Basey, Samar

Allan Sarsoza
An invaluable piece of history flows with the great Kadak-an River. Its
headstreams up the Sohoton Mountains down to the reefs and shoal
where it abuts San Pedro Bay, bears witness to a timeless flow of events.
While we can only tell what secrets the big river has revealed thus far, the
wealth of information may explain why some folks call it Golden River,
even more fittingly perhaps.
Time seems to have left behind the barangays that scatter along the
banks, so with the poblacion nestled at the mouth of the big River. But its
proud people are always ready to tell its colorful history and to showcase
the banig artisanship that is deeply rooted in its beautiful past. The name
Basey for which the municipality came to be known comes from the waray
word baysay, which means beauty.
A review of local archeological discoveries, internet-searched church
records, ruins and relics of antiquities and more recent activities of its
people piece together a priceless testimonial that reflects the true
character of its people that defines what has truly been Basaynon.

From prehistoric dwelling to modern-day spelunking

An SVD missionary Father Karl Hutterer, affiliated with the now-defunct
Divine Word University, discovered in 1968 evidence of human habitation
in the Sohoton and Panhulugan caves. A Stone-Age people lived in the
caves, tilled the lands and traveled its waters like in any other part of the
world in their time. They may not be the direct ancestors of the present
people of Basey, but it certainly comes to light that different peoples come
and go and leave marks throughout its course in history.
The findings traced local history back to the early Stone Age and later Iron
Age. Archeological diggings that include stone flake tools from various
sites of the Panhulugan caves are dated 8550 BC. Some artifacts found in
the 13th century marked the wave of migration of Malayan settlers in this
region. Towards more modern times these caves served only as burial
sites. The fear of the supernatural and the unknown kept these caves
untouched for thousands of years. Entering the caves became taboo, a
form of desecration. Ironically, these taboos were a blessing because they
preserved these caves in their pristine form for us in later generations to
enjoy.
This 840-hectare showcase of geological wonders and preserved
ecosystem of some rare and endangered flora and fauna was established
as a national park on July 19, 1935 by virtue of Proclamation No. 831.
The lure of the caves may be good for the tourism industry. The
magnificent Sohoton Cave Natural Bridge, the spectacular Panhulugan

caves, and the awe-inspiring karstic terrane of shafts, sinkholes,

underground rivers and bizarre weather-sculpted figures from stalactites
and stalagmites will always delight foreign and local tourists, naturalists
and spelunkers, alike.
But, the realization that the whole package was bestowed upon Basey is
also a religious experience for its people. With this gift comes the
awesome responsibility to preserve it well for future generations and the
environment.

The Legend of Bungansakit

The legend of beautiful Bungansakit has been told for generations. The
real story may be limited to the fact that Basey was named in her honor but
the fanaticism made the story as compelling as it is enduring. It has
inspired zarzuelas, Moro-moro or stage dance that simulate the fight
between Christians and Muslims and poetry-reading contests in Spanish
and vernacular. More recently, the legend is immortalized in a book
entitled A Mat Weavers Story: the Legend of Bungansakitwritten by
Wilmo C. Orejola and published by Watermark Press in the United States
(2001).
Invariably the story begins with Kadiko and Guilanda, a childless couple in
the village of Omit (presently, barrio Magallanes) who finds an unwanted
white baby, or probably an albino. They name her Bungansakit, which
translates into fruit of sorrow or sacrifices. They have prayed for a child for
twenty years. Distinctly foreign features of the baby evoke strong feelings
that she might be an offspring of a fairy and mortal parentage, thus comes
the paranoia of deceit and destructive premonitions woven into the story.
Her lodestar status brings attention to the village of Omit. People of power
and influence try to subdue or capitalize on her. She falls in love with a
suitor named Suguihon who marries her in a Christian wedlock. The story
ends tragically when a jealous Moro suitor plunders the Christian villages
of Omit and Balud and abducts her to Moroland.
There are no historical records to validate the story. But in the writings of
Jesuit Fr. Francisco Alcina in 1668, he alluded to mass abduction of native
Basaynons by Moro marauders in the present town of Basey in 1664 or
thereabouts. Given the circumstances told in the story, the town did not
exist yet. The story of Bungansakits birth and later abduction supposedly
happened in the precursor villages of Omit and Balud. The story may have
happened between 1565 and 1600. Bungansakit could have been born not
earlier than 1565. Her abduction may have coincided with the early Moro
raids in the Visayas by Buisan, Raja Mura and Siroman, which were
frequent in the early 1600s.

