Talibon Town has a very rich historical heritage. Christianization of the town started long before Miguel Lopez de Legazpi ever set foot in the island of Bohol in 1565. History is traced back to the time of Magellan after his death on April 27, 1521 in the hands of Lapulapu.

On May 1, 1521, the Spaniards suffered another terrible defeat amidst a sumptuous Dandansoy banquet tendered as a ploy.  On that night of horror, 27 Spanish commanders and crew of the galleons Trinidad, Conception and Victoria were mercilessly murdered.  It was a bitter cry of vengeance for the ignominious rape of 50 virgins of Cebu by Magellan’s men.

Spanish survivors on board the galleon ship Trinidad fled for dear life in the direction of Getafe-Talibon where some of the crew disembarked and mingled with the natives of the place.  Taking native wives and teaching them the rudiments of Christianity, they dedicated the place where they lived to the Santisima Trinidad in honor of the patron of their fateful ship. The survivors became the first lay missionaries to Bohol.

This evangelization process was confirmed in 1596, which marked the advent of the excellent Jesuit missionaries and educators.  Fr. Pedro Chirino, S.J., the Provincial Superior of the Jesuits in the Philippines, directed Fr. Juan de Torres, S.J., together with Fr. Gabriel Sanchez, S.J. to proceed to the mountains called “Las Minas de Talibon” where many people from all parts of the island, including a sizable community of enterprising Spaniards, converged for the gold rush.

Upon their arrival, they were welcomed by the first Christians of Talibon evangelized by the Spanish lay missionaries who were escapees from the dreadful Cebu massacre.  They were surprised and happy to discover that in the mountains where the Boholano Christians lived and prayed together, a makeshift church was built by the natives themselves.  The mission in Talibon was undertaken by the Jesuits until 1768 when the Recollects took over.

The name Talibon is said to come from the word ‘talibong’ which means bolo or spear, an instrument used in gold mining. There is no actual record to show how the name came about but per the records of the travels of Jesuit missionary, Fr. Juan de Torres, he went to the gold mines of Talibong. It shows that the community already had its name even before the first arrival of the first Spanish missionary. Later the letter “g” was dropped and the name Talibon prevailed.

Documents kept in the National Archives in Manila showed that Talibon became a parish in 1722 but continued to be part of Inabanga, its mother parish, until 1831.  Some historians claimed that Talibon became a parish only in 1831, upon its separation from Inabanga.  But according to the Redondo, the oldest marriage records of the Talibon Parish were from year 1824, confirming that Talibon was already a parish at that time.

The Talibon Parish was created under the patronage of the Most Holy Trinity with Fr. Ramon de Santa Ana, O.R.S.A. as its first Parish Priest.  The construction of its church started in 1852 with the gathering of materials.  But a document kept in the National Archives in Manila, dated 1858 showed a request for authorization to build the church of Talibon, attached with the plans drawn by the famous Architect Domingo Escondrillas, Director-Inspector of Public Works in Cebu who was responsible for the construction of a number of churches in Bohol and Cebu.  The request was believed to be not for the building but for the rebuilding of the church because it was dated very much later than recorded start of the construction.

The Church of Talibon as built, hewed closely to the Escondrillas’ plan.  However, the architect’s sedate plan for the façade was undertaken by a stone carver’s virtuoso display of art.  That church is now the Most Holy Trinity Cathedral of the Diocese of Talibon which was erected on January 9, 1986 to cover the 21 municipalities of northern Bohol.  The Most Rev. Christian Vicente F. Noel, D.D. was installed as its 1^st Bishop.

(Condensed from the archival researches of Rev. Fr. Jose Maria S. Luengo, Ph.D. and the archival documents provided by Chairman Ambeth R. Ocampo of the National Historical Commission Institute, Manila)

CREATION OF TALIBON, STILL A PUZZLE

Research conducted on the creation of Talibon yielded a number of primary and secondary documents but not one of them could accurately ascertain the exact date of the creation of Talibon as a town.

