The History of Palompon, my Home town blog - ズ

Along the strip of fertile coast, our forefathers founded this community which assumed the role of cabeceria of all the municipalities in the northwestern side of Leyte. The pueblo was originally named Hinablayan. There were yet no streets in those days, only trails and mountain paths, big trees and wild games. Fish, sea shells and other marine products abounded. People fished along the shore with arrows tied to vines. They just threw them to schools of fish along the coast and pulled them with fish already hooked. That was life in the early days of our town.

However, such a settlement so well-endowed by nature attracted not only hardworking migrants but also fierce Moro raiders from the south. Legends tells that local defenders use to hang on tree branches the dead bodies of the Moros, so that the place come to be known as Hinablayan.

The legend continues that when the Spaniards came they saw floating at the bay a cluster (pong pong) of mangrove propagules locally known as "Tungki" they have decided to change the name of Hinablayan to Paungpung which gradually evolved into what is now Palompon, after that beautiful cluster of mangrove propagules to erase the bloody memory of the Moro raiders. It is said that cluster later got stuck to the shoal until they grew up as trees, forming an islet which is Tabuk island today.

In 1737, Jesuit missionaries arrived and built the first chapel which was later burned during a Moro raid. It was rebuilt and as a refuge from attack the chapel was enclosed with piled stones, with a "cota" along the frontage. When the people saw Moro vintas coming, the big church bell would ring the alarm and people rushed inside the church, fighting back with bows and arrows and spears.

It is the place where the fiercest battle among the early settlers and Moro raiders happened sometime in 17th and 18th century, or even earlier. Our forefathers stood defiantly and fought those Muslim pirates during that decisive encounter. Many among the local warriors perished, and some women are held captive one of them is a young woman named Tomasa, daughter of a local warrior and leader.

At the time Palompon was under the parish of Hilongos. The parish priest visited the place occasionally for marriage, baptism and masses.

The Jesuit, later succeeded by the Agustinians, built the present church with 300 natives. It was a forced labor without pay. If one or some of the laborers were unable to work, they were substituted by others just to maintain the quota every day for the next thirty years. The structure soon became a great landmark towering over the settlement of Palompon, reputed to be the oldest church in Leyte. On November 12, 1784 Palompon obtained its parochial independence from Hilongos.

The town of Palompon is one of the oldest coastal settlement in Northwestern Leyte. It existed for more than four centuries already. Folklore says that it was Hinablayan before because of its gory objects found along the coast. The dead bodies of the enemies (Moros) that are hanged at the branches of the tree. However, these remained an oral tradition up to now.

The name Hinablayan evolved to Palompong, and then to Palumpun (spelling of Palompon sometime in 1700 or 1800). It is indisputably a very old town. Ormoc was part of Palompon parish from 1784 until 1851, when finally it was declared as an independent parish. Villaba and Matag-ob are both part of the territorial jurisdiction of this town before it obtain its municipio (pueblo) status.

But there are no available records in our town about our very interesting history. In 1990, then Mayor Viacrucis together with historian, Arcadio “Carding” Molon Jr, and Antonio E. Reposar came up with a book that established some facts about the significant past of Palompon. It was an attempt to give a clear picture of the things that happened to this town. It has complete names of town leaders (mayors and capitan municipal) from 1852 until present , municipal mayors, parish priests from 1784 until present, names of beauty queens and damas from 1914.

It was a good and laudable accomplishments, but there are still many things that are unknown to many Palomponganons.

The history of the people's struggle should be verified so that the younger generations of Palomponganons and Leytenos will know how their forefathers generously shed their blood for the noble cause.

Sadly, little is known on what must have been to be a very fascinating story. The place has some artifacts and relics that came from the past. One of these, is the century-old cannon, believed to be used by the natives during the violent Moro raids in 17TH and 18TH centuries. But there are no established facts that can claim that the said cannon was used by the early Palomponganons during those encounters, or where did it came from. Another, is the wooden image of the patron saint, St. Francis Xavier, place in a glass and wooden urn, which was brought by the Jesuits missionaries in mid-17TH century.

