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Sunday, March 21, 2010
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Compostela is a 4th class municipality in the province of Cebu, Philippines. According to the 2007 census, it has a population of 39,167. Compostela is part of a metropolitan area informally called as Metro Cebu. HistoryIn the year 1844, a Spanish captain by the name of Manuel Aniceto del Rosario was commissioned by the higher Spanish authorities to establish local government units on the northern part of Cebu starting from what is now known as the town of Compostela as far north as what is presently called the town of Borbon. Compostela was among the early barrios of the Municipality of Danao established by Captain del Rosario. The newly establish barrio was named Compostela upon the suggestion of Father Jose Alonzo, a Roman Catholic friar who, by some historical account, reportedly came from the town of Compostela in Spain and brought along with him the image of the town’s patron saint, Senor Santiago de Apostol, Subsequently thereafter, Father Alonzo was designated as the first parish priest of the newly established barrio of Compostela. Adopting Senor Santiago de Apostol as the parish patron saint, Father Alonzo spearheaded the construction of the parish chapel out of light materials. As the population grew, the Spanish church authorities decided to elevate the chapel into a church so that in the year 1866 the Roman Catholic Church was constructed in the same site replacing the old chapel. Since then up to the present time, the same structure continues to be the major place of worship among the Catholic faithfuls in Compostela. The Early leaders who served as barrio capitanes of Compostela were as follows: Juan Gesulga, Intoy Terrado, Carlos Perales, Felix Kanen, Severino Calo, Arcadio Bantilan, Segundo Gesulga, Bonifacio Librero, Lorenzo Castro, Gregorio Kanen and Mario Castro.At the turn of the 20th Century, the Americans gained control over the Philippines when they defeated the Spaniards in the Battled of Manila Bay. As a consequence, the Treaty of Parish facilitated the reorganization and reclassification of all local government units in the country in accordance with their population and income. The actual reorganization which took place in 1903 resulted in the secession of Compostela to the Municipality of Liloan. In the year 1918, Compostela was finally considered to be converted into a municipality when a special committee headed by Hilario Kanen, thru Cebu Provincial Governor Manuel Roa, made representations to Hon. Sergio Osmena Sr., Speaker of the Philippine Assembly, to sponsor a bill creating the Municipality of Compostela. A year later, on that fateful 17th day of January 1919, Compostela officially became a municipality. BarangaysCompostela is politically subdivided into 17 barangays.
Article Source: Wikipedia - Compostela THE history of Cebu goes way beyond 439 years ago when the island became a province at the start of the Spanish colonization. Long before that, Cebu was already the center of trade of what is now the southern Philippines, dealing with traders from China, Malaysia, Japan, India, Burma and other parts of Asia. Cebu already had an organized social structure before the Spaniards came--- with small groups headed by a datu who served as leader. A datu governed his community, settled disputes, made decisions, protected his village from enemies, led them into battle, and received labor and tributes from his people. The position being both a political office and a social class, his authority was taken from his lineage, although his power depended on his wealth, the number of subjects and his reputation for physical prowess. A community ranged from 30 to 100 households grouped as a barangay and was one based mostly on kinship. Aside from the datu, there were free men called timawa and then the olipon. Spanish reports called the role of an olipon as dependent rather than a slave, because of the absence of violence and harshness notable in European slavery. People in Cebu then were called pintados because men were heavily tattooed. Lavish ornaments such as gold jewelry were used not only by women but also men. Prior to Spanish colonization there were already permanent townhouse-looking wooden structures where the datus lived. Ordinary people lived in field cottages or balay-balay that were on stilts: hagdan (house ladder) was a common sight, with floors (salog) made of bamboo or wood and roof (atop) made of palm tree shingles. In 1521 Ferdinand Magellan and his troops arrived in Cebu, were warmly welcomed by Rajah Humabon's community which converted to Christianity. But Magellan was not received well at the island of Mactan, where he was slain by the local chieftain, Lapulapu. Cebu remained free until Manuel Lopez de Legazpi arrived in 1566. It was then the start of the transformation of Cebu's civilization under the Spanish regime: Catholic churches were built, priests ruled communities alongside civil leaders, watchtowers were scattered along the island to guard against Moro raids. On the economic and cultural side, fiesta celebrations were embraced, new agricultural products were introduced, royal decrees led to commercial and agricultural expansion and the establishment of elementary schools in every municipality. From 1872 to 1896, however, extensive propaganda against abuses of Spaniards was done, a sugar crisis ended the agricultural prosperity Cebu province enjoyed and in 1892, sugar barons or hacienderos were forced to declare bankruptcy. Philippine Revolution began against Spain in 1898, but before the fruits of independence could bloom, the Americans troops arrived, United States sovereignty over the Philippines was declared and in February 7, 1900 , the Filipino-American war broke. The rest of Cebu's history was then tied to events in the country and the rest of the world: World War 11, Japanese occupation, postwar reconstruction, Philippine independence, then the declaration of Martial Law, and so forth. But amid all these events, history has witnessed the valiant spirit of the Cebuanos--- principled and resilient, exercising hard work and high standards of morality and professionalism that have since made Cebu a cut above the rest. |
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