REVIEW: INOPACAN WAS FOUNDED IN 1852 NOT 1892

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PREMISE: Mr. Jaime Generalao Dianon, a native of Cebu, who now works as a school teacher in Inopacan, spread the news through his XtGem blog account that the municipality of Inopacan was not founded in 1892, but in 1952, a difference spanning 40 years long. He based his findings on a printed copy of Errecion De Pueblos (Towns Establishment ) that he lifted from an old souvenir program. He blew up a photocopy and presented an enlarged image in his blog at XtGem.com account with the English translation that reads: "...This filing began in November 27, 1852 CONTENT Approved (Resolved/Settled) on December 6, 1852."
Years before the Foundation Day was commemorated in the streets of Inopacan, it was Mr. Leonidas Soliva of Inopacan MPDO who went to secure a copy of the certification of the establishment of Inopacan township from the National Archive of the National Historical Commission of the Philippines. He brought home a copy of the document which to his understanding declared 1892 as the founding year of Inopacan.

Now, with the scrutiny and some corroborating findings from other sources which Mr. Dianon faithfully believes would support his discovery, the municipal council and the executive committee of Inopacan are now facing doubts on when exactly Inopacan emancipated from Hindang.

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Have you seen the "sigbin" of Inopacan.

Illustration by Philippine Spirits

I remember during the time when radyo baktas was the only source of local news in our town. As usual,  anchored by rumormongers who spread news fast like lightning. One of the news they helped spread like wildfire was about a boy who was allegedly attacked by a dreadful sigbin. It was told that one morning the poor boy was found in the coconut field already blue and black on one side and very pale on the other side. The lifeless body seemed to be half-emptied of its blood.  When inspected, punctured bite marks were allegedly found on the foot of the child. Everybody was easily convinced the child was attacked by sigbin. Because of this news, people panicked and parents nervously rushed to gather their children and kept them in their houses. When outside was already dark, nobody wanted to go out, not even the grown-ups. Electricity was not yet around in this municipality. Thus, after sunset, the outdoors is very dark. When it's dark, you can vividly imagine the grimy news.         

In the 70s and 80s (even in the early 90s), if you truly came from Inopacan, you must have heard the old story about the dreaded witch in Sitio Bacungbacung of Brgy. Linao who kept a sigbin as a pet. People in town thought sigbin was a diabolic creature that obeyed whatever its master had commanded to do. When untethered and released by the witch, or allowing it to go outside, this sigbin is expected to perform a scary demonic attack on unsuspecting prey in the darkness of the night. Normally, during the daytime, the master would tether this hideous pet in a secret room and hide it in a cage covered with a dark cloth.

It was told sigbin was a nocturnal being; it slept in the daytime and was wide awake by night. It crept out of the cage and could easily pass through the smallest hole or recesses in the wall as if it had no bones and could jump high over the bushes in the field, agile and moving swiftly around. It would never face forward. The structure of the body is comparably similar to that of a kangaroo having a pair of muscular big hind legs and two smaller upper limbs. When in a stationary position, it would keep its guard by bending its head down below its groin and peeping its behind through in between its muscular thighs as if it was viewing the world upside-down. It has two very big round eyes, the size of a platito (small dish plate). It would seldom blink. The eyes would keep on staring toward the back and the sigbin would slowly move backward and sideward if it needed to adjust the direction of its sight. When disturbed, it would quickly straighten up to a standing position and hop like a big kangaroo - the big hind legs would quickly kick the ground while the front limbs clutched its breast. In a split second, sigbin is gone fast. So quick that the human eye could not have a glimpse of it. Instantly, it’s gone to nowhere.

What made sigbin dreadful was the rumor that it could be used when taking reprisal against those who had disappointed, offended, humiliated, or scorned the witch. The consequence would be so frightening. One time, when the night was over, people heard morning news from the radyo baktas that somebody mysteriously died of bite marks with all the blood sucked out dry.

Terrified. Yes, I was terrified listening to this story while I was a little boy in Inopacan. My nanay sternly reprimanded me and my sister if we happened to be not within our mother’s sight. The traumatic alarm would last weeks before the situation mellowed down and returned to normal.