Building a Town from Jesuits to Franciscans

In 1591, the first Spanish mission recorded the flourishing settlement of

Basey under the bishopric of Cebu.

In 1595 according to the Relacion writings of Fr. Pedro Chirino, procurator
of the Jesuits in the Philippines, the evangelization of Samar (Ibabao)
came through the Carigara mission in Leyte. Jesuit Frs. Francisco Otazo,
Bartolome and Bro. Alonso founded the Tinagon mission 20 miles north of
Catbalogan. In 1597, from Tinago the Jesuits established a residence in
Palapag.
The Jesuits were already active in Basey even before 1603 but the parish
was not formally established until 1650. The Jesuit mission which
established residence in Dagami (Leyte) in 1656 also included the
southern Samar settlements of Basey, Balangiga and Guiuan and other
settlements in Leyte, which included Malaguicay (Tanauan), Tambuco,
Dulag, Beto, Abuyog and Palo. Later, the residence was transferred to
Palo.
Fr. Cristobal Miralles of the Jesuit mission in Basey built a church made of
wood only to be burned and looted of its treasures by Moro raiders on
Corpus Christi Day in1663.
A Jesuit missionary, Fr. Francisco Ignacio Alcina wrote in 1668 about the
miraculous image of Basey and the Moro plunderings:
The second observation concerns the image of Our Lady, whose face and
hands are made of ivory and which is found in the hermitage of this Basey
town. Somehow the Camuron pirates have spared this image on two
occasions when they raided, plundered and devastated this town.
Constantly, these terrible predators, the Moros, have carried off even the
very confessional curtains (so rapacious are they) and whatever nails they
could manage to pull out. Notwithstanding that ivory is greatly valued and
appreciated by them even more by our natives, yet in no occasion had
they dared to lay hands on this holy image. Perhaps, the image (of our
Lady) protected itself from such sacrilegious and predatory enemy.
The last time this enemy attacked Basey, the minister, by some special
inspiration from this image, was urged to leave the said town during the
night and not wait till morning as it would be most proper. At daybreak, the
enemy (Moros) fell upon the town without anyone knowing that he was so
near, for no warning has been given. They plundered not only what
belonged to the church, but also some other previous items of silver like
lunette, monstrance, censer, etc.
They also captured some of the people in Basey and nearby who were
unable to escape from the town. This took place sometime before 1664 or
thereabouts.
Further in his writings, Fr. Alcina described Basey as a town infested with
crocodiles and many perished from them. They were so daring that at night
they would creep under the kitchen of the Jesuits and carry off pigs and
other domestic animals. A missionary sought some supernatural means of

eliminating the crocodile menace. The local residents drew lots and chose
St. Matthew the Apostle as their protector saint and this act was supposed
to have ensured their tranquility for years.
Basey was under the ministration of the Jesuits from 1591 to 1768. The
religious order was abolished in 1773.
One hundred fifty four Jesuit priests assigned to different parishes around
the country were expelled from the Philippines by 1772. The records
indicate that the last Jesuit priest of Basey was Fr. Jose Paver, who was
ordained to the order of San Ignacio on October 9, 1739 and arrived in
Manila in 1752. He was assigned to the mission Residence of Dagami as
parish priest of Basey from 1757 to 1769. He left for Spain on January 23,
1770 aboard the frigate Santa Rosa.
In 1768, Basey was ceded to the Agustinians but three decades later, in
1795, it was ceded to the Franciscans. The Franciscans took a decade to
assume their post for lack of personnel. Finally in 1804, they ministered the
town and Fray Juan Navarro was appointed first Franciscan parish priest.
The coral church built on a hilltop started as the present convent inside a
fort, which overlooks San Pedro bay. When the fort was constructed is not
exactly known. The Franciscans named the church St. Michael the
Archangel, in deference to the patron saint of the founding Jesuit
missionaries.
In 1845, Fray Domingo de Madrid repaired the church. He also built the
bell tower, which was finished in 1856. About the same time a cemetery in
barangay Buscada was built with a coral stone chapel inside it. Basaynons
of stature in the community were entombed into shelves of its 10-foot thick,
coral and limestone walls.
In 1880, the church was damaged by a storm and in 1894 Fray Vicente
Gutierrez replaced the roofing with galvanized iron.

