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Written by Jes Tirol

Proem

A few days ago I was asked about the history of the establishment of the town of Anda, Bohol. When I looked at my past articles. I found out that I have not yet written about the town of Anda, Bohol. So herewith is the history of the establishment of the civil aspect of the town of Anda, Bohol.

The Name

The town now called Anda was once known as Quinale. The word Quinale comes from the Bisayan word calt.

The dictionary Vocabulario De La Lengua Bisaya has the following entry: "Calt -- Cabor o hazer hoyo, como para arrancar raizes, como de ubes o camotes. (To dig of make a hole to pull out roots, yams or sweetpotatoes).

The Bisayan spelling of calt is kalt. In the Bisayan spelling, the infix "…in.." is inserted between the letters "K" and "A" and the word becomes kinalt. It means the result of the action of activity of kalt. It refers to the soil taken out when digging a hole. It does not refer to the hole but to the excavated material. The Spanish way of spelling kinalt is quinale.

The place called Quinale is located near the seashore at the eastern part of the island of Bohol. Its beaches have plenty of sand that looks like the kinalt from some excavations.

The name Quinale is therefore a cachetonym or a name taken from a prominent feature of the place.

When it was made into a separate town, its name was changed to Anda. No explanation was given in the decree why that name was chosen. The accepted explanation in the locality is that Anda refers to Governor General Simon de Anda y Salazar.

Simon de Anda was the member of the Royal Audiencia in the Philippines who did not surrender to the British in 1762. He went to the provinces and organized his own Spanish government and harassed the British who occupied Manila. He became Governor General of the Philippines in 1769-1770.

First Petition

On July 8, 1856 the Visita (Mission field) of Quinale made a petition to become an independent town from its mother town of Guindulman, Bohol.

On September 3, 1856 the Assessor General of the Government endorsed the petition to the Governor General of the Philippines. On September 5, 1856, Governor General Manuel Crespo denied the petition for the reason that Quinale could not meet the required number of 500 tributes or taxpayers.

Second Petition

On December 30, 1872, a new petition was made to become an independent town. The petition was addressed to the Provincial Governor of Bohol and signed by the following: Teniente Absoluto Eusebio Amper; Parish Priest Father Lorenzo Hernandez; Cabezas De Barangay Juda Felisarta; Silverio Escobido; Isidro Amper; Jose Felisarta; Leon Maquibulan; Serapio Felisarta; Gabriel Timaan; Domingo Deloso; Ciriaco Deloso; Nestorio Felisarta; Nicolas Felisarta, Romero Diligero; and Lauriano Jandayan.

The petition stated that the previous petition to become an independent town, only granted the people to have their own Independent Lieutenant (Teniente Absolutio) to govern the place.

The town had already progressed since 1856. The public buildings and church were improved. There was already a horse-carriage road covering the distance of two leagues (approximately 8 kilometers) to the mother town of Guindulman. However, the situation was not advants geous to the Visita. Its farm products would still have to be taken to Guindulman that was two and one-fourth leagues away.

The petition was endorsed to higher authorities. It reached the Consejo De Administracion De Filipinas (Council For Administration of the Philippines), the Father Provincial of the Recollects, and the Archbishop of Manila. It was sent forth and back for more information or data.

Petition Denied Again

On March 27, 1874, Father Patricio Marcellan, the Vicar Provincial of the Recollects in Manila made this comment; "In 1856, Quinale asked to be separated but it was inconvenient because it lacked the required 500 taxpayers. Now, it is still unprepared because there are only 400 taxpayers.

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