During my early teens, I had this unforgettable experience. It was when I saw Nising and his siblings (the children of Mr. William Cabigas, a carpenter whose house was on a lot between the two old wooden bridges of the Inopacan River,  about a hundred meters away from our land). They hurriedly gathered towards the bamboo grove on the side of our land after they noticed a strange commotion in the undergrowth surrounding the kagingking (a species of thorny and sturdy bamboo). Feeling concerned because the kagingking was in our land, I approached and asked what they were up to. I was told they were chasing a skinny sigbin hiding in the thicket under the kagingking grove. Nising and his siblings were armed with tirador (rubber sling) with pebbles as their pellets or their kind of ammunition ready for firing at the suspected sigbin. Though a bit shaky, I was urged to help them catch the sigbin. I thought anyway that it was just a skinny creature and perhaps our number could overpower this hideous being. I picked a big stick as my choice of weapon (no other choice actually). We surrounded the kagingking making sure the sigbin could not escape. The kagingking suddenly became under our siege. Then all of a sudden, there was a freaking shout from somebody telling us that he saw the sigbin. The rest of us rushed to gather at his side to help him attack the sigbin. But when we got there, the creature was nowhere to be found; it managed to slip and escape through the side that we abandoned. We gave a chase through the coconut and banana field. But the sigbin was fast and gone far beyond our sight. In between our gasping breaths, we admitted we lost it.

Related posts:

• Hinup-akan could be the true origin of Inopacan
• The Legend of Inopacan (in my years of research)
• Inong Pak-an Festival (2009) - Youtube video
• Cuatro Islas
• Digyo island
• Apid island
• Himokilan island
• Mahaba island

The kagingking grove is still there until now. Last year, when I made a round of tours on our land along the side of the Inopacan River, I was refreshed by the incident when I passed by at the same spot where we gathered around to hunt the sigbin. The thought gave me goosebumps on my neck and arms. Thanks and the underbrush where we chased the sigbin is no longer that thick now. The big-eyed demon may not be hiding there for sure. But still, I had that tingling sensation of panic on what if the sigbin was no longer skinny but stronger and ready to plunge at me this time. Bah, I quickly changed my imagination and simply entertained the thought that the sigbin is already old after all the years and too weak to stage a stupid attack.

Until then, I never actually saw the sigbin. Whatever they were chasing, I hope it was not the real thing because they described it as a small creature that ran like a dog with a scary face and it already lost most of its body hair. I had in my mind that it could have been a sickly stray dog or chupacabra, a bloodsucker considered by locals as the cousin of sigbin. There were reported cases in the Philippines where chupacabra attacked fowl, pigs, and other farm animals. Besides, talking about chupacabra here is another story.

Despite my experience, I’m not sure if sigbin is real. Perhaps our folks were too quick to jump to conclusions by merely judging the situation on sketchy and dubious assumptions. There was no factual basis. Some say that our parents invented the story so the children would not wander around, especially at night. Hmm, sounds like psychological warfare, a traumatic story used in disciplining the young ones.

I never heard that there was a follow-up investigation conducted by the authorities on the alleged sigbin that killed a boy. 

Years later, while I was in college, I learned from a reliable source that there was this group from VISCA (Visayas State College of Agriculture in Baybay, Leyte) who tried to gather factual information about the sigbin for a sort of special study. They even offered a hefty sum of money to those who could bring them a real sigbin (dead or alive) for documentation. Until now, there’s no news if they already found one. It is the same group who tried to search for the species of fabled nangka (jackfruit) that would bear fruits underground.

I browsed through the video clips on YouTube but only found a dubious and fake movie of sigbin instead.

Now tell us your story about the sigbin in our town?

Inopacan Fiesta 2010 marred by 2 incidents of killing - leaving 3 dead in town

The people of Inopacan were shocked last night upon learning that 3 people died in two separate incidents while most of Inopacnons and their guests were celebrating the feast of St. Isidore. Lito Morata allegedly stabbed to death two of their guests, one of whom was the former lover of his younger sister. While Totoy Balina was hacked to death by the brother of Aracelli (a.k.a. Black Jack) in BLISS housing.

In his Sunday morning first mass today, Msgr. Sabondo, the parish priest, shared in his homily that last night he saw people milling around the dead body of a male person lying on the ground along the San Vicente street in Brgy. Tinago. Fr. Sabundo who was then wandering around with his motorbike, stopped and checked it out, saw the dead body, and learned that the lifeless victim was stabbed to death over an old grudge.

From another source, it is learned that the suspect, Lito Morata, allegedly was harboring anger against the victim who allegedly was a former lover of the suspect's younger sister. It was gathered that the victim, along with four of his companions, dropped by at the house of the suspect to visit and join their fiesta celebration. Displeased by the presence of their guests, the suspect who was armed with a knife confronted the victim and his companion. Thus the start of the commotion and the victim was eventually knifed in the belly. The wounded victim managed to escape but the suspect chased him down the street until the victim fell on the ground, leaving behind a trail of blood from the house. Allegedly, one of the victim's companions was also stabbed to death when he attempted to meddle in the incident.

