BALANGIGA

 
 

THE NAME “BALANGIGA”

             How the name Balangiga came to be is still unknown and unrecorded. A legend may have been told about a hallow jackfruit called “Balanga” floating in the nearby river. The fruit kept on coming back until picked up by a fisherman who threw it with much anger upon seeing it without the juicy stuff inside. The spot where the fruit landed came to be known as Balanga and which through the years became what it is now - - - Balangiga. This and another story that may have been told could be the first “real story” only if we could dig deeper into our culture.

             The early Spanish chronicles and historians spell the name of the town in different ways. The names Balangigan, Balanguiga and Balangiga were used in different occasions. 

 

 

About Balangiga

Balangiga has hundred years of history. Legend has it that the town derived its name from a jackfruit without the edible part known in local dialect as “balanga”. The word evolved into Balangiga and Spanish chronicles variably referred to it as Balangigan or Balanguigan. Another theory suggests that Balangiga is a combination of three monosyllabic words: bala from balay (house) in Ilocano and Waray-waray; ngi- from ngi-ngi which means mouth; and ga, a derivative from the Waray-waray word duungan or port in English. Thus Bala-ngi-ga means “house at the mouth of the port” or port town.

Balangiga became a municipio on April 3, 1854 by virtue of a decree of the superior government of Spain. But almost a century earlier, in 1773 Balangiga was already a visita of Guiuan, a peninsular area on the southeastern tip of the island of Samar. On September 27, 1859 Balangiga became a parish with the installation of a priest.

Balangiga has hundreds of years of history. Legend has it that the town derived its name from a fruit (balanga in the local dialect). The word evolved into Balangiga and Spanish chronicles  variably referred to it as Balaguigan or Balangigan. Another theory suggests that Balangiga is a combination of three monosyllabic words: bala-from balay (house) in Ilocano and Waray-Waray; ngi-from ngi-ngi, which means mouth; and ga, a derivative from the Waray-Waray word Du-ungan, or port in English. Thus, Bala-ngi-ga means ‘house at the mouth of a port’ or ‘port town.’

          Balangiga became a municipio on April 3, 1854 by virtue of a decree of the superior government of Spain. But almost a century earlier, in 1773, Balangiga was     already a visita of Guiuan, a peninsular area on the   south-eastern tip of the Island of Samar. On September 27, 1859 Balangiga became a parish with the installation of a priest. In 1863, Fr. Cristobal Mirralles, a Jesuit        missionary rebuilt the Balangiga Church consisting of Haligues o poste de Madera with four towers inside a quadrangle or fort. This suggests that, one, an older church edifice must have been built earlier by Spanish Catholic Missionaries and, two, that Balangiga must have been an old settlement when the Spaniards began      Christian Evangelization in Samar in 1596. When the Spanish hierarchy established the second mission residence in Dagami, Leyte in 1655, Balangiga was placed under its jurisdiction together with eight other settlements, namely: Malaquicay, Tambuco, Dulag, Beto, Abuyog,  Palo, Basey, and Guiuan.

          From 1768 to 1796, the church of Balangiga was  neglected owning to the expulsion of all Jesuit missionaries from the Philippines in 1768. In 1850, Rev. Fr. Fray Manuel Valverde rebuilt the stone church        dedicated to the illustrious Spanish martyr, San Lorenzo. At the same time, Fr. Valverde built a Spanish house or convent made of solid stone. As early as 1814, the town had its own gobernadorcillio or what is called today as municipal mayor. Balangiga had two schools constructed from 1892 to 1894 and were under stewardship of Fr. Bernando Aparicio.



Balangiga in the Philippine-American War

and Japanese- American War History

But Balangiga is best known historically for an “incident” in which its people figured dramatically during the time of Philippine-American War. More than a hundred years ago, on September 28, 1901, (commemorated every year as Balangiga Encounter Day)  bolo-wielding residents of Balangiga (then part of Samar Province) attacked an elite group of the US Army          stationed in this town. Forty-eight of the 74 American   Soldiers present died as result of the assault, while 28  native combatants perished. Then there was reprisal. The avenging American forces condemned Balangiga and practically all of Samar Island into a “howling wilderness,” razing houses and properties to the ground, and killing and maiming people-including women and children (officially the death sentence was supposed to have fallen only on those deemed capable of bearing arms, but, as in the mad ways of war anywhere, everyone is fair game, as it were)­-who where not fortunate enough to have fled from the Americans’ rampaging fury. The sweeping      condemnation has been recorded as responsible for the death and disappearance of some 50,000 Samareños.

          But soon, the Filipinos and Americans would        embrace themselves as allies and friends. The Second World War (1942-1945) pitted the Americans against the Japanese. And the Filipinos, now under American rule and looking up to the Americans as big brothers, fought with them and against the Japanese. Nevertheless, although the Philippines and the US fought under the latter’s      banner, not all Filipinos felt the same all the time. Some soldiers who fought alongside the Americans later shifted allegiance to the Japanese when America ceded the     Philippines to Japan. The 3rd Samar Company of the      Philippine Constabulary, constituting the combined forces from Basey, Balangiga, Guiuan, and Salcedo, was            integrated into the Japanese Imperial Army operating in the Samar Island. The headquarters of the 3rd Samar   Company were based in Balangiga.

          As the global war went on, reports of contacts     between the Company members and rebels still loyal to the US eventually reached the Japanese headquarters stationed in Salcedo, some 50 kilometers south of Balangiga, whereupon the latter decided to disarm the integrees. But information on the Japanese plan also reached the soldiers in Balangiga, prompting them to launch a counterattack. On September 18, 1944, the 3rd Samar Company ambushed the pursuing Japanese on their way to Balangiga in Barrio Cansumangkay, some 3 kilometers south of Balangiga. Thirty-one Japanese and 2 Filipinos died in this battle.

 

 

Balangiga Encounter

More than a hundred years ago, during the last stages of the Phil-American war, on September 28, 1901, the tribesmen of Balangiga attacked an elite band of American troops to resist the external domination. On that day, Balangiga chose to risk lives rather than allow control of its fate by others.

 

Forty-eight of the 74 American soldiers – members of the Company C ,9th  US Infantry Regiment  that had earlier fought in Peking ,China and later had the distinction of serving as honor guard  during the July 4,1901  inauguration  of the American civil government in the Philippines  and installation  of William Howard Taft  as civil governor – died as a result  of the assault , while 28  native combatants perished.

 

In retaliation, the American forces condemned Balangiga and practically all of Samar Island   into a “howling wilderness “razing houses and properties to the ground. Thousands died or disappeared as a result of the reprisal.

 

The Americans later, carted away three church bells as war trophy.  Two of the bells are now mounted in Wyoming, USA, and one is in South Korea.

Make a Free Website with Yola.