DOLORES:
THE MAKING OF A MUNICIPALITY
by
MSGR LOPE C. ROBREDILLO, SThD
Vicar
General, Diocese of Borongan
(The data used in the writing of this essay
were taken from rare books and archival documents found at the Philippine
National Archives [Manila], Philippine National Library [Manila] Archivo-Franciscano
Ibero Oriental [Spain], Cebuano Studies Center [Cebu], Divine Word University
Museum and Library [Tacloban], and Lopez Memorial Museum [Pasig]. Other sources
were provided by Dr Bruce Cruikshank, sometime Visiting Professor of Georgetown
University, Washington DC, the late Rev Dr Pablo Fernandez, Professor of Church
History at the University of Santo Tomas, and the late Rev Cantius Kobak of the
Franciscan Friary [Manila]. Copyright
2016 by Lope C. Robredillo. This work, or any part thereof, may not be
reproduced without permission from the author.)
INTRODUCTION
UNTIL
shortly after the liberation (1945), the municipality of Dolores was vast: its
geographical limits covered what now belongs to the municipality of Can-avid, the
municipality of Maslog, and the municipality of Dolores itself. While the bulk of
In what follows, I would like to briefly trace
the evolution of this municipality from its incipience until Dolores was
adopted as its administrative center, long before its breakup into several
municipalities. But the better to
understand this essay, it is important to bear in mind the meaning of the
following Spanish terms in their present-day equivalents: pueblo means municipality, poblacion
refers to the capital or administrative center of the municipality, visita signifies barrio, and rancheria is equivalent to sitio. Of no less significance, one has to
distinguish between Dolores as a municipality and Dolores as a town or poblacion.
How
did the pueblo of Dolores originate?
THE RISE AND FALL OF BACOD
The
Sumoroy Rebellion. It may
be recalled that on June 1, 1649, what is now known in history books as Sumuroy
Rebellion started when Agustin Sumoroy, the castellan at the Palapag fort (in
Northern Samar), revolted ostensibly against
the decree of Governor-General Diego Fajardo, requiring Bisayans to serve at
the Cavite Shipyard. (I say, ostensibly,
because in reality it began as a personal issue, after the parish priest
scolded him for cuddling a mistress.) The rebellion in the end engulfed many
provinces in the Visayas and Bicol regions.
On the island of Samar, the first bungto
(town or village) in the eastern part to join the rebellion was Bacod.
What
was Bacod? Where is it now?
Bacod:
The Original Settlement of our Forebears. Bacod is now submerged in the river of
Dolores because of the erosion of the bank on which it was established. At present, it is known as Binungtoan (meaning, a former town site),
and its location lies between the poblacion
of Dolores and the barrio of Carolina.
It used to be the largest village along the river; that is why, its
original name was rio de Bacod (river
of Bacod). As a compact bungto, it was founded around 1602 by
the Jesuit Fathers who were based in the missionary center (cabecera) on Palapag, and who, for
evangelization and civilization purposes, frequented the settlement, along with
the bungtos of Borongan, Libas,
Sulat, Tubig (Taft) and Jubasan.
Bacod was then a relatively growing community
that accepted Christianity, and was gradually introduced to the various aspects
of the Spanish culture. Admittedly, it
was not easy for the missionaries to congregate the people in the bungto not only because of the frequent
Moro raids which drove people deeper into the hills, the raiders devastating
their houses and crops, but also because of the frequent cholera epidemics, as
in 1608-1609. Even more significant, the
people, as they have been used to since time immemorial, wanted to live near to
their fields. At any rate, the townsfolk
were able in due course to build an iglesia
de piedra (church of stone) as well as a convento (rectory), also made of corrals, as centerpiece of their
compacted settlement. In 1616, it had a
population of around 400, forming 150 tributes.
The
Involvement of the Bacodnons in the Rebellion. But when the revolt swallowed up the bungto of Bacod, many of its inhabitants
burned the church and the convento,
and then went to Tubig to convince the Tubignons to join the revolt, and most
of them did, also setting the church and the rectory on fire, and finally to
Sulat, where the same structures were also reduced to ashes. Because the rebellion assumed an almost unmanageable
proportion, a huge military force, which included Lutaos, Sugbos, Pampangos and
Spaniards, was assembled under Don
Gines de Rojas to suppress it.
Initially, it met stiff opposition.
In Jubasan river, Capt. Juan Fernandez de Leon, who just came from the cotta (fort) of Guiuan to beef up the
forces under de Rojas, was ambushed, although the rebels failed to liquidate
him.
