Preface
After having lived away from this town that I also call my own, I came home to walk its streets, roam its busy corners, and rediscover its history. From the stories I was told, to the ones I asked and read about, and lately, to the detailed history written in 1953 by the Victorias public school teachers, and by one distinguished Victoriahanon, who made sure the generations that would come after his would be able to read it as he lived it, I thought of bringing their interesting stories all together and write them because, firstly, they have to be shared, and secondly, their stories have become ours, too.
I'm talking about my hometown, Victorias in the southern Philippines, and thanks to the kind Victoriahanons who patiently answered my questions about their lives and their past, who walked with me as I explored the corners of this town to satisfy my curiosity, and who gave me mental images of what this town was like when photographs were not available about the past generations I wanted to know.
I am grateful to the Victorias public school teachers who, in 1953 and under the mayorship of Benito Montinola, Sr. (1950-1953, 1956-1959), recorded in written form the history, culture, traditions, even myths and legends of Victorias (hereinafter referred to as 'the 1953 compilation') in compliance with the 1951 executive order of then President Elpidio Quirino who instructed all cities and municipalities in the Philippines to do so in order to save what was left after the destruction of World War II. And thanks to Ms. Christine Mae Sarito, who painstakingly compiled the 90 pages of the works of these public school teachers into digital form, I was able to read and relive our past.
These 100 teachers from various public schools in then municipality of Victorias, led by their district supervisor Mr. Hermogenes Hipolito, went around interviewing people, sat down together, and wrote these stories, legends, myths, and traditions of Victorias. Although I want to write all their names here as a tribute for their unforgettable deed for all of us, I am specially mentioning three, namely, Mrs. Juliana Delgado, Miss Manuela Delgado, and Miss Elsie Ledesma, whom I personally knew; they have long passed. These teachers should be given the honor and tribute for their contribution to the history and psyche of all Victoriahanons.🙏
But the biggest thanks we should all be giving to as Victoriahanons is to Señor Esteban Jalandoni for, not only writing down events and stories that were personal to him (hereinafter referred to as 'the Jalandoni memoirs') and that contributed to what we are today, but also for his service to our own that spanned his adult life.
I also thank Mr. Modesto Sa-onoy, whose book "Negros Occidental History", a rich compilation of historical events that happened to the province, was a source of some details. I also thank the staff of the Negros Occidental Provincial Library and Mr. Roque Hofileña, Jr. of the Negros Occidental Historical Council.
After Sr. Esteban Jalandoni arrived in the old Victorias on July 31, 1901, originally from Iloilo and then Bacolod, he became an active member, lending his time, knowledge, and dedication to a new place he would call home until his last days.
He was our town secretary in 1901 and eventually the treasurer, justice of peace, and our mayor from 1928 to 1930. He was a true Victoriahanon, a real 'public servant' during the time when that term carried integrity with it and deserved everyone's respect. Thanks to his family and descendants for preserving and sharing his memoirs with us, and to Mr. Dino Acuña who provided me photocopies of 21 selected pages of the Jalandoni memoirs, specifically, Pages 10 to 25, and 27 to 31.
And thanks to the Victorias City Public Library for the supposedly compiled set of the said Memoirs.
Let me add that, with everything Señor Esteban Jalandoni had done for our town, he and Capitana Tutang (more story about her in Chapter IV below) are the only Victoriahanons who deserve to be up there on a monument at our public plaza and no one else.
I have laid in the following chapters the stories using the chronology of the 1953 compilation, highlighting the stories that interested me; their compiled stories ended in 1953. And now, I am retelling them along with my questions, ideas and arguments they caused me to infer because in written history, there are more stories hiding beneath those words than what they actually tell. And as I don't have the resources to dig deeper into our past, this is what I only came up with: Victorias's history in my style of storytelling.😄 And although I have made efforts to ensure that these stories are true based on the Jalandoni memoirs, the 1953 compilation, online information, and a few limited sources, I do not assume and hereby disclaim any liability to any party for any loss or damage caused by errors or omissions, whether such errors or omissions result from negligence, accident, or any other cause.😄
So, going back to our history, where do I start? Where else, but from the town plaza!😊
Chapter 1. El município de Victoriás
Standing at the middle of the Victorias public plaza and facing southeast, I was face-to-face with the stone município whose presence and history dwarfed me literally and figuratively.
It was completed in the late 1930s with the cost of 30,000 pesos under the town leadership of Don Felix Lozada Montinola (1934-1940), originally an Ilonggo after having been born in Jaro, Iloilo, with his ancestors coming from Malaga, Spain in the 18th century. Then, it was surrounded by trees, open spaces, and a few wooden houses in the surrounding plots.
In the morning, public servants, local politicians, and townspeople crowded its halls, while in the late afternoon, its façade was bathed with red-orange hues of the setting sun with its twin, stucco-ivory columns driving home the message that this building was more than just an huge office for public servants. (Read my separate blog about the history of the município here).
Unfortunately, as of this writing, it is painted tastelessly white and green, and is surrounded by a poorly maintained public plaza littered with dog poop (I always had to watch my step!😡) and garbage from undisciplined Victoriahanons, and is a favorite tambayan of high school students during the day when they cut classes.😓
Chapter 2. Daan Banwa, where everything began
But the crowded city center was not the original settlement of Victorias; everything began 1.2 kilometers to the west of the Victorias public plaza.
Before becoming a town in 1898 and a city in 1998, Victorias was just a barrio near the mouth of the Malihao River on the northwest side of Negros island facing the Iloilo Strait. That barrio, also originally named Malihaw (or Malihao) after the abundant malihaw plants on the river banks, is now known as Daan Banwa (Old Town) and is currently the City's Barangay 9.
(Present-day 'Daan Banwa' at the mouth of the Malihao River)
Though there are no verifiable written records of the barrio's earliest settlers, the 1953 compilation mentions of Indonesians, Cebuanos and Boholanos as early inhabitants of Daan Banwa even before the Spaniards arrived in the Philippines.
Although Cebuanos and Boholanos might have rowed from the east, a piece of Visayan history regarding 'Indonesians' came to mind. Or was the 1953 compilation referring to Indonesians, or maybe specifically, Borneans?
Chapter 3. Did early settlers come from Aninipay during the pre-hispanic period?
If the history and research written by Pedro Monteclaro in Maragtas are correct, in the 1200s, ten datus from Borneo, led by Datu Puti (whose name in the present time has been unfortunately reduced to a cooking condiment) arrived at Aninipay, the old name of Panay Island, and asked Pulpulan, the chieftain of the ati natives, and his son Marikudo for land where they could settle.
The ati people are an ethnic group of short, dark-skinned people with curly hair who were the earliest occupants of the islands with their own culture and way of living. (They have been sadly ignored and relegated to a minority).
And over the centuries, long before Ferdinand Magellan arrived in the archipelago, the communities of those Bornean datus thrived in the plains and along the coastline of Aninipay. These settlers were expert seafarers even before they set foot in Aninipay. They treated the sea, not as barriers, but as highways that enabled them to reach other islands.
Like all early settlements, a river is always a required element. For survival, inhabitants needed a source of water for washing, cooking and other daily needs, irrigation for their vegetation, and a navigable passage into the inner areas of the island due to the absence of roads or cleared paths.
The earliest known settlers of Daan Banwa must have arrived in several wooden boats loaded with brown-skinned men, women and children, huddled together with their livestock, ornaments, pottery, amulets, instruments, plant seeds, and Bornean culture and traditions.
If they were from Aninipay, the amihan winds would have carried them here to this northern part of Buglas, the old name of Negros Island, to an area with a river surrounded by fertile land. Their men must have scouted and chosen this place several moons before, a place near the mouth of a silty river where they could migrate to for reasons that would have included the need for a bigger, fertile area for a growing clan, or perhaps to avoid conflict with other clans and tribes. Although avoiding gossipy neighbors could have been a reason, it wouldn't have been enough to cross the Iloilo Strait for.
Here, they found mangroves, nipa and malihaw plants, and with their experience in agriculture, they planted and raised fruit-bearing trees and vegetables, and cultivated rice that fed their clan a few seasons during the year alternately with root crops.
This community must have thrived for a long period and must have even lived in harmony with the local ati tribes in the neighboring forests, an area full of trees, vegetation and wild animals thriving along the three rivers that converge as one and now known as Malihaw.
During the period of these early communities, these rivers overflowed when their banks could not contain the deluge from the mountains and the incoming high tides from the sea. (Two rivers - Malihaw originating from Brgy. 18A, near the Victorias Golf & Country Club, and Magnanud River from Bgry. 8 - whose respective sources are 4.1 kilometers apart, converge as one at a spot 660 meters north of Bangga Daan, specifically at the intersection along the national highway that leads to Daan Banwa. Taytay Bahô is Malihao River while Magnanud is the one next to Bangga Daan).
If ever there was an ancient settlement in Daan Banwa, its disappearance might have been caused by bloody attacks from Moro pirates who roamed around the Visayan seas to plunder villages and kidnap women and children to make as wives or sell as slaves, natural disasters like destructive floods from the overflowing rivers, or deadly diseases that eradicated a whole tribe. Whatever it was, we will never know.😭
Chapter 4. Capitana Tutang and Nuestra Señora de Las Victorias (before 1880)
During the last decades of the Spanish period, the Daan Banwa settlement grew and prospered with its inhabitants coming from the neighboring areas like Saravia, Manapla or even from Panay island.
In the 19th century, migration from Panay island to the Negros island was not only common; it was encouraged so as to populate the island with industrious hands and fortune-seeking people. Even the former Victorias mayor, Don Felix Montinola, who was elected in 1934, crossed the Iloilo Strait and settled in Saravia. He was born in Jaro, Iloilo in 1864 but moved to Saravia (now E. B. Magalona) in the 1890s (or earlier) with two of his unmarried sisters. In 1897, he married the daughter of the mayor (no less!) of Saravia.
Even some of the revolutionary fighters against Spain in the Negros island were Ilonggos who joined Elias Magbanua and his Negrense fighters in a stand against the American soldiers at Sitio Guintabuan in Saravia on August 19, 1899. (Read my blog about Elias Magbanua here).
While Daan Banwa was still a barrio, it switched several times from being a part of Saravia and Manapla because its population and income were hardly enough for it to be recognized as a town. It must have been a sleepy village near the sea and river where people gather in a popular shady spot during cool afternoons to exchange stories, argue and share opinions, spread gossip, and of course, flirt! 😃
Daan Banwa was a barrio of Saravia even before 1848, the year Bacolod became the capital of Negros Province. It was just a village by the Malihao River that happened to have a settlement of nipa huts whose inhabitants survived on fishing from the river, gathering shells from the shore, and harvesting edible fruits from the forest.
It became a barrio of Saravia because of a reported crime. A deadly quarrel happened between two neighbors that ended up one killing another. The crime had to be reported to Himamaylan, then the province's capital, where the governor, upon learning that the crime had to be reported to the capital as it was not part of any town, ordered that Victorias be officially part of Saravia and that it should have its own leader. An election among the villages was conducted and a certain 'Tomas' was elected.
Gregorio Conlu and his wife Fausta Gosiaoco, popularly known as 'Capitana Tutang', sold tubâ (coconut wine) and probably other things like dried fish and fermented condiments at their home. And one afternoon, the couple noticed a paraw, a boat with outrigger and common in the Visayan seas, coming into the Malihao River and loaded with passengers. While its passengers remained on board the whole afternoon, they came to shore at seven in the evening, drank tuba at Capitana Tutang's store, and left at half past seven.
But when it was late in the evening with the couple's store already closed, the same men, numbering six, came back with bolos and robbed the couple by entering through a window. Capitan Conlu and his clerk, Alfonso Pechera, were able to evade trouble by putting out the light (there was no electricity then) in the store and went up the attic of the house to hide. Although Capitana Tutang was left sitting at the table frozen in fear, she was not hurt by the tulisanes. Instead, they killed four comisarios (peacekeepers during that time like our present-day barangay tanod) who later came to the house to apprehend the bandits and injured two villagers who also came to help.
Unfortunately for the couple, Capitana Tutang had to surrender her earrings, diamonds and other jewelry, a comb, cash of 500 pesos, and some clothes the tulisanes liked, and although their neighbors came out of their homes because of the commotion, no one was able to help as they were all threatened by the bandits who escaped using Capitana Tutang and her maid Mikay as hostages. As the Jalandoni memoirs specifically mentioned that diamonds and a comb were part of the loot, I thought these were rough diamonds, not the Harry Winston quality whose brilliance blinds, but ones cut roughly, and the comb was probably ivory, which made me wonder if it was a special comb from China made of bamboo or animal bones.
Both hands tied, Tutang and Mikay were brought into the paraw until they reached the mouth of the Malihao River where Tutang was asked whether they could swim. When she said 'no', their hands were untied and were thrown overboard because they already served their purpose as hostages. Because the tulisanes were only after cash and valuables, and were not interested in capturing women and children to sell as slaves, they were most likely from a neighboring island or worse, from Buglas (Negros island) itself. (It was the fearsome Moro raiders from Mindanao who were notoriously known to kidnap women and children because they were more expensive commodities to sell.)
A good swimmer, Capitana Tutang made it back to shore while dragging Mikay, who couldn't swim, with her. They were thrown out at a spot where the waters measured a little more than eight feet.
Although we don't know how old Mikay was, it made me wonder why Tutang didn't allow her to take swimming lessons from the men in the village when Daan Banwa was just next to a river and a beach! She probably didn't trust the local men who she thought were really after teaching Mikay anything other than how to swim.😆
I believe Capitana Tutang was more than a grand dame of Daan Banwa than what the limitedly known town history is telling us. She must have been a culinary expert like Nora Daza because she had a popular store where even bandits patronized, a champion Palarong Pambansa-caliber swimmer who could swim from sea to shore in cold, dark waters while dragging someone with her, a witty, quick thinker who outsmarted the tulisanes, and had more influence in Daan Banwa than her teniente-del-barrio husband. Otherwise, why would she be addressed as 'capitana'? And for all we know, Capitan Gregorio Conlu, with all due respect to his contribution to the old town, was 'under the saya'. He was the one who left his wife behind among the tulisanes and hid in the kísame, remember?
When Tutang and Mikay finally reached the shore that dreadful night, they knelt and prayed. Tutang believed it was a miracle and being a devotee, she believed it was the Virgin Mary who saved them. So when they got home, she told her husband, who must have been relieved but still shaken, about what happened to her and Mikay, she also shared with him her wish to buy an image of the Virgin even though they just lost their money. That night in Daan Banwa must have been dramatic scenes from a telenovela: four dead comisarios bathed in blood from bolo hacks and lying on dirt ground, a teniénte del barrio hiding in a kísame, a kidnapped 'first lady', two injured villagers, and a bunch of helpless townspeople carrying their lighted torches around trying to bring back order to their village.
After four months, when she went to her relatives in Bacolod to ask their help in buying the image, a generous cousin, Eulalia Villasor, gave her 250 pesos. She then visited Saravia's parish priest, Fr. Hilarion Narro, whom she told about her wish to purchase the image. The priest then helped her by sending a letter to Spain to order a statue of the Virgin Mary. (In the Jalandoni memoirs, it was Capitan Gorio who ordered the statue from Barcelona, Spain).
Eleven months after Tutang's escape from the tulisanes, the image of the Virgin arrived and was placed at the altar of the church in Malihao alongside the statue of San Casimiro, their patron saint. The image was called Nuestra Señora de las Victorias or Our Lady of Victory, and this was the start of the barrio's veneration to the Virgin. (The 1953 Compilation and the Jalandoni Memoirs described the statue as that of the Virgin Mary with no mention of the Child Jesus. The current Our Lady of Victory statue, however, shows the Child Jesus standing on the right side of the Virgin.)
The statue that arrived from Spain was the Our Lady of Victory, a statue with the child Jesus on the right side of the Virgin. Upon the victory of the Christian forces over the Ottoman Turks at the Battle of Lepanto on October 7, 1571, Pope Pius V attributed that victory to the intercession of the Virgin through the praying of the Holy Rosary during days of the battle (The Our Lady of Victory is also known as Our Lady of the Rosary). When Capitana Tutang ordered her statue from Spain, the veneration to the Our Lady of Victory was already more than 300 years old and the statue maker probably sculpted her that image because, one, it was a popular choice, and, two, Capitana Tutang's ordeal over the tulisanes must have been a victory of sorts as well. So, the current image of the Virgin is, indeed, the Our Lady of Victory as venerated by Pope Pius V and the Christian forces in 1571. So, from 10,000 kilometers away in Greece and 300 years since the victory, the Virgin became the small settlement's mother founded along a river and near the sea in Las Islas Filipinas.
Months later, two captives, one from Calatrava and another from Escalante, of the Moro raiders, escaped and took refuge in Malihao. They recounted stories about their Moro raiders attempting to enter the mouth of the Malihao River but was met by a beautiful woman standing on the front bow of a banca holding a sword while a robust man stood behind her and held a lance. Upon seeing the obvious threat, the raiders retreated and instead went up north to Manapla where they continued their atrocities on coastal villages. That's where the two made their escape.
This story reached a Visayan priest, Crispino Hinolan, who was in charge of Saravia. He asked the capitán to gather his people for a momentous announcement. That occasion, where past and present capitánes as well as the townspeople were assembled, was where the Catholic Church publicly recognized the miracle and the legendary story on the Malihao River.
And to immortalize their gratitude to the Virgin, Malihao was renamed 'Nuestra Señora de las Victorias' with the approval of the townspeople. They must have unanimously approved it as, during those times, the friars and priests were influential and the majority were Catholics. The change of name was approved by the provincial governor but he officially shortened it to 'Victorias' instead. A novena was also held to solemnize the feast.
Capitan Gorio and Capitana Tutang were of Chinese ancestry and were probably from Iloilo, considering their surnames Conlu and Gosiaoco, and the valuables such as rough diamonds, gold earrings and a prized comb that she brought with her.
Capitana Tutang should be immortalized in our history with a bust or a monument (although it would be difficult as we may not have any portrait of her lying around) at Daan Banwa, not as a public servant, but because she represented the admirable spirit of our past that should be emulated in the present: bravery, resilience, and unwavering faith in God. 🙏
In 1882, the capitan that succeeded Gregorio Conlu was Mariano Conlu, who was nicknamed "Uban" because of his white hair. There was animosity between the two Conlus which caused the villagers to relocate elsewhere, diminishing the population and income of the town and consequently reducing it to a barrio of Manapla.
Chapter 5. Should the town have been called Salvación and not Victórias?
Setting aside the connection to the Our Lady of Victory of the Battle of Lepanto in 1571 as discussed in Chapter 4 and after reading the 1953 compilation about the miracle, three questions came to mind:
One, should Capitana Tutang (or was it the priest?) have named the image 'Nuestra Señora de La Salvación', instead of 'Nuestra Señora de Las Victórias'? Why? Because she was saved; there was no fighting or hand-to-hand combat with her captors. It wasn't a victory; it was a salvation of sorts.
Maybe she was traumatized by the whole experience that she wasn't able to think straight after. Otherwise, Victorias City wouldn't be holding any 'Kadalag-an Festival'. Instead, it would be celebrating 'Kaluwasan Festival', which wouldn't sound like a festive event but a religious ceremony for condemned souls.😂
But then, Victorias has a 'Salvacion Subdivision' (named after Sra. Salvacion Ditching-Triumfo) in its Barangay 6 in the present time, which pretty much redeems Capitana Tutang.😊
Two, the legend says it was San Casimiro who stood behind the Virgin at the banca. I looked him up. San Casimiro or Saint Casimir (the only Catholic saint with that name) was a Polish prince whose images show him wearing a robe and is attributed with holding a lily and wearing a grand ducal hat. He was a pious character who died of tuberculosis, which means, 'robust' wouldn't be an adjective to describe his posture.
Saint Michael, the Archangel, on the other hand, was a fierce warrior of God who is holding a lance on most images of him. So, did the priest make a mistake in identifying Saint Michael, the Archangel as San Casimiro just because he was the patron saint of Malihao?
In Marian apparitions, it is very rare that the Virgin Mary is accompanied by a saint. If ever she was accompanied, it was always with an angel or a group of angels like when she appeared to St. James, the Great on January 2, 40 CE at Caesaraugusta in present-day Spain; she was accompanied by angels. (Read my blog about that story here.)
So, was it an honest mistake or was it deliberate? In those times when priests were more powerful than politicians, when education was scarce and most were hardly educated, and when access to information was controlled by those who governed, the story about the patron saint himself descending upon Daan Banwa to save it was a very big deal! Who would benefit from such story? Would this have increased the Sunday mass donations and more prayer offerings be made to the patron saint, not just from the people of Daan Banwa, but from the neighboring areas as well? 😕
(And is it just a coincidence that a prayer pamphlet of St. Michael Archangel - given by a friend years ago - is unexpectedly lying next to the printed 1953 compilation just when I am writing this chapter?).😇
(A prayer pamphlet for St. Michael Archangel)
Three, I initially wondered why is San Roqué, whose feast day is August 16, the current patron saint of Daan Banwa and not San Casimiro. When did this change happen? Does anyone from Daan Banwa know?😕
But thanks to a resident of Daan Banwa, I learned that the residents of Daan Banwa, after losing the old simbahan in that area, had to go to the present-day Our Lady of Victorias parish church located at the along the national highway and Magsaysay Street for Sunday masses. The San Roque Parish church in Barangay 9, or Daan Banwa today, is only 25 years old, having been built in 1994. When it was put up, San Roque became its patron saint.
So, when and why did the old Daan Banwa church disappear? Where was its old location? Does anyone know?
Chapter 6. Eliodoro Tongoy, Esteban Jalandoni, and Former Governor Melecio Severino saved the town in 1902
I couldn't find any historical records, written or oral, as to how many times Daan Banwa, or the Old Victorias (of Negros Occidental, Philippines), became part of the neighboring Saravia or Manapla before Daan Banwa became a town.
But during those years when Google Maps or geodetic surveying was not available, only natural borders were used, and in the case of the Old Victorias the Jalandoni Memoirs mentioned that the Magnanud River was used or was going to be used as the boundary.
During those days, places were named after their natural uniqueness. For example, there's 'Bugtong Lubi', Hiligaynon for 'the only coconut tree'. The place must have been distinguished by one coconut tree standing. There's also 'Kanipâ-an', meaning 'lots of nipa plants', and 'Ginapanâ-an', meaning 'shot by an arrow' (Read blog here).
This is also the reason why the early name of Victorias was 'Malihaw', the name of the plant that was abundant along the Malihaw River. In short, the name of the plant was adopted as the name of the river that was adopted as the name of the old settlement. (I have googled this plant and still don't know how it looks like.)😆
The northern river that cuts across Victorias is Magnanud River over which Magnanud Bridge straddles (next to the private cemetery and Banggâ Daan). In the old times when it was just a barrio, Magnanud River was used as the boundary. Land on the south of the river was Saravia; the northern bank was Manapla. And based on the Jalandoni Memoirs, it was only in 1898 that Daan Banwa, or the Old Victorias, became a town.
Before 1898 (the year when the settlement was recognized as a town) and years after that, the leaders of Daan Banwa, based on the Jalandoni Memoirs, were:
1848 : "Tomas", no last name, was known to have been elected as the barrio leader when the governor who was then holding office at Himamaylan, the capitol of Negros at that time, ordered that the settlement (the site of Daan Banwa) declared a barrio of Saravia.
1876-1882 : Gregorio Conlu was elected on three consecutive terms. Assuming each term is two years. He was the barrio leader for 1876-1878, 1878-1880, and 1880-1882.
1882-1884 : Mariano Conlu, known as 'Uban' because of his gray hair. Mariano Conlu and Gregorio Conlu were not in good terms with each other.
1884-1886 : Pedro Miraflores, a native of Manapla. This was the time, Daan Banwa was part of Manapla.
November 1898 : The new leaders of the República Cantonal de Negros ordered that Daan Banwa be a town after the settlers petitioned, and Gabriel Montinola was appointed the town leader who would preside until an election was held.
1898 - 1901 : Guillermo Azcona was elected to succeed Gabriel Montinola who was only appointed.
1901 - 1902 : Eliodoro Tongoy was the town leader. I only assume the year following the dissolution of the República Cantonal de Negros in April 1901 in the early years of the American occupation.
But in 1902, the threat of relegation to being a barrio surfaced in Daan Banwa again.
On September 20, 1902, a Saturday, the town 'presidente' at Daan Banwa received an order from the provincial governor to attend a special assembly in Bacolod of all town leaders as ordered by Brigadier General James Francis Smith in Manila. (Brigadier General Smith was the military governor of Negros Occidental in the early years of American Occupation). The purpose was to announce at the assembly the names of the towns that had low income and would be relegated into barrios of adjacent town.
The town officials knew that, being a 4th class town with very low income, Victorias was going to lose its status and be reduced to a barrio. That's why on September 24, 1902, the day before the assembly, the town officials authorized its councilor, Sr. Segundo De Leon, the right to plead and appeal on behalf of the town. Sr. De Leon represented the town as its 'presidente', Sr. Eliodoro Tongoy, was sick at that time.
The 'assemblea' of town leaders held on September 25, 1902, a Thursday, was presided by the former provincial governor, Sr. Jose Agaton Ruiz de Luzuriaga, Negros Occidental. He was the provincial governor from May 1, 1901 to August 15, 1901, and was tasked by the Civil Commission to preside over the Negros Occidental assembly (Luzuriaga St. in Bacolod City was named after him).
At the assembly, Sr. Luzuriaga told Sr. Segundo de Leon that Victorias was to be reduced into a barrio and would be partitioned between Saravia and Manapla using Magnanud River as the boundary. Sr. de Leon voiced the protest of the townspeople of Victorias saying that, even though it was a 4th class settlement, the people and the town of Victorias lived on its own and could stand on its own without any outside help.
But Sr. Luzuriaga replied that this was the order of the Civil Commission in Manila, and if the people of Victorias could send a representative to plea their case in Manila, they should.
Back at Daan Banwa, at the council meeting on September 28, 1902, a Sunday, the officials and town council consequently panicked at the thought of losing their positions and esteemed status of running a town to being stewards of a mere barrio that sat next to the Malihaw River. The council then decided to send the town leader Eliodoro Tongoy and Esteban Jalandoni, his secretary, to Bacolod in order to seek the governor's help.
At four in the morning of September 29, 1902, when it was still very dark and most of Daan Banwa was still sleeping, save for the fishermen, Eliodoro Tongoy and Esteban Jalandoni got into a boat at the banks of the Malihaw River. The boat was manned by two boatsmen and they were joined by another passenger, a Chinese businessman.
However, when they reached the mouth of the Malihaw River with one of their sails already up, a strong northern wind blew and tilted it sideways throwing all of them into the neck-deep, silty waters. They got wet and a little shaken.
But still focused on the important task at hand, Srs. Tongoy and Jalandoni decided to continue with the trip by boat, this time without the Chinese businessman who got scared and decided to take a drier path to Bacolod. He probably didn't know how to swim and was traveling to Bacolod to purchase some merchandise for his store in Daan Banwa, which meant he must have had a lot of money with him and didn't want to be buried with his wealth, figuratively and literally, in the sea in case of another mishap.😂
That time, a boat ride from Daan Banwa to Bacolod would take eight hours, and the passengers needed to have two changes of clothes and food with them as going back on the same day would be difficult. Luckily, their clothes did not get wet as their bags were hanging by the mast of the boat.
Upon arriving in Bacolod at around 11:30AM, they headed straight to Eliodoro Tongoy's parent's house along Calle San Juan where they had lunch and changed clothes. After eating and resting, at around 2:30PM, they headed to the provincial governor's office to carry out their main purpose.
There, they pleaded their case with the American-appointed governor, Leandro de la Rama Locsin, who told them that it was the Governor General's order, so it must be obeyed.
The two left the governor's office, forlorn and dejected but still with hope, and headed to the office of lawyer Antonio Jayme who told them the same thing. Sr. Jayme was the Secretary of Justice of the short-lived Republica Cantonal de Negros and was the vice-governor of Sr. Melecio Severino from 1899 to 1901, and would become the provincial governor in 1904 during the Insular Government of the Americans.
After that, they also dropped by the office of Judge Estanilao Yusay but the judge was out.
But as they were heading back to the house of Sr. Tongoy's mother along Calle San Juan, they happened to see Sr. Melecio Severino, the former governor of Negros Occidental, by the window of the house of Don Basilizo Villanueva, who was a brother of Sr. Severino's wife Felicitas Villanueva.
Although at first they hesitated to come up to the house, it was Sr. Severino's insistence that they eventually did. Little did they know that seeing the former governor was meant to be. The two miserable Victoriahanons, who had no luck with their mission in Bacolod until that moment, did not have any idea that this meeting with Sr. Severino would not just make their day; it would make their town as well, literally!
After explaining to the former governor their problem, Sr. Severino then told them that he could go to Manila and personally plea their case with the Brigadier General James Francis Smith who was a good friend of his when the American was assigned in Negros Occidental as part of the American military government. But in order to do this, he would need 500 pesos to cover his expenses on this trip to Manila.
Brigadier James Francis Smith, a lawyer, was the military governor of Negros. He arrived in Bacolod on March 4, 1899, and spoke Spanish, which he must have learned growing up in San Francisco and while studying at Santa Clara College. During his time in the province, he made good friends with the local politicians and influential personalities. Later, from 1906 to 1909, he was appointed as the Governor-General of the Philippines.
Five hundred pesos was a huge amount then. Although Eliodoro Tongoy was initially worried as to where they would get the amount, it was the optimism and persistence of Esteban Jalandoni that persuaded Sr. Tongoy that this idea could somehow work. Señor Jalandoni asked the former governor to give them three days to come up with the amount.
On September 30, at 3AM, as suggested by Sr. Jalandoni the day before, the two left Bacolod on a calesa towed by two cows. They instructed their two boatsmen to leave with the boat earlier as they would not be needed anymore. Sr. Tongoy and Sr. Jalandoni would be taking the dirt roads back to Daan Banwa (Old Victorias) with the purpose of passing by several haciendas of their friends to ask for help in raising the 500 pesos.
