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THE ILOCOS SUR
STORY
by JUVENAL K.
GUERRERO
As immortalized by
the heroic deeds of her great men and women, as
inscribed on monuments and statues, on markers and
memorials of stone and tablet so numerous that in
Vigan, the hand of history is everywhere, the
inscriptions etched upon them reading like excerpts of
Philippine history.
The story of Ilocos Sur
can be told in the same historical events and episodes
which fill the pages of our country’s past. It is
similar narrative of conquest, exploitation,
persecution, revolution and emancipation as the
Philippines. The great men and women of Ilocos Sur who
sailed forth from her native bosom into the limelight
of history wrote with their immortal deeds of bravery,
courage, and heroism the records and chronicles of the
times. Indeed, the Ilocos Sur story reads like
excerpts of the Philippine history, chapters of the
Filipino saga made unforgettable by the exploits and
achievements of Ilocos Sur’s sons and daughters
through the long march of our country and the progress
of our people from the era of colonialism to the
sunlight of liberty and freedom.
Today, history lives in
Ilocos Sur. In Vigan, the famed Villa Fernandina
founded in1574 by Juan de Salcedo, grandson of the
Adelantado Miguel Lopez de Legaspi, the hand of
history is everywhere, in the imposing monuments and
statues standing as permanent tributes to the memory
of illustrious dead, on the markers of stone and the
memorial tablets upon the hollowed grounds where long
ago a martyr was born, where a famous poetess lived,
where a President taught as a humble barrio teacher.
These markers and inscriptions are veritable readings
a history, citing here and there “a chapel of wood and
thatch erected on this site, 1574,” “an earthquake in
1619’,” “a fire in 1739”, recording the seizure by
revolutionists under Col. Juan Villamor, and the
detention by American forces as a political leader,
Mena Crisologo 1899.
Of Ilocos Sur, history
records that three years after the founding of the
City of Manila, Legaspi dispatched the ‘conquistador’
Salcedo on a mission of exploration and conquest to
the north in the island of Luzon. Salcedo established
the Ciudad Fernandina in honor of King Ferdinand, the
reigning ruler of Spain at the time, and for his
reward was granted a rohyal “encomienda” and named
Lieutenant-Governor for the whole Ilocos.
Thus, Villa Fernandina
became the capital of the whole Ilocos which then
embraced the present territories of Ilocos Norte,
Ilocos Sur, Abra, La Union, and portion of Mountain
Province. The other important pueblos in this
vast and area where the present towns of Laoag, in
Ilocos Norte and Aringay, in La Union. The Ilocos was
then the only area known and explored north of Manila
as indicated in an early map of the Philippines.
Following the
exploration and conquest of the Ilocos by the
Castillan sword, the evangelization of the inhabitants
was pursued in the characteristics zeal and devotion
of the Augustinian missionaries. In time, the
picturesque churches made of stones and mortar began
to be built, undoubtedly thru free labor required of
our forefathers, and these edifices of worship stood
thru the centuries, mute but eloquent symbols of
Spanish power that held sway in union with the Church.
It is thus interesting to read the marker found near
the door of the Vigan Cathedral, one of the most
beautiful and imposing churches in the North, which
was placed there by the Philippine Historical
Committee as follows:
ILOCOS SUR THE HEART
OF ILOCANDIA
by PABLO RAMIREZ Y
BRILLANTES
The Ancient Land of
Samtoy
On the northwestern part
of Luzon, the Ilocos range restricts a narrow stretch
coastal plain throughout its entire length as the home
of one of the hardiest tribes of the Malay race – the
industrious, thrifty and adventurous Ilocanos.
Gleanings from ancient
chronicles such as that of Fray Andres Carro say that
the word “Samtoy” was applied to ancient Ylokos or to
the most important town of the region, where the most
important dialect was spoken.
The ancient land of
Ylokos or Samtoy extended from Bangui in the north of
Aringay in the south. Hemmed in between the reefy
coast of the China Sea and the rugged mountain ranges
of the Cordillera, is a long narrow strip of coastal
plain, broken here and there by rivers and mountains
as its rolls from the northwestern tip of Luzon into
the central plains. On the western China Sea side, the
land is sandy. On the eastern side, near the slopes of
the mountains that separates the region from the
Mountain Province, The land is rocky, leaving just a
narrow strip of plain here and there for cultivation.
