This Week’s Milestones: Dec 3 to Dec 9
Dec. 3 to Dec. 9 Dec. 5, 2017
Proclamation No. 373, signed by then President Rodrigo Duterte, declared 2017 as the quadricentennial year of San Nicolas, Ilocos Norte, as an independent town. According to the Spanish Mapa of 1848, the town of San Nicolas (formerly known as Caluntian) was founded as an independent settlement or visita in 1584. During the Spanish regime, the town of San Nicolas went through economic issues and would often be annexed to Laoag because of this. After improving economically, in 1909, it became an independent town and was never again annexed to Laoag. At present, the municipality has a land area of 40.18 square kilometers. Its population is at 38,895, according to the 2020 census.
Dec. 6, 1997
A historical marker for the Church of Panay in the province of Capiz was installed by the National Historical Institute. The municipality of Panay in Capiz, formerly known as Bamban, was established in 1572. The first church was built in 1774 but was heavily damaged by a typhoon in 1875. The present church was constructed in 1884. The bell for the church, the biggest in the Philippines, was cast from 70 sacks of coins donated by the townspeople. The bell measures 2.1 meters (7 feet) in diameter, 1.5 meters (5 feet) in height, and weighs 10,000 kilograms. The church was declared a national historical landmark in 1997.Dec. 8, 1581
The province of Batangas was officially founded. In 1572, the Spaniards founded the town of Taal, and its convent and stone church were constructed later. The Spaniards later founded the province of Bonbon in 1578, through Fr. Estaban Ortiz and Fr. Juan de Porras. In 1581, the Spanish government abolished Bonbon province and created a new province which came to be known as Balayan province. The new province was composed of the present provinces of Batangas, Mindoro, Marinduque, southeast Laguna and Camarines. In 2008, the local government issued Provincial Ordinance No. 001, establishing 1581 as the year that Batangas province was founded.
Dec. 8, 2019
The century-old church in Guiuan, Eastern Samar, which was destroyed by Supertyphoon “Yolanda” (international name: Haiyan) in 2013, was rededicated through a Mass led by Papal Nuncio to the Philippines Archbishop Gabriele Giordano Caccia. In 2016, the National Museum of the Philippines allocated P112 million to rebuild the church. It was augmented with $300,000 donations from the United States government through the Ambassador’s Fund for Cultural Preservation. The 18th-century Baroque-style Marian church in Guiuan is famous for its extensive shell ornamentation and is important to the history of the Roman Catholic faith in the Philippines.
This week’s festival
The Binirayan Festival in Antique, set from Dec. 1 to Dec. 20, will push through with the observance of minimum health and safety protocols based on the alert level system for COVID-19 response.
Compiled by: Marielle Medina, Inquirer Research Sources: Inquirer Archives, Official Gazette of the Philippines, Philippine News Agency, National Historical Commission of the Philippines, Philippine Statistics Authority, sannicolasilocosnorte.gov.ph, batangas.gov.ph, Official Facebook page of Antique Tourism and Culture