And these were the generous souls who contributed to their fund-raising, and to whom the Victoriahanons are forever grateful to:
1. Juan Ledesma (from the Silay area and who also served them breakfast at his hacienda): 50 pesos
2. Señor Alvarez (a Spanish gentleman): 25 pesos
3. Marcos Siana: 5 pesos
4. Felix Arceo : 100 pesos
5. Dionisio Luzuriaga and the Victoriahanons of Daan Banwa gave amounts ranging from 5 pesos to 20 pesos until the required amount of 500 pesos was reached.
The cause for which the amount was needed made it easy for them to convince everyone to help. Although it was a huge amount of money at that time, it was a small number compared to the townpeople's pride and honor that needed saving.
Immediately the next day, October 2, and with no time to lose, the Daan Banwa officials dispatched Sr. Bibiano Quiveces, a municipal staff, the next day to deliver the money to Sr. Severino in Bacolod, who then left for Manila the following Tuesday, October 7.
And after three weeks of anxious waiting, a telegram finally arrived at Daan Banwa with this message:
The permission to allow Victorias to remain as a town was acquired! Mission achieved! This was the kind of news everyone in Daan Banwa was waiting for!
The Victoriahanons of 1902 were then able to breathe a sigh of relief! The Governor General had spared Victorias from being divided and turned into barrios of Saravia and Manapla.
If there's one lesson I could pick up from this remarkable piece of Victorias history of 1902, it is Señor Esteban Jalandoni's admirable character of not giving up on his adopted hometown, believing that there was always hope in beating any challenge it faced.🙏
A debt of gratitude is also owed to Señor Melecio Severino who interceded on behalf of the people of Daan Banwa, and to the haciendados, businessmen, and ordinary townspeople who contributed to the fund.🙏
Chapter 7. Señor Alejandro Acuña Yap-Quiña donated a parcel of land for the new casa-municipal along the Magnanud River in 1906
As the young town no longer faced a threat of it being divided between Saravia and Manapla, the town leaders thought it was time to expand it. Back in 1901, Captain General Smith already approved its continued existence as a town even though its income was low.
To make the town bigger, they built roads around the areas surrounding Daan Banwa to give more accessibility to and from other areas, and for faster transport of people and goods. That time, they also wanted to move the município to decongest the town center and move it to an area that was more spacious.
And sometime in 1905, during the town leadership of Miguel Azcona (1905-1906) this plan suffered a setback. A certain Señor Leon Montinola took the town to court in order to get back his land that was supposedly taken over by the town to turn into roads and where people built houses. The land in question was the present-day Toreno Heights Subdivision, which is about 400 meters east of the center of Daan Banwa. This subdivision used to be Hacienda Toreno and now, we know it could have been an earlier site, as early as 1905, for an expanded Daan Banwa settlement.
I was able to identify the area by tracing any Montinola property around Daan Banwa. Two sources, one was an 85-year old, told me that Señor Vicente Montinola used to own the Hacienda Toreno.
So, I looked up the ancestry of Señor Vicente Montinola and I found out that his middle name was 'Benedicto'. And after researching further, I found out that Sr. Vincente Montinola was the son of Sr. Ruperto Montinola and Sra. Basa Benedicto, and he was a nephew of Sr. Leon Montinola. Ruperto and Leon were brothers. This confirms that the land in question in 1905 was indeed the area where the said subdivision now stands.
Going back to the Leon Montinola issue, the town council heard that the town would probably lose the case. And so, they would need a new land area to where people could transfer.That's where Señor Alejandro Acuña Yap-Quiña (hereinafter Señor Yap-Quiña) came in.
One day in 1906 when he was at the município and heard about the town predicament, Señor Yap-Quiña, who must have been of Chinese ancestry as he is described by the Jalandoni memoirs as "insic" (Chinese) and "extrangero" (foreigner), offered to donate a parcel of land to the town where the officials could build a new muncípio, an offer he made known during the session with the alcálde and the council on October 2, 1906, a Tuesday (the date which the Jalandoni memoirs stated as "Jueves" - an error?).
During the meeting, they discussed that the people who built homes on the land of the heirs of Don Teodoro Benedicto that had the size of "duha ca pedazo nga duta" (is this equivalent to two kampos?) might have to uproot and relocate their homes or pay rent to these heirs.
Interestingly, during the October 2, 1906 session, the Jalandoni memoirs mentioned that after Señor Yap-Quiña expressed his desire to donate, a council member, Señor Cipriano Jimenez, invited Señor Yap-Quiña to have a private conversation with him at the município's balcony for two hours. Two hours! Is Señor Jalandoni trying to tell us something? Although this detail seems insignificant, it got me thinking. What was it they discussed that it took them that long? Did they talk about how to go about the donation? Hmm.😕 Interesting, indeed.
On October 15, 1906, Senor Yap-Quiña formalized his donation to the town saying, "... vengo por la presente a poner a disposicion del municipio un terreno de veinte hectareas que podriá escoger en la hacienda Guinpanaan de mi propiedad." (Page 12 of the Jalandoni memoirs).
Translation: "I come here to make available to the muncipality a land of 20 hectares that I can choose within my property of Hacienda Guinpanaan".
This is where I got confused. If Señor Yap-Quiña donated 20 hectares of his hacienda in Guinapaan, that area, in Barangay 5 of Victorias, is about a kilometer from the current city center, situated to the north towards the direction of Manapla and 1.5 kilometers away from Magnanud River.
If this was the case, I was thinking Guinpanaan would only be part of the donation. It would only be the site for those houses to be removed from the land of Leon Montinola because, on October 30, 1906, another land was presented to the council as a donation.
On that day, October 30, 1906, an ocular inspection attended by the council members was held and the exact location of the donated 'parcel of land' was pinpointed by a certain Juan Canlas who represented Señor Yap-Quiña in his absence that day.
The exact location of the donated parcel of land described to us by Señor Esteban Jalandoni in his memoirs is as follows:
"sa bagatnan subá sang Magnanud, sa Sidlangan duta ni Sr. Alejandro Acuña Yap-Quiña sa Catundan duta man sang amo nga Quiña cag sa Amihan sapa." (Page 13 of the Jalandoni memoirs)
Translation: To the south, Magnanud River
To the west, land owned by Sr. Yap-Quiña
To the east, land owned by Sr. Yap-Quiña
To the north, a swamp.
(Page 13 of the Jalandoni memoirs describes the exact location of the donated land)
Other pages also gave me clues that the land was just next to the Magnanud River:
I then mapped out my discoveries and located on Google Earth the location of the donated land.
To prove it, you can stand on the national highway of Victorias, with the the public plaza in front of you and the Petron gasoline station at your back, and look towards the directions of Bacolod (south) and Manapla (north). You'll notice that the roads from where you're standing descend. That means your spot is highly elevated. That's why it never floods in this area.
So, based on the words of Señor Esteban Jalandoni and on the topography or the land features of Victorias, the land where the current city hall and the public plaza stand is not the land donated by Señor Yap-Quiña.
Interestingly enough, when I asked the National Historical Commission of the Philippines (NHCP) about Alejandro Acuña Yap-Quiña and his monument at the Victorias public plaza, they told me that "NHCP does not have the specific records about him and/or his monument in Victorias City, Negros Occidental."
(NHCP chairman's October 1, 2019
reply to my inquiry)
The NHCP also sent me their guidelines on putting up monuments in the Philippines. Guideline No. 12-b looks interesting.
So, thanks to Señor Yap-Quiña, the young town had a parcel of land where a new município by the river could be constructed. Remember that this was 1906-1907 when a município was only the size of the present-day barangay hall or slightly bigger; they did not need a huge building at that time because the population and its income were too small and were comparable to those of a barrio. And that time, sadly, they didn't even have enough money to build a município.
After the donated land was turned over, that area next to the land became busier as this was to become the new town center because this would be the site of the new casa-municipal. On that exact spot on the banks of the Magnanud River where people got on and off their boats (for traveling to and from Daan Banwa and other areas) became a dulungká-an or a wharf. It was then called Embarcadero, the Spanish word for a quay or wharf, and is now part of the current city's Barangay 1. The wharf is no longer around but the area is still called Embarcadero as the name stuck.
And next to the donated land, the officials created new small roads, naming them Calle Real (meaning royal street, usually as tribute to the Spanish monarchy during the Spanish period), Buen Retiro, Lucero, Yap-Quiña (he was already recognized with a street name as early as 1907), Catinal, Comercio, Aurora, Progreso, Burgos, and Union.
To celebrate the completion of the roads, which were enough for a horse or a cart to pass (this was 1907) and to give some appreciation to the Victoriahanons who cleared the talahib and other shrubbery, and maybe some trees, to make dirt roads and importantly, who worked for free, Sr. Felix Arceo brought two jars of wine and cooked pork to eat with the workers.
When the town officials later got together, they were able to determine that they needed an initial budget of 1,500 pesos for the new "casa-municipal de Magnanud". In March 1907, the construction for the município was halted because the money budgeted for the construction of the new município ran out.
So, they asked for a loan from the provincial treasurer, an American named Mr. Pedro A. Casanave, who rejected their application for a loan, saying that Victorias wouldn't be able to repay considering the town's income didn't even reach 5,000 pesos the preceding year.
At this point, the community spirit of Victoriahanons of old surfaced once more. Everyone worked to come up with ideas on how to raise money, and one idea was to present stage plays for two nights, May 22 and 23 that year (Wednesday and Thursday), that people could pay to watch.
The first play was titled Flor de una día, a play in three acts written in 1851 by Francisco Camprodón, a Spanish playwright. The stage performers and their characters were: Paz Gonzaga (Lola), Pilar Infante (Elena), Eduardo Servando (Diego), Vito Alba (Padre José), Eugenio Torres (Carlos), Fructuosa Figueroa (monja).
The income from ticket sales was 200 pesos but after deducting the expenses for props and costumes, what was left was 80 pesos.
The play staged on the second night was titled De Magallanes a Polavieja, written by a local playwright Señor Manuel Fernandez Yanson, and the performers were: Paz Gonzaga (Pinay), Petronila Cuison (Sayong), Eugenio Torres (Perico), Vito Alba (Fray Quintin), Santiago Cuiveces (CapitanTiago), and Esteban Jalandoni (Capitan de guardia civil). Both plays were directed by a 43-year-old Felix Montinola.
If you noticed the name of the lead actress of both plays was Señorita Paz Gonzaga. The town officials thought that, since the plays were in Spanish, they needed someone fluent and one name came up, Señorita Paz Gonzaga. She just finished college that time and was the daughter of Señor Ricardo Gonzaga, an alcálde. Plus, she probably had a stage presence that could definitely sell a lot of tickets.
The second play earned 600 pesos, making the total funds raised from the dramas 680 pesos. Both plays were performed at the public school in Daan Banwa. The second night earned more because many people must have showed up to watch after having heard that the first play and the local talents were good, and that this was for a good cause.
Having funds available to finish the construction, the town council, on May 30, 1907, ordered Señor Pascual Hinojales, the lead carpenter, to continue his work on the new município.
And on October 18, 1907, Sr. Pascual Hinojales informed the council that the casa-municipal just needed walls for it to be completed. Since they had no more funds, the alcálde, Sr. Policarpo Ascalon, offered to donate 4,000 nipa thatchings from his hacienda that would serve as the walls for the whole structure.
Having solved the remaining problem on the completion of the casa-municipál, the council then asked permission from the provincial governor, Sr. Manuel Lopez, a native of Silay, to relocate the municipio on October 31, 1907, a Thursday.
On that day, October 31, 1907, when documents had been moved to the município by the Magnanud River, town officials gathered after lunch at the small plaza covered with an improvised tólda using the sail of a boat. Led by the town head, Sr. Policarpo Ascalon, and his vice-mayor, Sr. Segundo de Leon, and council members, Eduardo Cuaycong, Cipriano Jimenes, Mariano Servando, Agaton Tongoy, Ysabelo Infante, Gervacio Miraflores, and Gervasio Ascalon, the inauguration was traditional and yet austere.
Although there were other notable names in attendance, it's safe to say that Sr. Leon Montinola was not invited.😀
Speeches in Spanish were then delivered by Señoritas Consolacion Infante, Pilar Infante, and Antonina Torres, the sister of the town treasurer, by the town clerk, Sr. Panfilo Doromal, and by the town secretary, Sr. Esteban Jalandoni.
(Photo taken of the 'main street' of Himamaylan in the 1900-1920s. This is how Daan Banwa would also look like by then: dirt roads, houses made of nipa and bamboo, barefoot children and fresh air! That big house must have been a rich family's home.)
Photo credit: University of Southern California Libraries, Maryknoll Mission Archives, John Tewell
Chapter 12. The Malihao River flood (1907) and Magnanud River flood (1922)
On January 9, 1907, dark skies covered the land and rains continued for days. But on January 11, at around 2 in the morning, Daan Banwa was awakened by flash floods from Malihao River that overflowed, causing the townspeople to panic with screams of "Ta-bang!" heard every where.
People had to climb to the roof with waters as high as their necks near the site of the school and flowing in strong currents. When the waters subsided before noon, homes and businesses suffered losses from sacks of muscovádo sugar, rice grains and other merchandise, to livestock like chicken, pigs, and even carabaos, cows and horses. Six people were reported to have been swept away along with a few houses.
A few days after the huge flood, on January 14, news reached Daan Banwa about an old woman who was swept all the way to Estancia in Ilolo and miraculously survived by just clinging on a wooden table. She was from Saravia and their small house sat by the bank of Malogo River.
But in 1922, when Sr. Vicente Ardoza was the town mayor, Magnanud River overflowed its banks and caused more than just losses to properties, goods, and livestock.
Chapter 13. Where can we find today the old streets created in 1906?
Remember those street names that were created in 1906 (Chapter 11) when the officials decided to move the town across the Magnanud River?
They were Embarcadero, Calle Real, Buen Retiro, Yap Quiña (Sr. Yap-Quiña already had a street to his name in 1906 but looking at the map below, 'his' street was way off from the Embarcadero area), Catinal, Comercio, Aurora, and Progreso.
I tried to locate the new names of those old streets and using a screenshot of Google Maps, here's what I found:
Upon locating those old street names in the present-day map, one thing was obvious: the earliest streets were close to the river, which just shows that in the early days when land transport was limited to riding carabaos, horses, or carts pulled by these animals, having a house next to a river gave one another convenient, accessible transport - boats.
In those times, going to the province's capital, Bacolod, it was more convenient and faster by taking a boat instead of riding a horse as the paths were still unpaved and full of obstructions such as big trees and swamps, and challenges presented by rivers with weak bridges, wandering wild animals, and the absence of shelters and settlements along the way in case of downpours or medical emergencies.
Even in ancient times, great civilizations were founded next to a river, although we would have hoped that the Magnanud River was the Nile and that we'd also have pharaohs and pyramids in Victorias.
Instead, we ended up having fake pharaohs and fake pyramids.😀
I blame the river.😂
Chapter 14. Victorias Milling Company and the migration of Ilonggos to Victorias (1919)
The opening of the Victorias Milling Company in 1919 brought in fast-paced development, huge income, and migration to Victorias.
Although migration from Panay Island to the less inhabited Negros Island continued gradually over the centuries, the 19th and early 20th centuries saw the huge movement from Panay Island, most of them sacádas and other jobseekers at haciendas and sugar centrals.
Victorias Milling Company (VMC), a sugar central founded by Don Miguel J. Ossorio on May 7, 1919, was the biggest reason why many Ilonggos from across the Iloilo Strait eventually called Daan Banwa and later, Victorias town, their home.
(VMC from my plane seat)
One of those Ilonggos was my grandfather, Nemesio Balagosa Delgado (1897-1981), who was a native of Banate, Iloilo, and who became a teacher in Daan Banwa. He was probably fresh off the boat, so to speak, when he fell in love with a Chinese mestiza named Rosario Dy Guaso y Gallego (1901-1951) and later married her in 1923. Unfortunately for the young Rosario, she was disowned by her family when she married him. I wonder if her family could have done what they did to her had they learned that Nemesio's lineage included General Martin Teófilo Delgado who led the revolution against Spain in 1898 in the Iloilo Province. The young Nemesio used to tag along General Teófilo when he was just a kid, according to a late aunt.
Recently, I met an 83-year old Victoriahanon, Mr. Joshue P. Panes, who is a native of the VMC community and whose chicken relleno was popular recipe, especially for the regular patrons of the Victorias Golf and Country Club where he used to work. Mr. Panes, a former a barangay captain at Canetown Subdivision, told me that his family and relatives were from Passi and from its surrounding towns in the Iloilo Province, who all came to work at VMC during the mid-20th century. Mr. Panes also knows most of the old families in VMC who migrated from Illoilo.
(The busy VMC simboryos)
The company suffered huge losses in terms of machinery, equipment and structures during World War II but were all rehabilitated after the war.
If my grandfather were still alive and standing at the shores of his beloved hometown in Banate, looking east on a clear day, he would be able to see the smoke from the VMC sugar central from across the sea.😢
Did your own ancestors also come from Iloilo, or from other towns of Negros?😃
Chapter 15. Elections of 1928
Although the election in 1907 between Sr. Ricardo Gonzaga and Sr. Leon Montinola was an interesting story, another election, held on June 5, 1928, was more like a nail-biter.
During those elections, Sr. Vicente Ditching ran against Sr. Esteban Jalandoni. When all the votes were counted, Sr. Jalandoni won by 12 votes. Jalandoni received 342 votes while Ditching got 330, according to the Arellano Law Foundation website.
And since Sr. Ditching couldn't believe he lost, he filed an election protest that reached the courts. But it was the arguments on the votes that were as interesting as the final tally.
In those days, education was scarce and some people were illiterate or could hardly read or write. But votes for Sr. Jalandoni, where his name on the ballots was written as "Aslaben Ahanla" and "Baslian Jalandoni", and even "Sitiban Jaladu" because the last syllable was missing as there was no space left on the side of the ballot, were all counted for Sr. Esteban Jalandoni because of the legal doctrine idem sonans that says a person's identity is known even if his name is misspelled. (See? I just learned something new from a Victoriahanon electoral case 90 years ago.)😊
The court decided for Jalandoni who had 338 votes, compared to Ditching's 337. Given a few votes were deemed disqualified, the total of 675 ballots for a 1928 Victorias election tells us how small the voting population was. And I also wonder whether illiterate people were allowed to vote considering they might not have known how to write.
Today, in 2019, Victorias City has 62,725 voters, compared to less than 700 in 1928.
I wonder what was an election campaign like back then. Did they vote according to conscience, or according to cash?😃
Chapter 16. Don Felix Montinola y Lozada, mayor from 1934 to 1940
Felix Montinola y Lozada was the fifth child of Benito Vasquez Montinola and Quintina Villa Lozada. Benito Montinola y Vasquez, born in 1827, was the grandson of Juan Montinola and Maria Ysidra de Fuentevilla. Juan was said to have been a captain of the Spanish soldiers assigned to Iloilo at that time, while Maria Ysidra was a lady from Spain.
I have written 'Felix Montinola y Lozada' using the Spanish naming system where his father's surname 'Montinola' (apellido paterno) is followed by his mother's surname 'Lozada' (apellido materno).
The same system used when the Spaniards registered the name of the patriarch of the Gaston family, Yves Leopold Germain Gaston.
His first names were 'Yves', 'Leopold', and 'Gaston'. But the Spaniards thought that his apellido paterno was 'Gaston' because of the Spanish naming system but his surname was actually 'Germain' (he was born in Lisieux, France).
That's why I had to ask Monsignor Gigi Gaston about this because, when I was studying French (modesty aside, I formally and informally studied nine languages but with no practice, I can only speak six😢) at Alliance Francaise, our textbooks contained sample conversations and male characters would have names like 'Gaston'. And he confirmed that it was indeed an error by the Spanish registrars, but I think it was a 'good' error, I told him. 'Gaston' sounds more imposing, masculine, and well, easier to spell. 😀
Going back to 'Dompeleks', as I heard kids pronounce his name during those days when the school named after him was still operating...
Juan and Ysidra were probably betrothed to each other when Juan left Malaga, Spain, and sailed to the colony in the Pacific in 1781 (or earlier?). Juan must have had invited Ysidra to join him when he finally settled in Iloilo, a charming city in one of the beautiful islands in Las Islas Filipinas, where she could hit the beach and enjoy fresh seafood any day of the week! Their first of five children, Manuela de los Dolores, was born in Jaro, Iloilo, in 1781.
From Jaro with love
Born on February 16, 1864, also in Jaro, then a city separate from Iloilo during the Spanish period, the young Felix Lozada Montinola crossed the Iloilo Strait and settled in the old town of Saravia (now the Municipality of E.B. Magalona) in the northern part of Negros Occidental in the Philippines.
In Saravia, he met and married the mayor's daughter (no less!) in 1897. Dorotea Gopulco Magalona was a daughter of Don Carlos Ledesma Magalona and Doña Agapita Gopulco Magalona. Doña Dorotea had seven siblings; she was also a cousin of Enrique B. Magalona. When Don Felix married, he was 33, while she was 24. (Enrique B. Magalona later became the town mayor of Saravia and a senator of the Republic of the Philippines. He was the grandfather of the late rapper, Francis M.).
And speaking of crossing from the Iloilo Province and into the Negros Island, migrating from Panay was not uncommon at that time. Even a number of Ilonggo soldiers made the same trip and joined Elias Magbanua in Sitio Guintabu-an in the old Saravia on August 19, 1899, to help revolt against the Americans that time. Some of the soldiers, after their successful excursion to Negros, must have stayed behind and settled in the old Saravia.
When he moved to Saravia, Don Felix brought along two of his unmarried sisters, Encarnacion and Priscila.
Don Felix and Doña Dorotea (Lola Teang to her grandkids) had eight children, who were all born in the old Saravia. But when the kids were grown and in order to be closer to his haciéndas situated at the north, the family decided to move to Victorias, then a growing, small town.
(Don Felix in his favorite pose)
Alcalde de Victorias
Don Felix was a quiet, dignified gentleman, always with his hands at the back when standing or walking about. On his free days, he'd visit his friend Sebastian Gonzaga, who had a home along the southbound side of the main highway in Victorias. Señor Gonzaga's house had a pharmacy in front and a small courtyard at the back (this spot is now occupied by a bank). The two friends would pass the morning playing chess and talk about the current events in their young town and province in Spanish.
When Don Felix became the ninth town leader of Victorias in 1934, he immediately started working on constructing the municipal hall, an idea he originally envisioned even before he became mayor - to build a municipal hall of Victorias that was worthy of its status.
Don Felix and President Quezon
When he became the municipal mayor, as part of his efforts to raise funds to build the municipal hall, Don Felix traveled to Baguio City to join President Manuel L. Quezon and other mayors. There, at a mountain resort caressed by fresh pine breezes, Don Felix asked the President's help to realize his dream for the town.
His project cost about 30,000 pesos, a huge amount in the late 1930s. But with the help of President Quezon, local haciénderos and businessmen, as well as the people of Victorias at that time, Don Felix's dream, became a reality. (So, if you're a descendant of a Victoriahanon who lived here in the 1930s, your lolo or lola must have contributed to the construction of the município.).
In the 1930s, traveling wasn't exactly as comfortable and speedy. It took him about three days to reach Baguio City: a boat ride from Bacolod to Manila, and a long car ride up the Mountain Province. With the roads that would eventually become the national highways not as wide, paved, and efficiently routed as they are now, sitting in a car that would pass through the Luzon countryside with pre-WWII roads was more of a sacrifice than a journey, especially if you were 73 years old! Yes, the things Don Felix at his age had to do just to make his vision for Victorias a reality!
Palacio municipal de Victorias: a statement and a tribute to Spain
In 1933, when the Provincial Capitol of Negros Occidental was completed in Bacolod City on the land previously owned by the Gonzaga family, its scale, grandeur, and beaux-arts architecture, not before seen on the island at that time, impressed those who had seen it up close, including Don Felix.
Being the richest province in the Philippines in the early 20th century, Negros Occidental could afford to build its Provincial Capitol, which was more of a statement rather than just a huge office for public servants.
This was where Don Felix got his vision: to build a 'palacio municipal' or municipal hall for Victorias, an edifice whose scale and architecture would serve as a statement for the young town, a message for all its visitors, and a source of pride for all Victoriahanon.
Don Felix was proud of owning how the municipal hall would look like. Inspired by the Palacio Reál de Madrid (Royal Palace of Madrid) in Spain where his ancestors came from, he envisioned a stone building with an imposing facade and appearance that would awe and impress anyone standing before it. Following a few characteristics of the royal palace was Don Felix's way of paying tribute and homage to Spain.
Madrid's Palacio Reál also lent Don Felix the idea of placing a coat of arms that rests at the center of the building that is slightly elevated than the rest of the body. The municipal building's ground floor does not touch the ground because, being the preeminent public structure of the town, it had to be elevated above the earth by a few steps. Just like royalty, it is above everyone else.
And 80 years ago, after it was completed, the municipal building of Victorias became more than just a building that housed public service offices; it was one Victoriahanon's statement about his young town's place in the political and economic landscape, not just in the province, but in the whole country as well.
That time, when the surrounding spaces in the young town were grassland, wooden homes, and trees, a huge structure made of stone, standing with exaggerated proportions in all of its dimensions made everyone stop in awe.
Before it was horribly painted forest-green and white (a shade that reminds me of a laundry powder), the ivory color of the municipal building reflected the red-orange hues of a setting sun as it faces northwest. Today, with those cheap-looking colors, there's no more semblance of the 'old world' character this historic building used to display.😂
Who paints Roman columns green?! Or who paints royal palaces super-white?
Kabukî guid tulokon sang hitsura sang city hall naton.😡
Columns: a message in Roman architecture
Aside from its height, one character of the municipal hall that catches one's attention is the twin columns that followed the Roman Tuscan design.
During the Roman times, those meters-high, round, solid columns were not put there right in front of a building as decoration or a structural support; they were statements. As they were carved from huge stones and sourced from the far reaches of the Roman empire, they were costly and very difficult to transport to Rome where they eventually became part of an emperor's capricious building or another rich Roman's villa, using hundreds, or thousands, of workers and slaves in the process. The erected Roman columns' message: We are powerful and have vast imperial resources; so, we can afford these!
Although I'm sure no slave worked on the columns of Victorias, nor was a solitary solid rock used for one, the engineers and workers still had a tough time perfecting the twin columns that greeted visitors to the building.
One story I heard about the columns is this: The column on the left before it was painted over, bore two dents from bullets, the rustic remains of which left two brown trails that flowed downwards like tears of a tragic past, tragic because these holes were made during World War II.
How I wished they should have left the bullet holes untouched as they were genuine trails of history and should have been worn by the municipal hall as a badge and a part of the Victoriahanon history that should be told.
Don Tuting Jereza and the two municípios
The late Don Agustin M. Jereza executed Don Felix's plans. He was a graduate of civil engineering at the University of Iowa and a nephew of Don Felix, being a son of Don Felix's older sister, Valentina.
Agustin 'Tuting' Jereza was the man behind the actual construction. He was also the one who constructed the município of Saravia. That's why the municipal hall of E.B. Magalona looks like a miniature version of Victorias's. With Saravia's town mayor a cousin of Dona Dorotea at that time, a ready architectural design was already on hand; they just had to reduce the scale.
Don Agustin's contribution to Victorias also included his help in the development of the town's educational system. A few years after Don Felix's death, he helped the Montinola family found the Don Felix Montinola Memorial Institute in 1951 by lending the curricula, experience, and expertise as well as the teachers of the University of Southern Philippines, a university Don Agustin founded in 1927.
Born an Ilonggo mestizo, died a Victoriahanon
Don Felix died peacefully at the Montinola family's ancestral home in Victorias City, surrounded by his family on September 25, 1949. He lay in state for days on the second floor of the município he built before being finally laid to rest at the Montinola family's mausoleum in E.B. Magalona, Negros Occidental, Philippines.
During the wake at the second floor of his município, his beloved Victoriahonans came to view his remains, while officials and politicians from the province and neighboring towns as well as ordinary citizens joined his family at the requiem mass and funeral.
Although he was born in Jaro, Iloilo, it was in Victorias where Don Felix left his legacy. He was born as an Ilonggo mestizo, but he died as a real Victoriahanon.
Chapter 17. Victorias life during World War II (1942-1944)
The saddest chapter in our history was during the Japanese Occupation when people lost their lives, lost their freedom, and their way of life was disrupted from 1942 until 1945, and even longer because rehabilitation needed time for all families and especially for children who were not able to go to school during the war years.
Even before the Japanese forces landed in Bacolod in May 1942, the evacuation of Victoriahanons to the mountains had already started.
But the date of May 27, 1942, was a date our elders would rather forget than remember. On that sunny morning, just as the sun started to turn its rays scorching hot, the Japanese Imperial Army entered Victorias at around 9:30AM; it was a Wednesday.
Weeks before that and even after the defeat of American and Filipino forces at the battle of Bataan on April 9, 1942, the Victoriahanons were informed everyday via a loudspeaker that blasted the news throughout the town about what was happening in Manila, creating concern and sowing dread with the impending arrival of war to Negros island and eventually, to Victorias.
And when that time came, that morning of May 27, 1942, the atmosphere was tense and full of fear as the townspeople expected the worst.
Their idyllic lives of abundance in a laid-back town made prosperous by an economy revolving around the sugar industry would be changed by a foreign military force. World War II finally arrived in Victorias.
During those days, Victoriahanons evacuated their homes bringing with them what they could: clothes packed in bayong, rosaries around their necks, crying children in tow, and hogs and livestock dragged by ropes behind them as they headed to the mountains under the hot Negrense sun, not knowing when they would ever come back to their homes again.
Months after the Japanese took over, the underground movement burned down the houses and mansions on September 19, 1942, so that they wouldn't be used as Japanese garrison or shelters. Even school buildings and a local hospital were burned down. One of those mansions was the home of Don Felix Montinola that was deliberately burned down by the underground guerilla movement led by Sr. Mateo Garganera, who later became the mayor from 1960 to 1963.
