CANSOMOROY

Cansomoroy is a mountain barangay that is located in Central Balamban. It has a total land area of 1,075 hectares. It is bounded by Abucayan, Cantibas, Duangan, Bayong, Vito, Prenza, Cambuhawe, & Pondol.

It is politically subdivided into eight (8) sitios, namely: Buli, Hunop, Puto, Caningag, Patag, Cansomoroy Proper, Bugasok, and Lusong.¹

BRIEF HISTORY

Not much is known about its history. But the theory of migration pointed out that it might be one of the first settlements in the island of Cebu based on its river tributary system that could be part of a fluvial civilization that flourished during the pre-Hispanic time and geographically on its proximity and connectivity of all places in the island which have a prefix Can-, Cang-, or Cam- attached to their names. The Cebuano word “somoroy” is derived from its root word “soroy” which means “to wander or to travel around”. But “Somoroy” was also a prominent surname of Boholano migrants and Cebuano Katipuneros during the Spanish Era. Cansomoroy was also part of the periphery of Tabunan which became the last stand of Katipunan Revolution in the country before the take-over of the American colonizers. Hence, it was very probable that the place aside from being an established travel route by river and by foot became hide-out of the Katipuneros under a certain general named Somoroy who might be a native from Bohol. Thus, the place was named as Cansomoroy. Evident to this is the Boholano accent and intonation on the native dialect especially in the secluded areas.²

In 1979, the Marcopper Mining Corporation found in the hills of Cansomoroy an abundance of copper. The claimant-owners in the operation were Efren C. Pelaez Sr., Efren T. Pelaez Jr., Antipas Largo, Michael C. Armas, and Jose Barredo. The project engineer was Engr. Rolando D. Rossa. However, the corporation ceased its operation and abandoned the area probably after it had been sued in court and made global news on March 24, 1996 due to a toxic mine disaster at their Marinduque mine.³ The Marcopper Mining Corporation had been carrying out open-pit copper mining since the 1970s. When the company finished one of its operations in Marinduque, it plugged up the old pit with a concrete fixture to allow the pit to act as a disposal lake for mining waste. In August 1995, a significant leak was discovered in the pit's drainage tunnel. This subsequently fractured. The accident discharged tailings into the Makulapnit-Boac (Boac) river system. The disaster resulted in the release of over 1.6 million cubic meters of tailings along 27 km of the river and the coastal areas. The impact on the river and the people who depend on it for their livelihoods was massive. The rush of tailings displaced river water which inundated low-lying areas, destroying crops and vegetable gardens and clogging irrigation channels to rice fields. The release left the Boac River virtually dead. The effects of the incident were so devastating that a UN assessment mission declared the accident to be a major environmental disaster. The Tapian pit contained around 23 million metric tons of mine waste. Officials of the DENR (Department of Environment and Natural Resources) claim that they did not know of the presence of the drainage tunnel measuring 2.6 kilometres long and 1 metre wide which was found underneath, which leads to the Makulapnit and Boac river system.⁴

On the other hand, Cansomoroy had also made global news on June 13, 2010. It had negatively gained world fame due to the car accident that happened in the area of the Cebu Trans-central Highway that passes within the barangay which is known as “Z” due to its zigzagged or curved elevated road which killed 20 Iranians, who were mostly medical students and physicians, out of 50 Iranian tourists, including two infants, and a Filipino driver.⁵

LIST OF RECALLED EARLY POLITICAL LEADERS

1.    Pamilar Pacundo         (1940’s)

2.    A certain Andres

3.    Agripino Supilanas

4.    Apolinario Ardillo         (1960-1962)

5.    Cleofas Ardillo             (as teniente del barrio in 1962-1964; & 

                                             as barangay captain in 1964-1971, 
                                            1973-1988, & 1991-2002)

6.    Nicasio Sultan             (1971-1973)

7.    Teofilo Resurreccion   (1988-1991)

8.    Santos Montecillo       (2002-2004)

9.    Emilia Montecillo         (2004-2007, 2007-2010, & 2010-present)

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

Economic development followed in Cansomoroy as the Cebu Trans-central Highway was publicly opened for motorists during the time of Gov. Pablo Garcia. A public elementary school was built. And recently the Ramon Aboitiz Foundation Inc. (RAFI) had purchased a large portion of land along the highway within the barangay. Some of this land was being developed into a Kool Adventure Camp and a golf resort.¹