THE HISTORIC town of Baler, Aurora, facing Pacific Ocean and lying within Sierra Madre, is celebrating its 400th anniversary in a big way.

This is in keeping with Presidential Proclamation 1696, which declared 2009 the Year of Baler.

There will be a flurry of activities from August to December, highlighted by a new zarzuela, ?Baler ng Puso Ko,? to be staged Aug. 12-15 at the Baler Sports Complex.

This was announced at a recent conference at Ilustrado Restaurant, Intramuros, Manila, organized by the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) headed by Cecile Guidote Alvarez, Sen. Edgardo J. Angara (a native of Baler), and the provincial and local governments of Aurora.

Resemblance

The musical play brings together noted talents from the creative and performing arts. The music is by Lutgardo Labad, with libretto by Isagani R. Cruz, direction by Frank G. Rivera and set design by Juvenal Sanso.

Leisl Batucan, Lara Maigue and Diana de Mesa (a student scholar from Baler) alternate in the lead roles of Maria Amatorio and Diwata.

The cast also includes Montet Acoymo, Al Gatmaitan and Eugene de los Santos, along with members of the University of Santo Tomas Liturgikon as backup chorus playing
various character roles.

Like the recent film ?Baler,? the zarzuela is set during the Philippine Revolution, but the resemblance probably ends there.

During the press con, Cruz said he made a musical out of historical facts and then put in ?fantastic elements...from the point of view of a fantastic literary tradition.?

Thus, he explained: ?I let the tikbalang [a demon horse, but in the play merely a lovestruck juvenile] and the diwata [nymph] interfere with human events, the way the gods and goddesses did in ?The Iliad.??

Historical facts

Cruz tampers with historical facts. In his printed playwright?s notes, he cites as one example the Spanish commander, Lt. Juan Alonzo Sayas, who died during the Siege of Baler. But in the play he does not die, and, in fact, falls in love with the fictional daughter (the narrator Maria Amatorio) of a real-life character, the gobernadorcillo (town mayor) Antero Amatorio.

The American soldiers who arrived in Baler to rescue the beleaguered Spanish holdouts were taken prisoner by the Katipuneros. But in the play, ?Americans, Spaniards and Filipinos live peacefully with each other, united by faith, fiesta and Christmas.?

Cruz added: ?I use the conventional technique of fantasy developed by Edgar Allan Poe to suggest that everything really happens only in the mind of the narrator Maria.?

During the press con, Angara said there were plans by the NCCA (through Guidote) and the Cultural Center of the Philippines (through outgoing president Nestor Jardin) to set up ?a first academy of the arts? in Baler. There were no details yet.

Another plan envisioned is an artists? village: ?a destination for those who want to go on sabbatical, to go there and enjoy nature, and contemplate what he/she would like to create.? The project is ?to be assisted by the best young artists and architects in the country.?

Baler, the senator said, ?is a symbol of what the country needs ?a cultural awakening. We should look back at our past and establish our own identity as Filipinos.?