PRENZA

Prenza is a small barangay located not very far from the town with a total land area of 409 hectares. It is bounded by Cambuhawe, Cansomoroy, Vito, Cantuod, and Baliwagan.¹

NAME-ORIGIN OF THE BARANGAY

There are numerous barangays within the country having the name of Prenza. “Prenza” was a frequent stylized spelling of the Spanish word “prensa” which means “press”. Dr. Jose Rizal’s El Filibusterismo had mentioned La Prenza Filipina in Chapter 17 which depicted an obsolete practice of the Philippine press in his time.² Probably most of the barangays in the country that were named Prenza were actually sites for old printing presses or for news-stands.

Since most of the men of the barangay raised cocks for cockfight or cock derby and due to the lack of knowledge in Spanish language and the lack of historical records, the local people of the barangay tend to believe that the name of the barangay was derived from the Cebuanized “pinsa” of the Spanish word “fenza” which means fence. The Cebuano “pinsa” is often referred to a fence for chickens. During the Spanish period most of the couches in elite houses served as chicken fences for the usual chicken gifts by the visitors. At present there are two types of typical Cebuano fences still used which are the “kurong” and the “panggal”. There is also other group who believes that the word comes from “depensa” and even creates a story that when the Spaniards came to the barangay the local men were making wooden sticks and poles and when asked what they were doing they answered the Spaniards that they were making “depensa” (defenses) against the aggressors, ignoramous that the word itself is not Cebuano original but loaned from the Spanish word “defensa”.

LIST OF POLITICAL LEADERS

It is believed that the barangay was established in 1930 during the American period with Constancio Dumdum as its first teniente del barrio. Constancio Dumdum was followed by Adriano “Nanong” Suico; then by Alejo Luste; then by Arsenio Panulde who served for 20 years during the Marcos regime; then by Emiliano Dumdum who served until his death in 2002; and then by Francisco Dumdum who is still the incumbent barangay captain until the present. It was during the term of Emiliano Dumdum as barangay captain when the Don Bosco Technological Center -- which offers different skilled courses related to the need in the shipyards like welding, fabrication, fitting, electricity, and more -- was built on a hill within the barangay.¹