DUANGAN

Duangan is an upland rural barangay located east of Balamban with an area of 1,060 hectares. It is situated 10 kilometers from the town proper. It is bounded on the north by Cansomoroy, on the east by Gaas, on the west by Cantibas, and on the south by Buanoy & Arpili. Its landform is 70% mountainous, 10% valleys, 5% plateaus, & 15% hilly.

It is politically subdivided into seven (7) districts and subdivided further into thirty (30) sitios, namely: 1st District – Duangan Proper; 2nd District – Cape, Caningag, Paling-paling, & Dakit; 3rd District – Bugasok, Antuanga, Curos-curos, Bahaw, & Cubong; 4th District –Batuan, Awom, Tak-an, Dakal, Tabyogon, Tumpag, & Malingin; 5th District – Lunggan, Baktos, Pulta, Tingga, Aligantong, & Sulip; 6th District – Cabalawan; and 7th District – Candihina, Guinabinhan, Bagakay, Satuhan, & Sinangkolan.

Historical Background

Duangan was only a sitio of Cantibas in the past. It was named after the Visayan term “duwangan” which means “a place of a wooden water basin” since “duwang” is a wooden water basin usually used as vessel for lavatory and for the feeds of pigs. The early settlers of the said place were reknown makers of “duwang” along with “batya” (a Spanish type of aluminum wash basin). They often compared the physical shape of the river-valley of Duangan to the shape of the “duwang”.

It was said that Duangan before was an uninhabited thick forest. It was a favorite place for kaingineros but accordingly these kaingineros would usually fall dead on the third day in the forest for unknown reason. Furthermore, aside from kaingineros, hunters came to the place and found a wild boar and chased after it. The said hunters were led by a warrior princess named Kandi and a warrior prince Hina. As the hunters kept on chasing the said wild boar, the wild boar would stop by behind a tree or a plant from which most of the places were named like batuan, awom, dakit, kaningag, balaw, cape and antuanga. While some places where the said wild boar would stop by were named after the physical appearance or characteristic that the said hunters had noticed in the said places.

If Kandi and Hina were referred to the famous characters Srikandi and Arjuna in the Mahabharata the said event might had happened way back in the antiquity long before the Spaniards came to the Philippines.

Moreover, there is an existing legend that the valley of Duangan where almost all of the local people are residing in is not a basin of water but a basin of gold. This gold according to legend was owned by the fairy T’ang An and the Chinese mandarin Mengki. The said gold was guarded by two giants – the giant clam, Tridacna gigas, known locally as tangub and the kraken known locally as mantaga. Accordingly, the giant clam was put at the cliff standing majestically over a river in sitio Aligantong. The poisonous saliva of the said giant clam would fall on the river waters causing the death of the trespassers who would cross the said poisoned river waters. Not very far from the said cliff are boulders of rocks which create layers of natural pools in the said river. In the highest layer of the said pools resided the kraken which resembled a giant octopus with three tentacles. The said octopus would release poisonous ink that would kill all those who would want to get the pearl from the giant clam or to get the gold in the river and valley of Duangan.

A 78-year old resident of sitio Cape, named Filomena Dalian, added that the said kraken was last seen by a certain Pastor Racuma in 1981. She further said that in 1940, she was only seven-year old then, a certain 60-year old American named Vic came to the place for gold mine and in fact there was already a gold mining activity in the place during that time. This certain American had a Filipina wife with him. They would often come to the 45-year old mother of Filomena named Ciriaca Tablada. One time, Vic with his wife and Ciriaca with her daughter Filomena had gone to sitio Aligantong at the very site where the giant clam was present to get samples of gold. The fairies had appeared accordingly to Vic but the rest could not see them. Vic accordingly persuaded the fairies to put out the giant clam for the reasons unknown to Filomena since she could not understand English at that time and her mother would not divulge some secrets about the said phenomenon. The American plead that he wanted to see the giant clam no more when he returned at Duangan. True to his words, the giant clam fell from the cliff as the American arrived and had never infested the place again. While on the other hand according to the legend, the kraken continued to live and would appear during summertime.

Not very far the said places, still in Aligantong, there is an underground cave in the river serving as a tunnel leading to Mangharap in Busay, Cantibas.

The said Vic was Vincent Fernandez, one of the Fernandez Brothers, who had made a joint gold-mining venture in Duangan with Compania Maritima in 1938. The gold mine was operated in Sitio Tak-an where fourteen (14) tunnels, which positively produced gold, were dug. The operation of the gold was cut-off due to the outbreak of World War II. After the war, gold mining was totally abandoned.

