Santa Lucia Ilocos Sur Philippines

THE LEGEND OF STA. LUCIA

Before the evangelization of Igorots inhabiting KAOG (now Sta. Lucia, Ilocos Sur), turmoil and chaos usually visit this rich settlement.

Although historical accounts are silent on the civilization of these, early Igorots, it was presumed by early historians that these were uncivilized, tattooed in their faces, their noses and earlobes pierced, clothed in G-Strings. It was their usual practice to embark on head-hunting expeditions in the lowlands and seacoast areas.

They usually do these once a year in connection with their tagnawa (sacrifice rituals) to their God, Kabunian, where these select at least the head of a Christian convert as sacrificial offering.

A head is placed in sarukang ( a long pole of light bamboo) and placed in the middle of their village where they dance in merriment to the tune of their primitive music gongs, flutes and cymbals.

Oral history handed from generation to generation until today claim that these Igorots (Prof. Otley Beyer point to as the original Kanknaeys or Inabalois living in the western foothills of the Cordilleras), are fierce-looking, armed to the teeth with spears, axes, blow guns, and kampilans, poisoned arrows.

Adept at ambuscades and lightning raids over Christian settlements to the west in the middle of the night in pitch darkness, these Igorots were reported to have inflicted several casualties in the settlement of Kaog. Heavy casualties were inflicted by them by Spanish Peninsulares, friars, and converts.

When the present town (Sta. Lucia) was evangelized, it was told heavy downpours could be witnessed by inhabitants and, with their naked (bodies) eyes, saw the delicate figure of a small beautiful woman carrying over her head an earthern jar (caramba) wending her way to the east following carefully a tiny foot trail leading to a dense forest growth east of the town below the foothills of the Western Cordilleras.

This beautiful woman was ivory white, with silky brown hair spread downwards reaching to her ankles, and much to the surprise of witnesses could never be wet in spite of the strong intermittent rains and fury of the wind.

At the sight of the woman, the burikan (tattooed) Igorots flee to the east for their safety!

One Local historian during the late Spanish period, Claro Tiburcio Ridad, in an unpublished manuscript claimed that converts in the pueblo of Kaog band themselves together and armed with talunasans, homemade cannons, spears and arrows ran after the maruders. It was said that if these Igorots were overtaken and taken prisoners, Christian would torture them with barit-barit, a thorny vine, abundant in the settlement of Cabaritan and also leaves (an itchy plant) abundant in Luplupa, a sitio some ten kilometers east.

After 1586 when the ministry of Sta. Lucia was finally established by Augustinian friars, the image of the Virgin and Martyr St. Lucy arrived from Mexico to be installed and consecrated inside the new town church. The people claimed that the image looked like the beautiful woman.

It was at this instance that the clergy recommended to the authorities in Spain through ecclesiastical powers in Manila to change the name Kaog and later Dumangague to a new name - STA. LUCIA - in honor of the patron saint.

For a span of four hundred years, more or less, town residents have heard from their several miracles by St. Lucy especially to people suffering from eye ailments. Accounts of these testimonies by pious devotees of the Virgin can be read in an article published by Bannawag on December 13, 1986, in connection with town's celebration of its 400th founding anniversary.

ORIGIN OF STA. LUCIA

The town of Sta. Lucia which was known as Kaog and Dumangague during the Spanish times is bounded on the east by the interior town of Salcedo, Ilocos Sur (formerly Baugen) and the Cordillera Mountain, on the west by China Sea, on the north by Municipality of Candon and on the south by Sta. Cruz, another town of Ilocos Sur.

Accounts on the early settlements appear somewhat hazy as to how many people were settled in Kaog before Capitan Salcedo discovered the place in his expedition in 1572.

However it may seem clear that the early settlers were Bagos or Igorots - people of the mountains, probably half-civilized according to Spanish standards.

An account by the late Sen. Isabelo de los Reyes, editor of El Ilocano, and lifted by the late Rev. Fr. Juan Foronda, "The Early Settlement of the Fifth Missionary" (Ilocos Review, Vol. lll, Nos. 1 and 2, pp 11-12) states that Capitan Salcedo reached Dumangague probably by June, 1572 and found many inhabitants in this place.

He discovered the place rich in gold and since Salcedo was well received by the natives of the seacoast, he tried to go deeper in forest country only to be met by hostile inhabitants under a chieftain by name of Silita (probably a Bago in g-string) and ambushed Capt. Hurtado, one of the subaltern and younger officers of Salcedo.

The chief begged for mercy and Salcedo did not only pardon him but also loaded him with gifts, telling him to call his companions and make peace.

Convince of the sincerity of Salcedo, Silita and his people presented Salcedo with many gifts, mush provisions, gold and other precious things which Salcedo gallantly refused, giving impression that he did not come to exploit them.

On June 12, 1572 Salcedo's fleet left Dumangague and by nightfall, it arrived at Caoayan, a town close to Vigan on its northern periphery.

It was on January 5, 1586, however, that the ministry was established here at Kaog or Dumangague. This town was one of the oldest encomiendas in the Philippines. It is reported that in 1591, the encomienda already had a monastery with two religious to take care of 3,600 souls.

Evangelization of Dumangague or Kaog were done by Augustinian fathers who tamed the natives and started building edifices which remain to this day as a monument to their architectural genius and patience.

They succeeded building a one-aisle church, the most svelte in the Ilocos, with a great transcept and a magnificent some resembling the St. Peter Basilica at the Holy See in Rome. It was rebuilt completely by Fathers Pascual Barrreda and Manuel Arguellas.

Other public improvements are the cemetery, with a good chapel, located at Barangay Nagrebcan, less than a kilometer south of the poblacion, the old intermediate school building constructed of bricks, a municipal hall (presidencia municipal) which underwent a series of innovations and face lifting under several administrations.

A big convent was constructed to the northwest of the town church. This was the headquarters of the Katipunan forces commanded by Gen. Manuel Tinio during the revolution. It is now the "home" of religious order, the Oblate Sisters and which likewise housed the Sta. Lucia Kindergarten School run by the same nuns.

Sta. Lucia boasts of a three-storey belfry which was easily the refuge of public officials from depredations of the tirongs or pirates under Lima Hong when the Chinese plunderer visited the Ilocos coastal towns, and it likewise afforded a safe sanctuary of officials who hid from the hands of salvage teams of Katipunan forces during the Revolution and guerrillas in World War II

The current town hall of Sta. Lucia was transferred from the site of Kaog at Barangay Damacuag to its present location along the National Highway and the town church.

The old settlement was a vast rancheria where cattle in abundant numbers roam. As a wide pasture land, Sta. Lucia was often visited by bands of cattle rustlers and hold-uppers who preyed on animals and homes of ranchers.

Homesteaders were said to have banded together and organized rondas and in cowboy fashion patrolled a wide expanse of cattle country from town to areas bordering the Arangin and Baluarte hills to the east below foothills of the Ilocos ranges or western cordillera.

In Spanish times, Sta. Lucia was governed by governadorcillos, equivalent to mayors or alcaldes, while distritos or a cluster of barangays were governed by a cabeza de barangay.