Last of two parts
CONTINUING my account of the day I discovered Northern Samar’s special place in Philippine history.
A day after the symposium “Pamana: Championing Ibabaonon Heritage,” on June 4, 2026, the provincial government of Northern Samar, through Carl Sanchez Bordeos, the senior administrative assistant III assigned at the Provincial Planning and Development Office, brought the speakers on a tour of the historic towns of Palapag and Catubig. The night before, we were hosted at a dinner at the beautiful Narciso’s Beach Resort in Mondragon town by the mayor, JoJo Madera, with his councilors. He asked each one of us to dance with them the “kuratsa,” a courtship dance usually performed during social occasions like weddings and reunions. On our way, we passed by the spacious campus of the University of Eastern Philippines (UEP) along Catarman-Laoang Road, with its landmark statue of a white carabao.
From Catarman, we passed the town of San Roque with its monument of Rizal holding a huge envelope. We arrived in Palapag after an hour. Before the town proper, we were shown the long mountain range described in accounts of the Sumuroy rebellion. The rebellion against Spain was fought 377 years ago; it spread from Eastern Visayas to Central and Western Visayas to as far as Mindanao. One of my mentors who has talked frequently about these Visayan revolts, Dr. Vicente Villan, became so excited that he got down and had a photo taken with the mountains as a backdrop. On the way to the town proper, we saw a bus going to Cubao, which made me realize that literally all roads lead to that district in Quezon City, and you will never get lost.
Mayor Florence “Fawa” Batula, the town’s first openly transgendered chief executive, with councilor Emeliene Maria Duarte Rubenecia and other town officials welcomed us at the People’s Center. After serving us rice cakes and showing us a locally made dramatization of the Sumuroy revolt, the mayor herself toured us around. Beside the Church of Our Lady of the Assumption lay the ruins of the old stone church which was the site of the assassination of the parish priest Fray Miguel Ponce Barberan, which started Sumuroy’s revolt on June 1, 1649. After a few years, Fray Francisco Ignacio Alcina, SJ and Sumuroy’s mother reconstructed the church. There is a national historic marker to Alcina, the Jesuit missionary and historian, because of his significant contributions to our culture. He painstakingly documented Eastern Visayan cultural beliefs and practices through his very detailed voluminous work History of the Bisayan People in the Philippine Islands. While we were touring the ruins, a wedding was being held in the church to the sound of a child singing OPM songs, we saw a solar halo above us.
The mayor walked us to the famed monument to Sumuroy holding a “bangkaw” (hardwood spear) which was sculpted by a former mayor, Antonio de los Reyes of the town of Biri.
Then we were driven to Mapno, the oldest barangay in Palapag. The mayor showed us the dock where the Manila galleons used to replenish before going out to the open Pacific. It was also a safe anchorage and harbor of these Spanish ships from the raids of the Moros and the Dutch, and the severe Pacific storms. Alejandro Malaspina’s scientific expedition docked here and created an astronomical observatory. Their interest in astronomy has not faded; we dropped by the Gabaldon Hall of the Palapag Central Elementary School and saw the ceiling decorated by drawings of stars and galaxies!
We then proceeded to the town hall of the next town, Catubig. Our late lunch was hosted by the youthful mayor who was a student of my colleague at UP, Kristoffer Esquejo. He is Mayor Solomon Vicencio. I told the assembly that the stories of history may become the narrative that may bring tourists here. I learned about the Battle of Catubig, and joked how many bottles of “Catubig” or “Battled Water” were exchanged here. But seriously, this is one of the rare victories of Filipinos during the Philippine-American War. We visited the plaza, the church and the cemetery where it all happened on April 15-18, 1900. These rare victories, similar to the Battle of Macahambus Hill in Cagayan de Oro City, must be included in the telling of Philippine national history,
Nearby was the town of Las Navas where one of the worst massacres of civilian populations (45 men, women and children) during the Marcos dictatorship happened on Sept. 15, 1981, committed by the special forces under a powerful cabinet minister who had logging interests there.
We went back to Catarman in the evening and had an audience with another youthful mayor, Dianne Esidera Rosales. We had so much fun that she made time to join us again in a history discussion with Drs. Ian Alfonso, Vic Villan and myself at Pendong Café.
But that’s just only for history; with Biri Rocks National Geological Monument and other natural wonders, the Nortehanons have a lot to offer for the country which will soon explore it.
Erratum: In last week’s column, Carl Sanchez Bordeos’ position was misidentified. It should be the senior administrative assistant III assigned at the Provincial Planning and Development Office. And Mapanos town should be spelled Mapanas.