Basaynons from Makarumpag to Marabut

About a thousand years ago, most of recorded history made a big stride to
the waves of migration of Malays from the surrounding lands of Indonesia,
the Malayan peninsula or Borneo. They settled in various islands of the
Philippine archipelago. In Samar and Northern Leyte, Malayan settlers
introduced the Waray dialect, one of the major Malayo-Polynesian
languages spoken in the Philippines. They brought with them arcane
rituals still practiced today by the present generation. These include the
blood sport of cockfighting, the craft of mat weaving, the chewing of betel
nut as astringent, ancestral worship or animism and belief in a supreme
being called Bathala.
In their conquest and evangelization the Spanish conquistadors called
them heathens in contradistinction to the Moros or Muslims, who settled
mostly in the south of the archipelago and in Mindanao. Theheathens were
the early Filipinos who would eventually convert to Christianity.

The Moros resisted conversion, fought against the Spaniards and even
plundered the Christian villages of which they callinfidels.
Independent feudal states or fiefdoms existed during this time. Like it was
in other parts of the archipelago, this socio-economic structure of the
barangay in Omit (presently Magallanes) was already established. It was
headed by a guinhaupan. The word guinhaupan, which means lordship or
the fiefdom itself, is a derivative of the word saup, or haup, a vernacular for
tenant in present-day usage. References to Makarumpag, Makahilig, and
others in popular folklore may be examples of a guinhaupan, as
in guinhaupan ni Makarumpag, which would mean the jurisdiction of
Makarumpag. The word could also have come from the word sakup,
meaning boundaries, as in guinsakupan.
The coming of the Jesuits and the Moro plunderings that followed was a
focal point in local history. The twin villages of Omit and Balud (later
named Guibasayi) needed to come together for survival from natural
calamities and put up better defenses against Moro raids.
From these earlier settlements, a rugged land at the foothills with dense
undergrowths, aptly called Buscada (from the Spanish word el bosque
meaning forest), offered an expedient alternative. The nearby hills certainly
provided refuge during Moro raids and the narrow winding Lauan River
that runs through it was an accessible getaway or a strategic place for
ambuscade.
As population grew, families moved farther away from congested
settlements. They claimed and established their own properties.
Settlements spread to and behind the hills near the shoreline, aptly named
Loyo (means the Other Side) and Baybay (means Seashore). In addition
more settlements established around the vicinity coalesced in time to form
the present poblacion.
The growing town was constantly raided and plundered by pirates and
Moro marauders. As noted earlier from the writings of Fr. Alcina, the Jesuitbuilt church in Loyo was ransacked and burned down. Historians believe
that Moro plunderings were in retaliation by Muslim leaders to punish the
Spanish for the evangelization of the Philippines especially Mindanao.
A landmark stood mute witness to this era of atrocities. The watchtower
called balwarte or its ruins is still perched atop the Guintolian hill on the
western ridge of town. From its vantage point it is easy to discern
oncoming vessels in the horizon.
There is certainly no lack of heroic stories and legends in local folklore.
Names of prominent early Basaynons and their contributions are not
etched in monuments but are always mentioned in oral history told for
generations. Maria Bungansakit and Juan Suguihon made for us a tragic
love story. The legendary strength of Makarumpag, the foresight of
Makahilig and the bravery of Katindoy, who single-handedly fought the

Moros in the shore, are an inspiration to its people.

