BALIWAGAN: A GLIMPSE OF THE PAST

 

History has it that during the early part of Spanish colonization in the Philippines, Barangay Baliwagan is a Christian kingdom ruled with love, equality & justice by Queen Bali and King Wagan. The kingdom was prosperous and peaceful until the Moro pirates in their colorful vintas attacked it. King Wagan defended it to death. He was triumphant in defending it but unfortunately it cost him his life. When Queen Bali saw her dead husband, she was overcome with too much grief that she collapsed and died. They were buried deeply on the seashore. Later on, as the legend goes, a Pandanus tectorius tree grew where the royal couple was buried and eventually as the said tree grew abundantly the kingdom and the whole coastal areas of Balamban transformed into pristine dense forest. 
 

From then on, the people used the leaves of the said trees in making mats & baskets which they called “balew”. It is another variant of etymology for the name “Baliwagan” from “balew iwagan” (Put light over the pandanus tectorius mat.). Although the term “baliwagan” originally indicates that the place is a dense forest from the old Malayo-Polynesian word “baliwag” which means “virgin, deep, and profound”. This word “baliwag” later on was used to refer to “a virgin forest growing along the sea coast” (Vocabulary Lengua Tagala ed. 1880, p.33; & Dr. Jose Villa Panganiban’s voluminous Diksyunario Tesauro, p.115). Today, as the town goes highly industrialized, the Pandanus tectorius could be seldom seen. A few sighting of it could be found in adjacent coastal barangays.

 
There was no real definite date as to when Baliwagan was established as a barrio but old pictures like the picture of the beauty pageant for little girls dubbed as “Queen of Roses 1957” shows that it was already a polity during that year. The people of Baliwagan even until now are fun of beauty pageants from little girls, teen-agers, and adults. It even holds beauty pageants for gays and “macho gays” from pre-schoolers to adults.

Accordingly, Congressman Celestino “Dodong” Sybico Jr. lobbied for the full establishment of Baliwagan into a barangay in 1971. The barrio was turned into a barangay under Presidential Decree no. 431 in 1974 with Hon. Nemesio Tolero as its first “Punong Barangay” or “barangay kapitan”. 

At present, since the old sitio of Poblacion Balamban was declared as a barangay in 1971, Baliwagan becomes a booming barangay in terms of economy & culture. It continues to grow with the present barangay captain, Hon. Virginia C. Cuyos, who does not only initiate the cleaning of the estuaries & beaches, build a covered court & a bridge, gives assistance to education, strengthening the value & importance of tree-planting. She also cultivates the cultural heritage of its constituents by involving the senior citizens and giving emphasis to their role in cultural & moral development of the people. She also initiates cultural activities like the annual dance festival dubbed as “Sayaw-Halad Kang Señor San Jose”, nightly cultural entertainments in which one is participated this year by DepEd-Balamban, boat paddling competition during San Juan fiestas, & many more.

Moreover, she has established the identity of the barangay through its culture & heritage, history, and emblems. In fact, she has commissioned the author to create the official logo & seal of the barangay for that matter.

However, the barangay is known not only for all those mentioned above but most especially with the spirituality & religiosity of its people. Even though there is a few Muslim community in the barangay, generally the residents of Baliwagan are Christians and mostly Catholics. The barangay could still be divided into five “puroks” and seven “sitios” though; however it could still be widely divided into several chapel organizations among Catholics such as the chapels of: “Our Lady of Perpetual Help of Taga-Enteng, “St. John the Baptist, “Santo Niño” & “Holy Cross of Jesus” of BRCA, “Saints Peter & Paul” & “Saint Roque of Montpeller” of Pulo, “San Antonio de Padua” & “Santiago” of Malvar, “Our Lady of Carmen” of Tunga among others. 

Of all these patron saints, the one considered as the patron saint of the entire barangay is “Saint Joseph, the Father of Jesus” whose chapel is located at the barangay proper. He is not only considered as patron of carpenters & workers but of fishermen and all people of Baliwagan with or without work. The people celebrate his annual fiestas every 18^th & 19^th day of May.

Baliwagan also caters education. In fact, Balamban District I is centered at the Balamban Central Elementary School which is located within the barangay. Within the compound of the said school, there stood the Evening Opportunity Class – Buanoy National High School Extension, which was a brainchild of the then Mayor Alex S. Binghay in 1995, that is still operating and continued to cater less fortunate and mostly working students.

Baliwagan is also a home of numerous Spanish and Spanish-American ancestral houses which were owned by the old rich residents of the barrio. Among those ancestral houses are that of the Gonzales’s, of Hanson, of the late Noy Pedring Villarosa (the oldest photographer in town), of the Dakay’s, of the Lopez’z, of the Bendebel’s, of the Pilapil’s (a noted family of politicians like Richard “Tata” Pilapil who served as barangay captain, Avelino Pilapil who served as municipal councilor, and Dr. Marcelo “Ike” Pilapil who served as municipal mayor during the time of Pres. Joseph Estrada), and of the late Madam Pipay Arroyo. This Pipay Arroyo whose Spanish house still stood across the street opposite the present Chapel of Saint Joseph was said to raise snakes of varied sizes and the biggest was put in a well behind her house. Accordingly she could talk to the animals like Saint Francis of Assisi, the patron saint of the town. It was said further that some trusted fish vendors were commissioned to cater live chickens for her pet snakes and fresh fishes for her “manahaw” (a giant mud crab) that grew as big as a big “nigo” and hid at the ceiling of her house. One of this fish vendors who at the time of the story is still a kid but is now an old woman selling candles in front of Saint Francis of Assisi Parish Church is Mrs. Francisca Mercado.

The oldest public cemetery of the town is also located at sitio Malvar. And along with it private cemeteries also sprouted in the area. Aside from cemeteries the oldest rice & corn mill of the town called as “Galingan ni Aso” can also be found at the Baliwagan Proper. Even the first medical clinic being established in the town which is the Dumdum’s Clinic could be found within the barangay. The first informal medical clinic was said to be that of the Arroyo’s at Baliwagan Proper which accordingly also used herbal medicines as alternative to expensive drugs. The Balamban District Hospital which later turned into Cebu Provincial Hospital is also found in the barangay. The oldest artesian well of the town is also found in the barangay. Baliwagan is also a home of old people at the age bracket considered already as “heritage”. 

Baliwagan has a remarkable increase of population growth rate at 9.65% from 1995-2000. Its population is more or less 4000 people. Although the main source of income is still fishing, most of the young generations are now occupied in the fast-growing ship-building industry of Balamban.

As the basic income of every constituent has improved, banks sprouted out to cater the need of savings. Answering this need, the Coastal Bank has opened a branch in Baliwagan. It is named as Banco Maximo. 

Along with this, the IPI Prawn & Milkfish Farm which is along the coastal part of the barangay has been recently transformed into a refreshment and recreation resort named as "Wild Wild West Resort". It is located just adjacent to the mangrove plantation which is often called as "Isla Noah" after a TV soap.