this mere priest  do this to a well-trained and formidable army? I could just hear them cursing, "who the hell is this bishop?"

Bishop Gregorio Aglipay, the former ecclesiastical governor of Nova Segovia  (now Vigan City) was also the Military Vicar of the Revolutionary Army of the Philippines. He joined the revolutionaries in 1898. He fought actively with his guerrilla unit against the Americans. He became a legend by charging into battle on a large horse and even secreting himself disguised as a peasant observing the enemy along the roadside. An American named William Scott wrote a book entitled "Ilocano responses to American Aggression 1900-1901."  He described in that book the couple of incidents when Aglipay had horses shot out from under him and escaped surprise raids on his hideouts in numerous occasions. In addition, in his role as a priest, he acquired a certain charismatic appeal as both a military commander and a priestly figure. It is worth mentioning that he was believed to have inserted a special petrified wood anting-anting into the back of a fellow town mate, Ferdinand Marcos, at a later date.

Gregorio Aglipay was orphaned when he was very young and was in the care of relatives. At a very early age he started working in the tobacco fields. We all know that Batac has wide swaths of tobacco fields. He was only 14 when he was arrested and brought to the gobernadorcillo when he didn't meet his quota. He experienced firsthand the injustices of the Spanish colonizers and developed a deep resentment. Later as a priest he saw the same injustices that he experienced in the tobacco fields. He did not like how the Filipino priests were being treated by the colonial masters. He had a vision of a better and more functioning church for Filipinos,  and by Filipinos. He represented Ilocos Norte in the Convention in Malolos and was one of the signatories of the Malolos Constitution. However, the independence of the Filipino clergy was his consuming passion. Finally his dream came true when in 1902, the Philippine Independent Church or the Iglesia Filipina Independiente was formed and still growing and thriving to this day.

How do you fight a much stronger and well-equipped army like the Americans? The ragtag "rebels" tried but soon recognized that they would never win...that it would be futile to keep fighting...that it would be senseless and stupid to waste more lives and resources that they could hardly afford. Ilokano resiliency and pragmatism kicked in, and Aglipay surrendered to Colonel MacCaskey in Laoag and resumed his leadership in the Church.

The Ricarte monument in Batac

Before the battle in Batac, General Artemio Ricarte refused to bow before the Americans... several times in Manila. So he was exiled to Guam. He was brought back and again he was given the chance to pledge allegiance to the United States. He refused and was exiled to Hongkong. But he was also aware that it was futile to keep fighting an army that had superior weapons and disciplined leadership. Does anyone here know that he ended up in Japan as an exile?  teaching the Spanish language in Tokyo University? I never knew that. We never learned that in our textbooks, did we?  But many years ago, one of my students Dr. Goto, a Japanese doctor from Tokyo University who was doing medical research at the National Institutes of Health at the time, showed me a picture of a monument in Yokohama. In 1972, a statue of Ricarte was erected at the Yamashita Park. On the monument, he is described as a "Filipino general during the Philippine Revolution and the Philippine American War. He is regarded as the Father of the Philippine Army, and the first Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces of the Philippines. Ricarte is notable for never having taken an oath of allegiance to the United States government that occupied the Philippines from 1898 to 1948."  That's the inscription. I'm sure someone like him who never surrendered was deemed very honorable by the Japanese who are steeped in the samurai culture.

And then 1986 came. Crowds of protesters were marching on EDSA. The whole world was watching. Journalists from around the globe have been camping out in Manila for weeks with the anticipation that something eventful was about to happen. The Washington Post in the U.S. capital had devoted pages and pages of stories about the Marcoses for many months. The Washington Post has been very influential in American politics. And because it's based in the capital, news agencies from Europe and Japan get their news from the Washington Post and send them home. In a sense, the Washington Post has been very influential in shaping public opinion... until now. But I will not get into that.

The Marcos monument

Anyway, the People's Power March in Manila was televised and made headlines all over the world. Throngs of people were marching when one of the generals asked the then President Marcos who was still in Malacañang and was watching the crowd on TV, " shall I give the order to shoot Mr. President?" The President replied, "NO, NO." It was definitely a NO, a response that showed what kind of a leader Marcos  truly was. And let me tell you this—"People's Power" succeeded NOT because Enrile and Ramos defected. People's Power succeeded because a genuine leader refused to give the order to shoot. A true leader knows when it's time to quit and to fade into the background. I don't have to tell you the many accomplishments the former President Marcos did. They were plenty as he was a visionary. We all know that roads and bridges were built. Airports, hospitals, schools in far-flung places, and other infrastructure that the Philippines badly needed at the time. There was the infamous Martial Law and that's how the media had depicted him. But we also know that his heart was in the right place. It was a law that was badly needed at the time.

I consider it a privilege to have spent my formative years in the town which had nurtured these leaders. It's not just stuff I read in books. I have seen firsthand how a mayor exemplified leadership that generated trust and inspiration. When I was in the 6th grade at the Batac Central School,  Batac was designated to host the 2^nd district Athletic Meet. The Home Economics teachers Mrs. Apostol, Miss Gorospe and Mrs. Abellon were frantic in preparing snacks for the guests. The mayor, Feliciano Asuncion, was there, watching all the hubbub but also trying to lend a hand. Mrs. Apostol barked, "someone needs to pick up the order from the bakery."  Mayor Asuncion turned to me, and said, "alaem ta bisikletakon balasangko ta sikan ti mapan diay panaderia."  I think he chose me because I was tall enough to use his bicycle. Mayor Asuncion was a tall man who rode around town on his bicycle. He didn't have a chauffeur driving him around. He didn't even have a car then. Anyway, I got on the bike and Miss Gorospe chose Marilyn Crisostomo to go with me to hold the bakery goods while I "drove" the bike...ta ilubbon ko koma. There's no English word for "illubbon." Let me know if you find the word. Since I was not experienced in having someone ride behind me with a load of bakery goods on her lap, I was unable to maneuver the bike and Marilyn and I fell to the ground. The bakery goods were safe but the bike broke. I broke the mayor's bike!!!  I was ready to be slapped and be sent home. The mayor saw us coming. I looked at his face and was expecting an angry look. But he was quick to allay my fears; "dika madanagan balasangko, marepair to deta." It will be repaired.

The City of  Batac is what it is because our leaders back then had visions... visions that were acted upon. They were not perfect but they saw where we could all be,  and they all tried to bring us there. They set good examples... they walked the talk. They tried their best to lead when they saw a need. But they were pragmatic enough to pause... to stop... to quit when they recognized that other forces beyond their control were coming into play... that they have done their job... and retreated into the background.

I see familiar faces here—from families who were business savvy, hard-working and creative. Your parents and grandparents had visions that they acted upon. And we are who we are because they walked the talk.

Let us not forget our history. They were not just ordinary leaders...they were great leaders. Let's pass this rich legacy on to our youth.

Agbiag ti Batac! Agbiag ti Annak ti Batac!!!

Agyamanak iti adu kakailian.

Many, many thanks.

 

Noralyn Onto Dudt resides in the Washington DC area, an hour-flight to Toronto, 🇨🇦 and 10 hours if one chooses to drive.