In certain places the mountains come so close to the
sea that the public highway has to wind along the
steep mountain and sea. The pressure increasing
population and consequent land hunger has made the
people of this region, the Filipino classic example of
thrift, frugality and industry.
This is Ilocos Sur whose
people are never weary of staring into the shadows of
its past, ever watchful for a gleam of hope for better
days.
Exploration
The coast of Samtoy,
already familiar to Chinese and Japanese traders
before Magellan’s time, was known to the Spanish
colonizers in 1572 when Juan de Salcedo made his
famous trip along Samtoy or what is now known as the
Ilocos Provinces. Sent by the “Adelantado”, Miguel
Lopez d Legaspi to explore the whole island of Luzon,
Salcedo founded Ciudad Fernandina in 1574 in the heart
of Yloko settlement in Bigan, in what is now Ilocos
Sur. It became the center of Spanish rule and
influence, and the evangelization and pacification
movements.
The Spaniards, after
Salcedo’s exploration, created Samtoy, the whole
northwestern region of Luzon into an ‘encomienda” with
Villa Fernadina at Tamag (Bigan), as the capital.
Salcedo was made
Lieutenant Governor of Ylokos and the “encomendero” of
Bigan where he died on March 11, 1576. It was due to
his efforts that the settlements in Tagurin, Santa
Lucia, Nalbacan, Bantay, Candon and Sinayt were
pacified and made to pay tribute to the King of Spain.
Conversion of the
Natives
To implement Spain’s
policy, that of the sword and the cross complementing
each other, missionaries came over to convert the
heathen native to Christianity. A Spanish chronicler
wrote: “The Ilocos are all Christians and are the
humblest and most tractable.’
The evangelization of
Ilocos Sur was allotted to the Augustinians who
established parishes in Santa in 1576, Tagurin in
1586, Sta. Lucia in 1586, Nalbacan in 1587, Candon
1591, and Bantay in 1590. In 1641 they built a church
in Bigan, which 117 later, was to become the cathedral
of the Episcopal See of Nueva Segovia.
Dismemberment of
Ylokos
The Ylokos comprised the
present provinces of Ilocos Norte, Ilocos Sur, La
Union, Abra, and a part of Mountain Province. When
Pangasinan was made a province in 1611, a part of La
Union was taken from Ylokos and annexed to Pangasinan.
A royal decree dated
February 2, 1818 separated the northern part of Ylokos
which became the province of Ilocos Norte. The
southern part called Ilocos Sur, included the northern
part of La Union and all of what is now the province
of Abra. In 1854, the province of La Union was
created out of the towns that had heretofore belonged
to Ilocos Sur and Pangasinan. Ilocos Sur previously
extended as far south as Namacpacan (Luna), and the
territory south of this belonged to Pangasinan. It was
the union of portions of Ilocos Sur from the Amburayan
were taken from the Mountain Province and incorporated
with Ilocos Sur.
Abra which was one a
part of Ilocos Sur, was created in 1864 with Lepanto
as a sub-province to Ilocos Sur, and remained as such
until March, 1971 when the passage of Act made it
again a separate province.
Vigan, Capital of
Ylocos
Vigan, more than any
other Ilocano town, tells the story of Ilocandia. It
is almost four centuries old, and was once known as
“Kabigbigaan” from “biga” (Alocasia Indica), a coarse
erect and araceous plant with large and ornate leaves
with grows on the banks of the rivers. Its name
“Bigan” was later changed to Vigan. To the Spaniards
it was Villa Fernandina in honor of King Ferdinand,
the Spanish ruler then.
Here, one will note the
aristocracy of the “babaknangs” against whom the “Kaillanes”,
led by Diego Silang and his wife, Josefa Gabriela,
rose in revolt 1762; the antiquity of its residences
and cathedrals; and its religious fervor.
Founded in 1574 by Juan
de Salcedo as capital of ancient Ylocos, Vigan vied in
importance and gentility with the proud city of
Intramuros. Even before Salcedo came to Bigan, the
town was already a center of Malayan civilization with
a population of 8,000, a population greater than that
of Manila then. It was already enjoying some
prosperity, trading with the Chinese and Japanese who
brought fine jars, silk and crockery through the
nearby port of Pandan, Caoayan.
To Bigan the Spaniards
brought not only their religion, but also all other
adjuncts of their culture – their habits and customs,
their educational system, their aristocracy, and the
aura of the World.
