History of Dumalag, Capiz ~ Blogging a Blog

History of Dumalag, Capiz

The history of Dumalag dates as far back as the early years of the christianization of the island of Panay. Since the time the Augustians set foot in the island and founded the Christian settlements of Dumangas and Panay in 1563, the children of Saint Agustin – Juan de Alva and Martin de Dada, looked at this Visayan land with care and love towards its Pintados people, and soon their apostolic zeal reached as far as the towns of Tigbauan, Hamtic Aklan, Ibajay and Otong (Oton) in Iloilo. Actually, some historians have placed the foundation of the Christian community of Dumalag in the year 1596.

Administered for some time by the Augustians of Ibajay or Hamtic, the new settlement was handedover the Bishop of Cebu, Father Pedro Agurto, in 1597, for the benefit of the secular clergy. A few years later, however, it was given back to the Augustians. It was Father Juan de Medina, one of the most outstanding apostles of the Visayas and the first historian of Panay who said that such a return was mainly due to the efforts of Father Alonzo de Baraona while being minister of Sarog (Jaro) in 1611 and of Aklan in 1613. The fearless friar crosserd the seas to Cebu and to Manila, with evident danger to his own life on several ocassions, to obtain the entraty from the Bishop and the Governor General, the mission at Dumalag for the Augustians. In fact Dumalag was exchanged for the ministry of Ibajay, and the Provincial Chapter celebrated in manila by the Augustians on May 17, 1614, accepted officially the exchange and proclaimed Dumalag an Augustinian Convent.

The first priest assigned to Dumalag by the Superior was Father Lucas de Atienza, though probably he never took care of the town, or he was there for every short time, since October 1615. Father Gasper de Avila was confirmed in his position as minister of Dumalag, while Father Atienza was appointed Chaplain for the military expeditions prepared by Governor General Juan de Silve againts the Dutch fleet at the end of this year. But there was no doubt, according to first-hand sources, that by this time Father Alonzo de Baraona had done much apostolic in the area of dumalag. The aforementioned writing account in his favor: “Since Father Baraona liked very much to stoll around the fields, he discovered in Dumalag, a marvelous cave which may be more than two leagues along.

On other occasion, he found in the mountains of this town a cedar which a strong wind had thrown to the ground, and he ordered to make a boat out of it, the biggest one made of a single piece of wood ever seen in these islands, “I sailed it,” and it was wider that six feet could accommodate more than one hundred baskets of clean rice. A person standing on one end could not see what there was on the other. He made many good plunks before destroying the tree. Probably, it was out of these plunks that Father Baraona built the first strong wood convent and church in the town, since Father Medina who did some apostolic work in Dumalag area around 1616, referred already to it as very important convent with more than one thousand people in one priest.

A second outstanding pioneer of Dumalag Christianization was Father Hernando de Morales who was officially charged with the responsibility of the town on April 29, 1617. Several actions of Father Morales ardent zeal for the spiritual welfare of his flock have brought down to us by history. The first one according to Father Medina, went like this” “around this time (1619) when Father Hernando de Morales was priest of Dumalag, some natives come to tell him that while being in their field they had seen a thing falling from the sky with very much brightness and great luminousness and that they were unable to determine what the thing might be.

How Dumalag Got its Name?

There were actually several versions regarding the origin of the name of the town, but the most authentic one was the incident arising from a misunderstanding between a native fisherman and a Spanish conquistador whose duty was to inquire about the name of every new place he was able to reach.

On the northern part of the present site of the poblacion, there was a creek (now called Agtagabas) where thick trees grew along its banks. It was a rich fishing ground for freshwater fish. During summer, the dead leaves of the trees that fell on the water make the water yellow 9dalag in the dialect). One morning, while a fisherman was fishing, his wife came up to praise, her husband had caught only a few. She asked why, and the husband reasoned out that he could not very well locate the hiding places of the fish because the water had turned yellow (“Dumalag” in the dialect). Just then the Spanish conquistador arrived at the place, and thinking of his mission, asked for the name of the place in Spanish: “Como se llama este sitio!” The fisherman, believing that the stranger asked the same question that his wife had earlier asked, answered “dumalag”. And so, the conquistador named this town “Dumalag” and this name was later given official recognition by the government.

ETHNIC ORIGIN OF THE PEOPLE

The present inhabitants of the town are descendants of the civilized Malays, most of who were Christianized by the early Spanish colonizers. The Spanish missionaries played an important role in convert in the early natives to the catholic faith. At the later stage of the colonization of the islands, the natives became all Catholics.

After the arrival of the Americans, however, some natives became Prostestants, resulting, perhaps, from the American policy of giving the people freedom of belief or religion. However, very few of the native even at that about ninety percent of the natives are still catholic.

THE MUNICIPALITY OF DUMALAG

The Municipality of Dumalag is one of the rural areas of the Province of Capiz. Located in the southern interior portion of the province, it is bounded on the north by the municipalities of Mambusao, Sigma, and Dao; on the northwest, by the municipality of Jamindan; on the west and southwest, by the municipality of Cuartero; on the east, but the municipality of Dumarao; on the southeast, by the municipality of Bingawan, Iloilo and on the south, by the municipality of Tapaz. Its exact location is at coordinated 11 degrees 18 minutes and 4 seconds North Latitude.

POLITIZATION OF THE TOWN

Even before the advent of the American Regime, many of the natives of Dumalag had proven their capability to run the government and protect the inhabitants from outside molestations or raids by the bandits. Seeing the traits of the majority of the natives, the parish priest entrusted the town government to a native at the time under his direct supervision.

Dumalag was nominally governed first by a captain, later, by an Alcalde, then capitan alcalde and lastly, just before the American occupation, by a gobernadorcillo. During the American regime, the title of the executive was changed to President Municipal and later, to alcalde municipal. The later title is still used under the Republic.