Dumangas
Dumangas, officially the Municipality of Dumangas, is a municipality in the province of Iloilo, Philippines. According to the, it has a population of people.
Etymology
Local stories written regarding the origin of the name of the town stated: "A Spaniard resting under two closely growing mango trees asked a native of the name of the place. Thinking that he was asked of the name of the trees under which the Spaniard was resting, he answered in crude Spanish "dos mangas", meaning two mango trees.Another version which is the most probable, tells about Legazpi's Spanish-French officer and a creole who was one of the leaders of the foraging party who come to Araút. Having seen mango trees growing abundantly in the place, he gave a verbal report to the Adelantado upon is return to Cebu mentioning "Sitio Du Manggas" as the place they got plenty of food. Being a creole and was accustomed to substandard Spanish he mispronounced the Spanish article "de" as "du" thus, the place was identified and recorded as "Pueblo de Dumangas".
History
Early settlement
The old village of Dumangas started as a settlement of old Malays who made a clearing along the Talaguis River and established a community sometime in the 12th or 13th century. The community was called Araút, the term is derived from the old Malayan word laut meaning sea or pa-laut or laud which means towards the sea.When the Spaniards arrived in Panay they found the coastal village of Araut, a thriving agricultural community. According to Friar Gaspar de San Agustín, O.S.A., "...in the ancient times, there was a trading center and a court of the most illustrious nobility in the whole island." at Jalaur/Jalaud river in the vicinity of Dumangas.
During the first few years of Spanish arrival in the Islands, the Spaniards established their first settlement in Leyte and Butuan. The Spanish settlement in Cebu was often attacked by Portuguese invaders and aside from that the Island of Cebu had a shortage of food provision to support the Spaniards. Miguel Lopez de Legazpi, sent various expeditions to look for food and to find another settlement other than Cebu to evade the attacks from the Portuguese explorers. The royal treasurer to the Philippines Guido de Lavezaris writes to King Philip II of Spain that the danger of Portuguese attack leads the Spaniards to remove their camp to Panay. The governor general Miguel Lopez de Legazpi sent Mateo del Sanz who landed in Araut in June 1565 and “found many provisions and the inhabitants hospitable”. The colonizers were able to get enough food supplies and went back to Cebu to report to Legazpi what they had found.
Hispanization
In June 1565, Captain Luis de la haya left Cebu for Araut. With him was Fray Juan de Alva, an Augustinian friar ordered by his superiors to preach and to convert the people of Araut to Christianity. The inhabitants then were animistic believers. Like other pre-Hispanic Filipinos, they worshipped environmental spirits, but Fray de Alva did not find much difficulty in converting the natives, to the new faith. Of the early Augustinian fathers who came to Panay, he was the first to learn the native tongue which was Kinaray-a, hence and as such he can relate to the people easily. Shortly he was able to initiate the construction, of a church with the help of the coverts in 1572.In the 16th century, Araut gained prominence, being the first community trodded by the Spaniards when they came to Panay. It was also the first town in Panay to have received the blessing of Christianity and first to have a temporary church erected.
In 1605, thirty years after it was established as a town the Spanish clergy, who then ruled the community together with the cabeza de barangay, changed the name Araut to Dumangas.
Fifty nine years later the church was again razed to the ground. Bair and Robertson recorded:
" it was Saturday March 15, 1687 the church and the house in Dumangas was burned. Burned together with the edifices were offering from Cebu and other Visayan Island and 2,000 canvas of rice which was stored in the hours."
Dumangas and world trade
Before the opening of Iloilo to foreign trade, Dumangas have produced huge quantities of the rice. In 1842, the rice shipped from Iloilo were drawn mainly from the vast plains of Dumangas and its neighboring towns. The opening of the port of Iloilo to foreign trade in 1855 paved way for further progress in Dumangas. The town had indirectly shared on the lucrative trade. Sugar became the main bulk of production and export which were produced in farms called haciendas. Local sugar planters built sugar mills for local production of muscovado sugar sold to Chinese merchants.Revolutionary Dumangas
When revolution broke out in Luzon in 1896, the revolutionaries spread quickly throughout the country. However, most of the fighting were centered in Luzon. Alarmed by the possibility that the revolution might spread to Visayas and Mindanao, Colonel Ricardo Monet, the Commander of the Spanish Forces in the Visayas came to Dumangas in the early part of 1898 to recruit volunteers to help defend the colonial government.Coronel Monet appointed Teniente Mariano Dólar to organize the volunteers but the young and brave Quintín Salas and was asked to organize the cuerpos voluntaries of Dumangas. Unknown to Spanish authorities, the volunteers organized by Quintin Salas were trained to be revolutionaries.
