YESTERDAY marked the first anniversary of the brutal killing of Lucia Lagman-Cunanan, better known as Aling Lucing, the Sisig Queen.
So we made Punto!’s editorial of April 18, 2008 a memorial to the culinary icon of Angeles City, thus:
Losing a city treasure
IN THE death of Aling Lucing the City of Angeles lost, as it were, a rare, precious heirloom of a 40-carat multi-faceted blue and white diamond. For she was no less than a prized city treasure.
Aling Lucing it was that took “sisig” from its pedestrian origins to the entrée of haute cuisine. And with that, Crossing, where her smoke-choked and –blackened grill is located, soared through the social strata: from a rowdy, raucous along-the-“riles” strip to a culinary destination of even the most discriminating of palates.
Why, at the time of the Great Ferdinand’s dictatorship, sightings of Bongbong Marcos and his friends feasting on sizzling platefuls of “sisig” at Aling Lucing’s were periodically reported.
Like anything that becomes popular hereabouts, as the once-hot “hot pandesal,” “sisig” assumed myriad variations if not in-“carne”-tions. Even some regions came out with their own versions. Not to say perversions. But not one came even close to the “sisig” of Aling Lucing’s.
Well deserved indeed was her recognition by the city government of then-Mayor Carmelo F. Lazatin hailing Aling Lucing as “Sisig Queen.”
And in what could be the supreme accolade to the queen, Lazatin launched the “Sisig Festival” that put Angeles City in the culinary map of the Philippines.
Thanks primarily to Aling Lucing, “sisig” in effect became the defining food of Angeles City.
Alas, the elderly queen who should have enjoyed her retirement from the kitchen was taken away from her subjects in the most dastardly manner. Alack, sensational as her killing is, tabloid journalism and hysterical broadcasting took their inhered sensationalism to the max: what with screaming headlines like “Sisig queen ng Angeles, pinagtatadtad ng saksak!”
Can’t we in the media be more sober, if not more respectful of the dead?
Aling Lucing served Angeles City a most delightful culinary creation and impacted it upon the nation. It is well incumbent upon the city to return the favor. First, by leaving no stone unturned to solve her murder, take the culprit(s) before the bar of justice, and cage them where they cannot anymore pose a threat to society. Second, by declaring a day of mourning for Aling Lucing.
The loss of a treasure is truly most sorrowful. May Aling Lucing rest in the peace of the Lord.
A YEAR after her death, her murder has remained unsolved. And Angeles City’s signature festival honoring her creation, the “Sisig Festival,” has been buried – and forgotten – along with her.
So much for the gratefulness of the City of Angeles to its outstanding citizens.
Shame. Shame. Shame.
So we made Punto!’s editorial of April 18, 2008 a memorial to the culinary icon of Angeles City, thus:
Losing a city treasure
IN THE death of Aling Lucing the City of Angeles lost, as it were, a rare, precious heirloom of a 40-carat multi-faceted blue and white diamond. For she was no less than a prized city treasure.
Aling Lucing it was that took “sisig” from its pedestrian origins to the entrée of haute cuisine. And with that, Crossing, where her smoke-choked and –blackened grill is located, soared through the social strata: from a rowdy, raucous along-the-“riles” strip to a culinary destination of even the most discriminating of palates.
Why, at the time of the Great Ferdinand’s dictatorship, sightings of Bongbong Marcos and his friends feasting on sizzling platefuls of “sisig” at Aling Lucing’s were periodically reported.
Like anything that becomes popular hereabouts, as the once-hot “hot pandesal,” “sisig” assumed myriad variations if not in-“carne”-tions. Even some regions came out with their own versions. Not to say perversions. But not one came even close to the “sisig” of Aling Lucing’s.
Well deserved indeed was her recognition by the city government of then-Mayor Carmelo F. Lazatin hailing Aling Lucing as “Sisig Queen.”
And in what could be the supreme accolade to the queen, Lazatin launched the “Sisig Festival” that put Angeles City in the culinary map of the Philippines.
Thanks primarily to Aling Lucing, “sisig” in effect became the defining food of Angeles City.
Alas, the elderly queen who should have enjoyed her retirement from the kitchen was taken away from her subjects in the most dastardly manner. Alack, sensational as her killing is, tabloid journalism and hysterical broadcasting took their inhered sensationalism to the max: what with screaming headlines like “Sisig queen ng Angeles, pinagtatadtad ng saksak!”
Can’t we in the media be more sober, if not more respectful of the dead?
Aling Lucing served Angeles City a most delightful culinary creation and impacted it upon the nation. It is well incumbent upon the city to return the favor. First, by leaving no stone unturned to solve her murder, take the culprit(s) before the bar of justice, and cage them where they cannot anymore pose a threat to society. Second, by declaring a day of mourning for Aling Lucing.
The loss of a treasure is truly most sorrowful. May Aling Lucing rest in the peace of the Lord.
A YEAR after her death, her murder has remained unsolved. And Angeles City’s signature festival honoring her creation, the “Sisig Festival,” has been buried – and forgotten – along with her.
So much for the gratefulness of the City of Angeles to its outstanding citizens.
Shame. Shame. Shame.