This aura still pervades
in Vigan with its houses of stone, formidable-looking
as the old houses of Intramuros when it was still
intact. With the thick walls, hardwood floors, high
ceilings, tile roofs, “media-aguas”, and verandas,
Vigan has been called the “Intramuros of Ilocandia”.
In the 19th
century, Vigan also traded for some time with Europe.
Ships loaded indigo in its port for the textile mills
in the Continent. The invention of chemical dyes in
Germany ruined this industry. By then, the affluent
citizens of Vigan had stocked their homes with
statuettes of brass and iron, dinner wares, other
artifacts of European civilization, fine ivory and
inlaid furniture and China wares.
Vigan has probably but
few peers in the richness of its past. It has one
claim though, that no other place in the Philippines
can boast of and that is, while it does not hear
anymore the hobnailed boots of the Spanish
"conquistadores”, it still continues to feel the same
old way, religiously, especially as it used to, in the
days when the sun set on the Spanish flags.
The People - Theirs
is a Granite that Makes the Ilocano Nation
Ilocos Sur is inhabited
mostly by Ilocanos belonging to the third largest
ethnic group of Malay origin.
What were the Ilocanos
like when the Spaniards found them? A Spanish
chronicler wrote that “the people are very simple,
domestic and peaceful, large of body and very strong.
“They are highly civilized, superior to the most of
the tribes in other parts of Luzon. They are a most
clean race, especially the women in their homes which
they keep very neat and clean.”
Miguel de Loarca, in his
records about 1582 noted that the Ilocanos “are more
intelligent than the Zambaleños for they are traders
and they traffic with the Chinese, Japanese and
Borneans. The main occupation of the people is
commerce, but they are also good farmers and sell
their articles of good farmers and sell their articles
of food and clothing to the Igorots.”
Father Juan de Medina
noted in 1630 that the natives are ‘the humblest and
most tractable known and lived in nest and large
settlements’
Utility is the people’s
consuming passion, and they are not wanting in vices
and customs of other Filipinos. “Panguingui” has been
superseded by mahjong. Cockfighting is still the game
of the old. The people’s love for fiestas has its
connection with patron saints’ celebration of the
church. It is deeply rooted Christian tradition. The
people, by their very nature, don’t spend what they
don’t have, or spend beyond their means of income.
Social Institutions
Before Salcedo died in
1576, be bequeathed his encomienda to a selected group
who perpetuated the tenancy system out which developed
the practice of caciquism and landlordism, and
consequently, usury. The aristocracy of the
“babaknangs” against whom the “kaillanes” rose in
revolt in 1762 is apparent. The two sections of the
town – one for the “meztizos” and the other for the
“naturales” are still distinct. These practices became
prominent during the indigo boom at the middle of the
19th century.
Caciquism,
together with landlordism and usury, was the greatest
obstacle to the progress of the province. Ilocos
underwent the throes of these practices to be what it
is today.
Agrarian Economy
Ilocos Sur’s economy is
agrarian, but its 2,647 square kilometers of unfertile
land is not enough to support a population of 338,579.
Such agricultural crops
as rice, corn tobacco and fruit trees dominate their
farm industries.
Secondary crops are
camote and cassava, sugar cane and onions. Gov. Eliseo
Quirino in 1952 bolstered the economy of Ilocos Sur by
encouraging the planting of coconut trees and citrus.
The rapidly growing
population, the decreasing fertility of the soil, and
the long period between the planting and harvesting
season, have forced the people to turn to manufacture
and trade. Many Ilocanos go to the Cagayan valley,
Central Plains and Mindanao to sell Ilocano woven
cloth.
Weaving is the most
extensive handicraft. This is bolstered by the
installation of the NDC Textile Mills in Narvacan
which supplies the weavers with yarn. Another factor
that favors the industry is the deep-seated
conservatism of many Ilocanos who attach a great
sentiment and fondness for the durable striped cloth
in woven the native hand loom. Furthermore, Ex-Gov.
Carmeling P. Crisologo encouraged the weaving of
native-women cloth, and which have good market in the
U.S.
Other industries are
burnay and slipper making in Vigan, fjurniture and
statue making in San Vicente, mortar and pestle making
in San Esteban, and bolo making in Santa.
Migration
In the development of
Ilocos Sur, the colonizers utilized free labor.
