Barangay Names of Municipality of Marihatag: History and Meanings

By: Judd Aeiou Bolatete, DM 41st Batch Section A

The Municipality of Marihatag is politically subdivided into 12 barangays under its jurisdiction.
In this article, we shall classify these barangays according to categories and attempt to explain
the meanings of each name.
Marihatag is a 3rd class municipality in the province of Surigao del Sur, Philippines. According
to the 2007 census, it has a population of 17,622 people. There are 9,223 registered voters as of
2009. The current mayor of the municipality is Hon. Leo C. Navarro, younger brother of Hon.
Librado C. Navarro, also the current mayor of the City of Bislig.

Meaning of Barangay Names

In this section, we attempt to provide the meanings of all barangay names of Marihatag, several
of which are no longer known or even misunderstood by the younger generations. The names are
arranged alphabetically.
Alegria. 1900s…. The natives of Brgy. Alegria are the families of Alegre, Moscoso, Cubil and
Lingaya. Subsequently, migrants came to settle in the area including the families of Rivas from
Leyte and Calising from Bitaugan. The barangay was originally called SitioCapausan. Its name
was later changed to SitioAdgay. Its present name, Alegria was adopted from ZacariasAlegre,
who donated the lot where the local public school is currently located. In the year 1942, the
residents fled to SitioBagang (also in Marihatag) to escape from the Japanese military during the
Second World War. The war brought famine in the area as a result of the slowdown in farming
activities. The area became a sitio of barangay Alegria in the year 1956. and the following year,
1957 the settlement was declared as barrio with Floriano de Castro as its first Barangay Captain.
Amontay. Barangay Amontay was first settled earlier by certain Agustin Gallego, an original
settler in the area during the Spanish time. It was named Amontay by a Spanish coined from the
local dialect “naghuhuntayay” when the Spanish asked a lying woman of what is the name of the
place. Unfamiliar with the Spanish language, the woman said “naghuhuntayay”, meaning taking
a nap. Another occupant from San Agustin, Surigao del Sur, Lucio Avila and Ramon Salinas
entered the barangay and started to expand the clearings through “kaingin” system of farming.
Certain Bakoy Plaza, a Rizalian leader wanted to convert the settlement to their cult. He
persuaded some of the residents and their cult did not last long.
In the year 1948 after the liberation from Japanese, Amontay became a sitio of Barangay Oteiza,
now municipality of San Agustin, as part of the municipality of Lianga before. During the year
1953, the place became Barangay Amontay through Executive Order No. 9, Claro Salinas
became the first Teniente del Barrio. The barrio site was bought from Alejandro Osorio by the
individual residents of the barangay. David Lamela first donated the school site and chapel site.
The chapel was constructed also in this year.
Antipolo. The name Antipolo derived from the big tree located in the area locally known as
Atipoo or Antipolo. During the time that only pumpboats and boats traveled the area to and from
the mother municipality of Lianga, travelers used to take rest at this big Antipolo tree that it
became a known terminal for travelers. If the said travelers were asked of their route, they
answered “Antipolo”, which means the big Antipolo tree in the area. Antipolo was then a
barangay of the municipality of Lianga. The first settlers in the area were the five families of
Salvador Avila, Eugenio Corvera, Adres Lamela, Simon Avila and certain Teyok Avila.
Salvador Avila was known as “Barong” that married to Evangelista Quintina from the then
barangay Otieza. Agustina, Marta, Guiillerma, Oling, Lino, Antonio, Asuncion, Crisanto,
Bernabe and Melchor were their offspring.
Arorogan. Barangay Arorogan was coined from the word “Arorohan”, which means to plea.
During the earlier times, the early inhabitants of the area were indifference and persistent pleas
would bring back their good mood. in the year 1800’s, according to the elder barangay residents
present, barangay Arorogan was inhabited primarily by the families of Tomas Cancio and Gulok
Rivas as the earliest settlers of the area. Gulok Rivas was the well-known warrior that defended
their families against the looting Moro pirates of the pacific. Then there came some settlers
from other places of the archipelago such as Policarpio Salgado from Cebu, Tomas Borja from
Bohol, Salvador Robles from Bacaue, Lianga, Surigaodel Sur.
Bayan. The original settlers of the settlement are the families of Angelo Alvizo, Antonio
Sanchez and Roque Navarro. The settlement was originally called Hinogbakan, which means
ripe “hinog” fruit “bakan”, a wild fruit eaten by wild boars and other wild animals.
Mahaba. The Barangay was originally inhabited by the families of certain Siboy and Tawas,
leaders of the indigenous peoples in the area located at the present day Sitio San Roque. The
place was first known as “Buringon”, coined from the dark color of the skin of the inhabitants
known to us as “Manobo”. In the year 1950, migrants from Maasin, Leyte ug Bato, Leyte came
to the place they called “Mabaha”, upper part part of Buringon. These were the families of
Matundo, Gordo and Hinampos. The name Mahaba derived from the word itself in local dialect,
