by GABRIELLE LARA P. BANIQUED
University of Santo Tomas Journalism program
SANTA MARIA, BULACAN—THIS first-class urban municipality (32 kms. northeast of Manila) gets at least a tenth of its income from crackled pork skins that remain a heart’s delight to Filipino food lovers.
Santa Maria has a booming agri-based industry, especially through poultry and hog-raising activities that are happening in more than 150 poultry and piggery farms.
These piggery farms are the primary sources of pigs whose skins become the pork rind cracklings that many Filipinos love.
Fortunata Lorenzo, the local government’s budget and management planning officer, says Sta. Maria is tagged as Bulacan’s pride when it comes to chicharon. However, neighboring municipalities are producing chicharon from carabao skin, while San Ildefonso also produces pork chicharon like Santa Maria.
“But nothing else can be compared to Santa Maria’s chicharon,” said Lorenzo.
With a total number of 17 stores scattered across Santa Maria, the chicharon industry contributes ten percent of the town’s annual income, which stood at PhP126.819 in 2009 (according to the Bureau of Local Government Finance).
The local government’s income includes PhP54.617 million from business taxes.
The usual chicharon is prepared by deep frying the dried pork rind with a little salt, and this viand is usually eaten with vinegar, bagoong, lechon live sauce, or atchara.
Sta. Maria’s chicharon is also finding its way into various parts of the country, as Filipinos from abroad who visit the country for a vacation stop by Sta. Maria to buy bags of chicharon as ‘pasalubong’ for their friends and relatives.
Every February, the local government holds an annual “Chicharon Festival” in line with the celebration of the feast of the municipality’s patron, the Immaculate Concepcion.
During this festival, the people present their chicharon in different stylish ways and in varied sizes. Other even put costumes and floats in their chicharon for the traditional parade.
Reynaldo Buenviaje, owner of the store “Daboy’s,” presented his cracklings —chicharon fried with spices— in packs during the festival.
According to him, in regular days, there is not a time that a balikbayan never visits his store. There are some who come from farther parts of the country. “Daboy’s” chicharon is among the suppliers of chicharon in Pampanga, the Bicol region, and in several outlets of Shoemart (SM).
For its part, “Obet’s Chicharon” (owned by Roberto Halili) has never missed in the chicharon festival. During the last festival, Halili made a huge flower figure out of the pieces of chicharon.
Some who joined in the event made a huge pig figure, pig heads, and miniature houses.
Other than designing the chicharon, the natives mix them with dishes like the Pinakbet. Even some famous Filipino restaurants, like Gerry’s Grill, was heartened to use chicharon as an additional flavor to their pork sisig (marinated pork that is seasoned with salt, pepper, and other spices).
People who do not have much budget to cook and eat such cuisines have other means of eating the chicharon. Residents here in Sta. Maria also fancy eating them simply with vinegar, bagoong, and pickled papaya, called atchara.
Richard Julian, a resident and a chicharon lover, eats his chicharon with Mang Tomas’ All Around Sarsa since it almost tastes like pan-roasted pork or litsong kawali.
Although chicharon is definitely not for the weak at heart, it serves as an alternative for saving money from buying too expensive viands.
Usually the prices of these cracklings start from PhP5, while others were sold at PhP12 to PhP50, depending on their packaging. The most expensive brand, which contains backfat, can be bought at more or less PhP100.
Recently, an innovation —the microwavable chicharon— was made so that people can eat them in longer periods of time.
“Jennie’s Chicharon”, owned by Gerardo and Jennie Torres, is prominent mostly among the “balikabayans” who save munching these cracklings even after getting out of the country.
Among their products also include chicharong bulaklak, and chicharon with backfat.
Chicharon is also Sta. Maria’s showcase product in the Department of Trade and Industry’s One Town, One Product (OTOP) program.
Gabrielle Lara Baniqued, a third year Journalism student of UST, submitted this story for her Newspaper Practice and Management class.
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