Lately, the book of Manuel Artigas de Cuerva “Resena de la Historia de la Provincia de Leyte” has a fascinating revelation. That the cannon found in our plaza was used by the early Palomponganons during Moro raids and that they have sustained in a nine-day battle that took place sometime in late 17TH century, that the people rushed to the stone church (newly completed at that time) and took refuge for more than a week, that the Moros suffered losses in that encounter. It was the only recorded victory among the natives in all the raids that happened Leyte perpetrated by these bandits.

Some other towns, however, was devastated by the onslaught of these violent raids, like Ogmuk in December 3, 1634 (now Ormoc) whose priest, Fr. Juan del Carpio was brutally killed by the raiders by the use of kampilan, with more than 300 natives perished because the bandits slaughtered them mercilessly, and other towns suffered losses also when these Muslim bandits plundered whatever riches they could take from these places, and took its natives captive. In Ogmuk, the early settlers in the coastal villages (now the present site of Linao, Alegria, Punta and Naungan) find its way to live in the hinterland, the reason why the settlement of Palungpung (now Palompon) flourished and expanded earlier than that of Ogmuk.

Bisaya
The term Visayans refer to several ethnolinguistic groups in the Philippines. The largest of these are the speakers of language">Cebuano, Hiligaynon and Waray-Waray. They live in the region of the Visayas and some parts of Mindanao. Some have migration">migrated to other parts of the Philippines, including Luzon. Permanent migrants to the Visayas region are also referred to as Visayans.
The early people on the Visayas region were Austronesians and Negritos who migrated steadily to the islands since about 30,000 years ago. These early settlers were Animist tribal groups. In the 12th century, settlers from the collapsing empire of the Sri-Vijayan, Majapahit and Brunei,^[6][7] settled in the Visayan islands. By the 14th century, Arab traders and their followers venturing into the Malay Archipelago, converted some of these tribal groups into Muslims. These tribes practised a mixture of Islam and Animism beliefs. There is also some evidence of trade between other Asian people in the area as early as the 9th century.

The Visayans first encountered Western Civilization when Portuguese explorer Magellan">Ferdinand Magellan reached the island of Cebu on March 16, 1521. The Visayas eventually became part of the Empire">Spanish colony of the Philippines and from then onwards, the history of the Visayans is intertwined with the history the Philippines. With the four centuries of contact with Spain, Mexico and the States">United States, a common lowland Christian Filipino culture emerged (other Filipino cultures include that of the Muslim Filipinos). The Visayans share this culture with the people">Ilocanos, Kapampangans, people">Tagalogs and people">Bicolanos. These ethnolinguistic groups form the majority of the Filipino population and have embraced Democracy, Christianity, the alphabet">Latin alphabet, western ways of dressing and education, and English as a secondary language. Many Visayans also spoke Spanish during the Spanish period.

The 16th century marks the beginning of the Christianization of the Visayan people, with the baptism of Rajah Humabon and about 800 native Cebuanos. The Christianization of the Visayans and Filipinos in general, is commemorated by the Sinulog festival and the feast of the Santo Niño (Holy Child), the brown-skinned depiction of the Child Jesus given by Magellan to Rajah Humabon’s wife, Hara Amihan (baptized as Queen Juana). By the 17th century, Visayans already took part in religious missions. In 1672, Calungsod">Pedro Calungsod, a teenage indigenous Visayan catechist and Diego Luis de San Vitores, a Spanish friar, were both martyred in Guam during their mission to preach Christianity to the Chamorro people.

Some prominent leaders of the Philippine Revolution in the late 19th century were Visayans. Among leaders of the Propaganda movement was Graciano López Jaena, the Ilonggo who established La Solidaridad (The Solidarity). Pantaleon Villegas (better known as León Kilat) led the Cebuano revolution in the battle of Tres de Abril (3rd of April). One of Leon Kilat’s successors, Maxilom">Arcadio Maxilom, is a prominent general in the Philippine-American War.^[8]

There have been three Philippine Presidents from the Visayan region: the Cebuano Osmeña">Sergio Osmeña, the Ilonggo Manuel Roxas and the Boholano P. García" class="mw-redirect">Carlos P. García.

