A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF BULAN

By:
Councilor Antonio G. Gilana
(ca. 1998)

The town of Bulan has a colorful and dramatic history which dates back to the pre-Hispanic period. 
Legend, however, surrounds the name of Bulan.

The term "Bulan" in the local Bulanon dialect, has several meanings.  It may mean the month of the year,
or the moon, or a luminary.  According to the local historian, the great Valerio Zuñiga, the last meaning,
taken in its truest intrinsic sense, is the more accepted term, due to the historical fact narrated by the
"mga gurangan", the old inhabitants of the town.  They said that one night, a Spanish scouting
expedition coming from the old seaport of Ticao, sailing northward and at the level of the seacost of
Otabi, saw a big and beautiful luminary, the moon, from the right side of their ship.  Some of the natives
who accompanied the Spanish explorers as guides and crew members, showed happiness and excitement
when they saw the moon which radiated its silvery beams in the night.  Asked by the Spaniards as to the
cause of their excitement, they shouted, "Builan…. Builan" pointing at the same time to the moon which
had caused their happiness.  In memory of this happening, the Spaniards named the place, "Builan"
when they landed.

Another version goes that one moonlit night, two fishermen ashore were apportioning their catch when
the Spaniards who landed in the place approached them for information about the place.  Thinking that
they were being asked about the full moon rising in the east, they answered, 'Bulan".

Archeological evidences point out that long before the coming of the Spaniards, the coasts of Sorsogon 
were already thriving with communities and settlers dating back to as early as 4,000 B.C., when the
Indonesians reached Southern Luzon.  The archeological findings excavated in san Juan, Magsaysay and
Gate, which were evaluated to belong to the Ming  and Sung dynasty support the theories of historical
researchers that the southernmost tip of Luzon, mentioned by Beyer and other Historians, probably
including Bulan, sowed signs of civilization as far as 960 A.D. Golden Crowns, believed o exist from 91
B.C. to 79 A.D., were also excavated in Bulan.

Historical records disclose that in 1569, an expedition led by Captain Luis Enriquez de Guzman and Fray
Alonzo Jimenez, an Augustinian Friar, reached Sorsogon soil and found a small settlement of natives
engaged in fishing and farming.  This settlement was believed to be Otavi.  It was in Otavi  where Fr.
Jimenez, together with Fr. Juan Orta, celebrated the first mass in Luzon.

On May 16, 1572, Capitan-General Miguel Lopez de Legazpi divided what is now Sorsogon Province into
various encomiendas, and he allocated "Bililan"(Bulan) as a royal encomienda, which together with
"Uban"(Juban) has a population of 280 or 70 whole tributes.

In 1583, the Franciscans began their evangelical work in Sorsogon.  Subsequently in 1646, the
Franciscans formed Gate as a visita of Bulusan.  In January 1690, Builan was constituted as a pueblo civil
and Gate was chosen as the townsite.  Fray Diego de Yepes assumed administration  of the town and at
the same time its parish priest. He left Builan sometime in 1696.

The growth of Bulan as a town, however, would be arrested as it began to suffer from the pressures of
intense Moro raids in Sorsogon which lasted up to the middle of the 19th century.  In 1746, a very
devastating moro attack destroyed Gate, which was 12 kilometers distant from the coast.  Builan was
plundered and razed to the ground.  Scores of natives were killed and injured.  Women and children were
taken as captives.  Those who were able to survive escaped the town, fleeing to the hills and hinterlands,
abandoning the town totally.  For the next 55 years Bulan was erased from the maps.

Towards the latter part of 1799, a Spanish-mestizo from Casiguran, Don Agustin Camposano, came to
Bulan to spearhead the re-establishment of the town.  On January 1, 1801, the town was refounded
along the banks of the "Mariboc River", in what is now between sitio Pawa and barangay San Rafael. 
Builan, now spelled as "Bulan", became a duly recognized pueblo under the Province of Albay, with Don
Juan Vicente as the first "capitan" or "gobernadorcillo" and Father Manuel Bernardo as the first parish
priest.  The fortress of the old town, now referred to as "Banuang Daan" stands as a mute testimony to
the dramatic rise of Bulan as a community.

