ALIWANAY

Aliwanay is a barangay that is located along the northwest coast of Balamban. It has only a total land area of 52 hectares. It is bounded by Sta. Cruz - Sto. Niño, Cambuhawe, Pondol, and the Tañon Strait.

According to local common belief, the barangay got its name from the combination of the local names for “aliwang” (the big specie of red ant, probably the fire ant) and “anay” (white ant or termite) which would then be “aliwang-anay”. Later on presumably, it was coined into “aliwanay”.

During the colonial period, the Tabacalera, a warehouse used in storing the tobacco and cotton stocks purchased by the colonial buying station of Spain assigned in Balamban, was constructed in this barangay. It was also referred to by the local residents as the place of the Cachila (Cebuano term for the Spaniards). The stocks were stored there until those would be collected by the provincial station for export. It was built right at the fork of the road to the poblacion where the provincial highway had split into the municipal and provincial roads. The Tabacalera, of course, ceased to exist after World War II. Totally abandoned during the war years, the neglect took its toll on the building’s fixtures. It was a historic landmark of the town, like a sentry that guarded the entry to and exit from the poblacion on the southern side.

At present, at the site of where the Tabacalera used to stand, there is a small concrete residential house. At one of the sides of the house facing the bridge that is also called as “taytayan sa Cachila” (bridge of the Spaniard), a connecting link of Aliwanay and Pondol over the river that divides the said two barangays, there is a landmark monument with phrase in bold metal letters “WELCOME TO POBLACION, BALAMBAN”.

Opposite the said road, facing the sea stood a majestic hotel named as “Knight’s Café”. It is owned by Engr. Alan Adlawan, once a councilor of Balamban but is the current municipal mayor of the neighboring town of Asturias. Adjacent to this hotel is another building rented by EMCOR, a motorcycle and appliance firm.

Another remarkable establishment that indicates the economic progress of the barangay is the Gaisano - Balamban Sari-sari Store which magnanimously affected the micro-economy of the town when it opened after the historic fire that consumed the old public market at the dawn of the New Year, in the year 2001. It is like a phoenix that resurrect gigantically after it consumed itself in the fire.

In terms of education, a complete public secondary school, Jose Chona Jo National High School, was built and established just beside the Jose Chona Jo Elementary School at the border of Aliwanay and Cambuhawe.¹