which means “very long” because of the upper terrain of the area. A three-month rain came to
the area in the year 1955 that brought mild famine to the area. During this year, barangay
Mahaba was officially established and Mike Gordo became the first Tiniente del Barrio. The
school was established at the proper Mahaba where its lot was bought from certain Mr. Jualo.
Mararag. The name of the barangay is derived from “malaag”, meaning a dirty color. It was the
term used by the natives to describe the murky color of the water in Adgay River, the
distinguishing landmark of the place. Per account, settlement in the area dated back to 1910.
The families of Agapito and BertoVillarina from the municipality of San Agustin first came to
establish their residences in the community followed by the families of Dionesio Vasquez, and
Bernabe Avila who migrated from the municipality of San Agustin. The next wave of migrants
comprised of the families of Nicolas Corvera and SerbacioBorja who moved out of the
municipality of Marihatag. Then the Rivas clan and Sarceda families, emigrants from the
province of Agusan del Sur also came to establish settlement in the barangay.
When World War II broke out in 1942, the Japanese soldiers occupied the barangay establishing
their camp along sitioCagbuaya. The residents then fled to the mountains to save their lives and
stayed in hiding for the two-year duration of the war. As they could not tend to their farm, go
fishing nor do their regular livelihood activities, the residents suffered from hunger due to food
shortage. Most of them subsisted from fruits and root crops but the supply was hardly sufficient
to meet the daily food requirement of every evacuee/resident. The onset of a strong typhoon
between 1943 and 1944 destroyed many of the crops in the community that caused massive
hunger among the people.
Poblacion. The name Marihatag was a legendary name coined together from two words, Maria
and Hatag which was given to a “place”, a village where a beautiful lass resides who was given
to a looting prirates to save the villagers from further destruction. Another version says the name
symbolizes hospitality of the inhabitants who were willing to offer anything they can afford to
please the visitors. Originally, it is a small village situated near the bank of the river and
inhabited by natives whose occupation were fishermen and farmers. In the span of time the
village grow into a barangay or bario administered by local leaders, which became the barrio of
the Municipality of Lianga.
San Antonio. In the year 1930, Clemente Avila De Jesus founded the first family to inhabit the
area called then the Sikayon. Politically, the area is within the contested boundary between the
municipalities of Marihatag and Cagwait, all of the province of surigaodel Sur. During these
years, one unremembered moment of the family was the aggressive visitation of more or less 100
men identified by Clemente as members of the “Bagani”, or the native warriors coming from the
western mountains of the province and they intended to wage war to the settlement if left
unnoticed by the settlers. However, it averted by the presence of the original settlers.
San Isidro. According to the forefathers of the barangay, the original settlers in the barangay
were the Manobo tribe that came from the mountain hills of Eastern Agusan and settled at the
riverbank of Marihatag River. They called the place as “Maroro” coined from the creek that
supplied fresh water spring or lacally called maroro, that served as source of potable water. The
first settlers of the barangay were the families of Datu Imbok, later called Datu Imbok (Three
Ears) Sampiano and certain Quirico Hermoso. Good harvest and goodwill among the natives in
the area attracted other Manobo tribes from neighboring villages to come and settle in the area.
Since political structure of the country was then centered at the urban areas, in the year 1923
Quirico Hermoso was first designated as administrator of the settlement called “Maroro”. The
settlement was then part of the municipality of Lianga. The village with inhabitants belongs to
few clans was not formally recognized as a political unit of the government. The designation
order came from then Province of Surigao through open and informal letter addressed to
concerns. Informal arrangements were done that installed Pablo”Imbok” Sampiano as
administrator in the year 1924.
San Pedro. The area was first known, ADGAY, it was later called CAPUGO coined from the
word CAMP PUGO, since the area was encamped by certain Pugo, a Japanese Imperial Army
Leader during the World War II. The area declared a barangay in the year 1965 of which the
name San Pedro was suggested by the Parish Priest that celebrated the first mass of the
Barangay. The first school building was constructed in the year 1967 mode of bamboo poles.
The lot was donated by Albaris Alicante during the administration of Brgy. Captain Leoncio
Bautista.
Santa Cruz. The settlement was originally settled the Plaza and Cancio families who are the
natives of the area. Subsequently, migrants from San Agustin came including the families of
Pontillo and Campos and from Lianga the famlies of Sampiano and Rivas. Moro pirates who
abduct local often visited the settlement. The wife of Gabriel Plaza was the first person abducted
by the Moros.