On May 15, 1801, Otavi was the first barrio recognized by the Municipal Government of Bulan.  Later on,
Gate, San Juan (Daan) and Buenavista were recognized as barrios.

Fifteen years later, sometime in 1815, a killer typhoon struck Bulan, killing many of its inhabitants,
destroying their crops and properties.  These forced many residents to move westward, to a safer place
to avoid the imminent danger of the floods of the River Mariboc.

On November 11, 1849, the Claveria Decree was issued in which new surnames for the inhabitants were
adopted to facilitate identification.  In 1850, this decree was implemented in Bulan.  The families of Bulan
were given new family names, most of which starts with letter "G".
In 1866, the municipal officials of Bulan decided to transfer the town to its present site.  A cofradia,
formed by Fr. Francisco  Roque,  was headed by Don Marcial Gillego, the capitan-municipal and an
architect.  This cofradia (religious confraternity composed of prominent citizens), was given the task of
management in the planning and construction of the new town.

In 1883, a cholera epidemic, the worst catastrophe to hit Bulan killed 810 persons or 22 percent of the
population in a 3-month period.  Many prominent citizens also died during that time.

Since its founding, and despite some unhappy events in the life of its people, the town continually and
steadily began its rise to prosperity.  It surpassed other towns in terms of economic activities, and rivaled
with the premiere seaport town of Sorsogon.  It was now an important and crowded seaport engaging in
commercial trade with seacost towns of Samar and the islands of Ticao and Masbate, the neighboring
towns in Sorsogon and the city of Manila.  By the time Sorsogon province became independent from
Albay, in 1894, Bulan's population rose to 11,000.  The big Spanish firm engaged in copra and abaca
export, the Gutierrez Hermanos, from manila, established a town branch.  Many Chinese traders resided
in Bulan.

While Bulan was spared the bloody turmoil of the 1896 Revolution, the Spanish Provincial Government
undertook measures to preempt revolutionary activities in the towns, and placed under surveillance all
persons suspected of bearing sympathy to the revolutionary cause.   Arrests and imprisonments took
place.  In October 1896, Don Teodoro De Castro y Zabala was arrested and incarcerated in Bilibid,
because he was found in possession of letters written by anti-Spanish natives in Manila.  Don Zacarias
Asuncion and other residents suffered the same fate, for having no cedulas personales and for signing
anti-Spanish songs.  It should be noted here, that on january 4, 1897, one of the sons of Bulan, Father
Severino Diaz, a priest at the Nueva Caceres Cathedral, was shot in Bagumbayan together with 14 other
martyrs.  They are now referred to as the "Martyrs of Bikol".

In November, 1898, Bulan was visited by three ranking revolutionary leaders, General Ignacio Pawa,
General Vicente Lukban, and col. Pedro Aguinaldo.  They declared Bulan under the New Philippine
Republic.  Elections were also held that year.

On January 21, 1900, at the height of the Philippine-American War, the Americans landed in Bulan.  The
American soldiers were under the command of captain Charles Mclane and Lieutenant B.P. Dishky, of the
A and B Company of the First Battalion.  There was no resistance from the town.  In fact, through the
efforts and initiatives of the principales of Bulan headed by Don Rufino Gerona, the pacification campaign
in Sorsogon gained ground.  It was Don Rufino and company who caused the surrender of Col. Emeterio
Funes, a provincial revolutionary leader.

Not to be forgotten during this period between the First Philippine Republic and the American Occupation
is the name of Don Julian Gerona, an illustrious son of Bulan who figured prominently in national affairs. 
He was a friend of Rizal, Mabini and other revolutionary leaders.   He also later on became the first
Secretary to the First Philippine Assembly of 1907, albeit, for five months, but even then, his name will be
etched in the annals of the Philippine History.