To recall history, the Fernandez Brothers were the owners of the Fernandez Building built on reclaimed land along with the new port in Cebu City in 1910 to house the offices of the Manila Steamship Company, which was located on the ground floor. The upper floors were utilized as the Shamrock Hotel owned by a certain Mike Ryan in 1934. The building was later used by the Compania Maritima for its offices and likewise to house and entertain their visitors from its conception until the Second World War. The building was bombed down in World War II and has been left abandoned since.

It was recalled that during the American period the first teniente del barrio of Cantibas by viva voce was a certain Isabelo Piodos. Around 1940’s during World War II, Antonino “Ninoy” Sarita was made as teniente del barrio of Cantibas. He became one of the leaders of the USAFFE guerillas who heroically fought the Japanese Kempetai. In fact the bones of the Japanese soldiers that were killed by the local guerillas could still be seen beside a cliff at sitio Baktos until around 1960’s. After World War II, due to the victorious heroic deed of the people of Duangan and the lobby of Antonino Sarita, Duangan was separated from Cantibas and was established as a barrio.

The political leaders of Duangan since its establishment as a barrio in 1947 were as follows:

1.    Segundino “Dinong” Sarita (1947-1949). He served as teniente del barrio for 2 years.

2.    Francisco “Pekong” Llaguno (1949). He served as teniente del barrio for less than a year.

3.    Julian Piodos (1949-1953). He served as teniente del barrio for 4 years.

4.    Eustaquio “Takoy” Cabigas (1953-1955). He served as teniente del barrio for 2 years.

5.    Lorenzo “Marting” Martinez (1955-1957). He served as teniente del barrio for 2 years.

6.    Candido “Didong” Cabigas (1957-1960). He served as barrio capitan for 3 years.

7.    Victoria “Iryang” Abadinas (1960-1982). She served as barrio capitan for 14 years and as barangay kapitan for 8 years.

8.    Paterno Banguray (1982-1986). He served as barangay kapitan for 4 years.

9.    Rogelio Comprado (1986-1987). He served as OIC barangay kapitan for a year.

10. Angelito Dagohoy (1987-2007). He served as barangay kapitan for 20 years.

11. Arito Batomalaque (2007-2010 & 2010 until the present)

PROMISING ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT & PROGRESS

At present about 99% of the population is Roman Catholics and 1% is Aglipays. There are sitios which have their own patron saints but the patron saints of the barangay are Saint Joseph and Saint Lorenzo Ruiz who are celebrated every March 19 and September 24 respectively.

In the 1930’s a wealthy Chinese named Ping Kee Jo -- who had married a native woman of Balamban and the father of the well-known Jo family like Jose Chona Jo who likewise became the father of Emman, Antonia “Indaya”, Alma and so many others – was said to arrive in Duangan for treasure-hunting and was said to buy a large portion of land along the creek. He was said to enter a certain cave in one of the cliffs along the creek to trace the path taken by the deified legendary Chinese mandarin Mengki towards a sub-terranean tunnel leading to China.

Duangan is still known for gold deposits. In fact there was a tale that mining companies like Pelaez Company wanted to mine the gold in sitio Cubong especially to find the legendary golden horse but did not continue for the alleged reason that the fairies asked thousands of lives as payment for the destruction of their dwelling place. It was also said that there was a golden carabao that lay underground but if taken out people would die since it was resting on viruses and the said viruses would infect the waters. Moreover, the fairy T’ang An was said to be seen at a creek in Cubong washing clothes using a gold basin.

Recently in August 2011, the Infinity Mining Corporation (IMC) got a gold sample in sitio Cubong. It had asked a copper mining claim at the barangay and made a public hearing for that matter last August 30, 2011.

Aside from IMC, another important entity came to Duangan. This important entity is the ex-Governor Emilio “Lito” Osmeña. He had bought a large portion of lands in sitios Duangan Proper, Paling-paling, Kabalawan, and Awom. He had developed some portions and made roads which made Duangan accessible from Abucayan. A lot of small scale local gold miners now even sold their finds to him. Accordingly, he has a plan to develop an access to national road from the Cebu Tran-Central Hi-way to sitio Curos-curos and down to sitio Bugasok.

SCENIC SPOTS

           

There is lot of scenic spots within the barangay. Among these scenic spots are the cliffs and big boulders of rocks at sitio Aligantong; the waterfalls & pools at sitios Dakit, Awom, Cubong, Cape, Tumpag, Tak-an, & Paling-paling; and the mountain views all over the barangay. But among these scenic spots, the most famous and most visited especially by ex-Governor Emilio “Lito” Osmeña and his family is the Sayaw Falls in sitio Awom.¹