In BLISS housing, a separate hacking incident took place in the house of Aracelli, alyas Black Jack. People from BLISS were startled upon learning that Black Jack's alleged lover, Totoy Baliña, was hacked in the neck and head. It was learned later that the lone suspect was Black Jack's brother, who harbored ill feeling against the victim. The suspect allegedly was irked upon learning that his sister Black Jack was manhandled by Totoy Baliña over an issue of jealousy that night. When the suspect saw his sister having a bruise on her temple, he attacked and shouted at the victim “Romansaha na, ayaw ug kulataha!” (Make love with her, don't maul her!) while in the process of hacking the victim at the neck then at the head. The victim who was then treating the bruise on Black Jack’s temple was caught off guard by the sudden turn of events. One of Black Jack’s fingers was also amputated when the suspect gave that fatal hacking blow on the victim. Unsatisfied, the suspect allegedly even lunged the bolo several times into the side of the victim before leaving the scene of the crime.

Those who responded to rescue saw the injured Black Jack and the lifeless Totoy in a state of holding hands together, satirically described by Msgr. Sabondo as "till death do us part."

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THE LEGEND OF INOPACAN (in my years of research)

(Click the image and find your place in Poblacion, Inopacan, Leyte.)

Inopacan – [Leyte] (demonym: Inopacnon) - A coastal town in the western part of Leyte province. The original site of Inopacan was in Binitinan (now Brgy. Guadalupe). Due to the frequent invasion and pillage of Moro pirates and the wrath of monsoon storms making it bad to moor their galleons in the area, they transferred the village to the present location of this town, which was then called Kanamokan, meaning, “place of mosquitoes” because of its pesky namok (mosquito). 

The relocation was intended to spare early Spanish missionary priests and the native settlers from the attacks of Moro marauders. Besides, the present location is along the seaside and the mooring galleons were well guarded by the Cuatro Islas (four islets): Digyo, Mahaba, Apid, and Himokilan. A place is strategically a good place for hiding galleons from the wrath of habagat (south or southwest monsoon winds). Nearby the town proper is a place where the ships and fishing boats would take refuge during bad weather even to these days. The people called this place Tinago from the word “tago” meaning “hidden.” Thus, “tinago” means “the hidden place.”

Much of the documents that could be a good source for learning about the history of Inopacan were destroyed when the town hall as well as the parish church and its convent were leveled into rubbles as the Japanese warplanes bombed these buildings during World War II. But based on the account of Inopacnon elders and records from neighboring towns, Inopacan was once a barangay of Hindang. with Fernando Polistico (a Boholano) as the first appointed Capitan del Barrio, and was succeeded by Francisco Espinosa, and lastly by Agustin Kudera before Inopacan became a town on December 06, 1892.

The name Inopacan came from the legendary person known as “Inong pak-an,” which means “Inong who have wings” or “winged Inong.” Inong was a mythical man who according to legend was a person who could run very fast and jump up high over the trees and could hop from one place to another as in from hill to hill. Hence, he was thought to have wings. His story happened before the Spanish came to this place. His supernatural abilities are similar to olden esoteric arts called kamal or ilmu which was practiced by the early Muslim aristocrats in southern Mindanao. Kamal was taught by special masters and was effectively limited to members of the aristocracy. Inong could be a rajah or a sultan under the aristocratic lineage of either the endatuan or dumatus. This fit his description of being a leader of a pack of local warriors. He and his men protected the local villagers by driving away Moro bandits and the much dreaded giant serpentine snake that once lived in a cave. 

Related posts: 

• Hinup-akan is the true origin of Inopacan
• Inong Pak-an Festival (2009) - Youtube video
• Cuatro Islas - the Boracay of Leyte (as reported by GMA Saksi news report)  
• Digyo island
• Apid island
• Himokilan island
• Mahaba island 
• The Untold Story of Manny Paquiao's mother - was Dionisia born in Inopacan and why her parents ran away to Mindaanao

The cave has an entrance opening at the tip of a cape now called “bay sa has” (literally means “the house of a snake”, a seaside limestone cave where the giant reptile used to live). The huge serpentine snake was dreaded by the local villagers because it attacked their carabaos, cows, goats, pigs, dogs, and other animals especially when the snake was hungry. Even the fishermen who were on their sakayan (outrigger rowing canoe), or baroto (small frail rowing boat), or the Muslim pirates who were on their pankos (sailboat) were not spared from the attack if they happened to pass by near the mouth of the cave. 

Until one night, under the light of a bright full moon, the snake was seen playing the trabungko, a brightly illuminating crystal ball. The snake tossed it up in the air while skimming the surface of the sea between the islets of Cuatro Islas. It is believed that the ball was a mystical amulet and had birtud (magical power), and Inong was among those who saw the snake playing the trabungko.