The
Birth of Dolores. But
the Sumoroy rebellion did not prosper; the leader himself was killed, and the
movement went kaput. As a consequence of
the inhabitants’ participation in the revolt, the people paid dearly. Many of its residents were punished. The gobernador
del pueblo, the fiscal mayor del
padre and the mayor principal were
executed. The Jesuit mission there was
abandoned. The bungto of Bacod, like that of Jubasan, was suppressed. Though some families transferred to the
settlement of Paric along Jubasan river, a number of them moved further to a
location not far from the mouth of the Bacod river, built their small huts, and
founded the hamlet of Dolores in 1650 in its present location. That is how Dolores came into being; it began
as a small cluster of houses. It was
named DOLORES to signify, and in
painful remembrance of, the sorrows and sufferings the new settlers experienced
on account of their armed participation in the Sumuroy Rebellion, the
suppression of the bungto, and the
abolition of the Jesuit mission as well as the establishment of a new village.
THE FORMATION OF THE
MUNICIPALITY OF PARIC
The
Rise of Paric. It may
be noted that, with the dismantlement of their bungto, most Jubasanons and Bacodnons who had survived the
rebellion congregated on a smaller settlement east of Jubasan, called Paric. Obviously because it was located along Jubasan
river which was the main highway between the east (Ibabao) and the west (Samar)
of the island at that time, it is not surprising that this village grew faster
than others. In the 1720s, years before
the Jesuits were expelled from Samar, it was already a big settlement under
Tubig. Even though it remained
ecclesiastically dependent on Tubig, under its political jurisdiction were the visitas of Carolina, Oras, Dapdap and
Bacod.
Speaking of Bacod, it is noteworthy to add
that, in the final result, it was abandoned, because of land erosion, and its
remaining inhabitants moved to Carolina, although records indicate that as of
1895, it still had 20 residents. Old
folks, however, attributed its effacement from the map to the murder of a
priest by the Bacodnons during the Sumuroy uprising. Anyhow, before the Second World War, nothing was
left of the former town. Of course, one
could still see the remains of the stone church in the late 50s.
And what about the hamlet of Dolores? At this point of time, Dolores was still a rancheria of the visita of Carolina.
Toward
the Separation of Paric from Tubig. When
the Franciscans came in 1768, one of the first things they embarked on was to
propose the separation Paric from the mother bungto. Toward this end, Fr
Manuel Valverde, OFM, in 1839, directed the construction of a convento, a escuela de instruccion primaria (parochial school) and a church of mamposteria (rubblework). Among the difficulties that the Franciscans
had to face in making Paric independent from Tubig were the Moro raids. In September 1838, the Moros captured 3
Paricnons, and in 1847, 7. Indeed, as
early as 1814, the gobernadorcillo of
Paric, together with that of Tubig, asked the permission of the national
government to purchase a cannon for defense.
Creation
of Paric as Pueblo and Parish. In the 1860s, the visita of Paric by then had what were required for the creation of
a pueblo, namely, a parochial church,
a convento, a church plaza, a
cemetery and a tribunal (roughly,
municipal building). It also had enough
population, as the law so required, to support a parish priest. As early as 1858, it had around 2,300,
according to the German naturalist, Feodor Jagor, who visited the bungto that year. So, when the parish priest of Tubig and the
town officials, upon the recommendation of the Bishop of Cebu and the Alcalde Mayor of the Province, petitioned for the creation of Paric into a pueblo, through an expediente
of August 31, 1863 from Manila, their petition was
granted by the King, who decreed its creation on April 5, 1864. The Royal Order,
communicated to Don Rafael de Echague,
Governor-General of the Philippines (1862-1865), through the Overseas Ministry, reads:
Exmo. Sor.: Dada cuenta a la Reyna
(q.D.G.) del espediente que V.E. acompaño a su carta de 31 de Agosto del año
pasado, relativo a la ereccion de una nueva Parroquia en el pueblo de Paric,
distrito de Samar, corespondiente al Gobierno de Visayas, en ese archipelago,
S.M. oido el Consejo de Estado en pleano, ha tenido a bien aprobar dicha
errecion conforme a lo propuesto en el espresado espediente, disponiendo que la
dotacion de 600 pesos que se asigna al Parroco hasta tanto que el numero de
tributos de su feligresia le producca [sic] una renta equivalente, se incluya
en el presupuesto del proximo año economico.
De Real orden lo digo a V.S. para su conocimiento y efectos
consiguientes. Y habiendola mandado
complir en este fecha, la traslado a V.R. par su conocimiento y fines
consiguientes. -- Dios guarde a V.R. m.a.
That was how the municipality of Paric was
founded. The Governor-General issued his
Superior Conformity Decree on June 16, 1864.
