From the pages of history of the middle 18^th century, it was discovered that the ancient name of Padre Burgos was “Matnog”, a name which means “marshes and swamps”. Matnog was a sitio of Lungsodaan, once a barrio of Municipality of Malitbog but presently is under the jurisdiction of Municipality of Padre Burgos. Matnog was the humble and peaceful home of early Burgosanons. It was the place where early settlers dreams of a better and prosperous life. However, when the population increased and new people from neighboring places kept on pouring in, it was agreed by the local folks to transfer the heart of the barrio to Matnog, where it has a wider and bigger area than Lungsodaan. The early and original settlers of Matnog, whose influence and efforts, made the transfer possible. It would be noteworthy to mention, in stating the names of Gabriel Gilles, Venancio Leyson, Santiago Palermo Sr., Bernabe Telen, Cirilo Leyson and the Naronas. These original and dominating families worked, labored and left no stone unturned for the expansion and growth of the barrio.

            When Venancio Leyson became the barrio Capitan, he changed the name of Matnog into “Tamolayag”, a corruption name of “Tana Molayag” which literally means “Let’s sail”. It was not just an ordinary expression but an alarm against the brutish Moro pirates. It was on this time where Moro piracy was on its height. Moro pirates are Muslim people who swept and raided coastal barrios and towns of Sogod Bay and brought havoc and untold miseries upon its inhabitants. Because of this rampant piracy, Capitan Venancio constructed a watchtower which they called Moro watchtower, situated in Lungsodaan, to warn his people of the approaching Moro pirates. During Moro raids, bamboo gongs were sounded and people upon hearing it shouted “Tana Molayag”, immediately jumped into their sailboats and without fear sailed toward Panaon Island where they hide themselves in dense jungles for safety.

          

  But Capitan Venancio is not an ordinary man; he was a man of valor. A man, with a spirit of bravery and courage, fought face to face against the marauders. He was popularly known because of his pile of rights ears of his victims in a fathom-length rattan like a pyramid.

            During the Spanish campaign against Moro piracy, Capitan Venancio requested an audience with the Spanish Comandante Politico-Militar (Spanish Political-Military Commander) of Leyte in the person of Honorable Vicente Sanz Cantero. He brought with him the pile of rights ears and presented it in front of the Spanish authorities. The Spanish Comandante was amazed of the pile of Moro’s right ears and greatly admired his utmost valor against the fanatical Muslims. Because of Capitan Venancio’s valor acts, a ceremony was held by the Spanish Comandante in front of a pyramid-shaped monument in honor to him. In addition to his recognition, the Spanish Comandante profoundly and gratefully announced before the cheering crowd the change of the family name of Capitan Venancio, from Leyson to Piramide, a name which symbolizes bravery and solidity of purpose as solid as a pyramid-liked statue.

            In the last two decades of the Spanish sovereignty in the Philippines, barrio Tamolayag just like any other part of the country did not escaped the abuses and discriminations of the Spanish government. Forced-labor was a very evident example of the abuses of the Spanish colonialism at that time. The Filipinos were forcibly employed in cutting of timber, in the construction of churches and convents, in the construction of ships and in the digging of the canals. Santa Sofia Canal, aside from being a pride of the barrio, was a living testament of those abuses.

            Capitan Venancio received orders from the Spanish authorities to construct through forced-labor the Santa Sofia Canal located in the southern tip of the barrio. In terms of trade and commerce, the digging meant prosperity, safety and economy. Boats and bancas going in and out of Sogod Bay could safely pass through this canal instead of sailing around the Tangkaan point where the current of which is very strong and a danger point for navigators. Thus, saving time, money and effort. The canal also offers a safe anchorage for bancas and other small vessels in times of typhoons and bad weathers. Despite of all this advantages, the practiced of forced-labor cannot be put out of sight and was all the more unjust because of the inadequate pay, which amounted only to four reals a month, equivalent to two pesos today. Frequently, the small sum never reached the hands of the laborer. Several people from Maasin to Hinunangan including those from the towns of Panaon Island did not escaped from these abuses and were forced to work in the digging of the Santa Sofia Canal on rotation basis, until the canal was completed and ready for navigation purposes. However, as time passed by, the canal was left neglected. It became non-navigable because it is irretrievably sealed by monsoon deposits of gravel and sand. Only the surfaces of the indigenous flat land reveal the canal route. Santa Sofia canal was a smaller version of the Suez and Panama canals. If it had been fully developed and adequately preserved, it would have attained attractions.

            In the 19^th century, during the incumbency of Capitan Narciso Piramide, the son of Capitan Venancio, for the third and last time changed the name of the barrio, from Tamolayag to Padre Burgos. He chose the name in honor to Padre Jose Burgos, a Filipino priest and martyr, who champion and devoted his life for the cause of filipinization of all parishes and to give way or opportunity for the Filipino priest to handle and led parishes and dioceses.