Resentment to free labor brought about sporadic
revolts, and those who refused to be slaves and
tenants left the region and went to Abra and Cagayan
Valley. From 1898 to the first decade of the 20th
century, covered ox carts moved to the rich plains of
Pangasinan, Nueva Ecija and Tarlac.
In these travels, the
children were amused by the tales of Lamang, Angalo
and Aran, Juan Sadot and other legendary Ilocano
characters. Folk songs like “Pamulinawen”, “Manang
Biday”, Dungdungwen Kanto Unay, Unay”, and the Iloko “dal-lot”,
to the accompaniment of the “kutibeng” were
popularized.
The second phase of
Ilocano migration was from 1908 to 1946 when surplus
labor hands migrated to the plantations of Hawaii and
the American West Coast. At the height of this
migration, the average density of population in Ilocos
Sur was 492 inhabitants per square mile, the most
dense in the Philippines then, excluding Manila. The
last batch of labor migration of Hawaii was in 1946
when 7,365 men were recruited by the Department of
Labor. Vigan was the recruiting center. At present,
more than seventy percent of the 63,500 Filipinos in
Hawaii are Ilocanos.
A contemporary scholar,
commenting on the Ilocano migration wrote: “The
Ilocano movement has shown the way to people those
vast lands. Without plan, without system, without
leadership, without funds, following only the natural
law of expansion, the ilocanos have spread over a
considerable portion of the Northern Luzon, Central
Plain and Mindanao. This is the most important
contribution of the Ilocanos to the social and
economic development of the Philippines.’
Uneasy peace
Possessed of rugged
individualism, disciplined to be self-sufficient, and
easily provoked by infringement on their rights and
privileges, the people of Ilocos Sur find the history
of their province with many disturbances of peace.
The history of Ilocos
Sur, from the beginning of the Spanish rule to the
first decade of the nineteenth century was
characterized by revolts in protest against tributes
and forced labor, as well as the monopolies of some
industries.
The best known of these
revolts was the Ilocos revolt (1762-1763), better
known as Silang’s Revolt. This was principally a
revolt of the masses aimed at the “Babaknangs” and the
“alcalde-mayor” of Vigan. After Silang’s assassination
on May 28, 1763, his wife, Josefa Gabriela, continued
the fight until she was captured and hanged publicly
on September 20, 1763.
On September 16, 1817,
another revolt resulted in protest against the
government’s monopoly in the manufacture of “basi” the
native wine. The rebels under the command of Ambaristo
were defeated by a contingent of regular troops and
recruits.
Ilocos Sur in the
Philippine Revolution, Filipino-American War and World
War II
Ilocos Sur, like other
provinces in the Philippines, was quick to rally
behind Gen. Emilio Aguinaldo in the Philippine
Revolution in 1896. Upon the capture of Vigan, the
revolutionists made the Bishop’s Palace, their
headquarters. On March 21, 1898, Don Mariano Acosta of
Candon established the provincial revolutionary
government in that town.
When Gen. Aguinaldo
returned from his exile in Hongkong to begin the
Filipino-American War, he sent Gen.Manuel Tinio to
carry on the guerilla warfare against the Americans.
Vigan served as Tinio’s headquarters until its
occupation by the U.S. 45th Infantry under
Lt. Col. Parker on Dec. 4, 1899.
On the Tirad Pass in
Concepcion, east of Candon, Gen Gregorio del Pilar,
covering the retreat of Gen. Aguinaldo to the
Cordilleras and ultimate to Palawan, died a heroic
death on December 2, 1899 in a battle against the
American Forces under Major C. March.
With the smoldering
embers of the Filipino-American War already dying out,
and with the gradual return of peace and order, a
civil government under the Americans was established
in Ilocos Sur in September 1, 1901 with Don Mena
Crisologo, a delegate to the Malolos Congress, as the
first provincial governor.
About forty years later,
another bloody skirmish took place in Vigan, On
December 10, 1941, a contingent of Japanese Imperial
Forces landed in Mindoro, Vigan; Santa; and Pandan,
Caoayan.
Four years later, the
Battle of Bessang Pass in Cervantes, fought between
Gen. Yamashita’s forces and the U.S. 21st
Infantry was the climax in the fight for liberation.
On April 18, 1945, Ilocos Sur was declared liberated
from the Japanese.