The entrance of Bay-sa-has (house of snake) at present. (Photo credits to Ms. Eldeross Kirong)

 

The long search for the trabungko could be one of the reasons why Inong came to this place. Because of his desire to acquire the mystical ball, Inong chased the giant snake by hopping from the shore to his boat then to the islet, and to another boat as if he had some sort of flying skill. Using his sword and shield and with the show of his supernatural strength, Inong fought the ferocious giant serpentine snake. After a long fight, Inong disappeared along with the giant snake. Because of their subsequent disappearance, everybody thought that Inong succeeded in killing the giant snake. Few had told that Inong got the trabungko and lived a quiet life in a cave in the jungle on top of Mt. Sacrepante overlooking the nearby plains. Others accounted that they saw him on the hilly karst of Bontoc in Brgy Bulacan in the northeastern part of Hindang where many caves can be found; or most probably, he went back to his origin in Mindanao bringing home the treasured trabungko.

The Inong Pak-an Festival

There were some accounts of succeeding great tambalans (a.k.a. albularyo, referred to as the local shaman or quack doctors) before World War II that they happened to have an encounter with Inong in the mountains and network of caves in Inopacan that are connected with the caves in Bulacan, Hindang and to the Cuatro Islas. These tambalans told that they had to pass a test, such as solving a puzzle, completing a tahas (task), or facing a fight of strength with Inong, for him to receive more magical power from him. This kind of ordeal is typical of that of a special master who taught or passed the knowledge of kamal to others.

Years later, back to the cave in the cape, there were few big snakes left in the Baysahas long after the giant serpentine one was gone. Mostly were sawa (boa constrictor). The snakes were quite big but no longer giant, but still, these creatures were feared by the local villagers. According to old folks, it was during World War II that the big snakes were gone because the Japanese occupation armies annihilated them by trolling in the sea carcasses and other big chunks of meat stuffed with bombs. The snakes took the bait and were killed by the explosives. Nowadays, no more sightings of big snakes in Baysahas are reported. The cave still exists now, though its opening is already narrow and partly covered with stones and sand.

The Inopacan bridge that crosses over the subang daku and subang gamay.

Written by Edgie Polistico. 

(ALL RIGHTS RESERVED)

Welcome to Inopacan. 

DALI KAMO! DUAW KAMO!

MABUHI ANG INOPACAN! MABUHI ANG INOPACNON!

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BRGY. TAO-TAON

The name Tao-Taon is from the word "tao" or "tawo" meaning the people, and the word "taon" or "tawon" meaning to evacuate to a higher ground. 

The early settlers on this place were always bothered by the overflowing Inopacan River that forced them to move to nearby higher grounds. Thus, "Tao-taon" would mean people would take refuge to a higher ground to stay away from an overflowing river. The old river bed that traversed across barrio Tao-taon now dried up and cultivated to become an open field farm. A creek still exist of erstwhile portion of the river bed that approaches to the sea, where nipa palms and mangrove trees now abound. The river changed its course to its present channel and is being prevented by concrete dikes and ripraps from returning to its old route .

BRGYS. CABULISAN and CAMINTO

MAIN PAGE: INOPACAN, LEYTE and the Inopacnons

(Click the image to view actual size and find the location of Cabulisan and Caminto)

Brgy Cabulisan is used to be called as the "Little Baguio in Leyte" because its comparatively cold like the mountains of Baguio City in Benguet (Central Luzon). It sits on the ridge of highly elevated Mt. Sacrepante right on the foot of the mountain wall where what looks like a big ball of rock is embedded. The place is overlooking the Camotes sea in the western part and the belfry of Inopacan Parish church can also be seen from the bordering hills, and one can have a distant view of the mountains in Mindanao across the southern horizon. While on the eastern side is the magnificent mountain ranges of Brgy. Caminto, a quiet and similarly cool place.

Long long time ago, there was a couple who first settled in the area. The wife's name is "Bulisang"and her husband was "Mintong." Eventually, the couple got separated due to petty quarrel. Bulisan stayed in their hut while Mintong went down to the lower ground of the valley and built another hut for him to stay. Thus, the nearby villagers called the two places as "Ka Bulisang" (Bulisang's place) and "Ka Mintong" (Mintong's place). As time passed by, the name stuck and became Cabulisan and Caminto.

Naming a place in this manner is common in olden times, such as the Kabinak (from "Ka Binak," meaning Binak's place) a hill situated along the border of Brgy Tinago and the fishpond of Lloren's.

Edgie Polistico

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BRGY. TINAGO

MAIN PAGE: INOPACAN, LEYTE and the Inopacnons

Shown in the picture is the Brgy. Tinago Fish Port and the legendary Baysahas, viewed from the backyard port of Tudio's residence.

During the Spanish time, even before then,the sea in this place is strategically good for hiding boats and galleons from the wrath of habagat (south or southwest monsoon winds).

The cape along Baysahas, where the first fish port is constructed is the all-time port for hiding and anchorage of big fishing boats called sinsuros and occasionally by some passenger ships from Hilongos and Bato.

So called Tinago because this is the place where the ships and fishing boats would take refuge during bad weather even to these days. The people called this place Tinago from the word tago meaning “hidden.” Thus, tinago means “the hidden one.”

- edgie polistico

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