Heroes are born in extraordinary times. During the past two wars, many
Basaynons died for their patriotism. We always hear about Capitan Juan
Colinares who led local insurgency against the Americans during the
Philippine-American War in the 1900s. In the 1940s, Col. Luciano Abia led
the Basaynons during the difficult times of World War II.
Local Basaynons have risen to national prominence in the person of
Serafin Marabut, a delegate to the 1935 Constitutional Convention, who
served as Secretary of Finance and Budget Commissioner during the time
of President Quezon. In every generation of Basaynons a brilliant and
successful Basaynon distinguishes himself in his choice of interest or
profession to serve nobly at various levels in the municipal, provincial and
national stage. Some have attained international notoriety.

How Basey Got its Name

The word Basey comes from the vernacular Baysay (means beauty). This
is in deference to its most beautiful erstwhile inhabitant named
Bungansakit. When the new town adopted the name, a competition in her
honor caused Bungansakits original home village of Balud to be
renamed Guibaysayi (means most beautiful).
It is easy to presuppose that the Americans named Basay Basey, with
emphasis on the last syllable. The idiosyncrasy of the English language
tends to have difficulty pronouncing ah, when followed with consonant y.
The locals probably unwittingly popularized the word by imitating or
ridiculing the American pronunciation. But to claim that the Americans
originally adopted the word is not supported by facts.
Basaynons themselves contracted Baysay to Basay for convenience in
ordinary talk. In turn the Spanish corrupted Basay to Basey to suit in their
formal writings. Basey is always found in Spanish records relating to the
town. This includes early Spanish maps of the Philippines, which
puts Basey in its right location. In addition, the church bells, which date
back as early as 1858 in the St. Michaels church belfry are engraved
with Basey in reference to the town. These bells predate the arrival of the
Americans in 1898.

The Balangiga Connection and Local Heroes

On September 1, 1901, the local insurgents led by Capitan Juan Colinares
ambushed a contingent of American occupying soldiers garrisoned in
Basey under Capt. Bookmiller patrolling the nearby barangays. The able
leadership of Sgt. James Wilford who received a US Distinguished Service
Cross for his heroism repulsed them. Though this attack was unsuccessful
for the Filipino insurgency, it set the stage for a bigger more elaborate plan
to attack the Americans.
A few weeks later in the neighboring town of Balangiga the townspeople

and guerrillas virtually annihilated the seventy-four-man garrison of

Company C, 9th US Infantry. The attack on September 28, 1901, a
combined effort by villagers and guerrillas under Lt. Col. Eugenio Daza,
the insurrecto commander of Southern Samar, was one of the most brilliant
tactical operations of the war. In a misguided project to clean up the town,
Capt. Thomas W. Connell had crammed dozens of people into tents, some
of them Dazas insurrectos. Other guerrillas infiltrated the town as laborers,
as members of a funeral service, where bolos were hidden in small coffins
purportedly of cholera victims, or some were even dressed as women.
As the soldiers began their breakfast, the police chief Valeriano Abanador
approached a sentry, then suddenly pulled a bolo and cut him down. A
mob of bolomen charged out of the church and the tents, cutting and
slashing the stunned soldiers. Connell and his subordinate, Lt. Edward A.
Bumpus, were struck down. Desperate soldiers fought their attackers with
Krags, kitchen implements, and even cans of food. A handful of men under
veteran noncoms retained their composure. They managed to fight their
way through to the beach, where they set out on a desperate voyage
by baluto to the closest garrison at Basey. But forty-eight officers and men
died in the attack or during the escape.
The final toll of the Balangiga encounter was 54 American soldiers dead or
missing (twenty survived the massacre). Filipino authors claimed that only
28 insurgents and natives died and 22 were wounded. The Filipinos
captured 57 rifles, 25,000 rounds of ammunition, and a large quantity of
medicines, food and equipments. Analysts attributed the success of the
attack to sheer number and the element of surprise by the Filipino
insurgents.
In the aftermath Basey, 30 miles north of Balangiga, was caught in the
whirlwind of Gen. Jacob Smiths vengeful directive to kill everyone over ten
and turn the interior of Samar into a howling wilderness.
Major Littleton Waller relieved Capt. Bookmiller as head of the American
garrison in Basey. It was Capt. Bookmiller who upon knowing about the
massacre immediately went with some of the survivors of Company C to
Balangiga to burn the deserted town and bury the victims. In carrying out
the orders of Gen. Smith, Waller and his troops marched across the island
from Basey, to Quinapundan and Guiuan, destroying villages along the
way. He led expeditions to seize the stronghold of some seven
hundred insurrectos in the Sohoton Mountains commanded by local leader
Capitan Juan Colinares.
The insurrectos were masters of the terrain. They dug traps of poisoned
bamboo pegs at the bottom of four-foot pits along trail ways. They fortified
the 200-foot precipice of the Sohoton cliffs where ledges and shelves cut
in the cliff face were connected by fragile bamboo ladders. Dangling from
ropes made of a vine called bejucos were large bamboo cages holding

