A Political History of Bayawan City, Negros Oriental

HISTORY Although formally established as a pueblo in 1872 by Spain, Bayawan, then formerly known as Tolong Nuevo, already existed as early as 1868 as an important part of Tolong Viejo (i.e., present-day Sta. Catalina) exactly 116 years after the latters establishment as a settlement by the Spanish Friars in the year 1751. According to National Statistics Records, the first ever recorded population survey of Tolong Nuevo dates back to 1903 with only 6, 099 inhabitants, and this was documented barely 31 years after its formal proclamation as a separate municipality. The first known inhabitants of Bayawan were believed to be of Malay and Indonesian descent. These early settlers were relatively shorter in physique to medium build with brown to fair complexion. They were initially settled in what we identify today as tribes, and these nomadic freedom-loving people were later known in history as bukidnon. To this day, they are still in existence in their ancestral domain, although a sizable percentage of their population has relatively assimilated with lowlanders through inter-marriages, education, and other environmental and socio-political reasons. Migrants from neighboring islands and provinces had, through periodic incidences, also arrived in Bayawan for one reason or another. Foremost of which were those from Panay Island in the north. The town had always embraced them as its own. Hence, the Ilongos, Tigbauanons, and Karay-as dominated the vast agricultural lands and lowland rice fields of Bayawan. As they acquired and occupied large and strategic residential lots in the central portion of the town, Spanish mestizos came in droves as well and introduced the hacienda system. Some of them either pioneered the production of muscovado sugar or started catechetical missions while others came strictly for political intentions. On the one hand, the Chinese merchants and Boholanos (Bol-anon traders) concentrated their trade in the commercial district. On the other, the Cebuanos and Siquijodnons had the choice to live by the sea especially if they were more inclined to fish or to the unoccupied hillsides if they chose to raise corn and other staple root crops. With the establishments of Visayan Sawmill Co. and Marli Plywood and Veneer Corporation of the Philippines (1950s) and Tagalog Sugar Milling Corporation and Construction Development Corporation of the Philippines (late 1960s to early 1970s) a surge of laborers and employees from Luzon, i.e., the Bicolanos, Tagalogs, Ilocanos, etc. and Mindanao, and the rest of the Visayan region made Bayawan their home. Thus, after three or four decades, the families of these groups are still living in Bayawan with their third or fourth generations. Having been born, grown, and raised in this once miniscule town, they now call themselves genuine Bayawanons.

The population of Bayawan then increased annually. Its steady climb has made it one of the growth centers of Negros Oriental. To illustrate this claim, here in Fig.1 is the documented population of Bayawan from 1903 to1995 courtesy of National Statistics Office (NSO).