By Rudan Alberto Matig-aI will start my story about Tagbilaran by making as base of reference the town of Baclayon because, according to my friend Jes Tirol, Baclayon is a town that accordingly before and during the start of the Spanish era covered the towns of Tagbilaran, Corella, Sikatuna, Balilihan and Alburquerque. So Baclayon must be a big piece of real estate at that time.
One historical account said that; “Tagbilaran city was originally a native settlement, involved in trading with both China and Malaysia a hundred years before Spaniards arrived in the Philippines. The settlement first encountered the Spaniards in 1565, where the Spanish conquistador Miguel López de Legazpi and the native chieftain Datu Sikatuna pledged peace and cooperation through the famous blood compact, where they drew their own blood, mixed it with wine and drank together.â€
I think this is sketchy picture of Tagbilaran and even the source of this account seems faulty because, a hundred years before the arrival of the Spaniards in the Philippines, Tagbilaran is not yet a town. If ever the Tagbilaranons engaged themselves in trade and business they should have done it in Baclayon because this is where the town was first established and the center of commerce before the Spanish era, so to speak. Some people might think that we engaged in trade with China and Malaysia because of the presence of shard earthen wares and porcelain potteries dug in Lower Mansasa. If you try to classify these items today you will arrive at a point that these are luxurious items in Bohol long before the Spaniards came. I don’t think we traded with the Chinese and Malaysians with these items which I believe is a luxury to the people of Bohol. And besides, it’s not our custom to be using all those items. We don’t even use a dining tables before when eating but put the food in a banana leaves and lays it flat on the floor just like the Muslim, until now it's their custom. The ancient Boholanos were satisfied already with their bamboo utensils like the timba, sugong, paja and the hungot. The crudely manufactured clay pots in Albur are what we used to cook our food. We have nothing to trade with the Chinese merchants because our agricultural products were the same with China and all other Asian countries. At that time China can be categorized as an advance nation in Asia. They were in need of ivory, gold, silver, bronze, tin and iron, and we don’t have these products.
The discovery of pottery shards including porcelain plates in Lower Mansasa does not necessarily mean that we were already trading luxury items with our neighbors in Asia but those dug up items were properties that went with the dead person into his grave. This is an old Chinese custom that once a person is dead they let his properties go with him, believing that it can still be used in the afterlife. The artifacts that were dug were properties of the Chinese and it came from Chinese graves even if there is no forensic investigation of the graves. It’s a fact that Lower Mansasa and the adjacent town of Dauis were settled by the early Chinese community in Bohol even in the pre Spanish era. The Lims, the Ramerizes and the Alturases and maybe perhaps the Intings in Tagbilaran are the descendants of the early Chinese people living in Lower Mansasa. The Neris, Clarins, Reyeses, Cincheses, Cimafrancas and the Butalids are also descendants of the early Chinese living in Dauis. The Reyeses of Dauis who were also of Chinese extraction lost in the race in the propagation of their species. I think not a single Reyes is surviving right now in the town of Dauis.
There is a story about a Chinese family in Dauis before they were called by their Visayan name. This account is found inside the archives of the US embassy in Manila. My uncle the late Arturo Fortich came across this account while researching for his father who was once a “Thomasite†teacher in Bohol. I believe this account was left behind by the fleeing Spaniards in the dying days of the Spanish occupation in the Philippines and retrieved by the Americans, and this historical account happened way back before the Spaniards’ arrival in Bohol. The story goes this way:
“There were two Chinese brothers living in Dauis before the time of the Spaniards. These Chinese brothers lived peacefully among the natives in the island. The native Dauisnon never attempt to ask who they were and what their name is because there was a gap in communication. They were transient and migratory so there is no use of befriending them. The Chinese will just go their usual way of fishing at night and sleeping by day. Those extra catch they preserved it by salting them. The salted fish or “ginamos†they sold it to the native Dauisnon. When a local asked his compatriot Dauisnon where he got his salted fish? The usual answer in the Visayan language is; “Napalit nako ni anang mga tawo nga nanga-butalid ug katug diha.†Ever since then the name “Butalid†was carried through the ages. to be continued.
Daghang salamat!
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Topic: A Glimpse of Tagbilaran (Read 1546 times)