Documents from Patronamos, 1785-1789 kept in the Nationa Archives, Manila, twice cited Talibon as Pueblo but it appeared that in those years, it shared the same town officials and parish priest with Inabanga, being still part of its ecclesiastical mission.

The term Pueblo might have been loosely used because the following secondary sources gave conflicting accounts:  Lee W. Vance, in his Tracing Your Philippine Ancestors, printed in 1980, cited Talibon as a Spanish pueblo organized in 1806.  Rene B. Javellana, in his Wood and Stone for God’s Greater Glory cited Talibon as a pueblo in 1830.  Most recently, Simplicio M. Apalisok, in his Bohol Without Tears cited April 22, 1854 as the actual date of the creation of Talibon.  He alleged that his reference was the Ereccion de Pueblo from the National Archives.  But recent research conducted by no less than the Chairman of the National Historical Commission Institute, Mr. Ambeth B. Ocampo, failed to yield this data.  Instead, he confirmed that the Errecion de Pueblo document definitely showed that Talibon was already a Pueblo Nuevo (New Town) in 1837, thus contradiction Apalisok.

Recollect historian Agustin de la Cavada, in his Historia Geografica Geologica y Estadista de Filipinas, published in 1876, cited 1722 as the year Talibon was founded as a Visita (Mission) and it became an independent parish only in 1724 under the advocation of the Blessed Trinity.  However, according to another historian, Rene H. Javellana, 1722 was the year Talibon became an Independent parish separate from Inabanga, not as a town.  Manuel Buzeta, bolstering 1837 as the year of the creation of Talibon, wrote in 1851 in his Historico de las Island de Filipinas: “Talibong – pueblo can cura y governadorcillo en la isla de Bohol. . .” But some documents in San Agustin Museum in Instramuros, Manila suggested that it remained attached to Inabanga until 1831.

Another document retrieved from Patronamos, 1828-1837 cited Talibon as “de Nuevo Erreccion del Pueblo de Talibong de la Provincia de Zebu (The Foundation of the Town of Talibong of the Province of Cebu) which clearly showed that as of 1829, the date of that document, Talibon was already a town.

In a Political History published by the Rizal Cultural Committee of the Province of Rizal, the creation of towns was explained this way:  “Towns have their own individual histories.  Many were thriving villages long before the  Spaniards came and all the Spaniards had to do to make them official towns was to give them churches and to recognize their ancient names and boundaries.  Other originated as missions or “visitas” while others as encomiendas. Still others were overgrown barrios that separated themselves from their matrix or parent-towns”.

Since creation of towns was closely associated with the building of churches, it is noteworthy therefore to consider the documents from the San Agustin Museum in Intramuros, Manila provided by its Augustinian Director, Fr. Galende, to Vice Mayor Restituto B. Auxtero, now the Municipal Mayor of Talibon, thru the Spanish Ambassador to the Philippines, Hon. Luis Arias that related the following:  Bohol’s first 7 parishes as established by the Jesuits were Baclayon, 1595; Loboc, 1602; Jagna, 1631;  Dauis, 1697;   Talibon, 1724;  Tagbilaran, 1767 and Maribojoc, 1768, but dates of creation of this towns did not appear in the padron (Bojol, Erreccion del pueblos) kept in the Records Management and Archives Office in Manila.

Chairman Ambeth Ocampo of the National Historical Commission Institute, after his research in February, 2007, on the date of the creation of Talibon appeared to be right in his opinion that the creation of Talibon might have occurred within 10 years before 1829 or a little earlier.  He opined that only the Royal Decree creating the municipality of Talibon can finally settle the puzzle but even Spanish Ambassador Arias, after being requested by then Vice Mayor Restituto B. Auxtero to furnish such document, showed signs of impossibility to retrieve such ancient document from the Spanish Archives.

(From the documents provided by Chairman Ambeth Ocampo, Chairman of the National Historical Commission Institute, Manila)