Even though Paric was created a pueblo
and parish simultaneously, its ecclesiastical independence came only on April 20, 1878 when the Bishop of Cebu,
Bp. Benito de Madridejos (1867-1886) issued the decree of the erection of the
parish, placing it under the patronage of St Joachim the Patriarch. The bishop appointed Fr. Jose del Olmo, OFM,
as its first parish priest. Under the
jurisdiction of the new township and parish were the visitas of Bacod, Dapdap, Carolina, and the rancherias of Dolores, Jinolaso, Tubabao and Balagon. (Oras was no
longer under its jurisdiction because it was made into a separate pueblo in 1850.) Of course, the poblacion of the municipality, needless to state, was located in
Paric.
Meanwhile, most likely on account of its
location, it did not take long for the sitio of Dolores to advance into a
barrio.
Early
Reverses. In 1864, the pueblo of Paric had a population of
2,998. While its women weaved fabrics from
guinaras, men extracted oil from
coconut, stripped abaca hemp, and planted rice.
Business probably improved, since, unlike in the past decades when they
relied on the itinerant Chinese or Chinese mestizos, two Chinese businessmen,
who most likely controlled commerce, took residence in the pueblo. But it also
experienced reverses. For, aside from
the usual baguios the people almost
yearly faced, they suffered from the cholera epidemics, which forced many of
them to reside in less settled places.
Most of the recorded epidemics took place in the 1880s, notably in 1846,
1850, and 1876, and 1894. But the worst
happened in 1882 when Paric ranked eleventh among the hardest hit pueblos on Samar. Of the more than 6,000 Samareños who died in
that epidemic, nearly 200 came from Paric.
But not only that.
The
Relinquishment of Paric as Poblacion. A problem, most likely more pressing than
anything else, with which the Paricnons were confronted, was the eating up of
the poblacion by the Jubasan
river. The constant erosion of the river
bank on the northern part of the poblacion,
caused by big and frequent floods, has so took its toll that the portion on
which a cluster of houses stood became part of the river. At this time, the parish priest of Paric was
Fr Juan Vicente Carmona, OFM (who was born on May 6, 1862 in Campo de Criptana,
Spain). The municipal officials
(1885-1887), as recorded in the Relacion
de los nombramientos hechos para constitutivo los tribunales municipales,
Provincia de Samar, were as follows: Gobernadorcillo:
Carlos Robredillo; Teniente Primero:
Leoperto Planesniles; Teniente Segundo:
Martin Irasga; Juez Primero: Pedro
Esido [Hesido]; Juez Segundo:
Martines Geroy; Alguacil: Fernando
Bongon; Alguacil: Joaquin Cebrero.
DOLORES AS THE NEW POBLACION OF THE MUNICIPALITY
The
Transfer of the Poblacion of Paric to
the Visita of Dolores. In 1886, after much deliberation, the parish
priest, together with the municipal authorities, formally petitioned the
Governor-General of the Philippines for the transfer of the poblacion to the growing visita of Dolores, about a kilometer
from the mouth of Bacod river, convinced that the new poblacion would be secure and safe from floods and erosion. The petition having been approved, they
effected the transfer in 1887. As one
author says, “las autoridades eclesiasticas
y civiles se han traslado a la visita de Dolores.” Another published material reads: “Previendo el P. Juan Carmona lo que habia de
suceder, debidamente autorizado, traslado el pueblo en 1887 a sitio mas seguro,
mas ventilado y sano.”
This is how Dolores, once a hamlet, then a rancheria and ultimately a visita, became the poblacion of Paric.
As an aside at this juncture, one might ask:
what could be said about the claim that Dolores was born in 1888?
Truth to tell, it has no historical import. For one thing, there is no document, and no
official document can be exhibited, to show the truthfulness about the claim,
because it is erroneous. It derives from
a mistaken assumption that the transfer of the poblacion coincided the founding of the pueblo. For another, the
date of 1888 comes from oral tradition, but published documents in Spanish attest
that the poblacion was transferred in
1887.
The
Abandonment of Paric as Poblacion. With the relocation of the poblacion from Paric to Dolores, the
former poblacion reverted to a small
settlement. But being a former poblacion, people referred to it as Binungto-an, meaning, a former town site,
just like Bacod. A number of Paricnons also
transferred to Dolores, while others chose to go to the visita of Maria Angeles (which was renamed Can-avid) at the mouth
of Jubasan river. As far back as 1912,
part of the stone church of Binungto-an
plunged into the river, but what endured later on became the barrio of
Canteros.
