Cebu from the days of Sugbuok

The danger of splitting Cebu into four provinces is, indeed, not yet over since the bills filed by three Cebuano congressmen have already been entertained by Rep. Emilio Macias, chairman on the House committee on local government.

Those who love Cebu must continue to fight these divisive bills with vigilance.

History does not only tell us that Cebu was once a much larger place than it is now; it was, and still is, also the heartland of the Cebuano nation whose people are traditionally spread throughout eastern Negros, Siquijor, Bohol, much of Leyte (including Biliran), and Northern Mindanao.

The account of historian and book author Luis Camara Dery is instructive: In 1663, Maestre de Campo Don Francisco Tupas was awarded a mini-encomienda or a Casas de reservas "composed of thirty tributes of vagabond families (treinta tributos de vagamundos)."

Don Francisco was obviously a descendant of King Tupas who, after some resistance, swore allegiance to the Spanish crown.

Don Francisco's son, Don Phelipe Tupas, "petitioned" the Spanish colonial government "that he be allowed to succeed to" this encomienda "sometime" on May 12, 1692. "The document mentioned that they were the former chiefs of Cebu and Iligan (que lo es actual de los naturales de las provincias de Zebu y Yligan)."

Cebu and Iligan! Imagine what the Cebuanos possessed in 1565 at the beginning of colonization. And now, with the threat of division (into Cebu, Cebu Occidental, Cebu del Sur, and Cebu del Norte), we have no white colonizer to thank for the further reduction, but only our flesh-and-blood brown Filipinos. It is truly a great pity.
Gavin Sanson Bagares
Founding Member/Trustee and Historian/Authenticator
Kaguikan sa Parian Foundation, Inc.
Cebu City