The Japanese army pronounced Victorias as 'Vikutoriasu' while Manapla was pronounced as 'Manapura', according to the Terrain Study documents of the Allied Geographical Section, Southwest Pacific Area, that listed names of towns and places in the Negros Island and their corresponding Japanese pronunciation.
After the burning, the local church had to close as Fr. Vicente Luzada evacuated to the mountains for his safety. Because of this, baptism for babies born to Catholic parents was delayed and requiem masses for the dead were not said.
Sr. Jose Jover, Sr. was still the mayor of the resistance movement, while Dr. Basilio Tanco was the Japanese's puppet mayor, although the Japanese military offered the position to Don Felix Montinola but he declined.
Even though he was the appointed mayor by the Japanese, Dr. Tanco was able to save from certain death people who were suspected by the Japanese as being guerrillas or spies.
During those years, the prices of commodities were monitored and controlled to avoid profiteering. Food was rationed and new Japanese currencies, called 'Japanese money', were introduced. These were difficult times, especially when you talk about the atrocities of the Japanese soldiers, some of whom were actually Koreans. As Korea was a Japanese colony that time, the Japanese Imperial Army sent Koreans to the Philippines to fight for them. Those Korean soldiers, I was told, were more cruel.
During the war, when Japanese soldiers roamed the towns and haciendas, able-bodied men would hide in the kísame (attic) or in the fields until they were gone.
On several occasions, when they roamed Hacienda Dapdap, owned by the family of Don Felix Montinola, those Japanese soldiers were met by the late Doña Luisa Montinola, wife of the late Don Benito Montinola, Sr. (mayor from 1950-1953). She was tasked to 'meet and greet' them and offered them water and 'botong-botong', a native sweet candy made from sugar, as refreshments for these tired soldiers. This 'friendly encounter' was meant to take their minds off from hunting down guerrillas hiding in the sugarcane fields.
We may have heard other atrocious cruelties by these Japanese soldiers like killing a helpless family using bayonets because using guns would just waste bullets.
A horrifying memory of such cruelty was shared with me by Mr. Joshue Panes, 83 years old and a highly respected member of the VMC community. He recounted how his young uncle during the war witnessed his parents being killed on the spot by the Japanese soldiers at their hometown in Dao, Capiz Province in the Panay Island.
That day, all the people were ordered to gather at the town plaza in order for the Japanese soldiers to search for guerrillas. Unfortunately, both his parents were not able to join the assembly as his father could not walk because he had a disability. While everyone was at the plaza, Japanese soldiers roamed the streets and inspected the houses. That was when they found the couple still at home. Believing they were guerrillas as they didn't obey the order, both were bayonetted to death and their home set ablaze. His young uncle witnessed this and brought this heartbreaking memory until his last days. And as Mr. Panes was telling me this, I could tell the sadness in his eyes and voice.
True and horrifying stories about the war like these are difficult to retell because they bring back very sad memories and emotions.😭
The town was then governed by the resistance movement and during the next two years, no elections were held.
It was only in 1946 that elections were finally held again. Don Hector M. Montinola, a son of Don Felix Montinola, won over Dr. Basilio Tangco and Elpidio Buenacosa. He was the town mayor from 1946 to 1950.
Don Hector M. Montinola was succeeded by his brother, Don Benito Montinola, Sr. (1950-1953, 1956-1959) who later became the undersecretary for the Department of Natural Resources under the presidency of Dioscado Macapagal, Sr.
Don Benito Montinola, Sr. was also a delegate to the 1971 Philippine Constitutional Convention as one of the six delegates representing the 1st District of Negros Occidental.
Going back to the World War II stories, when I visited the US Embassy in Manila many years ago for a work-related meeting, the officer with whom we met showed us the hall where General Tomoyuki Yamashita was tried for his war crimes in 1945.
The consul pointed to me the exact spot where General Yamashita sat when he was sentenced to death by hanging. He was hanged on February 23, 1946, in Los Baños, Laguna, but his remains were buried in Tokyo, Japan.
That hall in the U.S. Embassy, where the war crimes trials were held, is now a ballroom named after Charles Parsons, Jr., a World War II veteran who, as a teenager, dreamed of coming to the Philippines. He later became a businessman and a diplomat, and died in Pasay City, Philippines, in 1988.
Chapter 18. The unseen Victoriahanons
During my research for this history blog, I came across some interesting stories that came to light. And I also came across other interesting stories that came out of the dark.
Sifting through the stories I gathered, I realized I was writing about Victoriahanons whom I could picture as a fellow citizen of this town, someone who walked down the street and someone whom we could meet, greet and socialize with on a sunny day in the neighborhood. But if they were the Victoriahanons whom we could see, are there Victoriahanons whom we could not?
You have an idea what I'm talking about?😀
Yes, there were (or still are?) inhabitants of our city, a city that used to be town, that used to be a village and that used to be a rich, uninhabited forest. Uninhabited by noisy, gossipy Victoriahanons, that is.
These Victoriahanons were already here even before the Negros Island came to be named Buglas, or even before a settlement at the mouth of a silty river came to be known as Malihao.
It's time we talked about one such unseen Victoriahanon, one that our mythical culture calls...kapre!
Yes, that tall, hairy, dark creature of the night, usually living on an old tree that manifests itself to humans whom he wanted to befriend or pester. Known to be a smoker, a kapre puffs a long cigar made of rolled, dried tobacco leaves whose smell wafts to announce its presence to anyone unaware of its existence.
In an old school building in Victorias, one that sat along the highway, stories about a kapre had been told over the years when it was still full of students during the day and inhabited by an unseen being at night.
When the janitor had closed all the classrooms and locked the school gates early in the evening, it was a matter of time when unusual sounds were heard from inside the school.
Chapter 22 - Victorias City could have been Toreno City
The first time I heard 'Toreno' as a name of an area in Victorias City (in the Philippines) was years ago when someone I knew moved there.
I thought then that the correct spelling was 'Torino', an Italian city which I visited as a Bosconian pilgrim to the magnificent Basilica de Maria Ausiliatrice or the Basilica of Mary the Help of Christians located at Torino's Don Bosco Valdocco area.
Why did I think it was 'Torino'? Because Negrenses, as Hiligaynon speakers, would pronounce a hard 'e' as soft 'e', thereby turning 'to-ree-no' into 'to-reh-no'.
But it turned out it was indeed 'Toreno' afte I did a little digging for Chapter 7 and Chapter 8 of this Victorias history blog.
Toreno was the name of the hacienda owned by Don Teodoro Benedicto way back in the latter part of the 19th century when one of his heirs, Don Leon Montinola, threatened to uproot the houses of the people who built them on his hacienda and who sued the town officials in 1906 for creating roads on the same land. This hacienda is now Toreno Heights Subdivision and is part of Barangay 9 of Victorias City.
But do you know that 'Toreno' was Victorias City's old name after 'Malihao'? And it was named so sometime in 1849?
According to Negrense historian, Mr. Modesto Sa-onoy, it was the alcalde-mayor of the Negros island in 1849 who gave it this name.
On May 5, 1837, Negros island, still a poor backwater, was elevated to an alcaldia-mayor by a royal decree as part of the reforms decided by the Spanish government for their colony, Islas Filipinas.
Before that time, Negros island was classified as 'corregimiento' and its leader a 'corregidor', which probably was the origin of the Hiligaynon word 'koridor' that means a person collecting bets for small-town lottery gambling.
But in 1849, when Bacolod became the new capital of the province, taking over Himamaylan, a new alcalde-mayor arrived from Spain.
(Old Negros map)
He was Don Manuel Valdivieso y Morcheso, a Spanish lawyer who arrived in May 1849. Had he not been sick, Don Manuel would have had settled in the island two years earlier. His doctor did not give him the go-signal to travel for months at sea to the Philippines in 1847. Imagine, he was sick, and sailing across the oceans feasting only on jamón iberico and other preserved meat and fish would not have been a healthy diet for a not-so-healthy person.
As some names of towns in the Philippines were named after places in Spain, these were given by the Spanish alcáldes and governors as an homage to their hometowns and to probably alleviate some of their homesickness being thousands of miles from home.
And as a governor, Don Manuel certainly exercised such privilege.
One of his legacies was naming one settlement, a very familiar one, after his hometown in Spain, Cadiz. Yes, Cadiz is now Cadiz City because of him.
Although it was just a barangay then, Cadiz City was named Valdivieso and later on, Cadiz.
Saravia, the old name of E. B.Magalona, was named after Emilio Saravia, the governor of Negros from 1855 to 1857. Saravia, who turned out to be a ruthless governor, was Don Manuel's successor.
Other than naming Cadiz after his hometown, Don Manuel, during his six-year term as governor, created the towns of Valladolid in 1850 and in 1854, Murcia and Granada; all named after cities in Spain.
After Cadiz, he also named Madrigal (now San Enrique), Simancas (now La Carlota), Isabela (formerly Tinungan), Nueva Valencia (now Escalante), Magallanes (now Sagay), and what do you know, Toreno, which is now Victorias City!
Except for Isabela, the queen's name, and Magellan, these are all places in Spain.
Yes, who would have thought my hometown had an early Spanish name before it was christened 'Victorias', the approved shortened version of 'Nuestra Señora de Las Victorias', after the apparition of the Virgin in the old Victorias during the late 19th century.
And while I was looking these places up in the map of Spain, I found out that I was actually about 10 kilometers off from the municipality of Toreno when my Renfe train passed through the province of León on my way to Santiago de Compostela.
Well, had I known then that my hometown of Victorias was formerly named Toreno, I could have made a side trip to find out what was so interesting about that place that made Don Manuel name this settlement by the Malihao River.
And so, it turned out Hacienda Toreno in Daan Banwa of Victorias City is the remaining witness to one of the city's early names, a legacy of a Spanish governor who replaced the name of 'Malihao' until the town was renamed 'Victorias' in the 1880s. The next time I pass by that area, I should remember this piece of Victorias history.
Well, could our city have been called Toreno City if it were not for the apparition of the Virgin accompanied by Archangel Michael? 😏
(Map credit: 1734 Murillo-Velarde Map)
Guillermo, his nieces and nephew never made it back to the deck. But amidst the pandemonium, and screams and cries for help heard that dreadful night at sea, it was Agustin who helped save Rolando. They were among the few who survived.
They were brought first to Corregidor Island where they received medical attention at the military-run hospital and were later brought to the mainland. Rolando Fermin stayed at the home of Pancho Magalona, a second cousin of his mother, in Manila while he came to terms with the tragedy before making arrangements of going home.
The original plan of S.S. Corregidor was to land on any major island in the south upon daybreak. From there, the passengers could take other boats to their final destination. Sadly, most of the passengers of S.S. Corregidor and its captain didn't make it home for Christmas.
Under the dark Philippine skies and in a voyage imperiled by war, they finally rested in their graves in the waters of a bay whose city would fall into enemy hands months later.
The S.S. Corregidor left Manila on December 16 and sank sometime around midnight or early morning of December 17, 1941. The news of the tragedy reached Victorias on December 18, a Thursday.
That day, during the early days of World War II, Doña Quintina, or Inday Tinay to her friends and Lola Tinay to her grandchildren, lost two daughters, a son, and a brother as casualties of a war that would set foot in their hometown five months later.
That Christmas of 1941 was the saddest for her and her family. 😭
Estela was 20, while Ester was just 18. Hernan turned 15 just four days before the tragedy, and Guillermo, who was preparing to be a doctor, was about 27. 😭
(Sources for Chapter 23:
Chapter 24 - The women of Victorias: Capitana Tutang, Paz Gonzaga, and Salud Montinola
Capitana Tutang and the women of Victorias
In the 1880s, after having been robbed and held hostage by tulisanes, Capitana Tutang, the grand old dame of Daan Banwa, outwitted her captors and even saved her maid, Micay, from drowning by dragging her to shore after they were both dumped in open waters at the mouth of the Malihao River (see Chapter 4).
Another Victoriahanon lady, Señorita Paz Gonzaga, the daughter of former mayor Sr. Ricardo Gonzaga, helped the poor town raise funds on May 22 and 23, 1907, that were needed to buy bamboos and nipa, and to pay for carpenters who would build a new município at the Embarcadero area on the land donated by Sr. Yap-Quiña (see Chapter 11).
Señorita Gonzaga, fresh from completing her education, shared her talent by agreeing to be the star of two stage plays that raised 680 pesos after deducting the expenses incurred in staging the play. She was asked to lead the play because she could speak fluent Spanish, the language of the play, and must have had the beauty and stage presence that could sell tickets.
After writing both of these women's stories as part of our Victorias history, I realized that these two helped define the women during their time.
And after rummaging through the lives of the old Victorias, I am adding another woman's name to the list: Salud Montinola y Magalona, the second eldest child of Don Felix Montinola, town mayor from 1934 to 1940 (see Chapter 16).
On the northern side of Matinal Street (present-day Arnaez St.), right across her pharmacy, stood the Ascalon mansion (present-day Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints), where the young Salud would greet every morning its residents, including Señora Paquita Ascalon, the sister of the last resident of the Ascalon mansion, Porfirio Ascalon. Señora Paquita, unmarried and a pious lady, stayed with the Montinolas at their Hacienda Dapdap in Manapla during the war.
(More chapters will be added to this history blog as I continue to unearth more interesting stories about Victorias.👦)
* * * * *
History Continues: Malabay Kita Tanan Nga Daw Asó (We're all just passing by like smoke)
The Victorias history I just retold is far from being complete. Maybe the next time I stumble upon some materials, we'll talk about them.
We haven't even discussed the scandals that sent the Victoriahanons' tongues wagging like the story about a group of people working in a local bank and who turned out were milking it dry through fraud and had to flee the town when they were discovered in the late 1980s! Or about warring families, or those town mistresses! I'm sure you heard a thing or two about them!😃
I started telling our history from the Victorias public plaza, went over to Daan Banwa, faced the tulisánes and swam with Capitana Tutang and Mikay back to shore. We crossed the Magnanud River, watched Spanish plays, built a município, and went up the mountains to hide from the Japanese. Now, I am back to the public plaza where, I ask again: who donated this spot? Maybe someone can dig up the OCT to find out for us.
And since I am still at the public plaza, I might as well show you what I found: a marble marker for a time capsule set to be unearthed in 2064.
I read it and I am now cringing because the Victoriahanons of 2064 will definitely think of us, the Victoriahanons of 2014, that we didn't know how to construct our English sentences properly. There are 98,856 Victoriahanons now in the city and not one could write proper English, especially on a slab of marble that could not be corrected? But if the city government cares, it has 45 years to rewrite it.😛
So, as we have judged those who came before us, we, too, will be judged by those after us.
And since we are talking about history, click on the video and listen to this Hiligaynon song which, if you listen to its lyrics intently, is a message to all of us.
Because just like asó (smoke), everything in this world will pass.🙏
Let me add that, with everything Señor Esteban Jalandoni had done for our town, he and Capitana Tutang (more story about her in Chapter IV below) are the only Victoriahanons who deserve to be up there on a monument at our public plaza and no one else.
I have laid in the following chapters the stories using the chronology of the 1953 compilation, highlighting the stories that interested me; their compiled stories ended in 1953. And now, I am retelling them along with my questions, ideas and arguments they caused me to infer because in written history, there are more stories hiding beneath those words than what they actually tell. And as I don't have the resources to dig deeper into our past, this is what I only came up with: Victorias's history in my style of storytelling.😄 And although I have made efforts to ensure that these stories are true based on the Jalandoni memoirs, the 1953 compilation, online information, and a few limited sources, I do not assume and hereby disclaim any liability to any party for any loss or damage caused by errors or omissions, whether such errors or omissions result from negligence, accident, or any other cause.😄
So, going back to our history, where do I start? Where else, but from the town plaza!😊
Chapter 1. El município de Victoriás
Standing at the middle of the Victorias public plaza and facing southeast, I was face-to-face with the stone município whose presence and history dwarfed me literally and figuratively.
It was completed in the late 1930s with the cost of 30,000 pesos under the town leadership of Don Felix Lozada Montinola (1934-1940), originally an Ilonggo after having been born in Jaro, Iloilo, with his ancestors coming from Malaga, Spain in the 18th century. Then, it was surrounded by trees, open spaces, and a few wooden houses in the surrounding plots.
In the morning, public servants, local politicians, and townspeople crowded its halls, while in the late afternoon, its façade was bathed with red-orange hues of the setting sun with its twin, stucco-ivory columns driving home the message that this building was more than just an huge office for public servants. (Read my separate blog about the history of the município here).
Back then, in the 1930s, tall stone buildings constructed near the national highway were rare on this part of Negros island as most mansions were hidden inside haciendas, and any visitor to Victorias would have been impressed by this elegant and massive structure, turning the município as a landmark. Any passing traveler would know this was Victorias when one saw the ivory building.
Unfortunately, as of this writing, it is painted tastelessly white and green, and is surrounded by a poorly maintained public plaza littered with dog poop (I always had to watch my step!😡) and garbage from undisciplined Victoriahanons, and is a favorite tambayan of high school students during the day when they cut classes.😓
Chapter 2. Daan Banwa, where everything began
But the crowded city center was not the original settlement of Victorias; everything began 1.2 kilometers to the west of the Victorias public plaza.
Before becoming a town in 1898 and a city in 1998, Victorias was just a barrio near the mouth of the Malihao River on the northwest side of Negros island facing the Iloilo Strait. That barrio, also originally named Malihaw (or Malihao) after the abundant malihaw plants on the river banks, is now known as Daan Banwa (Old Town) and is currently the City's Barangay 9.
Though there are no verifiable written records of the barrio's earliest settlers, the 1953 compilation mentions of Indonesians, Cebuanos and Boholanos as early inhabitants of Daan Banwa even before the Spaniards arrived in the Philippines.
Although Cebuanos and Boholanos might have rowed from the east, a piece of Visayan history regarding 'Indonesians' came to mind. Or was the 1953 compilation referring to Indonesians, or maybe specifically, Borneans?
Chapter 3. Did early settlers come from Aninipay during the pre-hispanic period?
If the history and research written by Pedro Monteclaro in Maragtas are correct, in the 1200s, ten datus from Borneo, led by Datu Puti (whose name in the present time has been unfortunately reduced to a cooking condiment) arrived at Aninipay, the old name of Panay Island, and asked Pulpulan, the chieftain of the ati natives, and his son Marikudo for land where they could settle.
The ati people are an ethnic group of short, dark-skinned people with curly hair who were the earliest occupants of the islands with their own culture and way of living. (They have been sadly ignored and relegated to a minority).
And over the centuries, long before Ferdinand Magellan arrived in the archipelago, the communities of those Bornean datus thrived in the plains and along the coastline of Aninipay. These settlers were expert seafarers even before they set foot in Aninipay. They treated the sea, not as barriers, but as highways that enabled them to reach other islands.
Like all early settlements, a river is always a required element. For survival, inhabitants needed a source of water for washing, cooking and other daily needs, irrigation for their vegetation, and a navigable passage into the inner areas of the island due to the absence of roads or cleared paths.
The earliest known settlers of Daan Banwa must have arrived in several wooden boats loaded with brown-skinned men, women and children, huddled together with their livestock, ornaments, pottery, amulets, instruments, plant seeds, and Bornean culture and traditions.
(The 1734 Murillo Velarde map, the oldest map of the Philippines, showing the islands of Panay and
Isla de Negros - map courtesy of
Murillo Verlarde Map website)
If they were from Aninipay, the amihan winds would have carried them here to this northern part of Buglas, the old name of Negros Island, to an area with a river surrounded by fertile land. Their men must have scouted and chosen this place several moons before, a place near the mouth of a silty river where they could migrate to for reasons that would have included the need for a bigger, fertile area for a growing clan, or perhaps to avoid conflict with other clans and tribes. Although avoiding gossipy neighbors could have been a reason, it wouldn't have been enough to cross the Iloilo Strait for.
Here, they found mangroves, nipa and malihaw plants, and with their experience in agriculture, they planted and raised fruit-bearing trees and vegetables, and cultivated rice that fed their clan a few seasons during the year alternately with root crops.
This community must have thrived for a long period and must have even lived in harmony with the local ati tribes in the neighboring forests, an area full of trees, vegetation and wild animals thriving along the three rivers that converge as one and now known as Malihaw.
During the period of these early communities, these rivers overflowed when their banks could not contain the deluge from the mountains and the incoming high tides from the sea. (Two rivers - Malihaw originating from Brgy. 18A, near the Victorias Golf & Country Club, and Magnanud River from Bgry. 8 - whose respective sources are 4.1 kilometers apart, converge as one at a spot 660 meters north of Bangga Daan, specifically at the intersection along the national highway that leads to Daan Banwa. Taytay Bahô is Malihao River while Magnanud is the one next to Bangga Daan).
If ever there was an ancient settlement in Daan Banwa, its disappearance might have been caused by bloody attacks from Moro pirates who roamed around the Visayan seas to plunder villages and kidnap women and children to make as wives or sell as slaves, natural disasters like destructive floods from the overflowing rivers, or deadly diseases that eradicated a whole tribe. Whatever it was, we will never know.😭
Chapter 4. Capitana Tutang and Nuestra Señora de Las Victorias (before 1880)
During the last decades of the Spanish period, the Daan Banwa settlement grew and prospered with its inhabitants coming from the neighboring areas like Saravia, Manapla or even from Panay island.
In the 19th century, migration from Panay island to the Negros island was not only common; it was encouraged so as to populate the island with industrious hands and fortune-seeking people. Even the former Victorias mayor, Don Felix Montinola, who was elected in 1934, crossed the Iloilo Strait and settled in Saravia. He was born in Jaro, Iloilo in 1864 but moved to Saravia (now E. B. Magalona) in the 1890s (or earlier) with two of his unmarried sisters. In 1897, he married the daughter of the mayor (no less!) of Saravia.
Even some of the revolutionary fighters against Spain in the Negros island were Ilonggos who joined Elias Magbanua and his Negrense fighters in a stand against the American soldiers at Sitio Guintabuan in Saravia on August 19, 1899. (Read my blog about Elias Magbanua here).
While Daan Banwa was still a barrio, it switched several times from being a part of Saravia and Manapla because its population and income were hardly enough for it to be recognized as a town. It must have been a sleepy village near the sea and river where people gather in a popular shady spot during cool afternoons to exchange stories, argue and share opinions, spread gossip, and of course, flirt! 😃
Daan Banwa was a barrio of Saravia even before 1848, the year Bacolod became the capital of Negros Province. It was just a village by the Malihao River that happened to have a settlement of nipa huts whose inhabitants survived on fishing from the river, gathering shells from the shore, and harvesting edible fruits from the forest.
It became a barrio of Saravia because of a reported crime. A deadly quarrel happened between two neighbors that ended up one killing another. The crime had to be reported to Himamaylan, then the province's capital, where the governor, upon learning that the crime had to be reported to the capital as it was not part of any town, ordered that Victorias be officially part of Saravia and that it should have its own leader. An election among the villages was conducted and a certain 'Tomas' was elected.
(This is not 'Daan Banwa' but this is a typical scene of a village in 1880s Philippines where neighbors gather to socialize, argue, gossip, and flirt)
Photo credit: Pump Park Vintage
Photography-Alamy Stock Photo)
Around 1876, when the settlement grew in size and in population, it became a town and for three consecutive terms, Gregorio Conlu was the capitán. During his term, an unfortunate event happened - an event that somehow became fateful to both the inhabitants and the small town that eventually became a municipality and later, a city.Photography-Alamy Stock Photo)
Gregorio Conlu and his wife Fausta Gosiaoco, popularly known as 'Capitana Tutang', sold tubâ (coconut wine) and probably other things like dried fish and fermented condiments at their home. And one afternoon, the couple noticed a paraw, a boat with outrigger and common in the Visayan seas, coming into the Malihao River and loaded with passengers. While its passengers remained on board the whole afternoon, they came to shore at seven in the evening, drank tuba at Capitana Tutang's store, and left at half past seven.
But when it was late in the evening with the couple's store already closed, the same men, numbering six, came back with bolos and robbed the couple by entering through a window. Capitan Conlu and his clerk, Alfonso Pechera, were able to evade trouble by putting out the light (there was no electricity then) in the store and went up the attic of the house to hide. Although Capitana Tutang was left sitting at the table frozen in fear, she was not hurt by the tulisanes. Instead, they killed four comisarios (peacekeepers during that time like our present-day barangay tanod) who later came to the house to apprehend the bandits and injured two villagers who also came to help.
Unfortunately for the couple, Capitana Tutang had to surrender her earrings, diamonds and other jewelry, a comb, cash of 500 pesos, and some clothes the tulisanes liked, and although their neighbors came out of their homes because of the commotion, no one was able to help as they were all threatened by the bandits who escaped using Capitana Tutang and her maid Mikay as hostages. As the Jalandoni memoirs specifically mentioned that diamonds and a comb were part of the loot, I thought these were rough diamonds, not the Harry Winston quality whose brilliance blinds, but ones cut roughly, and the comb was probably ivory, which made me wonder if it was a special comb from China made of bamboo or animal bones.
Both hands tied, Tutang and Mikay were brought into the paraw until they reached the mouth of the Malihao River where Tutang was asked whether they could swim. When she said 'no', their hands were untied and were thrown overboard because they already served their purpose as hostages. Because the tulisanes were only after cash and valuables, and were not interested in capturing women and children to sell as slaves, they were most likely from a neighboring island or worse, from Buglas (Negros island) itself. (It was the fearsome Moro raiders from Mindanao who were notoriously known to kidnap women and children because they were more expensive commodities to sell.)
A good swimmer, Capitana Tutang made it back to shore while dragging Mikay, who couldn't swim, with her. They were thrown out at a spot where the waters measured a little more than eight feet.
Although we don't know how old Mikay was, it made me wonder why Tutang didn't allow her to take swimming lessons from the men in the village when Daan Banwa was just next to a river and a beach! She probably didn't trust the local men who she thought were really after teaching Mikay anything other than how to swim.😆
I believe Capitana Tutang was more than a grand dame of Daan Banwa than what the limitedly known town history is telling us. She must have been a culinary expert like Nora Daza because she had a popular store where even bandits patronized, a champion Palarong Pambansa-caliber swimmer who could swim from sea to shore in cold, dark waters while dragging someone with her, a witty, quick thinker who outsmarted the tulisanes, and had more influence in Daan Banwa than her teniente-del-barrio husband. Otherwise, why would she be addressed as 'capitana'? And for all we know, Capitan Gregorio Conlu, with all due respect to his contribution to the old town, was 'under the saya'. He was the one who left his wife behind among the tulisanes and hid in the kísame, remember?
When Tutang and Mikay finally reached the shore that dreadful night, they knelt and prayed. Tutang believed it was a miracle and being a devotee, she believed it was the Virgin Mary who saved them. So when they got home, she told her husband, who must have been relieved but still shaken, about what happened to her and Mikay, she also shared with him her wish to buy an image of the Virgin even though they just lost their money. That night in Daan Banwa must have been dramatic scenes from a telenovela: four dead comisarios bathed in blood from bolo hacks and lying on dirt ground, a teniénte del barrio hiding in a kísame, a kidnapped 'first lady', two injured villagers, and a bunch of helpless townspeople carrying their lighted torches around trying to bring back order to their village.
After four months, when she went to her relatives in Bacolod to ask their help in buying the image, a generous cousin, Eulalia Villasor, gave her 250 pesos. She then visited Saravia's parish priest, Fr. Hilarion Narro, whom she told about her wish to purchase the image. The priest then helped her by sending a letter to Spain to order a statue of the Virgin Mary. (In the Jalandoni memoirs, it was Capitan Gorio who ordered the statue from Barcelona, Spain).
Eleven months after Tutang's escape from the tulisanes, the image of the Virgin arrived and was placed at the altar of the church in Malihao alongside the statue of San Casimiro, their patron saint. The image was called Nuestra Señora de las Victorias or Our Lady of Victory, and this was the start of the barrio's veneration to the Virgin. (The 1953 Compilation and the Jalandoni Memoirs described the statue as that of the Virgin Mary with no mention of the Child Jesus. The current Our Lady of Victory statue, however, shows the Child Jesus standing on the right side of the Virgin.)
The statue that arrived from Spain was the Our Lady of Victory, a statue with the child Jesus on the right side of the Virgin. Upon the victory of the Christian forces over the Ottoman Turks at the Battle of Lepanto on October 7, 1571, Pope Pius V attributed that victory to the intercession of the Virgin through the praying of the Holy Rosary during days of the battle (The Our Lady of Victory is also known as Our Lady of the Rosary). When Capitana Tutang ordered her statue from Spain, the veneration to the Our Lady of Victory was already more than 300 years old and the statue maker probably sculpted her that image because, one, it was a popular choice, and, two, Capitana Tutang's ordeal over the tulisanes must have been a victory of sorts as well. So, the current image of the Virgin is, indeed, the Our Lady of Victory as venerated by Pope Pius V and the Christian forces in 1571. So, from 10,000 kilometers away in Greece and 300 years since the victory, the Virgin became the small settlement's mother founded along a river and near the sea in Las Islas Filipinas.
Months later, two captives, one from Calatrava and another from Escalante, of the Moro raiders, escaped and took refuge in Malihao. They recounted stories about their Moro raiders attempting to enter the mouth of the Malihao River but was met by a beautiful woman standing on the front bow of a banca holding a sword while a robust man stood behind her and held a lance. Upon seeing the obvious threat, the raiders retreated and instead went up north to Manapla where they continued their atrocities on coastal villages. That's where the two made their escape.
This story reached a Visayan priest, Crispino Hinolan, who was in charge of Saravia. He asked the capitán to gather his people for a momentous announcement. That occasion, where past and present capitánes as well as the townspeople were assembled, was where the Catholic Church publicly recognized the miracle and the legendary story on the Malihao River.
And to immortalize their gratitude to the Virgin, Malihao was renamed 'Nuestra Señora de las Victorias' with the approval of the townspeople. They must have unanimously approved it as, during those times, the friars and priests were influential and the majority were Catholics. The change of name was approved by the provincial governor but he officially shortened it to 'Victorias' instead. A novena was also held to solemnize the feast.
