Taga Pakil ----One Perspective

I am cleaning the house pool under a 110 F( around 42 Celsius) scorching weather. The pool water turned into green. I forgot to add the necessary chemicals for 2 weeks I think... Looking at the water it reminds me of something else. It brings me back to a place in time...Pakil! what a flashback ( reading to much FB notes I guess..hehehe)

Yes Pakil! We heard too much about it or too little. Some of us knew it by heart, some might say where the hell is that?! or you might be calling yourself taga Pakil (from Pakil) ever since.

Who or what is Taga Pakil.

For one in my case “taga Pakil” is my pseudo name in FB and in PakiL Online Forum. And true to the sense of the phrase I was born and raised in the town. (there was an interesting story about that too...maybe I'll share it with you or maybe not).

Let's go back a little bit far in history to see the background of the “beautiful landscape.”
Pakil in the 50's,60s, 70's 80's and I think up until now is the center of education in Baybay.
Baybay, meaning the neighboring towns by the lake (correct me if I'm wrong) of Sta Maria, Mabitac, Famy, Siniloan, Pangil, Pakil, Paete, Longos, San Antonio, Kalayaan and up to the town of Sta Cruz the the capital of Laguna. The school evolved it's name from Maryknoll Fathers' High School with the Maryknoll fathers(missionary) at the helm administering to the students academic needs and of the community. Then it was turned over to the Maryknoll sisters, hence changed the name to just Maryknoll. The academic excellence of the school in a small town was at par with school in the big cities. From Maryknoll it became Mary Immaculate Academy then to Liceo de Pakil of today. (I am not a historian so feel free to add on this note).

In my perspective, all students who studied in Pakil can be called taga Pakil in that sense. Four years of
your formative years were spent in Pakil ...living with Pakileno families. Mathematically speaking (feeling mathematician LoL) every students lived or spent 7 to 8 hours a day of their lives in Pakil...1,600 hrs in a year X 4 yrs =6,4000 hrs...that a lot of minutes. Going back in time, you met your first crush or your first boyfriend/girlfriend in Pakil. You discovered places, understand history, do your first math equation and military training (CAT), met your best friends, etc., in the school at Pakil.

Others, may say my family is from Pakil but we live in the city and frequently vacationing in the town every summer or weekends...
DO YOU REMEMBER these.... the ahunan sa Ping-as, Sagala, Santa Cruzan, Holy week processions...palatok, picnics, boating,great musicians, band parade and those pretty majorettes, cold natural spring of the town's swimming pool, basketball league in Plaza, Komedya, Turumba, tubigan sa kalsada/patintero, taguan sa gabi. Undas, or tambay lang sa kalye....kulitan and many more.

For those living abroad, your parents maybe were from Pakil and you have not taste or experienced living in the place...but I know once in a while you heard from your parents about the place or attended some gathering/s of taga Pakil in your area.

Some are just friends of taga Pakil who in one way or the other fall in love with the place and it's people. Again some may say who, what, where is Pakil....easy answer, Google it or be my friend I'll tell you more about it!

Peace! feel free to call yourself taga Pakil if you like the place and the people and Keep that Smile in your face. It looks better on you :-)

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