tons of rock, ready to cut loose and crash down on anyone storming the
cliffs from below. This place became known as Panhulugan (means a
place to drop).
The insurrectos were armed with bolos, bamboo cannons and some rifles
taken from Balangiga. On November 15, 1901 Waller and a hundred of his
men with Krag-Jorgensen rifles and Colt automatic machine guns mounted
on bamboo platforms launched an attack on the Sohoton camps. The fight
broke out as Captain Bearss 50-man marching column and Captain
Porters troops from Balangiga arrived even before Waller could reach the
site from downriver. On November 17,1901, the stronghold fell to the
Americans, killing 30 insurgents, capturing 40 cannons and burning two
large camps. U.S. Military archives call this Battle of Cadacan River.
To cut the Insurrectos supply routes from the North and purportedly to
establish a telephone line from American garrisons in Eastern Samar to
Basey, Waller led a 50-mile march of 6 officers, 50 marines, 2 Filipino
scouts and 33 native porters from Lanang (Hernani) to Basey between
December 28, 1901 and January 19, 1902. This turned out to be a major
fiasco as the trail quickly disappeared in the sodden, leech-infested,
steaming jungle slowing down the march, depleting the five-day supplies,
and exhausting the marchers.
On January 2, as the march bogged down in the forbidding terrain, Waller
speeded up the march following the elusive Spanish trail with two of his
officers and 13 of his men in order to secure more supplies leaving behind
some of his troops. Receiving no word from Waller perhaps from couriers
who were lost in the jungle, his second in command, Capt. David Porter,
hacked his way back to Lanang with seven marines and six porters,
leaving Lt. Alexander Williams and the remaining marchers in the trail
starving. Some went crazy from prolonged exposure and accused the
Filipino porters of hoarding food and plotting against them. Waller went
back into the mountains to rescue Williams but not until ten marines were
missing or dead and one dying. This ill-advised, poorly planned expedition
led to accusations of Filipino conspiracy against the Americans. A reprisal
would follow.
A plot to repeat the Balangiga massacre on the Basey garrison was
discovered. The ensuing investigation by Maj. Edwin Glenn, Judge
Advocate of the Department of the Visayas, implicated Joaquin the
municipal mayor, Nicanor Acevedo the parish priest, Petronillo Jacosalem
the tax collector and Nicolas Acevedo, a prominent businessman. This led
to their arrest and torture. The Americans employed water cure, a form of
torture where water is hosed down the mouth of the prisoner until the belly
fills up. The torture stops only when the prisoner tells names. Oftentimes,
victims succumbed even before a confession could be made. Joaquin,
Jacosalem and Acevedo were executed on January 5, 1902. The parish