Capitan Gorio and Capitana Tutang were of Chinese ancestry and were probably from Iloilo, considering their surnames Conlu and Gosiaoco, and the valuables such as rough diamonds, gold earrings and a prized comb that she brought with her.
Capitana Tutang should be immortalized in our history with a bust or a monument (although it would be difficult as we may not have any portrait of her lying around) at Daan Banwa, not as a public servant, but because she represented the admirable spirit of our past that should be emulated in the present: bravery, resilience, and unwavering faith in God. 🙏
In 1882, the capitan that succeeded Gregorio Conlu was Mariano Conlu, who was nicknamed "Uban" because of his white hair. There was animosity between the two Conlus which caused the villagers to relocate elsewhere, diminishing the population and income of the town and consequently reducing it to a barrio of Manapla.
Chapter 5. Should the town have been called Salvación and not Victórias?
Setting aside the connection to the Our Lady of Victory of the Battle of Lepanto in 1571 as discussed in Chapter 4 and after reading the 1953 compilation about the miracle, three questions came to mind:
One, should Capitana Tutang (or was it the priest?) have named the image 'Nuestra Señora de La Salvación', instead of 'Nuestra Señora de Las Victórias'? Why? Because she was saved; there was no fighting or hand-to-hand combat with her captors. It wasn't a victory; it was a salvation of sorts.
Maybe she was traumatized by the whole experience that she wasn't able to think straight after. Otherwise, Victorias City wouldn't be holding any 'Kadalag-an Festival'. Instead, it would be celebrating 'Kaluwasan Festival', which wouldn't sound like a festive event but a religious ceremony for condemned souls.😂
But then, Victorias has a 'Salvacion Subdivision' (named after Sra. Salvacion Ditching-Triumfo) in its Barangay 6 in the present time, which pretty much redeems Capitana Tutang.😊
Two, the legend says it was San Casimiro who stood behind the Virgin at the banca. I looked him up. San Casimiro or Saint Casimir (the only Catholic saint with that name) was a Polish prince whose images show him wearing a robe and is attributed with holding a lily and wearing a grand ducal hat. He was a pious character who died of tuberculosis, which means, 'robust' wouldn't be an adjective to describe his posture.
Saint Michael, the Archangel, on the other hand, was a fierce warrior of God who is holding a lance on most images of him. So, did the priest make a mistake in identifying Saint Michael, the Archangel as San Casimiro just because he was the patron saint of Malihao?
In Marian apparitions, it is very rare that the Virgin Mary is accompanied by a saint. If ever she was accompanied, it was always with an angel or a group of angels like when she appeared to St. James, the Great on January 2, 40 CE at Caesaraugusta in present-day Spain; she was accompanied by angels. (Read my blog about that story here.)
So, was it an honest mistake or was it deliberate? In those times when priests were more powerful than politicians, when education was scarce and most were hardly educated, and when access to information was controlled by those who governed, the story about the patron saint himself descending upon Daan Banwa to save it was a very big deal! Who would benefit from such story? Would this have increased the Sunday mass donations and more prayer offerings be made to the patron saint, not just from the people of Daan Banwa, but from the neighboring areas as well? 😕
(And is it just a coincidence that a prayer pamphlet of St. Michael Archangel - given by a friend years ago - is unexpectedly lying next to the printed 1953 compilation just when I am writing this chapter?).😇
Three, I initially wondered why is San Roqué, whose feast day is August 16, the current patron saint of Daan Banwa and not San Casimiro. When did this change happen? Does anyone from Daan Banwa know?😕
But thanks to a resident of Daan Banwa, I learned that the residents of Daan Banwa, after losing the old simbahan in that area, had to go to the present-day Our Lady of Victorias parish church located at the along the national highway and Magsaysay Street for Sunday masses. The San Roque Parish church in Barangay 9, or Daan Banwa today, is only 25 years old, having been built in 1994. When it was put up, San Roque became its patron saint.
So, when and why did the old Daan Banwa church disappear? Where was its old location? Does anyone know?
Chapter 6. Eliodoro Tongoy, Esteban Jalandoni, and Former Governor Melecio Severino saved the town in 1902
I couldn't find any historical records, written or oral, as to how many times Daan Banwa, or the Old Victorias (of Negros Occidental, Philippines), became part of the neighboring Saravia or Manapla before Daan Banwa became a town.
But during those years when Google Maps or geodetic surveying was not available, only natural borders were used, and in the case of the Old Victorias the Jalandoni Memoirs mentioned that the Magnanud River was used or was going to be used as the boundary.
During those days, places were named after their natural uniqueness. For example, there's 'Bugtong Lubi', Hiligaynon for 'the only coconut tree'. The place must have been distinguished by one coconut tree standing. There's also 'Kanipâ-an', meaning 'lots of nipa plants', and 'Ginapanâ-an', meaning 'shot by an arrow' (Read blog here).
This is also the reason why the early name of Victorias was 'Malihaw', the name of the plant that was abundant along the Malihaw River. In short, the name of the plant was adopted as the name of the river that was adopted as the name of the old settlement. (I have googled this plant and still don't know how it looks like.)😆
The northern river that cuts across Victorias is Magnanud River over which Magnanud Bridge straddles (next to the private cemetery and Banggâ Daan). In the old times when it was just a barrio, Magnanud River was used as the boundary. Land on the south of the river was Saravia; the northern bank was Manapla. And based on the Jalandoni Memoirs, it was only in 1898 that Daan Banwa, or the Old Victorias, became a town.
Before 1898 (the year when the settlement was recognized as a town) and years after that, the leaders of Daan Banwa, based on the Jalandoni Memoirs, were:
1848 : "Tomas", no last name, was known to have been elected as the barrio leader when the governor who was then holding office at Himamaylan, the capitol of Negros at that time, ordered that the settlement (the site of Daan Banwa) declared a barrio of Saravia.
1876-1882 : Gregorio Conlu was elected on three consecutive terms. Assuming each term is two years. He was the barrio leader for 1876-1878, 1878-1880, and 1880-1882.
1882-1884 : Mariano Conlu, known as 'Uban' because of his gray hair. Mariano Conlu and Gregorio Conlu were not in good terms with each other.
1884-1886 : Pedro Miraflores, a native of Manapla. This was the time, Daan Banwa was part of Manapla.
November 1898 : The new leaders of the República Cantonal de Negros ordered that Daan Banwa be a town after the settlers petitioned, and Gabriel Montinola was appointed the town leader who would preside until an election was held.
1898 - 1901 : Guillermo Azcona was elected to succeed Gabriel Montinola who was only appointed.
1901 - 1902 : Eliodoro Tongoy was the town leader. I only assume the year following the dissolution of the República Cantonal de Negros in April 1901 in the early years of the American occupation.
But in 1902, the threat of relegation to being a barrio surfaced in Daan Banwa again.
On September 20, 1902, a Saturday, the town 'presidente' at Daan Banwa received an order from the provincial governor to attend a special assembly in Bacolod of all town leaders as ordered by Brigadier General James Francis Smith in Manila. (Brigadier General Smith was the military governor of Negros Occidental in the early years of American Occupation). The purpose was to announce at the assembly the names of the towns that had low income and would be relegated into barrios of adjacent town.
The town officials knew that, being a 4th class town with very low income, Victorias was going to lose its status and be reduced to a barrio. That's why on September 24, 1902, the day before the assembly, the town officials authorized its councilor, Sr. Segundo De Leon, the right to plead and appeal on behalf of the town. Sr. De Leon represented the town as its 'presidente', Sr. Eliodoro Tongoy, was sick at that time.
The 'assemblea' of town leaders held on September 25, 1902, a Thursday, was presided by the former provincial governor, Sr. Jose Agaton Ruiz de Luzuriaga, Negros Occidental. He was the provincial governor from May 1, 1901 to August 15, 1901, and was tasked by the Civil Commission to preside over the Negros Occidental assembly (Luzuriaga St. in Bacolod City was named after him).
At the assembly, Sr. Luzuriaga told Sr. Segundo de Leon that Victorias was to be reduced into a barrio and would be partitioned between Saravia and Manapla using Magnanud River as the boundary. Sr. de Leon voiced the protest of the townspeople of Victorias saying that, even though it was a 4th class settlement, the people and the town of Victorias lived on its own and could stand on its own without any outside help.
But Sr. Luzuriaga replied that this was the order of the Civil Commission in Manila, and if the people of Victorias could send a representative to plea their case in Manila, they should.
Back at Daan Banwa, at the council meeting on September 28, 1902, a Sunday, the officials and town council consequently panicked at the thought of losing their positions and esteemed status of running a town to being stewards of a mere barrio that sat next to the Malihaw River. The council then decided to send the town leader Eliodoro Tongoy and Esteban Jalandoni, his secretary, to Bacolod in order to seek the governor's help.
At four in the morning of September 29, 1902, when it was still very dark and most of Daan Banwa was still sleeping, save for the fishermen, Eliodoro Tongoy and Esteban Jalandoni got into a boat at the banks of the Malihaw River. The boat was manned by two boatsmen and they were joined by another passenger, a Chinese businessman.
However, when they reached the mouth of the Malihaw River with one of their sails already up, a strong northern wind blew and tilted it sideways throwing all of them into the neck-deep, silty waters. They got wet and a little shaken.
But still focused on the important task at hand, Srs. Tongoy and Jalandoni decided to continue with the trip by boat, this time without the Chinese businessman who got scared and decided to take a drier path to Bacolod. He probably didn't know how to swim and was traveling to Bacolod to purchase some merchandise for his store in Daan Banwa, which meant he must have had a lot of money with him and didn't want to be buried with his wealth, figuratively and literally, in the sea in case of another mishap.😂
That time, a boat ride from Daan Banwa to Bacolod would take eight hours, and the passengers needed to have two changes of clothes and food with them as going back on the same day would be difficult. Luckily, their clothes did not get wet as their bags were hanging by the mast of the boat.
Upon arriving in Bacolod at around 11:30AM, they headed straight to Eliodoro Tongoy's parent's house along Calle San Juan where they had lunch and changed clothes. After eating and resting, at around 2:30PM, they headed to the provincial governor's office to carry out their main purpose.
There, they pleaded their case with the American-appointed governor, Leandro de la Rama Locsin, who told them that it was the Governor General's order, so it must be obeyed.
The two left the governor's office, forlorn and dejected but still with hope, and headed to the office of lawyer Antonio Jayme who told them the same thing. Sr. Jayme was the Secretary of Justice of the short-lived Republica Cantonal de Negros and was the vice-governor of Sr. Melecio Severino from 1899 to 1901, and would become the provincial governor in 1904 during the Insular Government of the Americans.
After that, they also dropped by the office of Judge Estanilao Yusay but the judge was out.
But as they were heading back to the house of Sr. Tongoy's mother along Calle San Juan, they happened to see Sr. Melecio Severino, the former governor of Negros Occidental, by the window of the house of Don Basilizo Villanueva, who was a brother of Sr. Severino's wife Felicitas Villanueva.
Although at first they hesitated to come up to the house, it was Sr. Severino's insistence that they eventually did. Little did they know that seeing the former governor was meant to be. The two miserable Victoriahanons, who had no luck with their mission in Bacolod until that moment, did not have any idea that this meeting with Sr. Severino would not just make their day; it would make their town as well, literally!
After explaining to the former governor their problem, Sr. Severino then told them that he could go to Manila and personally plea their case with the Brigadier General James Francis Smith who was a good friend of his when the American was assigned in Negros Occidental as part of the American military government. But in order to do this, he would need 500 pesos to cover his expenses on this trip to Manila.
Brigadier James Francis Smith, a lawyer, was the military governor of Negros. He arrived in Bacolod on March 4, 1899, and spoke Spanish, which he must have learned growing up in San Francisco and while studying at Santa Clara College. During his time in the province, he made good friends with the local politicians and influential personalities. Later, from 1906 to 1909, he was appointed as the Governor-General of the Philippines.
Five hundred pesos was a huge amount then. Although Eliodoro Tongoy was initially worried as to where they would get the amount, it was the optimism and persistence of Esteban Jalandoni that persuaded Sr. Tongoy that this idea could somehow work. Señor Jalandoni asked the former governor to give them three days to come up with the amount.
On September 30, at 3AM, as suggested by Sr. Jalandoni the day before, the two left Bacolod on a calesa towed by two cows. They instructed their two boatsmen to leave with the boat earlier as they would not be needed anymore. Sr. Tongoy and Sr. Jalandoni would be taking the dirt roads back to Daan Banwa (Old Victorias) with the purpose of passing by several haciendas of their friends to ask for help in raising the 500 pesos.
1. Juan Ledesma (from the Silay area and who also served them breakfast at his hacienda): 50 pesos
2. Señor Alvarez (a Spanish gentleman): 25 pesos
3. Marcos Siana: 5 pesos
4. Felix Arceo : 100 pesos
5. Dionisio Luzuriaga and the Victoriahanons of Daan Banwa gave amounts ranging from 5 pesos to 20 pesos until the required amount of 500 pesos was reached.
The cause for which the amount was needed made it easy for them to convince everyone to help. Although it was a huge amount of money at that time, it was a small number compared to the townpeople's pride and honor that needed saving.
(A photo of one of Negros Island's
oldest towns, Ylog or Ilog)
(Photo credit: Vistas Filipinas por W. T. Bennett)
Immediately the next day, October 2, and with no time to lose, the Daan Banwa officials dispatched Sr. Bibiano Quiveces, a municipal staff, the next day to deliver the money to Sr. Severino in Bacolod, who then left for Manila the following Tuesday, October 7.
And after three weeks of anxious waiting, a telegram finally arrived at Daan Banwa with this message:
"PRESIDENTE MUNICIPAL VICTORIAS,CONSEGUIDO"
(To the Municipal President, Achieved).
(To the Municipal President, Achieved).
The Victoriahanons of 1902 were then able to breathe a sigh of relief! The Governor General had spared Victorias from being divided and turned into barrios of Saravia and Manapla.
If there's one lesson I could pick up from this remarkable piece of Victorias history of 1902, it is Señor Esteban Jalandoni's admirable character of not giving up on his adopted hometown, believing that there was always hope in beating any challenge it faced.🙏
A debt of gratitude is also owed to Señor Melecio Severino who interceded on behalf of the people of Daan Banwa, and to the haciendados, businessmen, and ordinary townspeople who contributed to the fund.🙏
As the young town no longer faced a threat of it being divided between Saravia and Manapla, the town leaders thought it was time to expand it. Back in 1901, Captain General Smith already approved its continued existence as a town even though its income was low.
To make the town bigger, they built roads around the areas surrounding Daan Banwa to give more accessibility to and from other areas, and for faster transport of people and goods. That time, they also wanted to move the município to decongest the town center and move it to an area that was more spacious.
And sometime in 1905, during the town leadership of Miguel Azcona (1905-1906) this plan suffered a setback. A certain Señor Leon Montinola took the town to court in order to get back his land that was supposedly taken over by the town to turn into roads and where people built houses. The land in question was the present-day Toreno Heights Subdivision, which is about 400 meters east of the center of Daan Banwa. This subdivision used to be Hacienda Toreno and now, we know it could have been an earlier site, as early as 1905, for an expanded Daan Banwa settlement.
I was able to identify the area by tracing any Montinola property around Daan Banwa. Two sources, one was an 85-year old, told me that Señor Vicente Montinola used to own the Hacienda Toreno.
So, I looked up the ancestry of Señor Vicente Montinola and I found out that his middle name was 'Benedicto'. And after researching further, I found out that Sr. Vincente Montinola was the son of Sr. Ruperto Montinola and Sra. Basa Benedicto, and he was a nephew of Sr. Leon Montinola. Ruperto and Leon were brothers. This confirms that the land in question in 1905 was indeed the area where the said subdivision now stands.
Going back to the Leon Montinola issue, the town council heard that the town would probably lose the case. And so, they would need a new land area to where people could transfer.That's where Señor Alejandro Acuña Yap-Quiña (hereinafter Señor Yap-Quiña) came in.
One day in 1906 when he was at the município and heard about the town predicament, Señor Yap-Quiña, who must have been of Chinese ancestry as he is described by the Jalandoni memoirs as "insic" (Chinese) and "extrangero" (foreigner), offered to donate a parcel of land to the town where the officials could build a new muncípio, an offer he made known during the session with the alcálde and the council on October 2, 1906, a Tuesday (the date which the Jalandoni memoirs stated as "Jueves" - an error?).
During the meeting, they discussed that the people who built homes on the land of the heirs of Don Teodoro Benedicto that had the size of "duha ca pedazo nga duta" (is this equivalent to two kampos?) might have to uproot and relocate their homes or pay rent to these heirs.
Interestingly, during the October 2, 1906 session, the Jalandoni memoirs mentioned that after Señor Yap-Quiña expressed his desire to donate, a council member, Señor Cipriano Jimenez, invited Señor Yap-Quiña to have a private conversation with him at the município's balcony for two hours. Two hours! Is Señor Jalandoni trying to tell us something? Although this detail seems insignificant, it got me thinking. What was it they discussed that it took them that long? Did they talk about how to go about the donation? Hmm.😕 Interesting, indeed.
On October 15, 1906, Senor Yap-Quiña formalized his donation to the town saying, "... vengo por la presente a poner a disposicion del municipio un terreno de veinte hectareas que podriá escoger en la hacienda Guinpanaan de mi propiedad." (Page 12 of the Jalandoni memoirs).
Translation: "I come here to make available to the muncipality a land of 20 hectares that I can choose within my property of Hacienda Guinpanaan".
This is where I got confused. If Señor Yap-Quiña donated 20 hectares of his hacienda in Guinapaan, that area, in Barangay 5 of Victorias, is about a kilometer from the current city center, situated to the north towards the direction of Manapla and 1.5 kilometers away from Magnanud River.
If this was the case, I was thinking Guinpanaan would only be part of the donation. It would only be the site for those houses to be removed from the land of Leon Montinola because, on October 30, 1906, another land was presented to the council as a donation.
On that day, October 30, 1906, an ocular inspection attended by the council members was held and the exact location of the donated 'parcel of land' was pinpointed by a certain Juan Canlas who represented Señor Yap-Quiña in his absence that day.
The exact location of the donated parcel of land described to us by Señor Esteban Jalandoni in his memoirs is as follows:
"sa bagatnan subá sang Magnanud, sa Sidlangan duta ni Sr. Alejandro Acuña Yap-Quiña sa Catundan duta man sang amo nga Quiña cag sa Amihan sapa." (Page 13 of the Jalandoni memoirs)
Translation: To the south, Magnanud River
To the west, land owned by Sr. Yap-Quiña
To the east, land owned by Sr. Yap-Quiña
To the north, a swamp.
Other pages also gave me clues that the land was just next to the Magnanud River:
(Page 15 of the Jalandoni memoirs describes
the donated land as "sa Magnanud sa dutá
nga guin hatag ni Sr. Quiña nga sa caron
guin patindugan sing casa-municipal")
(Page 19 of the Jalandoni memoirs describes the
new município as "casa-municipal de Magnanud")
(Page 20 of the Jalandoni memoirs describes the new município as "ang casa-municipal de Magnanud")
I then discovered that the land where the Yap-Quina Subdivision (in Brgy. 3) currently stands used to be a wetland and was a humáyan or rice plantation. This must have been the sapâ (brook, brooklet, swamp, or small body of water) described in the Jalandoni memoirs. There was no other possible area for a swamp in the city that sits next to the northern banks of the Magnanud River, or near Embarcadero, and not too far from Daan Banwa.
So, is the "parcel of land" donated by Sr. Yap-Quiña the same land where the present-day city hall now stands?
If it's not, where can we find it today?
If it's not, where can we find it today?
Read on.😊
Chapter 8. Where can we find today the "parcel of land" that Señor Alejandro Acuña donated in 1906?
Using the description of the location written in the Jalandoni memoirs which I quoted in Chapter 7, I studied the topography of the possible sites in Victorias City that are adjacent to Magnanud River; I visited the neighborhood Embarcadero in Barangay 1 (embarcadero is a Spanish word that means a pier or wharf); and I also visited the low-lying areas around Brgy. 1 and Brgy. 3 where an old swamp was located.
Using the description of the location written in the Jalandoni memoirs which I quoted in Chapter 7, I studied the topography of the possible sites in Victorias City that are adjacent to Magnanud River; I visited the neighborhood Embarcadero in Barangay 1 (embarcadero is a Spanish word that means a pier or wharf); and I also visited the low-lying areas around Brgy. 1 and Brgy. 3 where an old swamp was located.
I then mapped out my discoveries and located on Google Earth the location of the donated land.
(Using a Google Earth screenshot and the
description of the location as per the Jalandoni memoirs, I marked in blue shade the area
where the 'parcel of land' donated by
Señor Yap-Quiña in 1906 was located. The area is now occupied by private homes and businesses.
I indicated the city's important landmarks in the screenshot for reference.)
There was never a brook, a brooklet, a wetland, nor a swamp near the present-day city hall and public plaza area because this place has the highest elevation in the city center. There is no body of water in the city center and swamps are only located in low-lying areas where water could settle. Based on that physical impossibility, the city center could never be the location of the donated land.
So, based on the words of Señor Esteban Jalandoni and on the topography or the land features of Victorias, the land where the current city hall and the public plaza stand is not the land donated by Señor Yap-Quiña.
So what about the two-hour conversation between Sr. Cipriano Jimenez and Sr. Yap-Quiña? Could it be that they discussed the details of the donation, which actually consisted of a parcel of land next to Magnanud River and letting those uprooted houses from Leon Montinola's land transfer to Hda. Guinpanaan? And did Sr. Yap-Quiña really transfer the ownership of those 20 hectares in Guinpanaan and that parcel of the land next to Magnanud River?
As of this writing, no signed deed of sale or deed of donation has ever been presented to the public to confirm the donation's exact location and land size. I would have been very much interested to see it as concrete evidence supporting the putting up of a monument in the Victorias public plaza in honor of Señor Yap-Quiña because this was done with taxpayers' money.
I would also be interested, for true history's sake, to read the authentic original certificate of title (OCT) or even the transfer certificate of title (TCT) of the said 'parcel of land'. Because if there was, we can study the documents and trace the location indicated thereon. No one even knows the exact size of the donated land, too.
As of this writing, no signed deed of sale or deed of donation has ever been presented to the public to confirm the donation's exact location and land size. I would have been very much interested to see it as concrete evidence supporting the putting up of a monument in the Victorias public plaza in honor of Señor Yap-Quiña because this was done with taxpayers' money.
Interestingly enough, when I asked the National Historical Commission of the Philippines (NHCP) about Alejandro Acuña Yap-Quiña and his monument at the Victorias public plaza, they told me that "NHCP does not have the specific records about him and/or his monument in Victorias City, Negros Occidental."
reply to my inquiry)
The NHCP also sent me their guidelines on putting up monuments in the Philippines. Guideline No. 12-b looks interesting.
(The NHCP's Guideline No. 12-b prohibits
monuments endorsed by the honoree's
monuments endorsed by the honoree's
relatives without public acceptance and
should be sanctioned by a national
government agency.😱
But the more important questions are: Were the homes from Leon Montinola's land really relocated to Hda. Guinpanaan? And if so, were the townspeople given the land or simply the right to use it? If Sr. Yap-Quiña donated those 20 hectares to the town, where in Hda. Guinpanaan can we see those 20 hectares and does the City of Victorias own it now?😕
4. The 1953 compilation describes the donation as "a parcel of land" because in 1906, the town only needed a size that was good enough to fit an equivalent of a present-day barangay hall. They did not plan to build a huge palatial município because the town had no money, had a small populace, and their plan was just to 'stretch' the town to the other side of Magnanud River in a new location 700 meters east of Daan Banwa because their original plan of building it on the area, now known as Toreno Heights Subdivision, was contested by Señor Leon Montinola and the heirs of Don Teodoro Benedicto.
Plus, if the donation was indeed a huge tract of land, the 1953 compilation would have described it as 'hacienda', and not just "a parcel of land".
8. Now that we know Señor Yap-Quiña's donated parcel of land disappeared and no longer city property, why were a local public elementary school and a gym (which was built during the mayorship of Jesus Fermin in the 1970s) named after him?
9. For the past three years, I have seen these pamphlet and poster about the declared Don Alejandro Acuña Yap-Quiña Day in Victorias City. Being a writer, I immediately noticed the change in the slogan: from "where Victorias stands today" (2017) to "from which Victorias City has sprouted to what is it today"(2019).
I can prove both slogans wrong.😃
One, the "land where Victorias stands today" donated in 1906 was actually just a "parcel of land" in the Embarcadero area and is nowhere to be found. And "land where Victorias stands today" means the WHOLE city. Do you think he really donated 133.9 million square meters?
A reason I can think of is that the donated land was sold when the town officials decided to look for higher grounds where the município could transfer to after the 1922 flood (story in Chapter 12) that must have inundated the old município. If it was eventually sold, the proceeds must have been used to help build the new município.
Two, "from which Victorias City has sprouted..." should not refer to the current city center because Victorias City sprouted from Daan Banwa and nowhere else. That's where everything began even before the 1880s.
Chapter 9: Leon Montinola changes his mind and runs for election (March 1907)
After learning that Sr. Yap-Quiña offered his land at Hda. Guinpanaan for the relocation of homes, Sr. Leon Montinola changed his mind about uprooting the houses from his land or charging them rental fee if they remained. He said that people who asked his permission could build their houses on his land and even cultivate some plants without paying rent until they die. He even bashed the town officials as 'childish' for having the idea of moving the people to the other side of Magnanud River.
And in March 1907, Sr. Leon Montinola announced his candidacy to run as alcálde. The townspeople were worried because they could not think of any other strong candidate to run against him other than Sr. Ricardo Gonzaga, whom they visited twice to convince to run. He turned them down, telling them he was busy with his hacienda operations.
Relentless on their efforts to not letting the town fall into the hands of Sr. Leon Montinola, they sent a letter dated June 28, 1907, to Sr. Gonzaga that contained, other than flattery and some flowery words, their expressed confidence in him to lead the town and the danger it would face if Sr. Leon Montinola would win. The letter was hand-delivered by Sr. Ysabelo Infante. He probably rode a horse going to Sr. Gonzaga's Hacienda Ilaya.
Sr. Gonzaga took his time to decide and with a letter to the alcálde dated July 30, 1907, Sr. Ricardo Gonzaga accepted the candidacy to run in the next elections. He won and the townspeople rejoiced.
But going back to Sr. Leon Montinola's offer for the people to build homes on his land, was it considered vote-buying considering he was running for mayor? Paging, Comelec! 😜
And do you also wonder whether those houses that Sr. Leon Montinola threatened to be uprooted from his hacienda were actually relocated since he changed his mind and they all stayed?
Or were there houses that actually relocated to Hacienda Guinpanaan where Sr. Yap-Quiña offered "veinte hectareas"? If there were, were these families given titles to the land or were merely given the right to use it?😕
See? As I have said, there are more hidden stories beneath those written words.😒
should be sanctioned by a national
government agency.😱
Read this online article and decide. Further, the NHCP guidelines require me to ask: was this monument donated by private individuals and not paid for by taxpayers' money? And what national government agency sanctioned the putting up of such monument?
As of this writing, the controversial monument of Alejandro Acuña Yap-Quiña standing at the Victorias public plaza is well lighted at night, has manicured lawns surrounding it, and is bigger than those of Jose Rizal and Andres Bonifacio. But this monument is not even authorized by any city ordinance in 2014.
(Señor Yap-Quina's monument in
Victorias public plaza)
(Andres Bonifacio's monument)
(Jose Rizal's monument)
And as I am writing about the history regarding donation, more questions and arguments came to mind:
1. If Señor Yap-Quiña, with all due respect to him, in 1906 really meant to donate land without expecting recognition and praises, why put up an expensive monument for him?😕
2. If you noticed in the description of the location of the donated land, it was sandwiched by two of Señor Yap-Quiña's properties. Again, with all due respect to him, I wonder if he had a business agenda when he donated his land? Was this part of his two-hour conversation with Sr. Jimenez on October 2, 1906?
Did he donate 'a parcel of land' just so it would become a town center and his adjacent properties would rise in value? He was a Chinese businessman after all. Or perhaps, he eventually put up stores on both adjacent vacant lots as he later had a captive market right in front because the casa-municipal was always where people gathered everyday. Was this 'philantrophic deed' a mere business strategy to transfer the muncípio in the middle of his property? 😕
If you're asking why were those uprooted homes not relocated here next to the Magnanud River? Simple. The land surrounding the new casa-municipal would eventually be prime lots. Why would you give those away?
Or was Señor Yap-Quiña used by the town council to spite Señor Leon Montinola by asking the former, not only for the land where the houses would be relocated, but also for a 'parcel of land' where the município could be transferred to?😕
As I said, there are more stories hidden beneath those written words.😀
3. The Jalandoni memoirs mentioned of "veinte hectareas". If at that time, "veinte hectareas" were equivalent to today's measurement of 20 hectares, that means they represented 200,000 square meters as one hectare is equivalent to 10,000 square meters. the City of Victorias has a land area of 133,900,000 square meters. Those "veinte hectareas" represented only 00.149% of the City's total land area, and not even 1%. If you'd argue that it's the thought that counts, well I'd say computation counts as well because I heard other landed Victoriahanons also donated land in the past at even bigger sizes, and yet no monument was made to their names. Just like genuine, sincere philanthropists, they probably just wanted to remain quiet. 😏
Did he donate 'a parcel of land' just so it would become a town center and his adjacent properties would rise in value? He was a Chinese businessman after all. Or perhaps, he eventually put up stores on both adjacent vacant lots as he later had a captive market right in front because the casa-municipal was always where people gathered everyday. Was this 'philantrophic deed' a mere business strategy to transfer the muncípio in the middle of his property? 😕
If you're asking why were those uprooted homes not relocated here next to the Magnanud River? Simple. The land surrounding the new casa-municipal would eventually be prime lots. Why would you give those away?
