CANTUOD

Cantuod is a barangay that is located northwest of Balamban. It has a total land area of 539 hectares. It is bounded by Nangka, Baliwagan, Cambuhawe, Prenza, Singsing, and Biasong.

It is politically subdivided into four (4) sitios, namely: Combado, Tunga, Buswang, and Himongbongan.

NAME-ORIGIN OF THE BARANGAY

The name “Cantuod” is derived from two Cebuano words “kang” (belonging to) and “tuod” (stump). Literally “Cantuod” means “belonging to the stump”.

The stump is the part of a tree trunk left protruding from the ground after the tree has fallen or has been felled.

In the ancient times, Cantuod was a thick forest. When the early settlers, probably migrants from Java, Sumatra, and Borneo, settled in the area they cut down the trees leaving behind the stumps which were seen even until the American period. Hence the area was named Cantuod and eventually applied to the entire barangay.¹

BRIEF HISTORY OF THE BARANGAY

Cantuod was one of the earliest settlements in the island of Cebu especially in Balamban based on the expansion of 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.

Oral tradition had mentioned that Hara Amihan (christened Queen Juana) with her companions and soldiers had escaped from Miguel Lopez de Legaspi’s bombing of Villa San Miguel (now known as Cebu City) by way of mountains and rivers. They eventually reached the Combado River. Their real destination was really the old trading port of the city of Balambang, which was located by the sea at the vicinity of sitios Bangbang and Buswang of Nangka and Cantuod respectively, since there were lots of balangays (ancient Malay houseboats) there if they wanted to escape to Java, Sumatra, or Borneo. The said city sank in the sea, probably washed out by flood or by a tsunami, during the early part of the American occupation. At that time when the royal court had reached the Combado River, the river was still vast and deep that boats could sail through it side by side with the bamboo rafts called “gakit”. For the queen to be able to cross the river safely without getting wet, the soldiers as they forged the knee-deep current decided to form a bridge by coming together in pairs with linked-crossed arms, forming with them like the seat of a chair. The act done by the soldiers was called “balang-balang” in Cebuano. This same act was being duplicated by the natives when the Spaniards came upon the river who decided to cross to the other side. This act was called by the Spaniards as “brazo combado” which literally means at that time as “curved arms” but at present it is already referred to the crookedness of the upper limb known in English as “brachiocyrtosis” or in Cebuano as “pingkaw”. Hence, the village of Cantuod by the Combado River was known since then as Combado from the Spanish word which means “curved”.²

Of all the sitios of Cantuod, Combado is the most populous, busy, jolly, and popular. Hence, the seat of baranganic government is centered here. 

Combado too is abounding with the legends associated with the Combado River. People believed in a fairy queen they called T’ang An who used to sail with her titanic fairy ship at the Combado River onwards to the mountains of Cebu like Tutu & Mahanginhangin of Cabagdalan, Marmol of Tuburan, Cantabako of Toledo, Lantoy of Argao, Mantalongon of Dalaguete, and many more round Cebu via the river tributary system. This fairy according to the legend had a pet Pegasus that used to alight at the Combado River during full moon in order to drink from its clear waters. And it was even believed at that time that the river was inhabited by river mermaids who used to collect freshwater shells, especially the “maypis” (freshwater horn-shell, Telescopium telescopium) which was abundant at that time, in their baskets also made of shells. During the Spanish occupation the first Combado Bridge, made of hard woods, was erected and built but it was destroyed by floods but the natives believed that it was hit by the fairy ship. Another bridge made of both metals and woods was erected during the American occupation. The same thing happened with the bridge as years had passed by. At present another bridge made of heavy metals with concrete road exists side by side with the old one.

Combado was once a home of Felipe Pilapil, a native of Liloan, who became the 4^th presidente municipal (municipal president) out of four who was elected during the American period and served from 1931 to 1934. During his time, Combado was full of Spanish houses which were burned down by a fire that hit it in 1979 which started at a certain barber shop and scattered by wind all over the village. Combado before the said fire was known for its “parada” or “tartanilla”, its delicacies like the coconut candy ("konatkendi", in the local dialect) wrapped in Japanese paper, “tira-tira” (also a kind of candy that can be stretched like rubber), “gorgoria” (a pink crunchy round bread), “puto & sikwate” (a kind of rice cake and chocolate drink respectively), “torta” (similar to a chiffon cake), “pusu” (steamed rice in a small palm matted bag), and the “tuba” (coconut wine) paired with “maypis” soup.³

Due to the importance of the "maypis" in the socio-economic life of the local residents in the past, there was a move headed by the barangay captain, Hon. Rolando Tabayag, to create an annual dance festival to be called as Maypis Festival, as agreed by the barangay council, based on the Cebuano poem entitled "Maypis" written by Bernardo B. Montilla, a native of Combado, which had been agreed to be the basis of the lyrics of the would-be festival music. Yet, the idea did not push through for some circumstances.