Throughout the centuries, Spaniards, Chinese and other groups have settled in Visayan cities like Bacolod, Cebu, Dumaguete, Tagbilaran, Iloilo, Ormoc and Mindanao cities like Cagayan de Oro and Davao. Many of them have intermarried with Visayans and their descendants have taken on Visayan as their primary language. Many high-land Negritos have also been assimilated into mainstream Visayan society.

Visayans have likewise migrated to other parts of the Philippines and abroad. A large part of Mindanao is populated by Visayans. In Manila, many are of Visayan descent. The Visayans have also followed the pattern of migration of Filipino">Filipinos abroad and some have migrated to other parts of the world starting from the Spanish and American period and after World War II. Most are migrants or working as overseas contract workers.

Language
Main article: languages">Visayan languages Kabisay-an refers both to the Visayan people collectively and the lands occupied by them. The English translation, Visayas, is used only to refer to the latter. From a geopolitical standpoint, the Philippine region of the Visayas comprises the following islands: Panay, Romblon, Guimaras, Negros, (island)">Cebu, Bohol, Siquijor, Leyte, Biliran and Samar.

Visayans refer to their respective languages as Binisaya or Bisaya. The table below lists the Philippine languages classified as Visayan by the Summer Institute of Linguistics. Although all of them belong to the same language family of Visayan, not all speakers identify themselves as Visayan. The Tausug ethnic group, for instance, only use Bisaya to refer to Christian Visayans.

Cebuano- (my language, bisaya palompunanon is a variant, and there are differences)
i don't know about other bisaya languages tho, like Bahasa Suluk or tausug, which is bisaya of a different kind, tausug is also present in malaysia and indonesia

Cebuano is an Austronesian language spoken in the Philippines by about 20,000,000 people. It is the most widely spoken member of the languages">Visayan languages. It has the largest native speaking population of the Philippine Islands despite not being taught formally in school. Cebuano is given the ISO 639-2 three letter code ceb, but has no ISO 639-1 two-letter code.

Cebuano is spoken in Cebu, Bohol, Oriental">Negros Oriental, western parts of Leyte, some parts of Samar, Occidental">Negros Occidental, Biliran islands, southern region of Masbate island and Mindanao. Some dialects of Cebuano have different names to the language. Ethnic groups from Bohol may refer to Cebuano as language" class="mw-redirect">Bol-anon while Cebuano speakers in Leyte identify their dialect as Kana. Speakers in Mindanao and Luzon refer to the language simply as Bisaya.

Stress accent is phonemic, so that dápit means "to invite", while dapít means "near" or "nearby place". Consonants [d] and [ɾ] were once allophones, but cannot interchange, like kabungturan (uplands) [from bungtód, mountain] is correct but not *kabungtudan and tagadihá (from there) [from dihá, there] is correct but not *tagarihá.

also...i am curious why the cebuano maria makilig is more famous than the hanablayanon (or palomponganon) maria anabi?

There are three negation words: dili, wala and ayaw.

Dili negates adjectives, nouns and incepting verbs.

Dili ko mo trabajo ugma.
"I will not work tomorrow."

Mano roy mi.
"Were are going out."

Wala negates existentials and incepted verbs.

Init ka'ayo.
"Its hot."

Wala ko mo trabajo tibuok adlaw. "I did not work the whole day."

Ayaw is used in expressing negative commands.

Ayaw og hilak.
"Don't cry."

Ayaw mo pagdagan'dagan dinhi.
"Don't run here."

[edit] Words

• Unsa? What?
• Asa? Where? (for a place or person - present, future)
• Diin?, Dis'a? Where? (past)
• Hain?, Saa? Where? (for an object- present)
• Kinsa? Who?
• Ngano? Why?
• Kangkinsa? To whom?
• Giunsa? How?
• Kanus'a? When? (past)
• Anus'a? When? (future)
• Pila ka buok?, Pila? How many?
• Tagpila? How much?
• Diay ba? Really?

• The use of asa and hain

Asa and hain—both mean where—have distinct uses in formal Cebuano usage.

Asa - is used when asking about a place.

• • Asa ka padulong? - Where are you going?
  • Asa ta molarga? - Where are we traveling to?

Hain is used when asking about a person or thing.

• • Hain na ang gunting? - Where is the pair of scissor?
  • Hain na ang papel? - Where is the paper?