ANTIQUE

ANTIQUE - The Place and the People

The Place. Antique is one of the oldest provinces in the Philippines. Most of the provincial land mass came into existence during the Oligocene Period (40 million years). Other areas, such as the northern part of Libertad, the western part of Mt. Madiaas and Mt. Baloy and some parts of Sibalom and San Remigio came about in the Prejurassic Period (200 million years). The eastern part of Mt. Baloy and Mt. Madia-as, and the ranges along the towns of Sibalom and San Remegio took form during the Cretacceaus Period (135 million years). Some areas along the shoreline came to existence during the Holocene or Recent Period (50 thousand years). Today, Antique is one of the four provinces that comprise the island of Panay (The other provinces are Aklan, Capiz and Iloilo). Panay, in turn, belongs to the Western Visayas Economic Region or Region 6, situated in west central Philippines.

Antique is bounded by the mountains of central Panay in the east and hugs Panay Island's western shores facing the East Cuyo Pass, an arm of the China Sea. It is shaped like a seahorse, with a length of 155 kilometers (96 miles) and a width of 33 kilometers (20.5 miles) at its widest.

The land area of the province is 252, 200 hectares (622,692 acres). This accounts for about 12.57 per cent of the total land area of the Western Visayas region. Of this area, about 83 per cent or 209,326 hectares are classified as uplands (with slopes of more than 8 degrees) and the remaining 42,874 hectares are considered lowlands.

Eighteen (18) municipalities comprise Antique. Fourteen of these are along the coast, three are inland, and one is made up of six small islands. These municipalities are: Anini-y, Barbaza, Belison, Bugasong, Caluya, Culasi, Hamtic, Laua-an, Libertad, Pandan, Patnongon, San Jose de Buenavista (the capital town), San Remigio, Sebaste, Sibalom, Tibiao, Tobias Fornier (Dao), and Valderrama. Click Map To Enlarge. Use Your Browser's Back Button To Go Back To This Page.

The Transportation. From Manila, Antique can be reached in 17 to 20 hours by interisland ships docking in the towns of Culasi and San Jose de Buenavista, the capital town. It can also be reached via a 1-hour jet flight to Iloilo City plus 2 hours by car or bus to San Jose. A popular alternate route is a 45-minute jet flight to Kalibo, Aklan and overland travel by car through the two northernmost Antique towns of Libertad and Pandan. The town of Libertad is Antique's jump-off point to the world-famous Boracay Island resort in Aklan Province. Although there is no direct commercial flight to the province, Antique has its own airport at San Jose de Buenavista that could take planes as large as a 12-seater turboprop. Popular modes of transportation are the tricycles (motorcycle with a side-car attached), jeepneys and mini-buses. Air-conditioned mini-buses are available at a slightly higher fare.

The People. Early immigrants of Panay were of Indo-Chinese stock, belonging to the First and Second Glacial Periods, comprising of the Dayaks, the Ebaloys, the Kayans and the Itnegs and, later, of Negroid stock, the Andanese and the Samanga during the Third and Fourth Glacial Periods.

The people of the First and Second Glacial Periods, particularly the Dayaks, started their migration to the Philippines via Borneo. They first landed in southern Panay. In the Third and Fourth Glacial Periods, another group of people belonging to the Negroid race migrated to Panay from New Guinea, again via Borneo. Their descendants, the Negritoes, also called the Atis, were the inhabitants of Panay when the Malays, from Borneo, and the Indonesians, came.

Antique's present racial profile is, predominantly, Malay (more than 50%) with a mix of people of Chinese, Indonesian, Indian (called Bombay by the natives) and European (mostly Spanish) origins.

Kinaray-a (or Hinaraya) is the dialect used in Antique. It is a part of the Malayo-Polynesian group of languages, with a sprinkling of Spanish, English and Chinese words. Most of the natives also speak and understand the Ilonggo dialect (Iloilo), Tagalog (the base-dialect of Pilipino, the Philippine national language) and English.

The History. In the 13^th century, oral tradition has it that Datu Puti, a chieftain during the Shri-Vishaya / Majapahit Empire, together with nine other datus, among them Sumakwel, Bangkaya, Paiburong and their respective followers, left Borneo to escape persecution from Makatunao, the wicked ruler of the empire. They first landed in Sinugbuhan, San Joaquin, Iloilo along the western shores of Panay Island. Shortly thereafter, they succeeded in bartering the island from a friendly Negrito king, Marikudo, , for one “sadok”- a native head gear - of gold and a golden necklace for the king's wife, Maniwan-tiwan.

Datu Sumakwel was then installed as the chief ruler of Panay. He established a settlement in a place now called Malandog, a barangay in the town of Hamtic.

The population growth that followed enabled the settlers to occupy almost all of the lowlands, forcing the aborigines to live in the hinterlands. The whole island was divided into three political units called “sakops”, namely Hamtic (Antique), Aklan and Irong-irong (Iloilo). Datus Sumakwel, Bangkaya ang Paiburong headed these “sakops”, respectively.

The Spaniards first reached Panay as early as the time of Legaspi in 1571. From Iloilo, where they had first established themselves in Panay Island, the Spaniards spread out until they virtually had the entire island under their control. However, it was not until about the end of the sixteenth century that the Spaniards began to exert influence on the islands.

Like the rest of the Visayas during the 16th and 17th centuries, Antique was plundered by Moro pirates. So often and so costly were their incursions into Antique’s coastal towns that it became necessary to build a fort near each town of the province and maintain small garrisons there.

The first official recognition of Antique as a separate political unit came in 1796 when it was created into a political and military province by virtue of a Spanish Royal Order. The town of Hamtic (formerly spelled Hantik after a big ant) was its first capital. Later the provincial government was moved to Bugasong (formerly spelled Bugasoni) and for a while the province was often called by that name. In 1802, the capital was transferred to San Jose de Buenavista where it has remained up to now. Towards the close of 1899, the Spaniards left the whole island,

The institution of American authority over the islands and the subsequent establishment of peace and order in Panay led to the advent of a civil government in Antique on April 13, 1901.

Picture: Binirayan Festival in Antique. Click Picture to Zoom. Use Your Browser's Back Button To Go Back To This Page.