Pursuant to agreed points of the revolution, simultaneous with other towns, Dumangas, "Cried for Freedom and Liberty" on October 28, 1898. They easily subdued the civil guards in the town of Dumangas, Quintin Salas and his rayadillo army continued to liberate leaving only the capital – Iloilo City.
On December 24, 1898, the Spanish Colonial Government headed by Don Diego de los Rios surrendered Iloilo City to the revolutionaries. Upon the surrender of the Spaniards a revolutionary government was established in the province and Don Simon Deocampo was appointed administrator of Dumangas.
On December 28, 1898, four days capitulation of the Spaniards to the rebel forces of Iloilo, the American troops under Gen. Marcus Miller arrived. The US Navy was stranded at Iloilo Bay for 45 days for Iloilo government did not allow them to land unless approved by Gen. Emilio Aguinaldo. This incident was known in history as "Iloilo Fiasco".
The Filipino – American hostilities broke out in Manila on February 4, 1889, and on February 11, the American forces bombarded Iloilo City. Due to inadequate arms, the Ilonggo revolutionaries retreated from the city. Slowly, the towns of Iloilo fell in the hands of the Americans. When the American soldiers reached Dumangas, they made the Dumangas Church as their headquarters.
They experienced fierce retaliations from the rayadillo in Dumangas led by Coronel Quintín Salas. There were ambushes initiated by Salas and his rayadillos in Sitio Ambacán in barrio Cálao with Sargento Salvador Dólar as in-charge, and at Lublub Bridge under the leadership of Teniente Juan Decoloñgon and Teniente Felipe Togonon resulting to the death of a certain Captain Smith of the US Armed Forces.
The ambushes of the rayadillos angered the Americans that they burned down the whole población. It was because of the said arson that no colonial houses in Dumangas can be seen today.
When Simon de Ocampo, the revolutionary government administrator of Dumangas surrendered to the Americans in the late 1899, the administration of the town was changed to Provisional American Military Government under the leadership of Frederick Wilson.
Even with the establishment of the military government, Coronel Quintín Salas with the support of the Dumangasanon continued to defy the Americans. After realizing that he was left alone in the battlefield because his companion had already accepted the Benevolent Assimilation Policy of the Americans, he surrendered on October 4, 1901, earning the title as the "Bravest Ilonggo Revolutionary".
After the surrender of Salas, a civil administration was established. With it, Dumangas accepted American rule, and peace was restored. The surrender of Coronel Quintín Salas to the Americans marked the restoration of peace in Dumangas.
American colonial administration
Dumangasanon who left the town during the war started to return and rehabilitated their upended lives and livelihoods. Since there was no fully constituted authority to administer the town, a committee was formed headed by Urbano Dólar, who simultaneously organized a police force to maintain peace and order.In 1903, Dumangas was fused with Barotac Nuevo for the third time, with the seat of administration in the former. However, due to irregularities committed by some elected official, the seat was transferred to Barotac Nuevo a year after.
The two towns were again separated in 1910 after the people of Dumangas led by Vicente Doronila petitioned the colonial government for autonomy. It was granted and Doronila became the first presidente municipal.
Japanese occupation
One by one, the island of the archipelago were taken over by the Japanese. They reached Dumangas in 1942 and established garrison and a puppet government. Philippine-Chinese José Dimzon was appointed Mayor and Tomasito Buenaflor as Chief of Police. These two persons had sacrificed a great deal to save numerous Dumangasanon from the cruelty of the Japanese.Even with the establishment of a puppet government, the local government of Dumangas continued to exist in concealment with Julito Diasnes Sr. as the town head. Tomas Confesor organized the Civil Resistance Movement and fought against the invaders. Many men of Dumangas were enlisted to the cause. As guerilla's they attacked the Japanese garrisons and undertook ambuscades.
The people of the town left their homes and sought refuge in the interior barrios to escape the Japanese atrocities. These evacuations changed the dismal barrio life at the bank of the Halauod River; where most of the evacuees from the town proper and Iloilo City were concentrated.
To lessen their fears and difficulties the people conducted sports tournament, dances and cockfights. Sitio Talaúguis was transformed to an important business center, as it became a trading port of goods from Iloilo City, Negros, Guimaras and other towns of Iloilo.
During the Japanese occupation, Macario Peralta Jr., freed most of Panay from Japanese imperialism, including Dumangas, thus other allied guerillas in other provinces from Romblon, Palawan, Marinduque and portions of Masbate and Mindoro, considered majority liberated Panay, the Primus inter pares in their alliance.