The town of Argao
is considered as one of the oldest towns in the province of Cebu,
having been founded by the Spaniards and established as a pueblo
in the year 1608. But prior to the arrival of the Spaniards, what
was then Argao was composed of several families that lived mainly
by fishing and farming, as many still do today. According to stories
passed on from generation to generation, the name of the town
was derived from an abundantly-growing plant in the area, known
locally as “Sali-argaw”. The story of Argao’s
name is very much like many other localities in the Philippines
that derived their names from popular flora or fauna found in
the area. As the story goes, a delegation of Spanish officials
came to the town and asked a villager, some say a fisherman, what
the name of the town was. Obviously, not comprehending the foreign
tongue, the man presumed that the Spaniard was referring to the
“Sali-argaw” plants in the area, as the Spaniards
were waving their arms to mean the entire place. With this, the
fisherman simply said “Sali-argaw”, and from that
moment on the Spaniards christened the area as el pueblo de Argao.
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Extant records pertaining to the establishment of Argao as a town
go only as far as the middle eighteenth century, when the Augustinians
started building the church in Argao, later named after St. Michael
the Archangel. Indeed, prior to 1730, there have been no more
written records that have survived to this day that can pinpoint
to the 1608 founding of the town.
According
to church records, the church of Argao was founded on October
16, 1733. Another source says that Argao began as an encomienda
and that the Argao parish was founded on May 17, 1734. It places
Ignacio Olalde, OSA, as its first parish priest. The church tower
or belfry was built upon the orders of Bishop Santos Gomez de
Marañon (Bishop of Cebu 1829 - 1840).
Because Argao was opened as a commercial port in the last
portion of the 19th century and because of the establishment by
Philippine Railway Co. of a train system from the city to Argao
in the South and Danao in the North, mainly for the transport
of coal to the city, the population of Argao during the time of
Mayor Antonio Miñoza (1914-1917) surged to about 61,000
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But when he was appointed as Deputy Governor of Sulu and Mindanao
under Governor Guingona of the Bureau of Non-Christians, he encouraged
the Argawanons to migrate to Cotabato and Davao. Enticed by the
promise of owning vast fertile lands, thousands went to Mindanao,
causing the population to drop more than half and leaving many
houses vacant. The first town executive during the American regime
was Capitan Juan Lucero. The first president was Alejandro Ruiz. |
