‘Vintage’ bottles excite Laguna town

LOCAL officials in Rizal, Laguna province, believe that the old beer and soda bottles recently discovered in a ravine in the town were part of World War II provisions. CONTRIBUTED BY BATANG RIZAL

A pair of mountaineers out to explore an off the beaten path on Mount San Cristobal in Rizal, Laguna province, stumbled upon what seemed to be vintage beer and soda bottles, which local officials assumed to be provisions during World War II.

If certified by experts as such, the discovered artifacts could strengthen historical accounts that the Tayak Hill, a 560-meter plateau in Barangay (village) Tala, once served as a command post of the Filipino-American Irregular Troops during the war.

“Come to think of it, who would bring those kinds of beer bottles in such a place never been explored,” Rizal Vice Mayor Ferdinand Sumague said in a phone interview on Sunday.

Sumague is also the founder of a four-year-old civic and outdoor group called Batang Rizal. He said members Demet Formales and Jun-Jun Limuaco, after a clean-up climb on Tayak Hill on May 10 to 11, set out to explore a nearby cliff in the hope of developing a rock-climbing site for outdoor enthusiasts.

“It takes about 2.5 kilometers, or a one-and-a-half-hour trek, from Tayak Hill to the cliff,” Sumague said. The ravine is about 70 feet deep.

He said Formales and Limuaco found two brown empty bottles. One was marked on its bottom with the word “Duraglas,” while the other had embossed markings that read “No Deposit No Retail” on the neck and “1953” on the bottom. They also found a six-sided glass jar, a bottle similar to an old Pepsi bottle and a broken steel frying pan. Sumague said the items were found in one place in the ravine.

Sumague said they immediately looked up the items on the Internet and, from articles written about antique bottles, found that Duraglas was a term used to refer to a type of bottle-making in the United States in the 1940s. They also found online a photo of a 12-ounce Pepsi bottle manufactured between 1934-1960 that was very similar to the one found in the ravine.

Significance

The local government of Rizal, a little-known fifth-class municipality, recognized in 2011 an account by David Dwiggins, author of the book titled “Guerilla Interview.”

In that book, Dwiggins claimed that in February 1945, that area in Rizal served as a “dropping point” of food, medicines and war supplies for Filipino soldiers.

Dwiggins, now in his 60s, is an American Vietnam War veteran currently residing in San Pablo City, Laguna. “He already knows (about the discovered items) and is very excited about them, too,” Sumague said.

Sumague said they would have the bottles inspected by beer and soft drink companies, as well as by experts in the National Museum, to certify their age.

He said they were also talking with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources to have the cliff named “Antik Bote” (antique bottle).

If indeed the items are “antique,” Sumague said, these will add “historical significance” for the town, whose history was discovered only in recent years.

“All we have are texts and verbal accounts until this (the discovery of the bottles),” Sumague added.