Brief Historical Sketch of the Town of Pambujan (17th to 19th Century)
By: Manuelito Uy
The town of Pambujan is one of the municipalities of the province of Northern Samar. It is situated on a river of the same name and is bounded by the town of Laoang in east-northeast and with the town of Catarman on the west.
In the ancient times, this town carries a name Bayog which according to old Bisayan Vocabulario means, a male who acts as a female and dresses like a woman, synonymous to bantot or asog. It also refers to a certain tree and its wood is fine for building and with its bark are treated broken pots by rubbing them with it.
Later, the town was also identified with the name Pambujan or Pamboan. In the 19th century, it was named Pambujan del Norte because there was another Pambujan del Sur on the east coast which is now the present town of MacArthur.
This article will review the events that occurred in this town from the period of the seventeenth to the nineteenth century.
𝙀𝙫𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙨 𝙙𝙪𝙧𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙅𝙚𝙨𝙪𝙞𝙩 𝙈𝙞𝙨𝙨𝙞𝙤𝙣
The Christianization of the North of Samar Island owes to the mission planted first by the Jesuit missionaries in the village of Tinago in 1596. The faith spread to Ibabao, the ancient name of the northern portion of Samar when another mission was established in Catubig. Due to certain reasons, around 1610, the Jesuit Residence was transferred from Catubig to Palapag. Evangelization in Pambujan might brought by the Jesuit missionaries from the Palapag Residencia.
In the Annuae Litterae penned by Fr. Gregorio Lopez, SJ on the Status of the Jesuit Missions from 1612 to 1613, under Residencia de Cabo del Espiritu Santo, the village of Pamboan (sic Pambujan) was listed as having three hundred forty (340) tribute payers.
In 1649, an uprising led by Agustin Sumuroy which started in Palapag made the people of Bayog or Pambujan joined the revolt against the Spaniards. After it was suppressed in 1650, many people from this town were reluctant to return. Fr. Francisco Ignacio Alcina, while being the rector of Palapag wrote in 1660's, "from the town of Pambuhan only thirty tributos came together.
Examing the archival records of the Archivum Romanum Societatis Iesu (ARSI) it seemed that the village of Pambujan never continued as a town or as a visita until the Jesuit expulsion in 1768. It will only came back to life as a town during the period of the Franciscan administration in the middle of the 1800's.
𝙍𝙚-𝙛𝙤𝙪𝙣𝙙𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙏𝙤𝙬𝙣 𝙪𝙣𝙙𝙚𝙧 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙁𝙧𝙖𝙣𝙘𝙞𝙨𝙘𝙖𝙣𝙨
In 1767, the Jesuits were expelled by King Charles III in all Spanish dominions. The decree arrived in the Philippines in 1768 and the Franciscans from the Province of San Gregorio de Magno arrived in the capital town of Catbalogan on the 25th of September of that year to administer the transfer of the keys and properties of churches that were once under the possession of the Jesuits. The decree was carried only on the 17th of October and finally the Jesuits lefts the island-province on January 10, 1769 aboard the vessel San Francisco de Asis.
The first Franciscan parish priest appointed to the pueblo of Laoáng was Fray Antonio de Toledo, OFM. At the beginning of his ministry to this town and with his zealous work, he managed to gather and convert several infidels (infieles) who lived on the banks of the river of Pambujan.
In 1781, it was made a pueblo with the appointment of its first elected gobernadorcillo, Don Domingo Catangas who was a native of the town of Laoáng.
Succeeding gobernadorcillos of the town were:
1821 - Don Francisco Feliciano 1842 - Don Eleuterio de los Reyes 1844 - Don Jose Roque 1851 - Don Francisco Pelino 1852 - Don Antonio Santo Osurio 1852 - Don Antonio Santiago Osurio 1853 - Don Francisco Velinohua 1855 - Don Lucio Merino 1860 - Don Solitario Siervo 1862 - Don Minerate Lutao 1863 - Don Tacio Ciervo 1865 - Don Lucio Merino 1881 - Don Jose Merino 1884 - Don Basilio de la Cruz 1886 - Don Ygnacio Atencio 1890-1893 - Don Basilio de la Cruz 1894 - Don Restituto Jazmin 1895-1898 - Don Eustaquio de la Cruz
The following year 1782, Mindanaoan Moros sacked and devastated the whole settlement which made its inhabitants dispersed and most of them retreated to a place called Ginulgan, about four leagues inland, where they remained until the year 1784.
In 1784, with the advice of Fray Buenaventura Espinosa, OFM, he managed the people to resettle to its former site which later they named Binungtuan and was made a visita of the pueblo of Laoáng until its separation in 1863.
Pambujan had a very small number of inhabitants until the year 1850, which received a great increase, through the initiative of Fray Sebastian Moraleda o de Almonacid, OFM, parish priest of Laoáng made an excursion to the mountains and converted more than seven hundred people and added them to the said pueblo.
On August 4, 1863, it finally separated from its matriz, the pueblo of Laoáng and was made an independent pueblo and parish. In 1850's to 1860's it had the visitas of Laoángan, Bantayan, Caparanga and Ginulgan.
𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝘾𝙝𝙪𝙧𝙘𝙝 𝙤𝙛 𝙋𝙖𝙢𝙗𝙪𝙟𝙖𝙣
The church of Pambujan under the patronage of al Precursor San Juan Bautista was built by the Franciscan missionaries. Its first appointed Franciscan parish priest was Fray Juan Cubria, OFM who took possession of the church on June 4, 1870.
Some of the priests who served the church were Fray Francisco Crespo, OFM, Fray Angel Pulido, OFM, Fray Andres Mariblanca, OFM, Fray Eustaquio Paniagua, OFM, Fray Juan Caballero de Brozas, OFM, and Fray Ulpiano Tendero, OFM.
Prior to its creation as a parish, it had already a church, a parish house, a tribunal, and an escuela primeras letras, all these buildings were built on the initiative and under the direction of Fray Sebastian de Almonacid, OFM starting in the year 1847 and the following.
In 1872, Fray Francisco Crespo, OFM, appointed parish priest that year, began the construction of a masonry church (Iglesia de mampostería). The construction of the church was completed in 1896 and 97. It was roofed with galvanized iron (GI) sheets by Fray Ulpiano Tendero, OFM. In the late 1800s, the town had these buildings, the church, parish house, made of stone on the first floor, a court house, also made of stone on the first floor and the rest of wood, plus two primary schools, all of these buildings have been built through the active and dynamic work of the Franciscan Fathers, Fray Francisco Crespo, OFM (1871-1880), Fray Francisco Méndez, OFM (1887) and Fray Ulpiano Tendero, OFM (1897-1898).
In 1890, the town had a population of 7,421. In the poblacion had 1,756 people while and the visitas were Laoangan (580), Bantayan (530) and Ginolgan (430) with 12 barrios and 4 sitios.