Under the Americans, the community of Bulan flourished.  Education, trade and commerce, politics and
religion were given ample freedom to prosper.  The people started organizing labor unions, political
parties and community movements.  The setting up of womens' clubs as the Club de la Mujer, and the
Jota de Leche and scouting movements were encouraged.

At the outbreak of the Second World war in 1942, Bulan offered no resistance to the Japanese invaders
who held camp in various parts of the town.  Bulan though, sent many men to the battlefields including
Bataan and Corregidor and the Death March came back, organized guerilla groups and fought sporadic
battles with the Japanese.  There were also incidents of death at the hands of the Japanese Imperial
army, especially that of the thirteen men, mostly Chinese, who were executed in Taromata sometime in
1942.  With the coming of the American Liberation Forces, the town of Bulan was burned by the
Japanese forces who retreated to Magallanes.  There were many atrocities committed during this time. 
The air-raid shelters and wartunnels at Imelda, Sta. Remedios, Layuan, San Francisco and other places
remain as grim reminders of that dark period in Bulan's history.

The process of reconstruction and rebuilding of the town took place after the Liberation.  The people of
Bulan took to the task, as with other communities in the Philippines, in an effort to regain what was lost
during the war.  Politics was lively, as with socio-economic activities and religion.  Schools flourished,
barrios were organized and constituted, citizens' organizations grew, population increased.  By 1960,
there were 54,180 persons recorded, up from 13,431 in 1903.  By 1972, there were already 63 barangays
in Bulan, compared to eleven in 1900.

The declaration of Martial Law in 1972 proved to be another chapter in the history of Bulan.  It was a
period of uneasy predicaments.  During these times, many young students from Bulan became involved
in activism espousing socialist and radical change.  It was brought about by excesses in politics and
government, and a desperate look at the deterioration of the quality of life in many levels of Philippine
Society.  At first, the people of Bulan welcomed the declaration of Martial Law and its promise of a New
Society.  But as the turn of events deteriorated, people became fearful of the times.  From 1973 to 1975,
the far-flung barangays, especially the isolated ones,notably Gabod, Marinab, and the  northern
barangays became virtual battlefields of the warring government military forces and NPA rebels.  There
were reports of atrocities by both sides, and many barangay residents fled their homes to escape being
caught in the crossfire.  Proof of this was the rapid decline of population in barrios.  Up to the present,
there are still pockets of armed resistance offered by the NPA in the hills and barangays of Bulan. 
Prominent names of Bulan citizens who joined the rebel movements of the 1970's are the late Antonio
Ariado, Ms. Nanette Vytiaco and many others.

In the 1986 EDSA Revolt, one name from Bulan that stands out in the national scene was Colonel Gringo
Honasan, who later on became a rebel military officer and now a Senator of the Philippine Republic.  The
events of 1986 brought new changes in local leadership and in the aspects of Bulan's community life.

In the year 2001, Bulan celebrates her 200th year anniversary or bicentennial, since being refounded
along the banks of the Mariboc River.

Through the years, Bulan was able to withstand the tests of time, thanks to the resiliency and grace of
her people.  Bulan today stands proud for her history and yet humble with the lessons of time.  She is
now at the forefront of rapid socio-economic and political changes confronting many communities of the
Philippine Society and in a few years, she will perhaps be Sorsogon's foremost town.  The people of
Bulan, a product of the complicated interplay of time, events, race and culture, exudes a character both
complex and simple.  It is this character that makes him both religious and irreverent; stubborn,
courageous and proud yet warm and accommodating.  He can bend with the wind but remain strong as
not to break.  And this character has carried him through both fortunate and difficult times.  The People
of Bulan has been shaped by the events of history and has himself shaped history.  It is this that will
carry this people on, this town on, to the next millenium.