priest Nicanor Acevedo was spared but thrown into the guardhouse.
Upon the death of Joaquin, Marcelino Apolinar became municipal
president (mayor). He was diplomatic and was trusted by the Americans.
On January 19, 1902 he turned in a spy to Maj. Waller. But Waller,
exhausted from the march, was running temperatures as high as 105
degrees and was pronounced by the camp surgeon to be incompetent to
command. Authority in Basey fell to Wallers adjutant, Lt. John H. Day, who
summarily executed the spy to set an example. A frenzy of executions
followed, which even became bloodier the next day until a total of eleven
Basaynons were executed in the town plaza providing a grim arithmetic
of eleven victims in exchange for the eleven marines lost on the failed
Basey-Lanang march.
On February 18, 1902, Filipino scouts led by Lt. Alphonse Strebler
captured Aguinaldos governor and commander of the Katipunan in Samar,
Gen. Vicente Lukban, sick, malnourished and disgusted of the war. The
insurrection lost support from mass defection, which finally ended the war.
On March 17, 1902, the court martial of Maj. Waller and Brig. Gen. Jacob
Smith was convened in Manila. Waller was tried for the summary execution
of natives in Samar and other atrocities and tortures used to force natives
to reveal intelligence information. He was acquitted. Smith charged with
issuing orders prejudicial to the conduct of the military was proven guilty,
reprimanded and ordered to retire from the army.
President Theodore Roosevelt formally declared the end of PhilippineAmerican War on July 4, 1902. Listed casualties were 4,200 Americans
dead and 2,800 wounded, while 20,000 insurgents killed and 200,000
Filipinos died from disease, famine and other effects of war.
In 1988, the Philippine Congress enacted R.A 6692 declaring every
September 28 as the Balangiga Encounter Day as national tribute to the
heroism, courage and strong sense of patriotism of the people of
Balangiga.
The Americans who were the occupying forces called Filipinos fighting
against them insurgents or insurrectos. But in the eyes of the Filipino, they
were freedom fighters. Basaynons like Juan Colinares, Joaquin,
Jacosalem, Acevedo and the rest of the freedom fighters who died in this
brutal war deserve a sacred place for heroes in the heart and soul of the
Basaynon.

The Legacy of Mat Weaving

It is foolhardy to believe that Basaynons invented mat weaving. The sedge
grass Fimbristylis utilis Elmer, locally called tikug used as raw material,
grows abundantly in the marshlands. It is as ubiquitous in the region as
coconut for copra and abaca for rope making. However, mat weaving is an
example of discipline in the Basaynons. For generations they have
practiced this handicraft from their Malayan ancestors. Like fishing and

farming, it has become a source of livelihood for a typical family.

In recent years the art of the banig has made a spectacular transformation.
The traditional plaited sinamay and colorfully embroidered sleeping mats
found place in other household uses and to accent wall decors, dividers,
lampshades, bags, slippers and other novelties.
More recent innovations extol the artistic merits of the banig in fabulous
accoutrement by local fashion designers and craftsmen as displayed
during the much-celebrated Miss Guibaysayi beauty pageant. This annual,
pre-fiesta event is a competition of sorts but more among local artisans of
elegant and ostentatiously embroidered ternos ofbanig. These bring out
the best presentation among its beautiful contestants albeit for fashion
shows only. This big development in the towns mat weaving industry has
caught national attention and importance. It has certainly become a source
of pride for the Basaynon.
In 2000, the Basaynon laid its claim to have woven the longest banig in the
world for the Guinness book. But, wouldnt it be equally distinguished and
ingenious if Basaynon entrepreneurs could claim to supply a world
market?

The Present and the Future

By every measure, Basey had a glorious past. It was the political,
educational, religious and cultural center in this part of Samar and Leyte
during the Spanish times. It can historically claim mother town to the
municipalities of Santa Rita and Marabut and the city of Tacloban. But
while Tacloban progressed exponentially and became a city, Basey
seemed to freeze in time.
The great Kadak-an River continues to reveal its secrets. In Rawis and
Yuni caves, a honeycomb of caverns and underground rivers still needs to
be explored. In time new discoveries will push validated history farther
back to the beginning of time. More artifacts around the barangays of
Magallanes (Omit) and Balud (Binungtoan) will be unearthed and studied
and will further enrich the cultural heritage of the Basaynon.
In recent years infrastructure brought progress to the region. In 1973 the
2.16-km San Juanico Bridge linked the island of Samar to Leyte. In 2000 a
bridge connected the barrios of Magallanes and Balud over the mighty
Kadak-an River completing a loop of commerce via the Basey-Balangiga
Road from around the southern tip of Samar. This entire infrastructure
brought Basey at the crossroads of prosperity.
Now all it takes is the will of the Basaynon to take the road of progress. He
may not lay back and gloat over its glorious past. For now whatever the
Basaynon does he owes it all from the future. He must invigorate this
sleepy town for his children, grandchildren and great grandchildren.