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.

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 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 Weaver’s Story: the Legend of Bungansakit” written 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 Bungansakit’s 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 1600’s.

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.

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. The heathens 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 call infidels.

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 Jesuit-built 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 1900’s. In the 1940’s, 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.

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 Bungansakit’s 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. Michael’s church belfry are engraved with Basey in reference to the town. These bells predate the arrival of the Americans in 1898.

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 Daza’s 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 Smith’s 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 Porter’s 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 Waller’s 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 Aguinaldo’s 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 Philippine-American 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.

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 of banig. These bring out the best presentation among its beautiful contestants albeit for fashion shows only. This big development in the town’s 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, wouldn’t it be equally distinguished and ingenious if Basaynon entrepreneurs could claim to supply a world market?

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.

The author, Dr. Wilmo C. Orejola, is a Basaynon, who was born and spent his childhood in the town of Basey.