            It was this time, when Burgosanon faithful experienced friar abuses. The local church was under the mother church in Malitbog, managed by the regular orders. It was a daily burden for the early Burgosanons in every time where there is a mass conducted in the local church. One example of these abuses was according to the early Burgosanons, when a mass is about to be celebrated in the barrio, the Spanish friar will not say the mass unless the faithful will carry him on a bamboo-made lifter from Malitbog to Padre Burgos. It was a sad experience in the spiritual aspect of the early Burgosanon faithful whose desire is to receive the good news of the Savior’s love to the world.

           

Because of this sad experience and the longing for spiritual growth and direction, Capitan Ciso, as he was and still is affectionately addressed, together with the leaders and people of the barrio, without further ado, embraced the Filipino church proclaimed by Don Isabelo De Los Reyes, Sr., a senator and leader of the Union Obrero Democratica (UOD), and headed by Gregorio Aglipay Y Labayan, a former Roman Catholic priest and was appointed by President Emilio Aguinaldo as the Vicario-Heneral of the military, and the first Supreme Bishop of the church. The religious sect was then prominently called as the Iglesia Filipina Independiente (Philippine Independent Church), which according to Dr. Teodoro Agoncillo is “the only living and tangible result of the 1896 revolution”, which the barrio prides with the church at the heart of it. Upon the request of Capitan Ciso, Bishop Aglipay sent the first pastor of the new church in the barrio, in the person of Reverend Father Gorgonio Guerrero, to lead the early faithful in their desire for spiritual guidance and inspiration, and to facilitate and provide the sacraments freely to the Christian faithful.

            During these years, the barrio was nurtured and nourished by the guiding hands of the mother municipality of Malitbog, grew and progressed gradually by leaps and bounds. Inhabitants got higher in number. Farming and fishing was the prime livelihood of the Burgosanons. The economic condition at that time was improving and education and cultural strides of its inhabitants steadily progressing.

            It was this time, when the leaders of Padre Burgos started to work up for the political independence of the barrio. A dream of self-governance and self-determination from the discriminations of other neighboring barrios and municipalities. The dream for the political emancipation of the barrio began in 1920. Reverend Father Arsenio Japson, an Aglipayan priest, was sent to Manila to request an audience with the late Congressman Tomas Oppus to file a bill leading to the creation of the barrio of Padre Burgos into a town. The following year, a three-man delegation was formed to make further representation before the Leyte Provincial Board in connection with the possibility of making Padre Burgos a municipality. The three-man delegation was composed of Mr. Pedro Piramide Sr., a Vice-Mayor; Mr. Desiderio Orquez, a Municipal Councilor; and Atty. Santiago Palermo. The three-man delegation, except Atty. Palermo, went to Tacloban and conferred with Honorable Vicente De la Cruz, then the Provincial Governor of Leyte. The mission, however, was a failure because the papers containing all the necessary requisites of a municipality, entrusted in the hands of Atty. Palermo, did not reach the office of the Provincial Governor. The sadder news was the papers were nowhere to be found.

          Aside from the failure of the mission of the three-man delegation, the aspiration for political independence died out when World War II erupted. But after the Philippines liberated by the Americans, Mr. Teodorico Esclamado and other prominent Burgosanons founded Saint James Academy (SJA), the shout for the independence of Padre Burgos again surged in the lifeblood of every Burgosanon.

           

The much-awaited time came when Mr. Teodorico Esclamado became the Mayor of Malitbog. He prepared the requirements of making a new municipality. During his official trips to Manila to seek financial aid from the national government for the improvement of Malitbog, he also worked for the conversion of barrio Padre Burgos into a municipality. The sailing though rough, difficult and stormy was successful. A delegation composed of Councilor Teodulo D. Ebuenga Sr., Barrio Lieutenant Jovencio Turcal, Mr. Pedro Piramide Sr. and Atty. Alejandro Esclamado audience with President Carlos P. Garcia and succeeded in winning the President’s favor of signing the Executive Order No. 265 creating Padre Burgos a new Municipality. Upon the E.O. of the President, the Leyte Governor, Honorable Bernardo Torres, at exactly 5:00 A.M. on 22 October 1957, proclaimed Padre Burgos a new Municipality during the incumbency of Mayor Teodorico Esclamado Sr.

            Presently, Padre Burgos comprises the barrios of Poblacion, Sta. Sofia, Buenavista, Tangkaan, Cantutang, Lungsodaan, Dinahugan, Sto. Rosario, Bunga, San Juan and Laca.

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            Padre Burgos is a place of remembrance. A municipality with a rich heritage, culture and the arts, and a paradise which every Burgosanon must be proud of.

References: (For further reading)

1. Southern Leyte Province Inaugural Souvenir Program, 1 July 1960

2. “Southern Leyte: The People, the Land and the Sea of First” authored by Joaquin Gonzales Chung Jr., Copyright 1997