Economic Prosperity
The first half of the 19th
century was a period economic boom for Ilocos Sur and
other Ilocano provinces. It was during this period
when the cotton, tobacco and indigo industries were
encouraged by the government. With the operations of
the Real Comapaña de Filipinas, the textile industry
was developed on a large scale; and the abolition of
the tobacco monopoly accelerated economic progress.
But the invention of chemical dyes put the indigo
industry out of the business scene.
Today, the premier money
crop, the Virginia leaf tobacco, has been shedding
millions of pesos for Ilocano coffers since the past
few years. The windfall was brought about by the
Tobacco Subsidy Law which was authored by the late
Congressman Floro Crisologo.
But sinister clouds
loomed in the distance with the approval of the
importation of Virginia leaf tobacco by President
Macapagal. With this, Ilocos Sur may lapse once again
in its progress and prosperity, into its pat economic
lethargy.
Cultural Heritage
No part of the
Philippines is richer in memories of Spanish culture
than Ilocos Sur, especially Vigan, the heartland of
ancient Ylokos. Almost everywhere in the houses of the
“babaknangs” ancient artworks combining Spanish ideas
with oriental crafts are found. One has to go Manila
to see and witness progress in the making, but he has
to go to Vigan to see history in the offing.
The Ilocos Sur Museum,
founded on August 22, 1970, has a sizable collection
of cultural treasures to be proud of. Here, Ilocos Sur
art include paintings, centuries-old sculptures and
pieces of carved furniture. Here, too, are found
relics of Spanish European and Chinese cultures that
had influenced Ilocano life for centuries. These
relics show Ilocos arts not only for their intrinsic
and artistic worth, but also as part of a culture
influenced by foreigners, and in turn influencing
other regions of the Philippines.
Chapters of Philippine
history and religion are found in the Crisologo
collections which includes family heirlooms, centuries
–old “santos”, statuettes, ivory images, Vienna
furniture, marble-topped tables, ancient-carved beds,
rare Chinese porcelains, jars and jarlettes, lamps,
Muslim brass wares, and Spanish and Mexican coins.
The Syquia collections,
including the late President Quirino’s memorabilla,
vies in quality with the Crisologo collections. But in
the midst of the fire scare in Vigan last year, the
relics in the Syquia Mansion were transferred to
Manila for safekeeping.
Recent Trends
In the person of the
late President Quirino, Ilocos Sur made its greatest
contribution to our nation’s colorful history, and to
the gallery of illustrious Filipino and Famous
Ilocanos among whom were Pedro Bukaneg, the Father of
Ilocano literature; Diego Silang, the first Filipino
emancipator; Josefa Gabriela Silang, the Filipino Joan
of Arc; Dr. Jose Burgos, the Father of Filipino
nationalism; Leona Florentino, the Ilocano poetess;
Ventura de los Reyes, the first Filipino delegate to
the Spanish Cortez; Mena Crisologo, the Ilocano
Shakespeare; Isabelo de los Reyes, the Father of
Filipino socialism and unionism; Msgr. Pedro
Brilliantes, the first Bishop of the Filipino
Independent Church; Vicente Singson Encarnacion,
Ilocano millionaire and industrialist, and one of the
“seven wise men” of the first constitutional
convention; Benito Soliven, great Ilocano patriot and
parliamentarian and Virginia tobacco booster.
The 1960 census list
338,058 people; 64,446 dwelling units of which 2, 974
are lighted with electricity; 3227 provided with
radio; 7379 served with pipe water; 25,137 served with
artesian and pumped water; and 310 using electricity,
kerosene and gas for cooking Ilocos Sur has 547 public
schools including five general high schools, one
university, one agricultural college and 56 private
schools, 16 of which are Catholic.
The Provincial Economic
Development Council (PEDCO), organized by the first
elected lady governor, Hon. Carmeling P. Crisologo,
was a step forward in the economic development of the
province. Among the projects undertaken were on
increasing production of corn, rice, vegetables, meat,
poultry and fish; improving health and sanitation
through the construction of water-sealed toilets,
blind drainage and compost pits; beautifying public
plazas and highways; assisting cottage industries; and
constructing and/or repairing roads, brides buildings
and irrigation systems.
Ilocos Sur is one of the
few provinces of the Philippines that have tried to
catch up with modern progress by its own bootstraps.
Under a new leadership, with the Hon. Deogracias
Victor "DV" B. Savellano as Governor, it is hoped that the next four
years will be a period of peace and progress.
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