Or was Señor Yap-Quiña used by the town council to spite Señor Leon Montinola by asking the former, not only for the land where the houses would be relocated, but also for a 'parcel of land' where the município could be transferred to?😕
As I said, there are more stories hidden beneath those written words.😀
3. The Jalandoni memoirs mentioned of "veinte hectareas". If at that time, "veinte hectareas" were equivalent to today's measurement of 20 hectares, that means they represented 200,000 square meters as one hectare is equivalent to 10,000 square meters. the City of Victorias has a land area of 133,900,000 square meters. Those "veinte hectareas" represented only 00.149% of the City's total land area, and not even 1%. If you'd argue that it's the thought that counts, well I'd say computation counts as well because I heard other landed Victoriahanons also donated land in the past at even bigger sizes, and yet no monument was made to their names. Just like genuine, sincere philanthropists, they probably just wanted to remain quiet. 😏
But the more important questions are: Were the homes from Leon Montinola's land really relocated to Hda. Guinpanaan? And if so, were the townspeople given the land or simply the right to use it? If Sr. Yap-Quiña donated those 20 hectares to the town, where in Hda. Guinpanaan can we see those 20 hectares and does the City of Victorias own it now?😕
4. The 1953 compilation describes the donation as "a parcel of land" because in 1906, the town only needed a size that was good enough to fit an equivalent of a present-day barangay hall. They did not plan to build a huge palatial município because the town had no money, had a small populace, and their plan was just to 'stretch' the town to the other side of Magnanud River in a new location 700 meters east of Daan Banwa because their original plan of building it on the area, now known as Toreno Heights Subdivision, was contested by Señor Leon Montinola and the heirs of Don Teodoro Benedicto.
Plus, if the donation was indeed a huge tract of land, the 1953 compilation would have described it as 'hacienda', and not just "a parcel of land".
5. Although the Jalandoni memoirs never mentioned what Señor Yap-Quiña wanted in return for his donation, it's the unwritten things that raise questions.
The past alcáldes of Victorias like Miraflores, Gonzaga, Ascalon, De Leon, Ardosa, Casañares, Arnaez, Jover, Jalandoni, Tongoy, and Montinola have streets named after them. There's also a Yap-Quiña St. named after Señor Yap-Quiña. So, why can't the proponents of this monument be satisfied with a street name, alongside other alcáldes?
If the donation was such a big deal, why didn't the past mayors put up this monument as early as the 1950s? 1960s? 1970s? 1980s? 1990s? Or even in the early 2000s?
Is the late Señor Yap-Quiña being exploited now by the living for their own political propaganda, one that is not even sanctioned by any national government agency?😕
The past alcáldes of Victorias like Miraflores, Gonzaga, Ascalon, De Leon, Ardosa, Casañares, Arnaez, Jover, Jalandoni, Tongoy, and Montinola have streets named after them. There's also a Yap-Quiña St. named after Señor Yap-Quiña. So, why can't the proponents of this monument be satisfied with a street name, alongside other alcáldes?
If the donation was such a big deal, why didn't the past mayors put up this monument as early as the 1950s? 1960s? 1970s? 1980s? 1990s? Or even in the early 2000s?
Is the late Señor Yap-Quiña being exploited now by the living for their own political propaganda, one that is not even sanctioned by any national government agency?😕
6. The NHCP's Guideline No. 12-b prohibits putting up monuments by the relatives of the honoree. If you read this online article, you may have an idea about the relative who put up this monument.
As the citizens and taxpayers of Victorias paid for this expensive monument, the cost of which was not even consulted and justified, is that a direct violation of the NHCP guideline?😕
As the citizens and taxpayers of Victorias paid for this expensive monument, the cost of which was not even consulted and justified, is that a direct violation of the NHCP guideline?😕
7. Though donating the land was an admirable deed, for me, Señor Yap-Quiña's place in the history of Victorias is trumped by the deeds of Señor Esteban Jalandoni and the legendary character of Capitana Tutang. Where's the tribute to the more deserving Señor Esteban Jalandoni?
8. Now that we know Señor Yap-Quiña's donated parcel of land disappeared and no longer city property, why were a local public elementary school and a gym (which was built during the mayorship of Jesus Fermin in the 1970s) named after him?
9. For the past three years, I have seen these pamphlet and poster about the declared Don Alejandro Acuña Yap-Quiña Day in Victorias City. Being a writer, I immediately noticed the change in the slogan: from "where Victorias stands today" (2017) to "from which Victorias City has sprouted to what is it today"(2019).
I can prove both slogans wrong.😃
One, the "land where Victorias stands today" donated in 1906 was actually just a "parcel of land" in the Embarcadero area and is nowhere to be found. And "land where Victorias stands today" means the WHOLE city. Do you think he really donated 133.9 million square meters?
A reason I can think of is that the donated land was sold when the town officials decided to look for higher grounds where the município could transfer to after the 1922 flood (story in Chapter 12) that must have inundated the old município. If it was eventually sold, the proceeds must have been used to help build the new município.
(2017 poster)
(current 2019 poster)
10. Another NHCP guideline was violated. Since there are now three (3) monuments in the public plaza, according to NHCP, the 'local hero' should be placed in the lobby of the building around the site, in this case, our city hall, while the more important heroes, Jose Rizal and Andres Bonifacio, should remain next to the flag pole.
Plus, the local hero should only be represented by a bust and not by a life-size monument.
And while we're at it, I have a theory about the land where the current city hall and public plaza now stand.
Using the same logic about donating one's land for purposes of increasing the value of one's adjacent property, or for the convenience and prestige of living at the town center, I think the old landed families who owned land around the current city center donated a part of their property to become the national highway, public plaza, and município. Again, that's just a theory as I don't have the resources to excavate the past deeper. 😂
Two landed owners with properties in front of the public plaza were Don Porfirio V. Ascalon (1901-1971), who, I was told, donated the early school buildings of Victorias North Elementary School, and used to own almost the whole block where the Mormon church now stands, and Don Felix L. Montinola owned the block to Don Porfirio's right. We can probably figure this out if somebody manages to find out the other original owners of those properties around the area.😮
Again, it was an admirable act for Señor Yap-Quiña to donate "a parcel of land" (that eventually disappeared) but putting up a monument on the public plaza using the public funds without proper documentation, research, and moral justification was just an expensive mistake. 😭
Let's take this one step further.
Could it be that the 1906 "parcel of land" still exists and is intact as one property in or near the Embarcadero area?
I have asked around and inspected the area, and I think I know what stands on it now. But then again, it's just a theory.😕
Again, it was an admirable act for Señor Yap-Quiña to donate "a parcel of land" (that eventually disappeared) but putting up a monument on the public plaza using the public funds without proper documentation, research, and moral justification was just an expensive mistake. 😭
Let's take this one step further.
Could it be that the 1906 "parcel of land" still exists and is intact as one property in or near the Embarcadero area?
I have asked around and inspected the area, and I think I know what stands on it now. But then again, it's just a theory.😕
Chapter 9: Leon Montinola changes his mind and runs for election (March 1907)
After learning that Sr. Yap-Quiña offered his land at Hda. Guinpanaan for the relocation of homes, Sr. Leon Montinola changed his mind about uprooting the houses from his land or charging them rental fee if they remained. He said that people who asked his permission could build their houses on his land and even cultivate some plants without paying rent until they die. He even bashed the town officials as 'childish' for having the idea of moving the people to the other side of Magnanud River.
And in March 1907, Sr. Leon Montinola announced his candidacy to run as alcálde. The townspeople were worried because they could not think of any other strong candidate to run against him other than Sr. Ricardo Gonzaga, whom they visited twice to convince to run. He turned them down, telling them he was busy with his hacienda operations.
Relentless on their efforts to not letting the town fall into the hands of Sr. Leon Montinola, they sent a letter dated June 28, 1907, to Sr. Gonzaga that contained, other than flattery and some flowery words, their expressed confidence in him to lead the town and the danger it would face if Sr. Leon Montinola would win. The letter was hand-delivered by Sr. Ysabelo Infante. He probably rode a horse going to Sr. Gonzaga's Hacienda Ilaya.
Sr. Gonzaga took his time to decide and with a letter to the alcálde dated July 30, 1907, Sr. Ricardo Gonzaga accepted the candidacy to run in the next elections. He won and the townspeople rejoiced.
But going back to Sr. Leon Montinola's offer for the people to build homes on his land, was it considered vote-buying considering he was running for mayor? Paging, Comelec! 😜
And do you also wonder whether those houses that Sr. Leon Montinola threatened to be uprooted from his hacienda were actually relocated since he changed his mind and they all stayed?
Or were there houses that actually relocated to Hacienda Guinpanaan where Sr. Yap-Quiña offered "veinte hectareas"? If there were, were these families given titles to the land or were merely given the right to use it?😕
See? As I have said, there are more hidden stories beneath those written words.😒
(A typical Filipino home in the village during the early 20th century: roof made of nipa leaves, floor made of bamboo slats and awning windows; underneath the house is an enclosed area to keep livestock like chicken and pigs); and surroundings planted with bananas and other fruit-bearing trees).
Photo credit: University of Michigan, Special Collections Archives - John Tewell)
Chapter 10. The legend of Guinpanâ-an
Since the first mention of Hacienda Guinpanâ-an in the Jalandoni memoirs, I was curious as to where this place was and why it was called 'guinpana-an'.
Fortunately for us, a story written by Mr. Serafin Lazalita and Miss Gilda Villegas in the 1953 compilation features Guinapanâ-an's legend as to how it got its name.
According to Mr. Lazalita and Miss Villegas, in the area called Guinpanâ-an, there existed a brook whose course included a passage next to the Victorias Public Cemetery.
And upon checking with Google Maps, I found out that this brook still exists today and is on the left side (southern side) of the Victorias Public Cemetery. The public cemetery is on your left side on the northern end of Victorias that you pass on your way to Manapla.
The brook has its source at the east, traversing an area that, I was told, is Hacienda Guinpanâ-an. When it reaches the national highway, there's a small bridge built over it. I tried to trace the length of the brook, and if this one flows into the sea, it's about 4 kilometers from its source.
And upon checking with Google Maps, I found out that this brook still exists today and is on the left side (southern side) of the Victorias Public Cemetery. The public cemetery is on your left side on the northern end of Victorias that you pass on your way to Manapla.
The brook has its source at the east, traversing an area that, I was told, is Hacienda Guinpanâ-an. When it reaches the national highway, there's a small bridge built over it. I tried to trace the length of the brook, and if this one flows into the sea, it's about 4 kilometers from its source.
The story starts with a family of aetas or ati that was out roaming the forest on a nice day, walking barefoot under the sun and tracing the brook with the younger ones playing along as they went.
In the olden times, Victorias was a forest full of trees and lush greenery, rich with wildlife of wild boars, bears, rats, and fowls just running around the woodlands where the natives simply had to hunt or catch one for their meal of the day.
In the olden times, Victorias was a forest full of trees and lush greenery, rich with wildlife of wild boars, bears, rats, and fowls just running around the woodlands where the natives simply had to hunt or catch one for their meal of the day.
Eagles, parrots, maya, kingfishers, and other avian creatures were freely flying around from the mountains near and around the area what is now Gawahon and down the plains of northern Negros.
Monkeys were just swinging from one tall tree to another while big snakes slithered around the bushes in hunt for their prey.
Monkeys were just swinging from one tall tree to another while big snakes slithered around the bushes in hunt for their prey.
The Magnanud and Malihao rivers were still unpolluted, alive and full of different kinds of fresh-water fish, turtles, frogs, snakes, and other marine animals that were endemic to Negros island, an island of volcanic origin as proven by the existence of three volcanoes in the island: Silay, Mandalagan and Kanla-on.
And on that day, when the family was passing that area what is now called Guinapanâ-an and picking wild berries and other edible fruits along the brook, they heard sounds from farther down the path. The father, seeing a creature from afar, thought he saw a wild bear stooping down and digging for some roots on the ground.
Believing the bear was both food and threat to his family, he prepared and raised his bow and arrow to shoot it. Since the aetas used these tools everyday, they were expert huntsmen. They could accurately hit a target even while running using these tools made from the sturdy wood of anahaw.
With his bow now stretched, he waited for the perfect moment, considering the wind direction and the movement of his target. And then, he let go of his sharp arrow.
And with one shot, his arrow hit the bear, pierced its back with its arrowhead coming out on its chest. 😱
With his bow now stretched, he waited for the perfect moment, considering the wind direction and the movement of his target. And then, he let go of his sharp arrow.
And with one shot, his arrow hit the bear, pierced its back with its arrowhead coming out on its chest. 😱
The hunter thought he had a prize.
But as the family came closer to the bear, they realized it was not an animal; it was another aeta!
Guinpanâ ang utod nga ati! A brother aeta was shot with an arrow! 😢
His wound was fatal as the arrow pierced his hapless target who now lie bleeding on the brook with the family gathering around him and expressing sorrow with loud cries with their wailing mixing with the calming sounds of the Negros breezes, the rustling of the leaves, and the music of the birds in the air.
Instead of being another bountiful day along the brook and hunting for food, it was a day of tragedy! A fellow ati was killed by a brother's own arrow. 😢
This is how Guinpanâ-an got its name. From panâ, meaning 'arrow'. A place named after a tragedy.
And as the elders have said, if one follows the brook's path, you will still hear the cries of the aetas that day as they mourned the tragic death of one native whose blood was spilled on that brook and had flowed with the waters that gave life to the earliest inhabitants of our land, but has since become one with the legend that is called Guinpanâ-an.
This is how Guinpanâ-an got its name. From panâ, meaning 'arrow'. A place named after a tragedy.
And as the elders have said, if one follows the brook's path, you will still hear the cries of the aetas that day as they mourned the tragic death of one native whose blood was spilled on that brook and had flowed with the waters that gave life to the earliest inhabitants of our land, but has since become one with the legend that is called Guinpanâ-an.
(A member of the native Aeta tribe in Negros island posing with his tools for survival: a bow and arrow. The ati tribes did not use these to hurt other people but only to hunt for food. They were called 'Negritos' by the Spanish colonizers because they were black- skinned and short. 'Negro' is the Spanish word for black.)
Photo credit: The Inhabitants of the Philippines (1900) by Frederic H. Sawyer
Chapter 11. Victoriahanons stage two plays to raise funds for the casa-municipal
After the donated land was turned over, that area next to the land became busier as this was to become the new town center because this would be the site of the new casa-municipal. On that exact spot on the banks of the Magnanud River where people got on and off their boats (for traveling to and from Daan Banwa and other areas) became a dulungká-an or a wharf. It was then called Embarcadero, the Spanish word for a quay or wharf, and is now part of the current city's Barangay 1. The wharf is no longer around but the area is still called Embarcadero as the name stuck.
And next to the donated land, the officials created new small roads, naming them Calle Real (meaning royal street, usually as tribute to the Spanish monarchy during the Spanish period), Buen Retiro, Lucero, Yap-Quiña (he was already recognized with a street name as early as 1907), Catinal, Comercio, Aurora, Progreso, Burgos, and Union.
To celebrate the completion of the roads, which were enough for a horse or a cart to pass (this was 1907) and to give some appreciation to the Victoriahanons who cleared the talahib and other shrubbery, and maybe some trees, to make dirt roads and importantly, who worked for free, Sr. Felix Arceo brought two jars of wine and cooked pork to eat with the workers.
When the town officials later got together, they were able to determine that they needed an initial budget of 1,500 pesos for the new "casa-municipal de Magnanud". In March 1907, the construction for the município was halted because the money budgeted for the construction of the new município ran out.
So, they asked for a loan from the provincial treasurer, an American named Mr. Pedro A. Casanave, who rejected their application for a loan, saying that Victorias wouldn't be able to repay considering the town's income didn't even reach 5,000 pesos the preceding year.
At this point, the community spirit of Victoriahanons of old surfaced once more. Everyone worked to come up with ideas on how to raise money, and one idea was to present stage plays for two nights, May 22 and 23 that year (Wednesday and Thursday), that people could pay to watch.
The first play was titled Flor de una día, a play in three acts written in 1851 by Francisco Camprodón, a Spanish playwright. The stage performers and their characters were: Paz Gonzaga (Lola), Pilar Infante (Elena), Eduardo Servando (Diego), Vito Alba (Padre José), Eugenio Torres (Carlos), Fructuosa Figueroa (monja).
The income from ticket sales was 200 pesos but after deducting the expenses for props and costumes, what was left was 80 pesos.
The play staged on the second night was titled De Magallanes a Polavieja, written by a local playwright Señor Manuel Fernandez Yanson, and the performers were: Paz Gonzaga (Pinay), Petronila Cuison (Sayong), Eugenio Torres (Perico), Vito Alba (Fray Quintin), Santiago Cuiveces (CapitanTiago), and Esteban Jalandoni (Capitan de guardia civil). Both plays were directed by a 43-year-old Felix Montinola.
If you noticed the name of the lead actress of both plays was Señorita Paz Gonzaga. The town officials thought that, since the plays were in Spanish, they needed someone fluent and one name came up, Señorita Paz Gonzaga. She just finished college that time and was the daughter of Señor Ricardo Gonzaga, an alcálde. Plus, she probably had a stage presence that could definitely sell a lot of tickets.
Having funds available to finish the construction, the town council, on May 30, 1907, ordered Señor Pascual Hinojales, the lead carpenter, to continue his work on the new município.
And on October 18, 1907, Sr. Pascual Hinojales informed the council that the casa-municipal just needed walls for it to be completed. Since they had no more funds, the alcálde, Sr. Policarpo Ascalon, offered to donate 4,000 nipa thatchings from his hacienda that would serve as the walls for the whole structure.
Having solved the remaining problem on the completion of the casa-municipál, the council then asked permission from the provincial governor, Sr. Manuel Lopez, a native of Silay, to relocate the municipio on October 31, 1907, a Thursday.
On that day, October 31, 1907, when documents had been moved to the município by the Magnanud River, town officials gathered after lunch at the small plaza covered with an improvised tólda using the sail of a boat. Led by the town head, Sr. Policarpo Ascalon, and his vice-mayor, Sr. Segundo de Leon, and council members, Eduardo Cuaycong, Cipriano Jimenes, Mariano Servando, Agaton Tongoy, Ysabelo Infante, Gervacio Miraflores, and Gervasio Ascalon, the inauguration was traditional and yet austere.
Although there were other notable names in attendance, it's safe to say that Sr. Leon Montinola was not invited.😀
Speeches in Spanish were then delivered by Señoritas Consolacion Infante, Pilar Infante, and Antonina Torres, the sister of the town treasurer, by the town clerk, Sr. Panfilo Doromal, and by the town secretary, Sr. Esteban Jalandoni.
Photo credit: University of Southern California Libraries, Maryknoll Mission Archives, John Tewell
Chapter 12. The Malihao River flood (1907) and Magnanud River flood (1922)
On January 9, 1907, dark skies covered the land and rains continued for days. But on January 11, at around 2 in the morning, Daan Banwa was awakened by flash floods from Malihao River that overflowed, causing the townspeople to panic with screams of "Ta-bang!" heard every where.
People had to climb to the roof with waters as high as their necks near the site of the school and flowing in strong currents. When the waters subsided before noon, homes and businesses suffered losses from sacks of muscovádo sugar, rice grains and other merchandise, to livestock like chicken, pigs, and even carabaos, cows and horses. Six people were reported to have been swept away along with a few houses.
A few days after the huge flood, on January 14, news reached Daan Banwa about an old woman who was swept all the way to Estancia in Ilolo and miraculously survived by just clinging on a wooden table. She was from Saravia and their small house sat by the bank of Malogo River.
But in 1922, when Sr. Vicente Ardoza was the town mayor, Magnanud River overflowed its banks and caused more than just losses to properties, goods, and livestock.
(Traveling on a carabao cart 1900s with women in dresses seated while men guided the carabao)
Photo credit: Brochure of 1904 Philippine Exposition from the Johnathan Best and John Silva Collection)
When I read about the 1922 flood, I remember the most recent one. I was told that, in October 1995, Magnanud River flooded the areas of Embarcadero area and even spilled to as far as the Bat-us area of Barangay 3. Families were evacuated, the murky waters reached the roof of small homes, the coffins of the funeral parlor nearby were swept away floating like a horror-movie apparition, and everything you left behind got wet.
If that huge flood happened in 1995, this type of deluge must have happened in that area before and that flood in 1922 must have been the same type or even worse.
And we should all remember, if this happened before, it can happen again. Mother Nature does not exactly broadcast her intentions before striking.😱
So, the question now is: Did the flood of 1922 cause the town officials to think of moving the casa-municipal by the Magnanud River to a new site, one that has a higher elevation?😕
So, the question now is: Did the flood of 1922 cause the town officials to think of moving the casa-municipal by the Magnanud River to a new site, one that has a higher elevation?😕
Remember those street names that were created in 1906 (Chapter 11) when the officials decided to move the town across the Magnanud River?
(This is a typical dirt street in the 1900s where houses were made of nipa thatchings and bamboos while bananas, coconuts, and fruit-bearing trees were either at the back or by the side of the huts)
(Photo credit: George W. Griffith & Griffith)
I tried to locate the new names of those old streets and using a screenshot of Google Maps, here's what I found:
(Old street names written in red.
The present-day Casañares St. was Calle de Embarcadero, named so because
it was the closest street to the wharf.
Up to this day, that area is still called Embarcadero, the Spanish word for 'wharf'.)
it was the closest street to the wharf.
Up to this day, that area is still called Embarcadero, the Spanish word for 'wharf'.)
Upon locating those old street names in the present-day map, one thing was obvious: the earliest streets were close to the river, which just shows that in the early days when land transport was limited to riding carabaos, horses, or carts pulled by these animals, having a house next to a river gave one another convenient, accessible transport - boats.
In those times, going to the province's capital, Bacolod, it was more convenient and faster by taking a boat instead of riding a horse as the paths were still unpaved and full of obstructions such as big trees and swamps, and challenges presented by rivers with weak bridges, wandering wild animals, and the absence of shelters and settlements along the way in case of downpours or medical emergencies.
Even in ancient times, great civilizations were founded next to a river, although we would have hoped that the Magnanud River was the Nile and that we'd also have pharaohs and pyramids in Victorias.
Instead, we ended up having fake pharaohs and fake pyramids.😀
I blame the river.😂
Chapter 14. Victorias Milling Company and the migration of Ilonggos to Victorias (1919)
The opening of the Victorias Milling Company in 1919 brought in fast-paced development, huge income, and migration to Victorias.
Although migration from Panay Island to the less inhabited Negros Island continued gradually over the centuries, the 19th and early 20th centuries saw the huge movement from Panay Island, most of them sacádas and other jobseekers at haciendas and sugar centrals.
Victorias Milling Company (VMC), a sugar central founded by Don Miguel J. Ossorio on May 7, 1919, was the biggest reason why many Ilonggos from across the Iloilo Strait eventually called Daan Banwa and later, Victorias town, their home.
One of those Ilonggos was my grandfather, Nemesio Balagosa Delgado (1897-1981), who was a native of Banate, Iloilo, and who became a teacher in Daan Banwa. He was probably fresh off the boat, so to speak, when he fell in love with a Chinese mestiza named Rosario Dy Guaso y Gallego (1901-1951) and later married her in 1923. Unfortunately for the young Rosario, she was disowned by her family when she married him. I wonder if her family could have done what they did to her had they learned that Nemesio's lineage included General Martin Teófilo Delgado who led the revolution against Spain in 1898 in the Iloilo Province. The young Nemesio used to tag along General Teófilo when he was just a kid, according to a late aunt.
Recently, I met an 83-year old Victoriahanon, Mr. Joshue P. Panes, who is a native of the VMC community and whose chicken relleno was popular recipe, especially for the regular patrons of the Victorias Golf and Country Club where he used to work. Mr. Panes, a former a barangay captain at Canetown Subdivision, told me that his family and relatives were from Passi and from its surrounding towns in the Iloilo Province, who all came to work at VMC during the mid-20th century. Mr. Panes also knows most of the old families in VMC who migrated from Illoilo.
The company suffered huge losses in terms of machinery, equipment and structures during World War II but were all rehabilitated after the war.
If my grandfather were still alive and standing at the shores of his beloved hometown in Banate, looking east on a clear day, he would be able to see the smoke from the VMC sugar central from across the sea.😢
Did your own ancestors also come from Iloilo, or from other towns of Negros?😃
Chapter 15. Elections of 1928
Although the election in 1907 between Sr. Ricardo Gonzaga and Sr. Leon Montinola was an interesting story, another election, held on June 5, 1928, was more like a nail-biter.
During those elections, Sr. Vicente Ditching ran against Sr. Esteban Jalandoni. When all the votes were counted, Sr. Jalandoni won by 12 votes. Jalandoni received 342 votes while Ditching got 330, according to the Arellano Law Foundation website.
And since Sr. Ditching couldn't believe he lost, he filed an election protest that reached the courts. But it was the arguments on the votes that were as interesting as the final tally.
In those days, education was scarce and some people were illiterate or could hardly read or write. But votes for Sr. Jalandoni, where his name on the ballots was written as "Aslaben Ahanla" and "Baslian Jalandoni", and even "Sitiban Jaladu" because the last syllable was missing as there was no space left on the side of the ballot, were all counted for Sr. Esteban Jalandoni because of the legal doctrine idem sonans that says a person's identity is known even if his name is misspelled. (See? I just learned something new from a Victoriahanon electoral case 90 years ago.)😊
The court decided for Jalandoni who had 338 votes, compared to Ditching's 337. Given a few votes were deemed disqualified, the total of 675 ballots for a 1928 Victorias election tells us how small the voting population was. And I also wonder whether illiterate people were allowed to vote considering they might not have known how to write.
Today, in 2019, Victorias City has 62,725 voters, compared to less than 700 in 1928.
I wonder what was an election campaign like back then. Did they vote according to conscience, or according to cash?😃
Chapter 16. Don Felix Montinola y Lozada, mayor from 1934 to 1940
Felix Montinola y Lozada was the fifth child of Benito Vasquez Montinola and Quintina Villa Lozada. Benito Montinola y Vasquez, born in 1827, was the grandson of Juan Montinola and Maria Ysidra de Fuentevilla. Juan was said to have been a captain of the Spanish soldiers assigned to Iloilo at that time, while Maria Ysidra was a lady from Spain.
I have written 'Felix Montinola y Lozada' using the Spanish naming system where his father's surname 'Montinola' (apellido paterno) is followed by his mother's surname 'Lozada' (apellido materno).
The same system used when the Spaniards registered the name of the patriarch of the Gaston family, Yves Leopold Germain Gaston.
His first names were 'Yves', 'Leopold', and 'Gaston'. But the Spaniards thought that his apellido paterno was 'Gaston' because of the Spanish naming system but his surname was actually 'Germain' (he was born in Lisieux, France).
That's why I had to ask Monsignor Gigi Gaston about this because, when I was studying French (modesty aside, I formally and informally studied nine languages but with no practice, I can only speak six😢) at Alliance Francaise, our textbooks contained sample conversations and male characters would have names like 'Gaston'. And he confirmed that it was indeed an error by the Spanish registrars, but I think it was a 'good' error, I told him. 'Gaston' sounds more imposing, masculine, and well, easier to spell. 😀
Going back to 'Dompeleks', as I heard kids pronounce his name during those days when the school named after him was still operating...
Juan and Ysidra were probably betrothed to each other when Juan left Malaga, Spain, and sailed to the colony in the Pacific in 1781 (or earlier?). Juan must have had invited Ysidra to join him when he finally settled in Iloilo, a charming city in one of the beautiful islands in Las Islas Filipinas, where she could hit the beach and enjoy fresh seafood any day of the week! Their first of five children, Manuela de los Dolores, was born in Jaro, Iloilo, in 1781.
From Jaro with love
Born on February 16, 1864, also in Jaro, then a city separate from Iloilo during the Spanish period, the young Felix Lozada Montinola crossed the Iloilo Strait and settled in the old town of Saravia (now the Municipality of E.B. Magalona) in the northern part of Negros Occidental in the Philippines.
In Saravia, he met and married the mayor's daughter (no less!) in 1897. Dorotea Gopulco Magalona was a daughter of Don Carlos Ledesma Magalona and Doña Agapita Gopulco Magalona. Doña Dorotea had seven siblings; she was also a cousin of Enrique B. Magalona. When Don Felix married, he was 33, while she was 24. (Enrique B. Magalona later became the town mayor of Saravia and a senator of the Republic of the Philippines. He was the grandfather of the late rapper, Francis M.).
And speaking of crossing from the Iloilo Province and into the Negros Island, migrating from Panay was not uncommon at that time. Even a number of Ilonggo soldiers made the same trip and joined Elias Magbanua in Sitio Guintabu-an in the old Saravia on August 19, 1899, to help revolt against the Americans that time. Some of the soldiers, after their successful excursion to Negros, must have stayed behind and settled in the old Saravia.
When he moved to Saravia, Don Felix brought along two of his unmarried sisters, Encarnacion and Priscila.
Don Felix and Doña Dorotea (Lola Teang to her grandkids) had eight children, who were all born in the old Saravia. But when the kids were grown and in order to be closer to his haciéndas situated at the north, the family decided to move to Victorias, then a growing, small town.
Alcalde de Victorias
Don Felix was a quiet, dignified gentleman, always with his hands at the back when standing or walking about. On his free days, he'd visit his friend Sebastian Gonzaga, who had a home along the southbound side of the main highway in Victorias. Señor Gonzaga's house had a pharmacy in front and a small courtyard at the back (this spot is now occupied by a bank). The two friends would pass the morning playing chess and talk about the current events in their young town and province in Spanish.
When Don Felix became the ninth town leader of Victorias in 1934, he immediately started working on constructing the municipal hall, an idea he originally envisioned even before he became mayor - to build a municipal hall of Victorias that was worthy of its status.
When he became the municipal mayor, as part of his efforts to raise funds to build the municipal hall, Don Felix traveled to Baguio City to join President Manuel L. Quezon and other mayors. There, at a mountain resort caressed by fresh pine breezes, Don Felix asked the President's help to realize his dream for the town.
