Torta, tuba, and old houses
Rosario Sarmago, at 78, is by all counts old but she lives in a house that is even older, in the town of Argao in Cebu.
Having survived for over a hundred years, her ancestral home, built during the Spanish period, has stood witness to the love and lives of four generations of Sarmagos.
It was in this house, left to Rosario’s husband by his grandparents, that she perfected the art of making torta, a kind of pastry that has become some sort of town specialty.
Rosario’s ancestral home and her torta represent two things that Argao is known for—old structures that date back to the Spanish period and early American era, and delicacies like torta, tuba (fermented coconut juice), and tableya (bitter chocolate rounds made from cacao beans.)
Torta
The name Argao has become synonymous with torta, tuba, and tableya. To visit the town and not taste its torta—a name loosely applied to a pastry, sandwich, or beaten egg mixed with either meat, fish, or vegetables—is sacrilege.
While one can buy torta from any bakeshop or commercial center in Cebu, many consider the one made in Argao as far superior in taste.
Rosario Sarmago, whose family is considered even by Argao Mayor Edsel Galeos as the undisputed original maker of the delicacy, now only bakes torta as a hobby but could be implored upon to take orders once in a while. A dozen of her after-meal sweet costs 370 pesos.
What makes Sarmago’s and other Argao makers’ torta different is one ingredient that is not used in any of similar delicacies made outside the town: tuba.
Tuba
Tuba is local wine made from fermented coconut juice. Claudio Mamac, whose family has been into the business of tuba making since when it all began—and that was before the Spaniards came, said stories from the old folks told of how tuba was served during the time of the datus, ancient tribal chieftains who ruled the islands in pre-Hispanic time.
Records would seem to verify Mamac’s claim of tuba in pre-Spanish Philippines; accounts by Pigafetta said Datu Humabon served tuba to Spanish troops headed by Ferdinand Magellan when they came to Cebu in 1521, and they loved it.
Another family that is into tuba making in Argao is the Kintanars. They have branched out into making other by-products of tuba like vinegar and lambanog, a potent alcoholic beverage.
There are different classes of tuba based on the age of fermentation: dawat (new wine), bahal (a day or to a few weeks old), bahalina (a month to a year old), tinuig (more than a year old).
Old houses
About as old as or older than Argao’s tuba and torta are its old houses, which can be found in the town center. Some houses are in various stages of disrepair while renovations have been introduced to others.
A typical house built during the Spanish period is elevated from the ground and the space created underneath the floor is usually used as bodega; one created during the American period is made of nipa, bamboo, tugas (hardwood), and stone (coral).
Argao’s remaining old houses were built in the 1700’s to the middle of 20th century.
A must-see in an Argao visit is the “Balay na Tisa;” the tisa refers to the terracotta and clay roof tiles. It is said to be the only remaining 18th century house that is still usable.
Other old houses in the town: Socorro Villafuerte Kintanar house, Calledo and Gaudilla Regis house, Alacrez house, Ruiz-Diaz house, Alex K. Gonzales house, Francisca Peña house, Alexandra Kintanar house, Atty. Kintanar house, Katalino Kintanar house, Redempta Kinatanar house, Camillo Semilla house, Aguilar family house, Precilla Lucero house, and the Padilla family house.
Naming of town
If there’s an abundance of century-old buildings in the town, it can be easily explained to Argao holding the distinction of being one of Cebu’s oldest towns.
According to Cebuano historians, Spanish forces established “el pueblo de Argao (the town of Argao)” in 1608; however, extant records on the establishment of the town only go back to as far as the middle eighteenth century, when Augustinians commissioned the construction of the Argao church named after St. Michael the Archangel.
A story passed from generation to generation on the naming of the town tells about Spaniards asking a villager, some say a fisherman, what the name of the place was and the villager, confused by the foreign tongue and mistaking the waving arms to be referring to the abundant plants that then grew in the area, replied “sali-argaw.”
That was how, they say, the town came to be known as Argao. (MDL)
Hi. The story above is, as you mentioned, something that has been passed from generation to generation. I am Argao’s Genealogist and also its town historian and I would like to share the documented history of the town:
http://argao.genealogy.googlepages.com/briefhistoryofthetown
As for its name origin, the most obvious, and accepted, explanation for the origin of the town’s name is its derivation from the Sali-argaw tree, a common medicinal plant that grew abundantly in the town prior to Spanish conquest. Many old records have repeatedly referred to Argao as Sali-argaw and old residents claim that the town has always been called such even before the Spaniards arrived. Other records also say that the name of the town is a derivation of the word “abgaw” , which may have been an even older term for the Sali-argaw tree. It is possible that the town retained its old designation of “argaw” or “abgaw” as it is phonetically similar to the the Spanish word “argao”, a not so common term that refers to a local expression pointing to a deep or sloping channel or a riverbed and is of Roman origin mentioned in the works of the historian Pliny. In the early years of Spanish colonization Argao was also referred to as “Argahao”.
i can’t wait to visit Argao again!.:p