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ials for the old muebles made by local Kapampangan
woodcarvers.
Relevant to this is the discovery of old black tree stumps
exposed by the early activities of lahar in the 1990s, and even
by pre-1991 erosion of the Abacan River banks. Folks of Angeles
City like Erning Calara (80 years old and a resident of Amsic)
say that long before 1991, they found 7 to 8 pieces with an
average of 3 to 4 ft in diameter and were in situ on the exposed
eroded riverbank of the Abacan River (very near the areas of
Anunas and Amsic). Calara says that these hardwoods, which
even loggers and firewood collectors were not able to move or
cut with their chainsaws and axes, were prehistoric kuliat trees,
according to those who were present, including Apung Quitong
(ex-Mayor Francisco Nepomuceno). When the river current
carried some of them they struck the steel posts of some bridges,
bending them without acquiring even a dent. Continuous lahar
deposition reburied the trunks. During the lahar years in the
1990s, huge trunks and parts of root system of trees were recovered.
Among wood fragments recovered were a pterocarpus
specie (Apalit or Narra?) and bulaon (Vitex parviflora Juss.),
one of which is on display at the Museo ning Angeles. These
trunks are believed to be 800 years old, probably part of the
forests which blanketed the province of Pampanga at that time.
A local engineer found a similar trunk in August of 1991 which
has a radiocarbon date of 2,970 years old. This particular tree
debris was rooted at 20 ft. below the present ground level of
the city. Historian Ed Sibug still recalls the oral reports of early
dredging (or deepwell?) activities sometime in 1991 in barrio
Pulungbulu, in which workers discovered botanical debris (waterlogged
pieces of wood and bamboos) slot in the sandy soil
unearthed from about 30 ft deep. According to taxonomist Elmer
D. Merrill (1876-1956), this type of trees (like bulaon and apalit)
grows best in dry thickets and is common throughout the Philippines.
If the old folks like Calara of Amsik together with the
early oral reports and radiocarbon dates, are reliable, the prehistoric
landscape of Culiat and of the neighboring municipalities
was definitely much lower than the present ground surface
of this modern city, and that it had suffered several series of
mudslides and lahars that continually altered it. In fact some
old barrios of this city were once called Talimundok (elevated
grounds) even if they are no longer elevated, which means the
landscape was padded over time.
Comparative etymological patterns suggest antiquated
Kapampangan words for kuliat, such as kulat, kulul, kalat, uakat,
pakat etc. Kulat and kulul are indicative of old color behavior
while uakat and pakat indicates the plant’s strangling character
similar to the widely known baliti trees and cognates such
as auili, alasas, pakiling, isis, etc. Prehistoric pigments were
mostly red and black in various forms while the tropical settings
like the Philippines host a vast biodiversity of climbing
plants. Thus the kuliat tree can be associated to kulat as red to
dark stain of plant liquids or the old red color from soil or plant
saps; and kalat, uakat and pakat are associated with the general
behavior of plant creepers. Related to this, the early common
practice done by foresters and carpenters recognized the
special function of waterlogged trees, such as the strength and
resistance to bukbuk and ané (all wood pests) and also the dark
finishing character of these woods as they mature, which provides
a beautiful sheen of wood fibers (aspe) when used as furnishings.
Consequently it can be assumed that the placename kuliat
might have been derived from the black hardwood tree and not
from the plant vine specie as generally accepted by Angeleños,
including historians. The information from Mariano Henson’s
notes identified the only botanical source of his study of the
vine as the book “Useful Plants of the Philippines Vol. I” by Dr.
Wm. H. Brown.
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