His project cost about 30,000 pesos, a huge amount in the late 1930s. But with the help of President Quezon, local haciénderos and businessmen, as well as the people of Victorias at that time, Don Felix's dream, became a reality. (So, if you're a descendant of a Victoriahanon who lived here in the 1930s, your lolo or lola must have contributed to the construction of the município.).
(Mayor Felix Montinola, center and with hands at the back, posing with other mayors;
President Quezon stands to his immediate right.)
President Quezon stands to his immediate right.)
Palacio municipal de Victorias: a statement and a tribute to Spain
In 1933, when the Provincial Capitol of Negros Occidental was completed in Bacolod City on the land previously owned by the Gonzaga family, its scale, grandeur, and beaux-arts architecture, not before seen on the island at that time, impressed those who had seen it up close, including Don Felix.
Being the richest province in the Philippines in the early 20th century, Negros Occidental could afford to build its Provincial Capitol, which was more of a statement rather than just a huge office for public servants.
This was where Don Felix got his vision: to build a 'palacio municipal' or municipal hall for Victorias, an edifice whose scale and architecture would serve as a statement for the young town, a message for all its visitors, and a source of pride for all Victoriahanon.
Don Felix was proud of owning how the municipal hall would look like. Inspired by the Palacio Reál de Madrid (Royal Palace of Madrid) in Spain where his ancestors came from, he envisioned a stone building with an imposing facade and appearance that would awe and impress anyone standing before it. Following a few characteristics of the royal palace was Don Felix's way of paying tribute and homage to Spain.
Madrid's Palacio Reál also lent Don Felix the idea of placing a coat of arms that rests at the center of the building that is slightly elevated than the rest of the body. The municipal building's ground floor does not touch the ground because, being the preeminent public structure of the town, it had to be elevated above the earth by a few steps. Just like royalty, it is above everyone else.
And 80 years ago, after it was completed, the municipal building of Victorias became more than just a building that housed public service offices; it was one Victoriahanon's statement about his young town's place in the political and economic landscape, not just in the province, but in the whole country as well.
That time, when the surrounding spaces in the young town were grassland, wooden homes, and trees, a huge structure made of stone, standing with exaggerated proportions in all of its dimensions made everyone stop in awe.
Before it was horribly painted forest-green and white (a shade that reminds me of a laundry powder), the ivory color of the municipal building reflected the red-orange hues of a setting sun as it faces northwest. Today, with those cheap-looking colors, there's no more semblance of the 'old world' character this historic building used to display.😂
Kabukî guid tulokon sang hitsura sang city hall naton.😡
(They might as well throw in red paint
to make it Christmas-sy.😒)
And they painted the coat of arms green?! It is the freakin' symbol of the town for crying out loud! Instead, they made it look like a Christmas decor. SMH.😖 And while they're at it, why didn't they just put Christmas lights around it so we could put wrapped gifts under?😕
(This old photo of the municipal hall shows its original classy and classic look with the prominence of the town's coat of arms and the twin Roman-Tuscan columns in stucco-ivory color that attracted one's attention. Now that the columns and coat of arms are horribly painted green, they are hardly noticeable as the dark color subdued their appearance. Sigh.😢)
Aside from its height, one character of the municipal hall that catches one's attention is the twin columns that followed the Roman Tuscan design.
During the Roman times, those meters-high, round, solid columns were not put there right in front of a building as decoration or a structural support; they were statements. As they were carved from huge stones and sourced from the far reaches of the Roman empire, they were costly and very difficult to transport to Rome where they eventually became part of an emperor's capricious building or another rich Roman's villa, using hundreds, or thousands, of workers and slaves in the process. The erected Roman columns' message: We are powerful and have vast imperial resources; so, we can afford these!
Although I'm sure no slave worked on the columns of Victorias, nor was a solitary solid rock used for one, the engineers and workers still had a tough time perfecting the twin columns that greeted visitors to the building.
One story I heard about the columns is this: The column on the left before it was painted over, bore two dents from bullets, the rustic remains of which left two brown trails that flowed downwards like tears of a tragic past, tragic because these holes were made during World War II.
How I wished they should have left the bullet holes untouched as they were genuine trails of history and should have been worn by the municipal hall as a badge and a part of the Victoriahanon history that should be told.
Don Tuting Jereza and the two municípios
The late Don Agustin M. Jereza executed Don Felix's plans. He was a graduate of civil engineering at the University of Iowa and a nephew of Don Felix, being a son of Don Felix's older sister, Valentina.
Agustin 'Tuting' Jereza was the man behind the actual construction. He was also the one who constructed the município of Saravia. That's why the municipal hall of E.B. Magalona looks like a miniature version of Victorias's. With Saravia's town mayor a cousin of Dona Dorotea at that time, a ready architectural design was already on hand; they just had to reduce the scale.
Don Agustin's contribution to Victorias also included his help in the development of the town's educational system. A few years after Don Felix's death, he helped the Montinola family found the Don Felix Montinola Memorial Institute in 1951 by lending the curricula, experience, and expertise as well as the teachers of the University of Southern Philippines, a university Don Agustin founded in 1927.
Born an Ilonggo mestizo, died a Victoriahanon
Don Felix died peacefully at the Montinola family's ancestral home in Victorias City, surrounded by his family on September 25, 1949. He lay in state for days on the second floor of the município he built before being finally laid to rest at the Montinola family's mausoleum in E.B. Magalona, Negros Occidental, Philippines.
During the wake at the second floor of his município, his beloved Victoriahonans came to view his remains, while officials and politicians from the province and neighboring towns as well as ordinary citizens joined his family at the requiem mass and funeral.
(Victoriahanons paid their respects to the late municipal mayor when he lay in state on the second floor of the municipal hall he built for them)
(Don Felix and Lola Teáng were buried next
to each other in Saravia where he settled
in when he first arrived in Negros island.)
The saddest chapter in our history was during the Japanese Occupation when people lost their lives, lost their freedom, and their way of life was disrupted from 1942 until 1945, and even longer because rehabilitation needed time for all families and especially for children who were not able to go to school during the war years.
Even before the Japanese forces landed in Bacolod in May 1942, the evacuation of Victoriahanons to the mountains had already started.
But the date of May 27, 1942, was a date our elders would rather forget than remember. On that sunny morning, just as the sun started to turn its rays scorching hot, the Japanese Imperial Army entered Victorias at around 9:30AM; it was a Wednesday.
Weeks before that and even after the defeat of American and Filipino forces at the battle of Bataan on April 9, 1942, the Victoriahanons were informed everyday via a loudspeaker that blasted the news throughout the town about what was happening in Manila, creating concern and sowing dread with the impending arrival of war to Negros island and eventually, to Victorias.
And when that time came, that morning of May 27, 1942, the atmosphere was tense and full of fear as the townspeople expected the worst.
Their idyllic lives of abundance in a laid-back town made prosperous by an economy revolving around the sugar industry would be changed by a foreign military force. World War II finally arrived in Victorias.
During those days, Victoriahanons evacuated their homes bringing with them what they could: clothes packed in bayong, rosaries around their necks, crying children in tow, and hogs and livestock dragged by ropes behind them as they headed to the mountains under the hot Negrense sun, not knowing when they would ever come back to their homes again.
Months after the Japanese took over, the underground movement burned down the houses and mansions on September 19, 1942, so that they wouldn't be used as Japanese garrison or shelters. Even school buildings and a local hospital were burned down. One of those mansions was the home of Don Felix Montinola that was deliberately burned down by the underground guerilla movement led by Sr. Mateo Garganera, who later became the mayor from 1960 to 1963.
The Japanese army pronounced Victorias as 'Vikutoriasu' while Manapla was pronounced as 'Manapura', according to the Terrain Study documents of the Allied Geographical Section, Southwest Pacific Area, that listed names of towns and places in the Negros Island and their corresponding Japanese pronunciation.
After the burning, the local church had to close as Fr. Vicente Luzada evacuated to the mountains for his safety. Because of this, baptism for babies born to Catholic parents was delayed and requiem masses for the dead were not said.
(A home in 1945 taken by an American soldier)
Photo credit: John Tewell
Even though he was the appointed mayor by the Japanese, Dr. Tanco was able to save from certain death people who were suspected by the Japanese as being guerrillas or spies.
During those years, the prices of commodities were monitored and controlled to avoid profiteering. Food was rationed and new Japanese currencies, called 'Japanese money', were introduced. These were difficult times, especially when you talk about the atrocities of the Japanese soldiers, some of whom were actually Koreans. As Korea was a Japanese colony that time, the Japanese Imperial Army sent Koreans to the Philippines to fight for them. Those Korean soldiers, I was told, were more cruel.
During the war, when Japanese soldiers roamed the towns and haciendas, able-bodied men would hide in the kísame (attic) or in the fields until they were gone.
On several occasions, when they roamed Hacienda Dapdap, owned by the family of Don Felix Montinola, those Japanese soldiers were met by the late Doña Luisa Montinola, wife of the late Don Benito Montinola, Sr. (mayor from 1950-1953). She was tasked to 'meet and greet' them and offered them water and 'botong-botong', a native sweet candy made from sugar, as refreshments for these tired soldiers. This 'friendly encounter' was meant to take their minds off from hunting down guerrillas hiding in the sugarcane fields.
(War has destroyed the municipal hall of
San Fabian in Pangasinan)
Photo credit: Clifford Bottomley)
A horrifying memory of such cruelty was shared with me by Mr. Joshue Panes, 83 years old and a highly respected member of the VMC community. He recounted how his young uncle during the war witnessed his parents being killed on the spot by the Japanese soldiers at their hometown in Dao, Capiz Province in the Panay Island.
That day, all the people were ordered to gather at the town plaza in order for the Japanese soldiers to search for guerrillas. Unfortunately, both his parents were not able to join the assembly as his father could not walk because he had a disability. While everyone was at the plaza, Japanese soldiers roamed the streets and inspected the houses. That was when they found the couple still at home. Believing they were guerrillas as they didn't obey the order, both were bayonetted to death and their home set ablaze. His young uncle witnessed this and brought this heartbreaking memory until his last days. And as Mr. Panes was telling me this, I could tell the sadness in his eyes and voice.
True and horrifying stories about the war like these are difficult to retell because they bring back very sad memories and emotions.😭
(Photo of evacuees heading back home after the war)(Photo credit: Clifford Bottomley)
On April 26, 1945, later used as the new date for the feast of Nuestra Señor de Las Victorias, American forces like the salvation everyone prayed for, arrived into the town. The town was then governed by the resistance movement and during the next two years, no elections were held.
It was only in 1946 that elections were finally held again. Don Hector M. Montinola, a son of Don Felix Montinola, won over Dr. Basilio Tangco and Elpidio Buenacosa. He was the town mayor from 1946 to 1950.
(Don Benito Montinola, Sr. and his wife Doña Luisa Montinola hosting President Diosdado Macapagal, Sr. at his home in Victorias. Read blog here.)
Don Benito Montinola, Sr. was also a delegate to the 1971 Philippine Constitutional Convention as one of the six delegates representing the 1st District of Negros Occidental.
Going back to the World War II stories, when I visited the US Embassy in Manila many years ago for a work-related meeting, the officer with whom we met showed us the hall where General Tomoyuki Yamashita was tried for his war crimes in 1945.
The consul pointed to me the exact spot where General Yamashita sat when he was sentenced to death by hanging. He was hanged on February 23, 1946, in Los Baños, Laguna, but his remains were buried in Tokyo, Japan.
That hall in the U.S. Embassy, where the war crimes trials were held, is now a ballroom named after Charles Parsons, Jr., a World War II veteran who, as a teenager, dreamed of coming to the Philippines. He later became a businessman and a diplomat, and died in Pasay City, Philippines, in 1988.
Chapter 18. The unseen Victoriahanons
During my research for this history blog, I came across some interesting stories that came to light. And I also came across other interesting stories that came out of the dark.
Sifting through the stories I gathered, I realized I was writing about Victoriahanons whom I could picture as a fellow citizen of this town, someone who walked down the street and someone whom we could meet, greet and socialize with on a sunny day in the neighborhood. But if they were the Victoriahanons whom we could see, are there Victoriahanons whom we could not?
You have an idea what I'm talking about?😀
Yes, there were (or still are?) inhabitants of our city, a city that used to be town, that used to be a village and that used to be a rich, uninhabited forest. Uninhabited by noisy, gossipy Victoriahanons, that is.
These Victoriahanons were already here even before the Negros Island came to be named Buglas, or even before a settlement at the mouth of a silty river came to be known as Malihao.
It's time we talked about one such unseen Victoriahanon, one that our mythical culture calls...kapre!
Yes, that tall, hairy, dark creature of the night, usually living on an old tree that manifests itself to humans whom he wanted to befriend or pester. Known to be a smoker, a kapre puffs a long cigar made of rolled, dried tobacco leaves whose smell wafts to announce its presence to anyone unaware of its existence.
In an old school building in Victorias, one that sat along the highway, stories about a kapre had been told over the years when it was still full of students during the day and inhabited by an unseen being at night.
When the janitor had closed all the classrooms and locked the school gates early in the evening, it was a matter of time when unusual sounds were heard from inside the school.
(Image credit: mythicalcreaturesguide.com)
On some mornings, when the Tío Mateo, the school janitor, opened the classrooms, the chairs would be scattered all over even though, the late afternoon before, he closed and locked the rooms behind him with everything in order and ready for classes the next day.
The poor Tío Mateo, he must have had to rearrange the chairs again when this happened while cursing the resident prankster.
Of all people in the school, he must have been the most vexed by Siyáno, a name one student said to be the name of the kapre; the student was known to have had a 'third eye', meaning she was psychic.
That student was said to have encountered the kapre at the teachers' office at the second floor of the school on one early evening during an overnight event at the grounds. It must have introduced itself to her. She never stayed late at the school ever again.
On occasions, when passing by the school late at night, one would hear chairs being thrown around. The school library was also on the second floor and was just next to the highway.
In the 1970s, when vehicles were rarely seen passing through Victorias around midnight, it was almost quiet all around the school's neighborhood.
A policeman, Mr. Maeng J., who was patrolling the area one late night heard noises coming from the library of the school. He heard as if chairs were being thrown around. At that time, people could watch late movies at the defunct Vic Theater, a cinema located at the building where LBC is now located.
When someone he knew came along after watching a late movie at Vic Theater, he asked him to stop and listen to the noises. His friend was surprised to hear the very unusual sounds that should not be happening and was coming from the inside of the school library. It was late night and the students had long gone and to think the school had been closed hours before.
"Who could be inside throwing chairs around?", they both asked themselves. They both walked away.😱
Other than the chairs being thrown around, on rare nights, the school bell would ring continuously. The normal ringing of the bell would just be in intermittent intervals to signal the start or end of classes.
But on those scary nights, it was as if someone pressed the button and left his fingers longer than it should. So, who would be brave enough to go up the dark stairs to the second floor of the school and turn the power off to stop the ringing? 😱 Someone had to. Fortunately, Tío Mateo lived nearby.
But do you know that Siyano, the academic kapre, was actually captured on film?
In a rare black-and-white photo that used to be in the collection of the school registrar, a towering man, whose height reached the second floor of the school, was seen posing with the students of the school as they were being photographed at the main entrance.
The kapre was wearing white pants, a white shirt and a black belt, and was casually leaning on the school building which was to his left while giving a weak smile. His face was round and dark, and looked humanoid. I should know; I saw that photograph! 😱
More than a decade ago, I asked the lady who owned the photograph whether I could see it again. She said it was borrowed by a former teacher who never returned it. I know the teacher; I'll try to ask him to give it back so I can share it here. 😊
So, what happened to Siyano? It was said that it lived in a kamunsil tree within the school grounds, so they had it cut down. From then one, they noticed that the disturbances and noises disappeared.
The academic kapre was kicked out of school!😁
Aside from a kapre as our unseen Victoriahanon, do you know that there were (or still are?) engkantos around our town?
One scary story is about a domestic help, Violeta, a young woman who came from the hacienda of a landed family here in Victorias.
She was just working for a few days when, on a Sunday noon, Violeta was sent to the public market to buy something. But as she was passing through the Victorias public plaza, she said there was a man who befriended her.
Violeta came back with the merchandise she bought but seemed to act strangely. She complained that the man who befriended was outside and wanted her to go with him. Everyone was alarmed. Could someone have molested her while she went to the market?
Suddenly, everyone in the house realized it was more than just a common admirer she brought to the house along with the merchandise. Because when they asked her where the man was, Violeta pointed outside and there was nobody there, only passing vehicles, but no gentleman, nor an admirer with flowers.
This was the time when Violeta's cousin, who was also part of the household, shared with everyone that Violeta could see engkantos and that this was not the first time one followed her home.
Still complaining about her unwanted follower, Violeta would suddenly growl with her facial expressions changing. When she was given a holy rosary, she threw it away because it was 'hot' when she held it.
While her fellow household help teased the unseen engkanto standing outside the house, telling the engkanto that they needed some boyfriends, too, Violeta remained quiet at the corner with her eyes widened with fear.
It was only then when a religious member of the house brought out a bottle of holy water and sprinkled it over Violeta while she was being held to subdue her resistance. A few sprinkles of the holy water were also made by the window to drive away whatever was out there menacing Violeta.
After a moment, Violeta's normal voice returned. She went back to being a shy girl from the hacienda with no memory about what happened.
Was she temporarily possessed by the engkanto? She earlier said the man who befriended her was standing next to the big, tall tree at the Victorias public plaza when they met.
And how about duéndes?
Those are little elves, or dwarves, that live in a mound, an old house or even trees. They only manifest themselves to a few. Some duéndes are good to humans and some are mischievously bad. They are generally described as small creatures with big pointed hats or pointed shoes, with long beards for old-looking duéndes.
Duéndes are elementals, those creatures that live and exist in nature; specifically, duéndes can be labeled as earth spirits. The word came from the shortened Spanish term 'dueño de casa' or owner of the house.
One such place in Victorias where many have experienced duéndes is in the old Gabaldon buildings of the Victorias Elementary School.
The school building is called a Gabaldon building, named after Mr. Isauro Gabaldon, a former Assemblyman, who drafted the bill in 1907 to put up school buildings around the Philippines during the American colonial period. The buildings were designed by Mr. William Parsons using the elements of the native Philippine hut, the bahay-kubo, and they are protected under the law from being altered, demolished or relocated.
Since these buildings were constructed with an elevation above ground of about four feet, they had hollow spaces beneath them for purposes of cooling the building as cool air goes underneath it as well as to prevent rising waters from entering a building during floods.
But one such Gabaldon building at the Victorias Elementary School became notorious for duéndes. Students would see 'small creatures' underneath the buildings, including tales of seeing dwarf white horses! On occasions, the students would light candles and offer food to the 'inhabitants' living under these buildings.
As the school grounds were mostly open during weekends, tales of weekend ambulant vendors who made the space underneath the Gabaldon buildings a public dump were widely known. This, of course, became a Monday ritual to most teachers who had to send students to sweep or clean up the mess as the smell would fill the classrooms from the human excrement deposited underneath them.
And one such story was about a student who was asked by a teacher to sweep the smelly space, which turned out to be the student's traumatic introduction to the underworld.
According to the story, the student went down to the dark, dirty space (some very young students could squeeze under without stooping) with a 'bukog nga silhig' (walis ting-ting) and had already started his chore when he realized he was not alone.
Standing a few feet from him, a few 'small creatures' that looked like 'old men' were watching him as he swept. The duéndes must have appreciated the clean-up as they were probably suffering from the bad odor as well.
Shocked and frozen in fear, the student at first didn't understand what he was seeing. And since he, too, had heard stories about these mysterious dwellers, he then realized that this moment was a lesson he never wanted to learn at school.
Dropping his thin broom, he rushed out still stooping knowing that bumping his head at the wooden flooring above him would prolong his stay in that unwanted space.
The student would have planned to devote his vocal chords to singing Lupang Hinirang that morning. Instead, he ended up screaming "Ma'am! Ma'am!" so loud that other students around were startled.
The incident left the kid traumatized that he never went back to school for days and had to be brought to an 'albularyo' for healing as the faith healer believed the duéndes must have done something to him other than manifesting themselves. Although we wouldn't know if the poor student finished his elementary years at Victorias Elementary School, what we do know is that the duéndes living in those Gabaldon building must have learned their ABC's and all nursery rhymes all those years. The space under the buildings had been cemented since.
Our hometown was not ours in the first place; we were not its first inhabitants.
Let's remember, more than a hundred years ago, this place we now call a city was a thick forest full of those acacias, lunók and other tree species endemic to this island. Just imagine those tall trees spread all over when there were no roads, no houses, no buildings, and no município.
Just big trees. And you have an entire settlement of engkantos, kapres, tikbalang, and even mythical creatures living in the ancient Malihao and Magnanud Rivers. Remember Maria Makiling and her engkanto admirers? Unfortunately for us, what's left are primitive creatures in Victorias. You should spot them when you see them on the street. Or at....😊
They were the original Victoriahanons. The unseen Victoriahanons who took care of this land before we all came along and ruined it.😠
So, do you also have a scary story about unseen Victoriahanons?😱
Chapter 19. The seal of Victorias City has an error
Have you looked at the seal of your hometown closely? And discovered the meaning of the figures and the symbolism in the seal?
According to an online dictionary, a seal is a "symbol or mark of office". If the seal only contains symbols representing the municipality, city, or province, it should not be that complicated. But when it includes a verifiable figure, like a year to signify an important event of the place, then it should be factual.
Since I already have an idea of the history of our hometown, Victorias City (in the Philippines) from Daan Banwa (Old Victorias) to the current city, everything I see around the city gets a new perspective. It's more like I now see things with fresh eyes, so to speak.
Like for example, this seal of Victorias City, used in 2020, plastered on a barangay vehicle:
The '1998' is the year when Victorias became a city on March 21, 1998. That's correct.
But '1906'? Hmm. Why 1906?
The only historical events that happened in 1906, based on the Jalandoni Memoirs, were (1) the threat from Sr. Leon Montinola to kick out the people from his Hacienda Torreno sometime in 1905 and 1906 (see Chapter 7); (2) his lawsuit against the town (see Chapter 7); and (3) the donation of a parcel of land by Sr. Yap-Quiña (see Chapter 7).
None of the three constitutes the creation of any town.
But if the '1906' in the seal indicates the year the town was created, it is wrong.
The officials of Victorias probably based their wrong decision and conclusion on the dates of October 2, 1906, when Sr. Yap-Quiña attended the town council session to express his donation, or on October 15, 1906, when he formalized his donation at another town council session.
As the official website of Victorias City has no information about the seal, I looked it up on Wikipedia the significant dates:
Above, I was able to confirm that the city officials thought the city was founded in 1906 based on October 2, 1906. The date opposite the word "Founded" is "October 2, 1906."
Again, October 2, 1906, was only the date Sr. Yap-Quiña attended the session where he signified his intent to donate a parcel of land. That date was NOT the date Victorias was created as a town, and the old settlement of Daan Banwa was already a barrio even before the 1848.
And since according to Sr. Esteban Jalandoni the '1906' is wrong, what year should it be?
Well, let's ask him again.
Sr. Esteban Jalandoni, the primary source of my Victorias History blog, arrived in Victorias on July 31, 1901, and became its secretary the next day. He shared with us the events he witnessed as the town secretary and also some details he knew about before he arrived. And based on his accounts, Victorias was already a town when he got here.
If you have read Chapter 6, Victorias would have definitely lost its status as a town in 1902 as it was too poor to be considered a town and would have been turned into a barrio whose land area was to be divided between Saravia and Manapla using the Magnanud River as the boundary.
But because of the efforts of then alcálde, Sr. Eliodoro Tongoy and his then secretary, Sr. Esteban Jalandoni, Victorias was able to keep its status with the help of the former provincial governor, Sr. Melecio Severino, who traveled to Manila and interceded on behalf of the Victoriahanons by pleading to Brigadier General James Francis Smith to let Victorias keep its status as a town.
Other than that story of 1902, Sr. Esteban Jalandoni also narrated that the barrio officials of 1898 asked the new leaders of the Republica Cantonal de Negros that Daan Banwa be elevated into a town, and those leaders approved.
So, as early as November 1898, Victorias was already a town, although the Memoirs also mentioned "1876" but is not elaborated on.
And even in 1902, when Brigadier General James Francis Smith let Victorias keep its status as a town, further solidified this fact. That's the year when the Victoriahanons rejoiced and the town officials breathed a sigh of relief!
So, why don't we correct the error on the seal of the city based on the real historical events of our city?😄
'1906' is wrong; '1898', on the other hand, is factually right.
From 1898 to 1998, a hundred years. It was our town's fate to wait for 100 years to become a city.
You're all welcome!😎
Chapter 20. Victoriahanons during the Philippine-American War (1899-1902)
If you noticed that monument as you enter E. B. Magalona from Silay, you must have wondered who he is.
He is Capitan Elias Magbanua, standing under the Philippine sun during the day and quietly hiding in the dark at night. He faces west, perpetually watching the sun set on his beloved motherland.
He is raising his sword with his right hand and a pistol on his left as if to remind his fellow Negrenses who pass him by that we should appreciate and preserve the independence they fought for more than a hundred years ago, and that the memories of their armed struggled against foreign colonizers should be remembered every time we see his monument.
This monument is to commemorate the stand by Capitan Elias Magbanua and his Ilonggo and Negrense fighters against American soldiers on August 19, 1899, at Sitio Guintabu-an in the town of Saravia, now E. B. Magalona (a municipality in the northern part of Negros Occidental, Philippines).
And if you think that Sitio Guintabu-an is way off from Victorias and that Victoriahanons had nothing to do with this event in our island's history, let me tell you about the story that would make you feel connected to it every time you pass by E. B. Magalona.
After Spain finally turned over Las Islas Filipinas (as well as Cuba, Puerto Rico, and Guam) to the Americans in 1898 through the Treaty of Paris signed by both countries on December 10, 1898, it was time the G.I. Joe's took over the archipelago.
Unfortunately for the Americans, and even though Filipinos were known for their hospitality, they didn't get the warmest of receptions in most of the places they landed on.
In the Negros island, although the Negrenses gave the Americans a less difficult time settling in, there were clandestine groups in the island who had deep resentment against another colonizer that was about to rule the country again.
In 1899, when the guerrilla movement against the Americans had been set up in the southern part of Negros, it was time to strengthen the northern front.
And with the help of the more established and experienced guerrilla leaders from Panay, one of whom was General Martin Teofilo Delgado, my forebear, the northern towns of Saravia, Victorias, Manapla and Sagay started to organize as well.
According to Mr. Modesto Sa-onoy, a Negrense historian, hacenderos and illustrados from this northern part of the island contributed to the underground resistance, including the Montinolas of Victorias. The movement must have started when it was officially announced that the Philippines was sold to the Americans, wasting no time but to organize and solicit contributions from the rich families without catching the attention of the new colonizers.
In August 1899, however, the Americans, with the help of their own spies and network of sympathizers, discovered the unusual volume of supplies from Panay that were being transported up to the highlands in the north.
These supplies were not the only help that came from Iloilo. Experienced Ilonggo guerrillas also quietly landed in Negros to help the resistance, led by Capitan Elias Magbanua. These Ilonggos were more experienced as they were just fresh from booting out the Spaniards from Iloilo months before, on December 25, 1898, to be exact.
That was the day when the last Spanish governor-general, Diego de los Rios, officially surrendered to General Martin Teofilo Delgado at Plaza Alfonso XIII, now called Plaza Libertad. (Incidentally, when King Alfonso XIII married Victoria Eugenie of Battenberg in 1906 in Madrid, a bomb was thrown on their wedding procession as it was passing Calle Mayór on its way back to the royal palace. The bomb, hidden in a bouquet of flowers, was thrown from the assassin's hotel room balcony at the sixth floor, which I made sure I visited when I was in Madrid years ago. Being my namesake, the king's personal history was part of my itinerary that time. The bomb killed 24 bystanders and people from the wedding procession. The groom and the bride were unhurt, except for her wedding gown that got splattered with horse's blood.)
Back to the Negrense and Ilonggo soldiers.
In August 1899, reports of Negrense policemen from Silay and Talisay disappearing from their posts reached the Americans. These policemen abandoned their posts bringing with them their firearms and this alarmed the Americans, confirming their fear of an uprising in the making.
And on August 19, 1899, a Saturday, in order to surprise the guerrillas and to quell a revolt, a contingent of American soldiers raided the newly constructed headquarters at Sitio Guintabu-an in the old Saravia.
Although Capitan Magbanua, his Ilonggo soldiers as well as his new recruits from Saravia, Victorias, Silay, Talisay and other areas in the north were no match to the superior weapons of their enemies, and the fact that they were taken by surprise and not as well trained compared to the American combatants, they gave their enemies a lasting lesson that was not about warfare but about gallantry, patriotism and the love of country.🙏
Capitan Elias Magbanua stood his ground until his last breath, fending off the enemies for hours in order for his men to escape. Capitan Magbanua's stand is being compared by historians to that of General Gregorio del Pilar when he also fought the Americans at the Battle of Tirad Pass.
Elias Magbanua was given the rank when he joined the revolution against Spain in 1898 as he was educated. His older brother, Pascual, was also a revolutionary but mysteriously died at 25.
Her sister, Teresa Magbanua, though, was the most famous of the three, who were all born in Pototan, Iloilo, to a well-to-do family. Teresa had successful battles against the Spaniards and had led troops against the Americans. As she was an expert equestrian, she rode a horse to her battles earning her the title the 'Visayan Joan of Arc'. Teresa, in her old age, sold some of her properties during the Japanese Occupation to contribute to the underground movement against the Japanese, making her, in a way, the only revolutionary to have fought the three colonizers.
(Filipino soldiers during the Philippine-American War)
Photo credit: Wikipedia
While I was digging the historical information about this chapter, I realized we have a lot of heroes in this part of our island, heroes who, like Capitan Elias Magbanua and his fighters, definitely deserved to be up there standing on a monument unlike someone who was just a product of a twisted history bereft of any evidentiary support to back up the supposed deed and worse, without any public acceptance.😡
The next time you pass by Capitan Elias Magbanua's monument near E. B. Magalona, you now know that his battle at Sitio Guintabu-an on that day of August 19, 1899, was closer to home than you might have thought.
