Balbalasang, It's You!

Balbalasang, it’s you!

They speak of your beauty,

They sing of your glory, and serenity;

The scent of your pine trees,

Your cool, gentle breezes;

Your clear, rushing rivers,

Oh, they say it’s you!

Chorus:

Balbalasang, it’s you!

This hymn we sing to you.

We pledge we will ever be true;

God bless you! Amen!

We shall protect your name;

Keep your mem’ry aflame;

Balbalasang, it’s you

None other, but you!

In far off lands and near,

From neighbors out yonder,

In books of learned writers,

Yes, they say, it’s you!

In war or peace are writ,

Brave heroes’ lives all said;

In God’s great Gospel field,

There, they find, it’s you!

Balbalasang, to you –

All earthly laurels go,

But heav’nward bound we, to –

That Grand Rendezvous.

So, when we reach the Border,

And cross the Great Saltan River;

Balbalasang, there’s you –

Forever with you!

(old Welsh melody)

by Augustus Ulat Saboy

Background: This song was composed by Gus Saboy shortly before his death.  It poingnantly expresses his love for his village Valvalasang (Balbalasang), a pine-clad village in upperstream Kalinga Province, near the Abra-Kalinga border. It is home to Kalinga's most peaceful tribe” (the Banao) and “cleanest river” (Saltan), as well as one of the few remaining forest stands in the country – the Balbalasang National Park. Balbalasang is increasingly becoming a great tourist attraction vaunted to trounce Sagada (in Mt. Province) and Batad (in Ifugao) as a prime tourist destination in Northern Luzon. AUS was primarily responsible for the initiative to save the forest cover of the territory from the capitalist incursions of the infamous CELLOPHIL (see PRESIDENTIAL PROCLAMATION NO. 1357, S. 1974). This environmentalist movement culminated in then President Marcos' declaration of the Balbalasang area as a flora and fauna sanctuary. - smsaboy