The summer and fiesta months are fast approaching and, as to be expected, outdoor sports activities are in the pipeline in communities all over the country. For those espousing sports at the grassroots organized by our barangays and empowered groups, the 38-round boxing card put together by Tony Aldeguer and Dennis Canete of ALA (for Antonio L. Aldeguer) Promoters in conjunction with the Sports Entertainment Program (SEP) of Quezon City first district councilor Joseph (SEP) Juico and the socio-civic group, The Stallions, to commemorate the feast day of San Pedro de Bautista who founded San Francisco del Monte (later simply called “Frisco”), is indeed welcome.
The story is that the Sanctuario de San Pedro Bautista was established on Feb. 17, 1590 in San Francisco del Monte, an old settlement that is now one of Quezon City’s busiest areas. San Pedro Bautista became the mother church of the Franciscan order in the Philippines after the San Francisco church in Intramuros was destroyed during the Battle for Manila in 1945.
“Traveler on Foot” says the site on which the Church of San Francisco del Monte stands was donated to the Franciscans by Governor-General Santiago de Vera in the name of King Philip II. The old convent and the church tower above a cliff. As a child, I remember going to go to Mass every Sunday morning at San Pedro Bautista from the time I first received holy communion as a first grader at De La Salle to my high school days in the mid-’60s when the family opted to go to the more spacious Sto. Domingo Church in Quezon Avenue.
It was also at San Pedro de Bautista that my playmates (that included Freddie Poe, younger brother of the acknowledged king of Philippine movies, Fernando Poe Jr. or Ronnie) would go to run around in the caves underneath the church. We would scare each other inside the caves since we were warned that many perished in these caves during the Chinese uprising in 1639 led by the pirate Limahong and the Japanese occupation from 1942 to 1945.
The old San Pedro de Bautista, facing north, is a fraction of the present church. The former had a basketball court right outside the church building which was made of stone. It was in that same court that Poe played for the Frisco team against arch-rival Paltok. A brother of mine, Luis or Sonny, who was younger than Ronnie, played for Frisco’s midget team, “The Apostles.”
“Traveler on Foot” adds that the first convent and church were made of bamboo and nipa and was dedicated to Our Lady of Montecelli. The chapel was replaced by a wooden structure in 1593, then by adobe in 1599. The structure was completely destroyed by an earthquake in 1645. In 1699, however, a church made of stone was built and the convent was restructured. To this site retired for prayer and recollection several Franciscans who suffered martyrdom in Japan in the 17th century and others who led missionary expeditions to Japan, China and Cambodia. Seemingly protected by some heavenly force, the church’s Baroque altar has, to date, survived natural disasters and uprisings.
In 1895, the friars abandoned the place and Filipino revolutionary forces occupied the church. In the 1960’s a decision was made to enlarge the church. The old church became the sanctuary on the left side of the church (facing the altar) and a new church, six times the size of the old one, was built perpendicularly over what was then the basketball court.
It is this rich history of San Pedro de Bautista that is remembered when the fiesta at Frisco is celebrated every first Sunday of February. The celebration actually starts on a Friday and this year is no exception.
Friday, Feb. 5 is the date for the 2010 version of Sep Juico’s “Bakbakan sa Frisco.” The card includes Roli Gasca, a promising undefeated 21-year-old fighter training at the ALA Gym in Cebu. Gasca’s fight record is 12 wins, with two KOs, including a convincing win over Thailand’s Saenmuangloei Sor Kingstar. Albert Alcoy, who sees action against Gasca, has a record of 7-4-3.
Former national amateur boxing champion Genesis Servania has an unblemished 6-0 record (4 KOs). An ALA Gym fighter, Servania goes up against Jun Piaciedad of the Elorde Gilmore Stable in Quezon City.
The card has an international flavor: Korea’s Chan Hee Park (4-2-1) will test his four-month training stint at the ALA Gym when he answers the bell on Friday. Alde Zosa (4-0-1) who won the first ABS-CBN-sponsored boxing tournament, “Pinoy Idol” also sees action in “Bakbakan. ” Alde is now trained by former world contender Tony Jumaoas.
Aldeguer and Sep promise a truly entertaining night for Frisco’s boxing crazy crowd.