The History of Towns in Region VIII, Philippines
These histories were taken from the book Leyte Towns, Histories/Legends by Francisco S. Tantuico Jr of Tacloban City. Click on a town and view the history below the menu.
Dulag
Dulag is one of the few barangays in Leyte that antedated the
discovery of the Philippines in 1521. It is situated in the
eastern coast of Leyte. There are several versions as to how
Dulag got its name. The first was that in the early years of the
18th century, the town was already a flourishing community, the
center of trade and commerce in eastern Leyte. The town then was
considered the center of commercial activities going on thus it
was named Dulag, the German term for center. Another version
states that it is the etymological variation of a certain herb
called "dulao" which grew abundantly in the area. Dulao
is a kind of plant which is yellowish-green in color used as a
food seasoning for a local dish. Because of its abundance, the
place was called after this herb. The third version states that
there was a time when bones of different kinds of animals were
scattered all around the place. Whenever people would see bones
all around, they always commented, "nagdudulag hin
tul-an." This means that bones were scattered all around.
The word nagdudulag was then shortened to Dulag. The last version
says that the name could have come from the name of the first
settler whom legend says was named Dulagdulag.
The first Jesuit missionaries arrived at Dulag in September
1595. An ecomendero, Don Pedro Hernandez brought them in his boat
from Cebu. The missionaries, Fr. Alonzo de Humanes and Fr. Juan
del Campo, first coaxed the natives to settle within the limits
of the sitio instead of living far from each other. After this
was accomplished, the Jesuit fathers built a church and a
convent.
A nucleus of some 60 boys from Palo was
formed by the fathers for the first mission school in Dulag. In
the church compound they were taught their three R's and
religion. Using the crudest of materials, the boys learned the
Spanish language and helped serve as interpreters to the
missionaries on their missions. The burden of supporting the boys
began to tell on the resources of the padres but periodic
allowances from the encomendero permitted them to continue with
their studies. The school was patterned after a Jesuit school in
Antipolo in Luzon, which the Jesuits had founded earlier.
Dulag became a booming locality by May 1596. It became the
centrum of commercial activities. The Jesuits made great progress
at conversion. They became successful especially when the
principales of the town allowed themselves to be baptized.
Years of peace were suddenly broken when on October 29, 1603,
moro raiders ravaged the town. Wild confusion followed after the
arrival of 70 vintas full of moros. Some of the precious
possessions of the church were fortunately evacuated before the
moros finally landed on the shores of Dulag.
Bolisan, the moro leader sailed away to Surigao after 700
captives and rich loot had safely been stored in the holds of
their vintas. Fr. Hurtado, one of the missionary priests was
himself a captive. During the years that followed, the padre was
able to teach Christianity to the moros. He was later ransomed
and returned to Dulag.
The moro raids were said to have burned 10 churches in Leyte.
Sacred images were destroyed, sacred vessels were looted, and new
Christians enslaved.
After the moro raids, more misfortune struck the town. Two
typhoons destroyed the church and laid waste the harvest of the
season. An earthquake of violent proportions followed this. In
1610, a locust invasion destroyed more crops. In September 1611,
more typhoons added to the desolation of the people. As if to
climax the lean years, the moros returned in 1613, destroyed the
church and town, burned the harvest and carried of men, women and
children to be sold as slaves. The parish priest, Fr. Pascual
Acuña was also captured by the moros. He was later released in
exchange for a moro chief named Pagdalunan who was captured by
the Spaniards.
Before the Jesuits left in 1768, they had built a brick church
under the avocation of the Nativity of Our Lady. It was
significantly called the "Refugio."
After the expulsion of the Jesuits, the Augustinians took over
then parish. Fr. Cipriano Barbasan is specially remembered for
enlarging and remodeling the church. He was responsible for the
ornamentation of the church altar and the construction of lookout
towers of the hills of Calbasag and Mount Laberanan in San Jose.
Both were solid edifices of brick which served as places of
refuge during subsequent attacks by the moros.
In 1843, the first Franciscan parish priest arrived. Under the
direction of Fr. Francisco Rosas, the first road to Abuyog was
constructed.
A long line of gobernadorcillos ruled the town. From Basilio
de Paz to Hilario Saño, the town progressed further. During the
revolutionary period, Julio Villagracia and Rosendo Cornel
governed. Like other towns, Dulag suffered from depredations of
the insurrectors and the pulahanes.
During the American regime, Emilio Celso Abad was elected the
first capitan. The steady progress of the town resulted in the
expansion of the town limits.
Marcial Lagunzad was the mayor of Dulag when the Japanese
occupied the town. He was tactful, so many lives were spared but
unfortunately he died during the early days of the liberation
during an American bombing raid.
The landing of the American forces, which took place from
October 17 to 20, 1944 took a heavy toll on the Municipality's
townspeople. The church, public buildings as well as residences
were razed to the ground. The streets that used to be concrete
and asphalt crumbled to rubble after concentrated American
shelling.
For a time, after the shelling of Dulag, the seat of
government was transferred to Mayorga,
one of the barrios. Slowly, the people returned to the town and
under the leadership of Mayor Nicolas Bautista, Dulag,
phoenix-like, rose from the ashes.
Transcriber's Note: One of the reasons Dulag was so
heavily shelled during the American invasions was an airstrip
located in present-day Barangay Rawis. The American's needed to
gain control of the airstrip in order to further the invasion.
The old remains of the airstrip are still present in Barangay
Rawis today (although much overgrown with surrounding jungle).
Many Dulagnons continue to refer to Barangay Rawis as 'the
airport.' -- Brian Watson
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