As Victoriahanon recruits had fought beside him and that families from Victorias contributed money, food and supplies to his resistance, we should all remember that our Victoriahanon forebears showed their bravery, heroism and love of country during the Philippine-American War (1899 - 1902).
By the way, Elias Magbanua was just 19. 😢
Chapter 21 - President Ramon Magsaysay and His Victorias Connection
Walking through Magsaysay Street one afternoon while taking photographs of a religious procession, I realized there was a historical trivia somewhere along the way, literally.
This two-lane, cemented road, that's about 390 meters along, starts from Osmeña Avenue (formerly Calle Real) and ends at Quezon Street of Victorias City in Negros Occidental, Philippines.
So, I did some digging. Historical digging, that is.
I discovered that the Magsaysay Street was just a cleared path purposely made so that there would be a road from the Catholic church straight to the old cemetery in Malinong. When this path was finished, it was just a dirt road back then with tall trees and shrubbery lining its sides.
And at the other end of the path was the old cemetery. Yes, the Fer-Mont Village, or Malinong Village used to be a cemetery in Barangay 7. It was probably called 'malinong', the Hiligaynon word that means serene or peaceful, because the place was exactly that: serene, quiet and peaceful.
Well, that area was malinong as it became the final resting place for all the Victoriahanons who died sometime in 1934 until the 1960s when a new site for a public cemetery located at the northern outskirts of the town was donated by Sr. Gonzalo Ditching and Sra. Simeona Jingco.
The decayed coffins, human remains, and the sacred soil they were laid on were all transferred to the public cemetery on the donated land. But I heard, after all these years, during certain excavations, some skeletons were still being unearthed in Malinong.
But going back to Magsaysay Street, do you know the history on how it was named after the late President Ramon Magsaysay?
The poor Tío Mateo, he must have had to rearrange the chairs again when this happened while cursing the resident prankster.
Of all people in the school, he must have been the most vexed by Siyáno, a name one student said to be the name of the kapre; the student was known to have had a 'third eye', meaning she was psychic.
That student was said to have encountered the kapre at the teachers' office at the second floor of the school on one early evening during an overnight event at the grounds. It must have introduced itself to her. She never stayed late at the school ever again.
On occasions, when passing by the school late at night, one would hear chairs being thrown around. The school library was also on the second floor and was just next to the highway.
In the 1970s, when vehicles were rarely seen passing through Victorias around midnight, it was almost quiet all around the school's neighborhood.
A policeman, Mr. Maeng J., who was patrolling the area one late night heard noises coming from the library of the school. He heard as if chairs were being thrown around. At that time, people could watch late movies at the defunct Vic Theater, a cinema located at the building where LBC is now located.
When someone he knew came along after watching a late movie at Vic Theater, he asked him to stop and listen to the noises. His friend was surprised to hear the very unusual sounds that should not be happening and was coming from the inside of the school library. It was late night and the students had long gone and to think the school had been closed hours before.
"Who could be inside throwing chairs around?", they both asked themselves. They both walked away.😱
Other than the chairs being thrown around, on rare nights, the school bell would ring continuously. The normal ringing of the bell would just be in intermittent intervals to signal the start or end of classes.
But on those scary nights, it was as if someone pressed the button and left his fingers longer than it should. So, who would be brave enough to go up the dark stairs to the second floor of the school and turn the power off to stop the ringing? 😱 Someone had to. Fortunately, Tío Mateo lived nearby.
But do you know that Siyano, the academic kapre, was actually captured on film?
In a rare black-and-white photo that used to be in the collection of the school registrar, a towering man, whose height reached the second floor of the school, was seen posing with the students of the school as they were being photographed at the main entrance.
The kapre was wearing white pants, a white shirt and a black belt, and was casually leaning on the school building which was to his left while giving a weak smile. His face was round and dark, and looked humanoid. I should know; I saw that photograph! 😱
More than a decade ago, I asked the lady who owned the photograph whether I could see it again. She said it was borrowed by a former teacher who never returned it. I know the teacher; I'll try to ask him to give it back so I can share it here. 😊
So, what happened to Siyano? It was said that it lived in a kamunsil tree within the school grounds, so they had it cut down. From then one, they noticed that the disturbances and noises disappeared.
The academic kapre was kicked out of school!😁
Aside from a kapre as our unseen Victoriahanon, do you know that there were (or still are?) engkantos around our town?
One scary story is about a domestic help, Violeta, a young woman who came from the hacienda of a landed family here in Victorias.
She was just working for a few days when, on a Sunday noon, Violeta was sent to the public market to buy something. But as she was passing through the Victorias public plaza, she said there was a man who befriended her.
Violeta came back with the merchandise she bought but seemed to act strangely. She complained that the man who befriended was outside and wanted her to go with him. Everyone was alarmed. Could someone have molested her while she went to the market?
Suddenly, everyone in the house realized it was more than just a common admirer she brought to the house along with the merchandise. Because when they asked her where the man was, Violeta pointed outside and there was nobody there, only passing vehicles, but no gentleman, nor an admirer with flowers.
This was the time when Violeta's cousin, who was also part of the household, shared with everyone that Violeta could see engkantos and that this was not the first time one followed her home.
Still complaining about her unwanted follower, Violeta would suddenly growl with her facial expressions changing. When she was given a holy rosary, she threw it away because it was 'hot' when she held it.
While her fellow household help teased the unseen engkanto standing outside the house, telling the engkanto that they needed some boyfriends, too, Violeta remained quiet at the corner with her eyes widened with fear.
It was only then when a religious member of the house brought out a bottle of holy water and sprinkled it over Violeta while she was being held to subdue her resistance. A few sprinkles of the holy water were also made by the window to drive away whatever was out there menacing Violeta.
After a moment, Violeta's normal voice returned. She went back to being a shy girl from the hacienda with no memory about what happened.
Was she temporarily possessed by the engkanto? She earlier said the man who befriended her was standing next to the big, tall tree at the Victorias public plaza when they met.
And how about duéndes?
Those are little elves, or dwarves, that live in a mound, an old house or even trees. They only manifest themselves to a few. Some duéndes are good to humans and some are mischievously bad. They are generally described as small creatures with big pointed hats or pointed shoes, with long beards for old-looking duéndes.
Duéndes are elementals, those creatures that live and exist in nature; specifically, duéndes can be labeled as earth spirits. The word came from the shortened Spanish term 'dueño de casa' or owner of the house.
One such place in Victorias where many have experienced duéndes is in the old Gabaldon buildings of the Victorias Elementary School.
(A Gabaldon building that shows an elevation
and a hollow space underneath the classroom
(Photo credit: wikimapia.org)
(Photo credit: wikimapia.org)
Since these buildings were constructed with an elevation above ground of about four feet, they had hollow spaces beneath them for purposes of cooling the building as cool air goes underneath it as well as to prevent rising waters from entering a building during floods.
But one such Gabaldon building at the Victorias Elementary School became notorious for duéndes. Students would see 'small creatures' underneath the buildings, including tales of seeing dwarf white horses! On occasions, the students would light candles and offer food to the 'inhabitants' living under these buildings.
As the school grounds were mostly open during weekends, tales of weekend ambulant vendors who made the space underneath the Gabaldon buildings a public dump were widely known. This, of course, became a Monday ritual to most teachers who had to send students to sweep or clean up the mess as the smell would fill the classrooms from the human excrement deposited underneath them.
And one such story was about a student who was asked by a teacher to sweep the smelly space, which turned out to be the student's traumatic introduction to the underworld.
According to the story, the student went down to the dark, dirty space (some very young students could squeeze under without stooping) with a 'bukog nga silhig' (walis ting-ting) and had already started his chore when he realized he was not alone.
Standing a few feet from him, a few 'small creatures' that looked like 'old men' were watching him as he swept. The duéndes must have appreciated the clean-up as they were probably suffering from the bad odor as well.
Shocked and frozen in fear, the student at first didn't understand what he was seeing. And since he, too, had heard stories about these mysterious dwellers, he then realized that this moment was a lesson he never wanted to learn at school.
Dropping his thin broom, he rushed out still stooping knowing that bumping his head at the wooden flooring above him would prolong his stay in that unwanted space.
The student would have planned to devote his vocal chords to singing Lupang Hinirang that morning. Instead, he ended up screaming "Ma'am! Ma'am!" so loud that other students around were startled.
The incident left the kid traumatized that he never went back to school for days and had to be brought to an 'albularyo' for healing as the faith healer believed the duéndes must have done something to him other than manifesting themselves. Although we wouldn't know if the poor student finished his elementary years at Victorias Elementary School, what we do know is that the duéndes living in those Gabaldon building must have learned their ABC's and all nursery rhymes all those years. The space under the buildings had been cemented since.
Our hometown was not ours in the first place; we were not its first inhabitants.
Let's remember, more than a hundred years ago, this place we now call a city was a thick forest full of those acacias, lunók and other tree species endemic to this island. Just imagine those tall trees spread all over when there were no roads, no houses, no buildings, and no município.
(Man encountering engkantos)
(Photo credit: JBBallaran, deviantart.com)
Just big trees. And you have an entire settlement of engkantos, kapres, tikbalang, and even mythical creatures living in the ancient Malihao and Magnanud Rivers. Remember Maria Makiling and her engkanto admirers? Unfortunately for us, what's left are primitive creatures in Victorias. You should spot them when you see them on the street. Or at....😊
They were the original Victoriahanons. The unseen Victoriahanons who took care of this land before we all came along and ruined it.😠
So, do you also have a scary story about unseen Victoriahanons?😱
Chapter 19. The seal of Victorias City has an error
Have you looked at the seal of your hometown closely? And discovered the meaning of the figures and the symbolism in the seal?
According to an online dictionary, a seal is a "symbol or mark of office". If the seal only contains symbols representing the municipality, city, or province, it should not be that complicated. But when it includes a verifiable figure, like a year to signify an important event of the place, then it should be factual.
Since I already have an idea of the history of our hometown, Victorias City (in the Philippines) from Daan Banwa (Old Victorias) to the current city, everything I see around the city gets a new perspective. It's more like I now see things with fresh eyes, so to speak.
Like for example, this seal of Victorias City, used in 2020, plastered on a barangay vehicle:
The '1998' is the year when Victorias became a city on March 21, 1998. That's correct.
But '1906'? Hmm. Why 1906?
The only historical events that happened in 1906, based on the Jalandoni Memoirs, were (1) the threat from Sr. Leon Montinola to kick out the people from his Hacienda Torreno sometime in 1905 and 1906 (see Chapter 7); (2) his lawsuit against the town (see Chapter 7); and (3) the donation of a parcel of land by Sr. Yap-Quiña (see Chapter 7).
None of the three constitutes the creation of any town.
But if the '1906' in the seal indicates the year the town was created, it is wrong.
The officials of Victorias probably based their wrong decision and conclusion on the dates of October 2, 1906, when Sr. Yap-Quiña attended the town council session to express his donation, or on October 15, 1906, when he formalized his donation at another town council session.
As the official website of Victorias City has no information about the seal, I looked it up on Wikipedia the significant dates:
Above, I was able to confirm that the city officials thought the city was founded in 1906 based on October 2, 1906. The date opposite the word "Founded" is "October 2, 1906."
Again, October 2, 1906, was only the date Sr. Yap-Quiña attended the session where he signified his intent to donate a parcel of land. That date was NOT the date Victorias was created as a town, and the old settlement of Daan Banwa was already a barrio even before the 1848.
And since according to Sr. Esteban Jalandoni the '1906' is wrong, what year should it be?
Well, let's ask him again.
Sr. Esteban Jalandoni, the primary source of my Victorias History blog, arrived in Victorias on July 31, 1901, and became its secretary the next day. He shared with us the events he witnessed as the town secretary and also some details he knew about before he arrived. And based on his accounts, Victorias was already a town when he got here.
If you have read Chapter 6, Victorias would have definitely lost its status as a town in 1902 as it was too poor to be considered a town and would have been turned into a barrio whose land area was to be divided between Saravia and Manapla using the Magnanud River as the boundary.
But because of the efforts of then alcálde, Sr. Eliodoro Tongoy and his then secretary, Sr. Esteban Jalandoni, Victorias was able to keep its status with the help of the former provincial governor, Sr. Melecio Severino, who traveled to Manila and interceded on behalf of the Victoriahanons by pleading to Brigadier General James Francis Smith to let Victorias keep its status as a town.
Other than that story of 1902, Sr. Esteban Jalandoni also narrated that the barrio officials of 1898 asked the new leaders of the Republica Cantonal de Negros that Daan Banwa be elevated into a town, and those leaders approved.
So, as early as November 1898, Victorias was already a town, although the Memoirs also mentioned "1876" but is not elaborated on.
And even in 1902, when Brigadier General James Francis Smith let Victorias keep its status as a town, further solidified this fact. That's the year when the Victoriahanons rejoiced and the town officials breathed a sigh of relief!
So, why don't we correct the error on the seal of the city based on the real historical events of our city?😄
'1906' is wrong; '1898', on the other hand, is factually right.
From 1898 to 1998, a hundred years. It was our town's fate to wait for 100 years to become a city.
Chapter 20. Victoriahanons during the Philippine-American War (1899-1902)
If you noticed that monument as you enter E. B. Magalona from Silay, you must have wondered who he is.
He is Capitan Elias Magbanua, standing under the Philippine sun during the day and quietly hiding in the dark at night. He faces west, perpetually watching the sun set on his beloved motherland.
He is raising his sword with his right hand and a pistol on his left as if to remind his fellow Negrenses who pass him by that we should appreciate and preserve the independence they fought for more than a hundred years ago, and that the memories of their armed struggled against foreign colonizers should be remembered every time we see his monument.
This monument is to commemorate the stand by Capitan Elias Magbanua and his Ilonggo and Negrense fighters against American soldiers on August 19, 1899, at Sitio Guintabu-an in the town of Saravia, now E. B. Magalona (a municipality in the northern part of Negros Occidental, Philippines).
And if you think that Sitio Guintabu-an is way off from Victorias and that Victoriahanons had nothing to do with this event in our island's history, let me tell you about the story that would make you feel connected to it every time you pass by E. B. Magalona.
After Spain finally turned over Las Islas Filipinas (as well as Cuba, Puerto Rico, and Guam) to the Americans in 1898 through the Treaty of Paris signed by both countries on December 10, 1898, it was time the G.I. Joe's took over the archipelago.
Unfortunately for the Americans, and even though Filipinos were known for their hospitality, they didn't get the warmest of receptions in most of the places they landed on.
In the Negros island, although the Negrenses gave the Americans a less difficult time settling in, there were clandestine groups in the island who had deep resentment against another colonizer that was about to rule the country again.
In 1899, when the guerrilla movement against the Americans had been set up in the southern part of Negros, it was time to strengthen the northern front.
And with the help of the more established and experienced guerrilla leaders from Panay, one of whom was General Martin Teofilo Delgado, my forebear, the northern towns of Saravia, Victorias, Manapla and Sagay started to organize as well.
According to Mr. Modesto Sa-onoy, a Negrense historian, hacenderos and illustrados from this northern part of the island contributed to the underground resistance, including the Montinolas of Victorias. The movement must have started when it was officially announced that the Philippines was sold to the Americans, wasting no time but to organize and solicit contributions from the rich families without catching the attention of the new colonizers.
In August 1899, however, the Americans, with the help of their own spies and network of sympathizers, discovered the unusual volume of supplies from Panay that were being transported up to the highlands in the north.
These supplies were not the only help that came from Iloilo. Experienced Ilonggo guerrillas also quietly landed in Negros to help the resistance, led by Capitan Elias Magbanua. These Ilonggos were more experienced as they were just fresh from booting out the Spaniards from Iloilo months before, on December 25, 1898, to be exact.
That was the day when the last Spanish governor-general, Diego de los Rios, officially surrendered to General Martin Teofilo Delgado at Plaza Alfonso XIII, now called Plaza Libertad. (Incidentally, when King Alfonso XIII married Victoria Eugenie of Battenberg in 1906 in Madrid, a bomb was thrown on their wedding procession as it was passing Calle Mayór on its way back to the royal palace. The bomb, hidden in a bouquet of flowers, was thrown from the assassin's hotel room balcony at the sixth floor, which I made sure I visited when I was in Madrid years ago. Being my namesake, the king's personal history was part of my itinerary that time. The bomb killed 24 bystanders and people from the wedding procession. The groom and the bride were unhurt, except for her wedding gown that got splattered with horse's blood.)
Back to the Negrense and Ilonggo soldiers.
In August 1899, reports of Negrense policemen from Silay and Talisay disappearing from their posts reached the Americans. These policemen abandoned their posts bringing with them their firearms and this alarmed the Americans, confirming their fear of an uprising in the making.
(American soldiers torturing a Filipino soldier
through waterboarding. The Filipino soldier is being held down and a pipe is used to funnel water
to his mouth to give him a drowning feeling. The other American soldiers watch in amusement
as if it was just another fun spectacle.)
(Photo credit: PRI Public Radio International)
And on August 19, 1899, a Saturday, in order to surprise the guerrillas and to quell a revolt, a contingent of American soldiers raided the newly constructed headquarters at Sitio Guintabu-an in the old Saravia.
Although Capitan Magbanua, his Ilonggo soldiers as well as his new recruits from Saravia, Victorias, Silay, Talisay and other areas in the north were no match to the superior weapons of their enemies, and the fact that they were taken by surprise and not as well trained compared to the American combatants, they gave their enemies a lasting lesson that was not about warfare but about gallantry, patriotism and the love of country.🙏
Capitan Elias Magbanua stood his ground until his last breath, fending off the enemies for hours in order for his men to escape. Capitan Magbanua's stand is being compared by historians to that of General Gregorio del Pilar when he also fought the Americans at the Battle of Tirad Pass.
Elias Magbanua was given the rank when he joined the revolution against Spain in 1898 as he was educated. His older brother, Pascual, was also a revolutionary but mysteriously died at 25.
Her sister, Teresa Magbanua, though, was the most famous of the three, who were all born in Pototan, Iloilo, to a well-to-do family. Teresa had successful battles against the Spaniards and had led troops against the Americans. As she was an expert equestrian, she rode a horse to her battles earning her the title the 'Visayan Joan of Arc'. Teresa, in her old age, sold some of her properties during the Japanese Occupation to contribute to the underground movement against the Japanese, making her, in a way, the only revolutionary to have fought the three colonizers.
Photo credit: Wikipedia
While I was digging the historical information about this chapter, I realized we have a lot of heroes in this part of our island, heroes who, like Capitan Elias Magbanua and his fighters, definitely deserved to be up there standing on a monument unlike someone who was just a product of a twisted history bereft of any evidentiary support to back up the supposed deed and worse, without any public acceptance.😡
The next time you pass by Capitan Elias Magbanua's monument near E. B. Magalona, you now know that his battle at Sitio Guintabu-an on that day of August 19, 1899, was closer to home than you might have thought.
As Victoriahanon recruits had fought beside him and that families from Victorias contributed money, food and supplies to his resistance, we should all remember that our Victoriahanon forebears showed their bravery, heroism and love of country during the Philippine-American War (1899 - 1902).
By the way, Elias Magbanua was just 19. 😢
Chapter 21 - President Ramon Magsaysay and His Victorias Connection
Walking through Magsaysay Street one afternoon while taking photographs of a religious procession, I realized there was a historical trivia somewhere along the way, literally.
This two-lane, cemented road, that's about 390 meters along, starts from Osmeña Avenue (formerly Calle Real) and ends at Quezon Street of Victorias City in Negros Occidental, Philippines.
So, I did some digging. Historical digging, that is.
I discovered that the Magsaysay Street was just a cleared path purposely made so that there would be a road from the Catholic church straight to the old cemetery in Malinong. When this path was finished, it was just a dirt road back then with tall trees and shrubbery lining its sides.
And at the other end of the path was the old cemetery. Yes, the Fer-Mont Village, or Malinong Village used to be a cemetery in Barangay 7. It was probably called 'malinong', the Hiligaynon word that means serene or peaceful, because the place was exactly that: serene, quiet and peaceful.
Well, that area was malinong as it became the final resting place for all the Victoriahanons who died sometime in 1934 until the 1960s when a new site for a public cemetery located at the northern outskirts of the town was donated by Sr. Gonzalo Ditching and Sra. Simeona Jingco.
The decayed coffins, human remains, and the sacred soil they were laid on were all transferred to the public cemetery on the donated land. But I heard, after all these years, during certain excavations, some skeletons were still being unearthed in Malinong.
(Locating Magsaysay Street in Victorias City
using Google Earth)
Simple. He had a good friend in Victorias.
As I have written blogs about the Montinola family's personal interactions and relationships with the past Philippine presidents, from Don Felix Montinola and President Manuel Quezon who helped build the município in the 1930s to Don Benito Montinola, Sr. (mayor from 1950 to 1953 and from 1956 to 1959), and President Diosdado Macapagal, there's another piece of history that's worth sharing.
In 1953, when Ramon Magsaysay was campaigning for his presidential candidacy, he came to Victorias to court its voters. He was then running against the incumbent president, Elpidio Quirino, who was seeking another term. After all the votes were counted for the November 10, 1953 elections, Magsaysay handily won over Quirino.
And when Ramon Magsaysay was already president and Benito Montinola, Sr. just finished his first term as mayor, their paths crossed in 1954 in Iloilo. That was when and where they both became good friends. President Magsaysay even inspired Don Benito to run again as mayor of Victorias in 1956; he won.
Sadly, on March 17, 1957, President Ramon Magsaysay was killed when his plane that was en route to Manila crashed at Mount Manunggal in Cebu Province, shocking of the whole nation and plunging the Filipinos into grief, including his friend in Victorias. President Magsaysay was known as the Champion of the Masses.
And to honor the late president, in 1958, during the mayorship of his friend, Don Benito Montinola, Sr., the town council of Victorias named that road from the parish church to the old cemetery as Magsaysay Street.
And to honor a friend, Don Benito named his youngest son Ramon, who was born the day the late president died.😋
As I have written blogs about the Montinola family's personal interactions and relationships with the past Philippine presidents, from Don Felix Montinola and President Manuel Quezon who helped build the município in the 1930s to Don Benito Montinola, Sr. (mayor from 1950 to 1953 and from 1956 to 1959), and President Diosdado Macapagal, there's another piece of history that's worth sharing.
In 1953, when Ramon Magsaysay was campaigning for his presidential candidacy, he came to Victorias to court its voters. He was then running against the incumbent president, Elpidio Quirino, who was seeking another term. After all the votes were counted for the November 10, 1953 elections, Magsaysay handily won over Quirino.
And when Ramon Magsaysay was already president and Benito Montinola, Sr. just finished his first term as mayor, their paths crossed in 1954 in Iloilo. That was when and where they both became good friends. President Magsaysay even inspired Don Benito to run again as mayor of Victorias in 1956; he won.
Sadly, on March 17, 1957, President Ramon Magsaysay was killed when his plane that was en route to Manila crashed at Mount Manunggal in Cebu Province, shocking of the whole nation and plunging the Filipinos into grief, including his friend in Victorias. President Magsaysay was known as the Champion of the Masses.
And to honor the late president, in 1958, during the mayorship of his friend, Don Benito Montinola, Sr., the town council of Victorias named that road from the parish church to the old cemetery as Magsaysay Street.
And to honor a friend, Don Benito named his youngest son Ramon, who was born the day the late president died.😋
(Former mayor Don Benito Montinola, Sr.
with President Ramon Magsaysay at Iloilo City sometime in 1954)
(Photo credit: The Family of Don Benito Montinola, Sr.)
(Photo credit: The Family of Don Benito Montinola, Sr.)
Here's the campaign jingle used by Magsaysay's team during the 1953 presidential elections. Note its catchy tune and witty lyrics, which were way better than the ones used by the local candidates during the 2019 elections.😆
Chapter 22 - Victorias City could have been Toreno City
The first time I heard 'Toreno' as a name of an area in Victorias City (in the Philippines) was years ago when someone I knew moved there.
I thought then that the correct spelling was 'Torino', an Italian city which I visited as a Bosconian pilgrim to the magnificent Basilica de Maria Ausiliatrice or the Basilica of Mary the Help of Christians located at Torino's Don Bosco Valdocco area.
Why did I think it was 'Torino'? Because Negrenses, as Hiligaynon speakers, would pronounce a hard 'e' as soft 'e', thereby turning 'to-ree-no' into 'to-reh-no'.
But it turned out it was indeed 'Toreno' afte I did a little digging for Chapter 7 and Chapter 8 of this Victorias history blog.
Toreno was the name of the hacienda owned by Don Teodoro Benedicto way back in the latter part of the 19th century when one of his heirs, Don Leon Montinola, threatened to uproot the houses of the people who built them on his hacienda and who sued the town officials in 1906 for creating roads on the same land. This hacienda is now Toreno Heights Subdivision and is part of Barangay 9 of Victorias City.
But do you know that 'Toreno' was Victorias City's old name after 'Malihao'? And it was named so sometime in 1849?
According to Negrense historian, Mr. Modesto Sa-onoy, it was the alcalde-mayor of the Negros island in 1849 who gave it this name.
On May 5, 1837, Negros island, still a poor backwater, was elevated to an alcaldia-mayor by a royal decree as part of the reforms decided by the Spanish government for their colony, Islas Filipinas.
Before that time, Negros island was classified as 'corregimiento' and its leader a 'corregidor', which probably was the origin of the Hiligaynon word 'koridor' that means a person collecting bets for small-town lottery gambling.
But in 1849, when Bacolod became the new capital of the province, taking over Himamaylan, a new alcalde-mayor arrived from Spain.
He was Don Manuel Valdivieso y Morcheso, a Spanish lawyer who arrived in May 1849. Had he not been sick, Don Manuel would have had settled in the island two years earlier. His doctor did not give him the go-signal to travel for months at sea to the Philippines in 1847. Imagine, he was sick, and sailing across the oceans feasting only on jamón iberico and other preserved meat and fish would not have been a healthy diet for a not-so-healthy person.
As some names of towns in the Philippines were named after places in Spain, these were given by the Spanish alcáldes and governors as an homage to their hometowns and to probably alleviate some of their homesickness being thousands of miles from home.
And as a governor, Don Manuel certainly exercised such privilege.
One of his legacies was naming one settlement, a very familiar one, after his hometown in Spain, Cadiz. Yes, Cadiz is now Cadiz City because of him.
Although it was just a barangay then, Cadiz City was named Valdivieso and later on, Cadiz.
Saravia, the old name of E. B.Magalona, was named after Emilio Saravia, the governor of Negros from 1855 to 1857. Saravia, who turned out to be a ruthless governor, was Don Manuel's successor.
Other than naming Cadiz after his hometown, Don Manuel, during his six-year term as governor, created the towns of Valladolid in 1850 and in 1854, Murcia and Granada; all named after cities in Spain.
After Cadiz, he also named Madrigal (now San Enrique), Simancas (now La Carlota), Isabela (formerly Tinungan), Nueva Valencia (now Escalante), Magallanes (now Sagay), and what do you know, Toreno, which is now Victorias City!
Except for Isabela, the queen's name, and Magellan, these are all places in Spain.
Yes, who would have thought my hometown had an early Spanish name before it was christened 'Victorias', the approved shortened version of 'Nuestra Señora de Las Victorias', after the apparition of the Virgin in the old Victorias during the late 19th century.
And while I was looking these places up in the map of Spain, I found out that I was actually about 10 kilometers off from the municipality of Toreno when my Renfe train passed through the province of León on my way to Santiago de Compostela.
Well, had I known then that my hometown of Victorias was formerly named Toreno, I could have made a side trip to find out what was so interesting about that place that made Don Manuel name this settlement by the Malihao River.
And so, it turned out Hacienda Toreno in Daan Banwa of Victorias City is the remaining witness to one of the city's early names, a legacy of a Spanish governor who replaced the name of 'Malihao' until the town was renamed 'Victorias' in the 1880s. The next time I pass by that area, I should remember this piece of Victorias history.
Well, could our city have been called Toreno City if it were not for the apparition of the Virgin accompanied by Archangel Michael? 😏
(Map credit: 1734 Murillo-Velarde Map)
Chapter 23 - The First Victoriahanon
Casualties of WW II
On Chapter 17, I wrote about how the life and landscape of Victorias changed after the Japanese Imperial Army arrived in Victorias on May 27, 1942, a Wednesday.
From that day until April 26, 1945, a Thursday, when American soldiers crossed into Victorias, the way of living of Victoriahanons was severely disrupted and ruined, lives were lost, their freedoms taken away, and homes, mansions and structures in the town were destroyed and burned down.
But even before the Japanese arrived in Victorias, there were already Victoriahanons who died in December 1941, and were probably the first Victoriahanon casualties of World War II.😭
On December 8, 1941, in the Philippines, about nine hours after the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor in Hawaii, Japanese war planes were already doing bombing runs over Luzon, specifically, on Tuguegarao, Baguio, and Clark Air Fields.
World War II finally arrived that day in the islands.
Even before the war, many Negrense families, including those in Victorias, had family members studying at universities and schools in Manila.
That time in 1941, with his term ending a year before, former mayor Don Felix Montinola had a son, two granddaughters, and two grandsons in Manila studying. His granddaughters were studying at St. Scholastica's College in Manila. But when the war broke out, he immediately summoned them back home.
And with everyone trying to flee Manila, just getting a ticket on a boat going south was an impossible challenge as movements of the ships and other maritime vessels were restricted so as to avoid being targeted by the enemy.
But one ship, the S.S. Corregidor, known to be one of the best inter-island vessels owned by the Compañia Maritima, was given permission to sail to the south. It was probably given permission as it carried military personnel and ammunitions bound for the Visayas and Mindanao.
On December 16, 1941, a Tuesday, and a week after the declaration of war against Japan, desperate passengers boarded the S.S. Corregidor as it docked on Manila's South Harbor. Other than the military personnel, students, congressmen, and families from prominent clans of the South were also on board. In the chaos and overloading, there was no official list but it was estimated the passengers totaled about 600 to 1,000.