Dolores
as the New Poblacion of Paric. On the other hand, efforts were done to make
Dolores worthy of its new status of poblacion. From the year 1889 through 1893, Fr. Carmona,
with the help of Doloresnons, constructed a church of hard wood, a mestiza parochial house of wood, a casa tribunal (located behind the lot of
ex-Mayor Valles), a parochial school for boys and girls, a wide church plaza
(which used to include the lot occupied by the present municipal building), and
a cemetery (partly covered by the Engineering bldg.). Marin y Morales describes some of these
plants:
El P. Juan Vicente Carmona… construyo
con ayuda de sus feligreses una casa
parroquial con el primer piso de mamposteria y los restante de madera y
una iglesia muy espaciosa en cuya construccion se han empleado todos los
adelantos modernos, compatibles con las condiciones en que se encuentran la
mayor parte de los pueblos del Archipielago.
La Iglesia ofrece un aspecto muy agradable y en su construccion se han empleado
maderas excogidas; tiene cimientos hasta la altura de un metro y medio, de
mamposteria. Ademas de los edificios
dichos, tiene este pueblo una casa tribunal de madera y un espacioso edificio,
tambien de madera, que dividido por su mitad sirve para escuelas de niños y
niñas.
A la mode of the European towns, these
structures formed a nucleus around which were raised the houses of Doloresnons,
for it was ideal to have the faithful within the earshot of the bell tower (de bajo campana). Regrettably, though, the Pulajanes torched
these edifices in 1905, and all that remained is the stone wall that was
transformed in the 1970s into a grotto of Our Lady of Lourdes. By 1890, it had two teachers: Damiano Pomasin
and Donisia Hubirit. Six Chinese were
doing business in the town. The población itself had a total population
of 1,824. The pueblo had 5 visitas and
20 smaller villages.
With regard to the geographical area of the poblacion, its size was relatively
large. The furthest street on its north-east portion was Carolina street, and
at south-west was San Carlos street; between them were three parallel streets:
San Joaquin, San Roque and San Carlos.
At its north-west was San Juan de Dios street, and at the south-east was
San Francisco street, and these were separated by Real street. Nueva street (renamed Eufracio Rivera street in
the late 70s) that stretches parallel with San Francisco street was not part of
the original design of the poblacion,
while Crisologo street was formerly San Roque street. Roxas, Reynaldo, Balagbis, Riverside, and
Quitorio streets were added after the war.
Of course, the original street of Dolores was Calle Real, which was connected by a road to Oras through the
initiative of Fr Fernando Esteban, parish priest of Oras (1875-1879). Compared with those of others towns that were
created during the Spanish period, these streets were relatively wide and
straight.
CONCLUSION
That, in brief, is the story of how Dolores,
which was a tiny village in 1650, evolved into a población of the municipality of Paric in 1887. It is of interest to note that although the población was no longer Paric, that is
to say, although the entire pueblo
was by this time governed from the administrative center of Dolores, the
municipality continued to be anomalously called Paric in official documents of
the local and national government. For
example, the Census of 1903 still referred to the municipality as the Municipality
of Paric. It was only in 1906 that the
name Dolores officially replaced Paric as the name of the municipality in
governmental and ecclesiastical records.
In fine, this brief history corrects a number
of erroneous statements, purportedly
historical, that have been dished out, for example, in the article, ‘Dolores: Your Home in Eastern Samar,”
published in the 2008 Souvenir Program of Dolores Town Fiesta, which was based
on, but sometimes literally lifted from, two articles: “That You May Know About Dolores,” in the 1966 Souvenir Program, and
“A Portrait of Dolores” in the 1977 Souvenir Program. Here are samples of baseless and false
assertions, among so many: [1] That Paric was a first settlement (p.30); [2] That
Bacod was a second settlement (pp.30-31); [3] That Dolores was a third
settlement (p.31); [4] That Bacod river was formerly called Tumaguingting
river (p.31); [5] That Dolores was born in 1888! and [6] That Dolores was founded on August 31, 1863--a product of wrong reading of historical documents!
For those interested in the details and in
lengthy accounts of the history of Dolores, see Lope Robredillo, “The Parish of St Joachim: Its Genesis and
Development (1602-1898),” Philippiniana
Sacra (Manila: University of Santo Tomas, 1990) 465-482; Lope Robredillo, “Resistance and Assimilation: A History of
Dolores (Eastern Samar), 1602-1898,” Leyte-Samar
Studies XIX (Tacloban City: Divine World University, 1985) 2, 105-147 (a
revision of the latter was published in the 2001 Dolores Town Fiesta Souvenir
Program); and Lope Robredillo, “The Dolores
Resistance against the Americans, 1899-1906,” Leyte-Samar Studies XXI (Tacloban
City: Divine Word University, 1987), 1:1-28.