Although all the passengers who made it to the S.S. Corregidor would have been thought as lucky to have been able to secure a ride home, this, as it turned out, was one voyage that made them one of the first casualties of war. And the son and grandchildren of Don Felix were among its passengers.
That day, the ship had to wait until it was dark before it could sail. So, just before midnight, it was allowed to.
As it was wartime, the US military took every precaution to defend the Philippines, and as part of the defense against Japanese ships, naval minefields were set up by the Harbor Defense and Torpedo Boat Squadron 3 in the waters near Corregidor Island, and ships that were allowed to pass through Manila Bay had to be guided properly to avoid hitting the mines.
(The map of the waters around Corregidor
Island and waters of Manila Bay showing
the field of defensive naval mines.
S.S. Corregidor hit at least one of those mines.)
That night, under the cloak of darkness, S.S. Corregidor treaded the dangerous waters with the guidance of "PT 41", a patrol torpedo boat commanded by Ensign George Cox, who, as he was guiding the commercial vessel, noticed that the ship suddenly "veered towards the minefields and efforts to stop her were to no avail". The "efforts" Ens. Cox was talking about included signaling the ship with lights that were seen by the passengers on deck.
The mine fields straddled around Corregidor Island and the islets named Caballo, Fraile, and Carabao, creating a net of underwater explosives blocking the entrance into Manila Bay and stretching from Bataan at the north and to Cavite at the south.
The type of naval mines the S.S. Corregidor was trying to avoid was the dreaded contact mines that exploded upon contact and the laying of this particular field of 532 mines from the western point of Corregidor Island to Cavite started on July 15, 1941 and was completed on September 30, 1941. And each mine weighed from 700 to 800 lbs., excluding the weight of the trinitrotoluene, or TNT, of another 300 lbs.
The mine fields straddled around Corregidor Island and the islets named Caballo, Fraile, and Carabao, creating a net of underwater explosives blocking the entrance into Manila Bay and stretching from Bataan at the north and to Cavite at the south.
The type of naval mines the S.S. Corregidor was trying to avoid was the dreaded contact mines that exploded upon contact and the laying of this particular field of 532 mines from the western point of Corregidor Island to Cavite started on July 15, 1941 and was completed on September 30, 1941. And each mine weighed from 700 to 800 lbs., excluding the weight of the trinitrotoluene, or TNT, of another 300 lbs.
Upon hitting the mine, there was a loud 'thud' followed by an explosion. According to Ensign Cox, "the ship sank so fast virtually all aboard went with her including the ship captain. There were very few survivors".
Don Felix Montinola's son, Guillermo, a medical student at the University of Santo Tomas, was with Roland Fermin, Don Felix's grandson, and Agustin Magcal, a family friend, on the main deck.
But when the ship hit the mine, Guillermo, also known as 'Willy' to the family, rushed down to their cabin to get his two nieces, Estela and Ester, and nephew, Hernan. Estela, Ester and Hernan were the children of Doña Quintina Montinola y Fermin, the eldest of Don Felix's children.
As most of the passengers were either resting or sleeping since it was close to midnight when the accident happened, they were trapped inside their cabins or below decks.
Adding to the fact that in total darkness, it was difficult to save those who were able to swim but were covered with oil floating along with the strong currents in waters where the presence of naval mines was preventing other ships from freely navigating to help.
But when the ship hit the mine, Guillermo, also known as 'Willy' to the family, rushed down to their cabin to get his two nieces, Estela and Ester, and nephew, Hernan. Estela, Ester and Hernan were the children of Doña Quintina Montinola y Fermin, the eldest of Don Felix's children.
As most of the passengers were either resting or sleeping since it was close to midnight when the accident happened, they were trapped inside their cabins or below decks.
Adding to the fact that in total darkness, it was difficult to save those who were able to swim but were covered with oil floating along with the strong currents in waters where the presence of naval mines was preventing other ships from freely navigating to help.
Guillermo, his nieces and nephew never made it back to the deck. But amidst the pandemonium, and screams and cries for help heard that dreadful night at sea, it was Agustin who helped save Rolando. They were among the few who survived.
They were brought first to Corregidor Island where they received medical attention at the military-run hospital and were later brought to the mainland. Rolando Fermin stayed at the home of Pancho Magalona, a second cousin of his mother, in Manila while he came to terms with the tragedy before making arrangements of going home.
The original plan of S.S. Corregidor was to land on any major island in the south upon daybreak. From there, the passengers could take other boats to their final destination. Sadly, most of the passengers of S.S. Corregidor and its captain didn't make it home for Christmas.
Under the dark Philippine skies and in a voyage imperiled by war, they finally rested in their graves in the waters of a bay whose city would fall into enemy hands months later.
The S.S. Corregidor left Manila on December 16 and sank sometime around midnight or early morning of December 17, 1941. The news of the tragedy reached Victorias on December 18, a Thursday.
That day, during the early days of World War II, Doña Quintina, or Inday Tinay to her friends and Lola Tinay to her grandchildren, lost two daughters, a son, and a brother as casualties of a war that would set foot in their hometown five months later.
That Christmas of 1941 was the saddest for her and her family. 😭
Estela was 20, while Ester was just 18. Hernan turned 15 just four days before the tragedy, and Guillermo, who was preparing to be a doctor, was about 27. 😭
(The S.S. Corregidor sank on December 16
or 17, 1941 along with the first
Victoriahanon casualties of WW2)
Weeks after the tragedy, Rolando Fermin, just 16 at that time, was able to come home via land and sea transports, finally arriving at the port of Bacolod and taking horse-drawn calesa to the family's Hacienda Malogo in the former Saravia for a short rest, and then headed north to the family's Hacienda Dapdap in Manapla to join his family that already made arrangements of gradually vacating the stone mansion along Calle Real in front of the public plaza of Victorias.
Rolando's two brothers later became mayors of Victorias: Jesus Fermin (mayor from 1964 to 1986) and Renato Fermin (mayor from 1988 to 1992).
Mr. Agustin Magcal became the first barangay captain of Barangay 3 of Victorias when then President Ferdinand Marcos approved the creation of the barangay system in 1975.
Don Pedro Ardosa, also from a prominent family of Manapla, was on the same boat but survived.
Mr. Agustin Magcal became the first barangay captain of Barangay 3 of Victorias when then President Ferdinand Marcos approved the creation of the barangay system in 1975.
Don Pedro Ardosa, also from a prominent family of Manapla, was on the same boat but survived.
The Fall of the Philippines by Louis Morton
The diary of Fr. Juan Labrador, OP
Mrs. Aurora L. Delgado
At Close Quarters: PT Boats in the United States Navy by Captain Robert J. Bulkley, Jr.
The diary of Teodoro Locsin, Sr.
Photo credits: Philippine Diary Project)
The diary of Teodoro Locsin, Sr.
Photo credits: Philippine Diary Project)
Chapter 24 - The women of Victorias: Capitana Tutang, Paz Gonzaga, and Salud Montinola
Capitana Tutang and the women of Victorias
In the 1880s, after having been robbed and held hostage by tulisanes, Capitana Tutang, the grand old dame of Daan Banwa, outwitted her captors and even saved her maid, Micay, from drowning by dragging her to shore after they were both dumped in open waters at the mouth of the Malihao River (see Chapter 4).
Another Victoriahanon lady, Señorita Paz Gonzaga, the daughter of former mayor Sr. Ricardo Gonzaga, helped the poor town raise funds on May 22 and 23, 1907, that were needed to buy bamboos and nipa, and to pay for carpenters who would build a new município at the Embarcadero area on the land donated by Sr. Yap-Quiña (see Chapter 11).
Señorita Gonzaga, fresh from completing her education, shared her talent by agreeing to be the star of two stage plays that raised 680 pesos after deducting the expenses incurred in staging the play. She was asked to lead the play because she could speak fluent Spanish, the language of the play, and must have had the beauty and stage presence that could sell tickets.
After writing both of these women's stories as part of our Victorias history, I realized that these two helped define the women during their time.
And after rummaging through the lives of the old Victorias, I am adding another woman's name to the list: Salud Montinola y Magalona, the second eldest child of Don Felix Montinola, town mayor from 1934 to 1940 (see Chapter 16).
(The 21-year old Salud Montinola y Magalona,
as she was photographed in 1920)
as she was photographed in 1920)
Pharmacist by profession before the WW2
After obtaining her degree in pharmacy from the University of Santo Tomas in Manila, Salud came back home to Victorias and set up a small pharmacy right next to the family's stone mansion (that partly stood on the land where the present-day Petron gasoline station is located) along Calle Real (present-day Osmeña Avenue) dispensing and selling medicines to the Victoriahanons of the 1930s until the war broke out.
After obtaining her degree in pharmacy from the University of Santo Tomas in Manila, Salud came back home to Victorias and set up a small pharmacy right next to the family's stone mansion (that partly stood on the land where the present-day Petron gasoline station is located) along Calle Real (present-day Osmeña Avenue) dispensing and selling medicines to the Victoriahanons of the 1930s until the war broke out.
At her pharmacy, her younger brother Hector Montinola, who later became the town mayor from 1946 to 1950, assisted her in mixing and compounding prescription drugs.
Situated along the busy Calle Real (present-day Osmeña Avenue, the national highway), the dirt road passageway connecting Victorias to Manapla and Saravia before the construction of the stone municipal hall in the late 1930s, she must have made good business.
On the northern side of Matinal Street (present-day Arnaez St.), right across her pharmacy, stood the Ascalon mansion (present-day Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints), where the young Salud would greet every morning its residents, including Señora Paquita Ascalon, the sister of the last resident of the Ascalon mansion, Porfirio Ascalon. Señora Paquita, unmarried and a pious lady, stayed with the Montinolas at their Hacienda Dapdap in Manapla during the war.
Señora Paquita led the praying of the Holy Rosary at Hacienda Dapdap every six in the evening during the war. She was joined by the whole Montinola family and by the hacienda workers. When the priests at parish churches ceased celebrating the holy mass at that time for fear of being killed by the Japanese soldiers, families at that time gathered daily to quietly pray for peace and the end of war.
Though the Japanese soldiers regularly visited Hacienda Dapdap to look for guerrillas, they were met and offered 'botong-botong' (long sugar candies) as a friendly gesture and to take their minds off from hunting them down (read story here).
Presidente de Centro de Puericultura de VictoriasIn 1930, Salud Montinola became involved in civic activities. She was asked by the local town officials to lead the Victorias Puericulture Center, which was then registered at its official name, Centro de Puericultura de Victorias. She succeeded Mrs. Lourdes Tongoy. (I wonder if Mrs. Tongoy's husband was related to Sr. Eliodoro Tongoy, the town mayor from 1898 to 1902).
The puericulture center was where pregnant women received prenatal care and attention for their unborn child, and was located at the current location of the City's public health center.
According to the Philippine Public Welfare Commissioner's report of 1930, during her time as the head of the Centro de Puericultura de Victorias, the Centro's assigned head nurse was Miss Presentacion Torre and the head midwife was Miss Paula Perales. (The former became the wife of Sr. Felix Montinola, Jr. when they were married at the Montinola family's Hacienda Dapdap during the war.)
That year, there were 475 mothers and 735 children were registered at the Centro. Your great-grandmothers were probably one of them, and your lolo or lola might have been one of those 735 babies and toddlers.
Also in 1930, there were 1,731 pre-natal or postnatal consultations done at the Centro and 4,128 consultations for babies. Other consultations were 627.
That time, the nurses would make house visits, which, sadly, doesn't happen anymore. If you were pregnant and had difficulty moving around, the nurse from the Centro would visit you at home. These days, you have to visit a clinic for your pre-natal care or delivery.
While the men in the Montinola family were busy with politics, Salud experimented with new farm methods, introduced high yield sugarcane varieties, and gave importance to the hacienda workers' welfare.
At Hacienda Dapdap, she built houses for her workers, constructed a chapel and had a weekly mass said by a priest from Manapla for their spiritual needs, and opened a cantina at the hacienda where workers could buy rice, de latas, and other household items on credit.
And in the late 1960s, she had a black-and-white television installed at the cantina where her workers could watch TV shows every night for their entertainment after their work at the fields. Providing this kind of nightly exposure to news and entertainment improved the overall hacienda morale, which in turn improved workers' productivity.
During the annual fiesta at Hacienda Dapdap that fell on September 9, the birthday of her mother, Doña Dorotea, a mass was held at the chapel and the workers joined in the feast of roasted cow and other delicious staples cooked during special occasions. Parlor games for the workers' children were also organized that made everyone feel the hacienda was one community that worked and played together.
That's why under her watch, Hacienda Dapdap was a top performing hacienda in terms of production and hectarage sugar yield.
Among the haciendas in the Victorias Milling District, Hacienda Dapdap was named "Outstanding Hacienda of the Year" and she the outstanding haciendera.
While the haciendas in the island were run by men, and her farm outperforming them all, this smart lady from Victorias, who saw the big picture and knew how to react to challenges, beat them at their own game.
And adapting the jargon of the 21st century, Salud Montinola - from Victorias - was the milling district's CEO of the year.😊
Born on May 10, 1899, Salud Montinola and her younger sister, Luz, attended the St. Scholastica's College in Manila during the early years of the American Occupation. After high school, she continued her studies at the University of Santo Tomas where she finished a degree in pharmacy.
Although she later became one of the few pharmacists in Victorias, as it turned out, this was not the profession that made her a distinguished businesswoman in the Negros sugar industry.
Doña Salud Montinola died on September 24, 1977, (incidentally was my mother's birthday and the this chapter's number that was never planned!😱) at Hacienda Dapdap in Manapla.
(The 21-year old Salud Montinola y Magalona as photographed in 1920, a hundred years ago, which makes it the oldest photograph I have of a Victoriahanon.)
The puericulture center was where pregnant women received prenatal care and attention for their unborn child, and was located at the current location of the City's public health center.
According to the Philippine Public Welfare Commissioner's report of 1930, during her time as the head of the Centro de Puericultura de Victorias, the Centro's assigned head nurse was Miss Presentacion Torre and the head midwife was Miss Paula Perales. (The former became the wife of Sr. Felix Montinola, Jr. when they were married at the Montinola family's Hacienda Dapdap during the war.)
That year, there were 475 mothers and 735 children were registered at the Centro. Your great-grandmothers were probably one of them, and your lolo or lola might have been one of those 735 babies and toddlers.
Also in 1930, there were 1,731 pre-natal or postnatal consultations done at the Centro and 4,128 consultations for babies. Other consultations were 627.
That time, the nurses would make house visits, which, sadly, doesn't happen anymore. If you were pregnant and had difficulty moving around, the nurse from the Centro would visit you at home. These days, you have to visit a clinic for your pre-natal care or delivery.
(The Victorias Puericulture Center used
to hold baby contests sponsored by Carnation.
The healthiest babies received
Carnation milk as prizes.)
One attending physician at the Centro during those years was Dr. Jose Valero who married Soledad Balbontin. Soledad, or Choleng to her family, was a daughter of Antonina Balboltin y Magalona, a sister of Doña Dorothea Montinola, Don Felix's wife.
"Outstanding hacienda of the year"
Being his second child and a strong woman with a profession to boot, Salud was favored by Don Felix Montinola to take charge of the family's hacienda operations.While the men in the Montinola family were busy with politics, Salud experimented with new farm methods, introduced high yield sugarcane varieties, and gave importance to the hacienda workers' welfare.
At Hacienda Dapdap, she built houses for her workers, constructed a chapel and had a weekly mass said by a priest from Manapla for their spiritual needs, and opened a cantina at the hacienda where workers could buy rice, de latas, and other household items on credit.
And in the late 1960s, she had a black-and-white television installed at the cantina where her workers could watch TV shows every night for their entertainment after their work at the fields. Providing this kind of nightly exposure to news and entertainment improved the overall hacienda morale, which in turn improved workers' productivity.
During the annual fiesta at Hacienda Dapdap that fell on September 9, the birthday of her mother, Doña Dorotea, a mass was held at the chapel and the workers joined in the feast of roasted cow and other delicious staples cooked during special occasions. Parlor games for the workers' children were also organized that made everyone feel the hacienda was one community that worked and played together.
Among the haciendas in the Victorias Milling District, Hacienda Dapdap was named "Outstanding Hacienda of the Year" and she the outstanding haciendera.
While the haciendas in the island were run by men, and her farm outperforming them all, this smart lady from Victorias, who saw the big picture and knew how to react to challenges, beat them at their own game.
And adapting the jargon of the 21st century, Salud Montinola - from Victorias - was the milling district's CEO of the year.😊
(Salud Montinola's Hacienda Dapdap was named Outstanding Hacienda of the Year)
Salud Montinola, her father's daughter
Salud Montinola was the second of the nine children of Doña Dorotea Montinola and Don Felix Montinola, who was the town mayor from 1934 to 1940 and who built the current stone município with the help of the Victoriahanons of that time and President Manuel L. Quezon.
Born on May 10, 1899, Salud Montinola and her younger sister, Luz, attended the St. Scholastica's College in Manila during the early years of the American Occupation. After high school, she continued her studies at the University of Santo Tomas where she finished a degree in pharmacy.
Although she later became one of the few pharmacists in Victorias, as it turned out, this was not the profession that made her a distinguished businesswoman in the Negros sugar industry.
Although she was not the eldest in the family, Salud earned the trust of her father, Don Felix, to handle the family affairs, finances, and the operations of their haciendas.
On the other hand, Doña Quintina, the eldest, had her own children to take care of and went through an unimaginable tragedy during the early days of the war (see Chapter 23) when three of her children perished at sea on December 16, 1941. Although she was not involved in hacienda operations, Doña Quintina, the mother of former mayors, Jesus Fermin (1964-1986) and Renato Fermin (1988-1992), was also a hardworking lady who cultivated her own santol and mango orchards at her Hacienda Malogo (in E.B. Magalona), and had her own steady harvest of mongo, rice and other fruits, including pili nuts which she baked and turned into pili squares that could rival those made in Silay City. She even had her own rose garden, and even had sheep and goats roaming around her hacienda.
Don Felix must have seen part of himself in his daughter, Salud. She loved to work, knew how to look after people, and also loved to travel. She spoke Spanish and English, and had no children of her own as she was unmarried, which helped her focus on whatever challenge was at hand.
She was 'Inday Salud' to her fellow hacienderos and by her hacienda workers, 'Nang Salud' to her younger siblings, and 'Nay Salud' or 'Tita Lud' to nephews, nieces and their children.
Doña Salud Montinola died on September 24, 1977, (incidentally was my mother's birthday and the this chapter's number that was never planned!😱) at Hacienda Dapdap in Manapla.
It was a sad Saturday. Tita Lud was 78.😢
Chapter 25: Former Provincial Governor Melecio Severino's contribution to Victorias
In Chapter 6 of this Victorias History blog, I wrote how, in 1902, the former provincial governor Melecio Severino helped the people of Daan Banwa (Old Victorias in the Philippines) retain the status of their village as a town.
That time, the American Governor-General running the Insular Government of the Philippine Islands issued an order that poor towns, including Victorias, should be relegated to a barrio of its neighboring towns as they were too poor to be considered as towns. (Read the old names of Victorias here).
Using the Magnanud River as the boundary, Daan Banwa would have been divided between Manapla and Saravia; the northern section was Manapla and its southern section was Saravia. (The earliest record I found that Daan Banwa became a barrio of Saravia was around 1848; it then became a town in 1898 - read blog here).
But things would have turned out differently for the people of Daan Banwa had Señor Melecio Severino heeded the lamentation of his wife, Señora Felicitas Villanueva.
September 29, 1902, a Monday and the day when the town leader, Sr. Eliodoro Tongoy, and town secretary, Sr. Esteban Jalandoni, left for Bacolod to salvage the town's status, started with all things going wrong for the two offiicals, although this day later held a moment of one man's benevolence and sympathy for the people of Daan Banwa.
Earlier that day, at around four in the morning, as the two officials were making their way along the Malihaw River on a boat that would bring them to Bacolod, a sudden gust of wind threw them off the boat (more details of the mishap on Chapter 6). And in Bacolod, during their visits to the governor's and a lawyer's offices, their mission became impossible as the day went on.
Daan Banwa seemed doomed to be just another barrio in the island.
That was until they bumped into Señor Melecio Severino.
In the sala of the house of Don Basiliso Villanueva and seated at the chairs made of hardwood and done in colonial designs, Sr. Tongoy and Sr. Jalandoni discussed the problem of the people of Daan Banwa.
And although we now know that the two accomplished what they initially set out to do, the rampaging cholera epidemic at that time almost caused Sr. Severino to delay his trip, or maybe had it canceled altogether.
According to the report of Dr. Victor G. Heiser, the Chief Quarantine Officer of the Philippine Islands and its Director of Health during the US occupation, a cholera epidemic swept the Philippines in the early 1900s. The disease surfaced in March 20, 1902 and lasted for two years. When cholera cases disappeared by March 8, 1904, there were 109,461 deaths from the disease. And that time, Bacolod was not spared.
So, when Sr. Felicitas, the wife of Sr. Severino, heard that her husband was planning to leave Bacolod for Manila, she expressed her fears.
The couple's dialogue went like this:
Sr. Melecio: "Señora, isa ca labing dacû, himpit cag mataas nga catungdanan sang tawo, maga pilit caron sa acon sa pagbiyâ sa imo sing mga pila lamang ca adlaw".
Sra. Felicitas: "¿Nga-a diin ca macadto?"
Sr. Melecio: "Sa Manila. Cay ang banua co nga pinalanggâ, ang banua nga nag tib-ong sa acon sa cahitaasan sang cagamhanan sa pagka-governador sa sini nga provincia nga amo ang banua sang Victorias, yara caron sa dacú nga calilisdan, cay paga pihacon sang mga banua sang Saravia cag Manapla sono sang orden sang General..."
Sra. Felicitas: "¿Baya-an mo aco sa tungâ sining maca siligni caron nga camatay diri sa Bacolod?"
Sr. Melecio: "Señora, saligui cag la-umi nga ang Dios dili nga mas-a mag tugut nga may calalat-an nga mahanabô sa isa ca tawo nga naga ampin sing tusuc sa iya taguipuso-on, sang casaquit nga pala-abuton sang isa ca banua nga naga cabuhî bisan imol lamang sa iya caugalingon nga pangitan-an."
Sra. Felicitas then left the room as she wiped her tears. Even though she feared for her husband and her family as the cholera epidemic was sweeping Bacolod and the country, she was proud of her husband and the honorable deed he was about to do for the people of the Old Victorias. In other words, not even a pandemic could stop one man's compassion for his people.
And the rest, as they say, is history. Weeks after Sr. Severino left for Manila, the people of Daan Banwa rejoiced when the town leader received that telegram bearing the best news they heard since November 1898 when Daan Banwa became a town as ordered by the governor of the Republica Cantonal de Negros.
Señor Melecio Yorac Severino, a resident of Silay, was born on December 4, 1866. He was an important member of the revolutionary movement, using his fine writing skills to create propaganda against the Spanish colonizers and their abuses. The movement is now being celebrated as Cinco de Noviembre in Negros Occidental.
In 1912, he was elected as Representative to the National Assembly. As a solon, he opposed the adoption of English as medium of instruction in Philippine schools.
It was said that, sadly, Sr. Severino died of a heart attack on May 16, 1915. He was just 48.😢
As he is part of the history of Victorias, the people of the Daan Banwa, as well as the Victoriahanons of today, owe Sr. Melecio Severino and to Sra. Felicitas Severino y Villanueva a debt of gratitude for their contribution to this town. 🙏
In Chapter 6 of this Victorias History blog, I wrote how, in 1902, the former provincial governor Melecio Severino helped the people of Daan Banwa (Old Victorias in the Philippines) retain the status of their village as a town.
That time, the American Governor-General running the Insular Government of the Philippine Islands issued an order that poor towns, including Victorias, should be relegated to a barrio of its neighboring towns as they were too poor to be considered as towns. (Read the old names of Victorias here).
Using the Magnanud River as the boundary, Daan Banwa would have been divided between Manapla and Saravia; the northern section was Manapla and its southern section was Saravia. (The earliest record I found that Daan Banwa became a barrio of Saravia was around 1848; it then became a town in 1898 - read blog here).
But things would have turned out differently for the people of Daan Banwa had Señor Melecio Severino heeded the lamentation of his wife, Señora Felicitas Villanueva.
September 29, 1902, a Monday and the day when the town leader, Sr. Eliodoro Tongoy, and town secretary, Sr. Esteban Jalandoni, left for Bacolod to salvage the town's status, started with all things going wrong for the two offiicals, although this day later held a moment of one man's benevolence and sympathy for the people of Daan Banwa.
Earlier that day, at around four in the morning, as the two officials were making their way along the Malihaw River on a boat that would bring them to Bacolod, a sudden gust of wind threw them off the boat (more details of the mishap on Chapter 6). And in Bacolod, during their visits to the governor's and a lawyer's offices, their mission became impossible as the day went on.
Daan Banwa seemed doomed to be just another barrio in the island.
That was until they bumped into Señor Melecio Severino.
In the sala of the house of Don Basiliso Villanueva and seated at the chairs made of hardwood and done in colonial designs, Sr. Tongoy and Sr. Jalandoni discussed the problem of the people of Daan Banwa.
And although we now know that the two accomplished what they initially set out to do, the rampaging cholera epidemic at that time almost caused Sr. Severino to delay his trip, or maybe had it canceled altogether.
According to the report of Dr. Victor G. Heiser, the Chief Quarantine Officer of the Philippine Islands and its Director of Health during the US occupation, a cholera epidemic swept the Philippines in the early 1900s. The disease surfaced in March 20, 1902 and lasted for two years. When cholera cases disappeared by March 8, 1904, there were 109,461 deaths from the disease. And that time, Bacolod was not spared.
So, when Sr. Felicitas, the wife of Sr. Severino, heard that her husband was planning to leave Bacolod for Manila, she expressed her fears.
The couple's dialogue went like this:
Sr. Melecio: "Señora, isa ca labing dacû, himpit cag mataas nga catungdanan sang tawo, maga pilit caron sa acon sa pagbiyâ sa imo sing mga pila lamang ca adlaw".
Sra. Felicitas: "¿Nga-a diin ca macadto?"
Sr. Melecio: "Sa Manila. Cay ang banua co nga pinalanggâ, ang banua nga nag tib-ong sa acon sa cahitaasan sang cagamhanan sa pagka-governador sa sini nga provincia nga amo ang banua sang Victorias, yara caron sa dacú nga calilisdan, cay paga pihacon sang mga banua sang Saravia cag Manapla sono sang orden sang General..."
Sra. Felicitas: "¿Baya-an mo aco sa tungâ sining maca siligni caron nga camatay diri sa Bacolod?"
Sr. Melecio: "Señora, saligui cag la-umi nga ang Dios dili nga mas-a mag tugut nga may calalat-an nga mahanabô sa isa ca tawo nga naga ampin sing tusuc sa iya taguipuso-on, sang casaquit nga pala-abuton sang isa ca banua nga naga cabuhî bisan imol lamang sa iya caugalingon nga pangitan-an."
Sra. Felicitas then left the room as she wiped her tears. Even though she feared for her husband and her family as the cholera epidemic was sweeping Bacolod and the country, she was proud of her husband and the honorable deed he was about to do for the people of the Old Victorias. In other words, not even a pandemic could stop one man's compassion for his people.
And the rest, as they say, is history. Weeks after Sr. Severino left for Manila, the people of Daan Banwa rejoiced when the town leader received that telegram bearing the best news they heard since November 1898 when Daan Banwa became a town as ordered by the governor of the Republica Cantonal de Negros.
Señor Melecio Yorac Severino, a resident of Silay, was born on December 4, 1866. He was an important member of the revolutionary movement, using his fine writing skills to create propaganda against the Spanish colonizers and their abuses. The movement is now being celebrated as Cinco de Noviembre in Negros Occidental.
In 1912, he was elected as Representative to the National Assembly. As a solon, he opposed the adoption of English as medium of instruction in Philippine schools.
It was said that, sadly, Sr. Severino died of a heart attack on May 16, 1915. He was just 48.😢
As he is part of the history of Victorias, the people of the Daan Banwa, as well as the Victoriahanons of today, owe Sr. Melecio Severino and to Sra. Felicitas Severino y Villanueva a debt of gratitude for their contribution to this town. 🙏
Chapter 29: Don Miguel Jose Ossorio and How He Started Victorias Milling Company
* * * * *
(More chapters will be added to this history blog as I continue to unearth more interesting stories about Victorias.👦)
* * * * *
History Continues: Malabay Kita Tanan Nga Daw Asó (We're all just passing by like smoke)
We haven't even discussed the scandals that sent the Victoriahanons' tongues wagging like the story about a group of people working in a local bank and who turned out were milking it dry through fraud and had to flee the town when they were discovered in the late 1980s! Or about warring families, or those town mistresses! I'm sure you heard a thing or two about them!😃
I started telling our history from the Victorias public plaza, went over to Daan Banwa, faced the tulisánes and swam with Capitana Tutang and Mikay back to shore. We crossed the Magnanud River, watched Spanish plays, built a município, and went up the mountains to hide from the Japanese. Now, I am back to the public plaza where, I ask again: who donated this spot? Maybe someone can dig up the OCT to find out for us.
And since I am still at the public plaza, I might as well show you what I found: a marble marker for a time capsule set to be unearthed in 2064.
I read it and I am now cringing because the Victoriahanons of 2064 will definitely think of us, the Victoriahanons of 2014, that we didn't know how to construct our English sentences properly. There are 98,856 Victoriahanons now in the city and not one could write proper English, especially on a slab of marble that could not be corrected? But if the city government cares, it has 45 years to rewrite it.😛
So, as we have judged those who came before us, we, too, will be judged by those after us.
And since we are talking about history, click on the video and listen to this Hiligaynon song which, if you listen to its lyrics intently, is a message to all of us.
Because just like asó (smoke), everything in this world will pass.🙏
Your blog is very comprehensive and informative.
ReplyDeleteEvery Victoriahanon should read it.
Thank you. The chapters of the Victorias history are now on Facebook.
Deletehttps://www.facebook.com/VictoriasHistory