MUNICIPALITY OF LIBERTAD

(Reprinted from the Binirayan 2000 Souvenir Magazine)

The  town of Libertad was formerly a barrio of the town of Pandan, until President Elpidio Quirino’s Executive Order No. 253 made into a municipality on August 6, 1949. It was finally inaugurated on October 10, 1949 with Atty. Daniel Dujali as the appointed Municipal Mayor. His administration lasted from September 1949 until December 1951. It was already in 1951 when Libertad finally was able to elect its own mayor and municipal officials. Arsenio Nicopior y Depuno was the first elected mayor He won his protest against his closest rival Primitivo B. Garmillos. In 1955, Mayor Arsenio Nicopior lost to Primitivo B. Garmillos after another local election took place. Then in the 1967 local elections, Mayor Primitivo B. Garmillos gave way to Present Mayor Burgos Nicopior, the son of Ex-Mayor Arsenio D. Nicopior.

During the Spanish era, barrio Inyawan was first located at Patipos, a place enclosed with a wooden fence. Due to the frequent attacks of the Moro pirates, the barrio folks built a watch tower on the eastern side of the mouth of the Inyawan River, now called Magsapad. This place was composed of about 12 houses, a stone tower and a stone church. Much later, four wooden rnills were constructed in Agungon, Inyawan (Balud) Carajon (Codiong) and Malatibok (now part of Panangkilon) respectively. But on February 5, 1855, Moro pirates burned the house of Teyente Owa, robbing the people and killing one man.

With the transfer and migration of many settlers from the southern portion of the province, the barrio grew and progressed. This prompted the Spanish authorities to impose heavy taxes known a “rnontes”. The people were made to contribute money or in kind to support the priests and officials. This system, as well as the imposition of the forced labor, caused the people to move away, thus, the barrio was considered abandoned. The word "abandoned" means Inaywan or biniya-an in the local dialect, hence, the name Inyawan was derived.

In 1886, the struggle of the Filipinos for independence from Spain began. The revolt spread all over the island of Panay. In 1898. Gen. Leandro Fullon, revolutionary leader together with his men landed at Pt. Pucio. For four months, he hid inside a cave at Mt. Agungon, a good hideout when pursued by the Spanish soldiers. In November of the same year, the Spanish forces caught and arrested him but he was able to escape. Instead, Ignacio Unilongo and his nephew Felix Unilongo were the ones arrested and presented to the Spanish General in Pandan. They were rescued however, by Gen. Fullon who deceived the Spanish authorities by telling them to meet him in a battle in Culasi. Ignacio and Felix were set free by the Spaniards. Since then, the general changed the names of the following barrios. Inyawan to Libertad, Nipa to Union, Nabat-a to San Roque and Tinawagan to Patria.

In November 1898, General Fullon organized the municipality of Libertad under the revolutionary government and appointed Ignacio Unilongo as the Presidente Municipal and Pedro Depuno as the Tesorero Municipal. The town remained unorganized, however, due to the revolutionary crisis.

In 1 899, when the American forces came, they started to administer the community and educate the people, establishing the first public school with Delfin Rollidon as the first mentor. 1n1909, the Philippine Independent Church was established in Libertad with Fr. Leopisto Pacite as the first parish priest.

With the advent of the World War II, four other houses were built of concrete materials. When the Japanese occupied the country, the guerilla movement was organized in the island of Panay, making Libertad or Inyawan the center of guerilla activities. The guerilla forces under Col.Cirilo Garcia were victorious over the Japanese. This made the enemy so furious that they burned the barrios of Taboc, Olaog, and the hiding place or camps in Magpiyong. With the coming of the Americans in 1945, the locality was liberated. Conditions returned to normal. All ruined structures including school buildings were reconstructed.

STARTING A NEW ERA AND

FACING THE BIG CHALLENGE

AHEAD

Mary Jean N.Te, the first lady ~ayor who had been elected the new leader of

Libertad, is a typical thinker. She’s every inch an intellectual and with concepts which concerns the future generation of Filipinos like global competitiveness and

skills improvement.

Politics really runs in the blood. At the age of 18, she was elected Chairman of the Kabataang Barangay and people admired her way and determination of

Sangguniang Bayan Member and at the same time the President of the Councilors League of Antique making her an ex-efficio member of the Provincial Board.

She is very helpful that during her term, an even more responsive and accountable local government will be created. She believes that through creativeness, innovations and resourcefulness, her desire to develop the community and build the towns people as one will be.

When she assumed her mayoral post on July 1, 1998, she started planning out projects that would benefit the common people. She believes that all projects, programs and activities will turn to reality with the help of the town people because according to her, the strongest sign of innovativeness of the projects can be gleaned in the involvement of the people themselves.

This March 1999, Libertad will turn 50 since the time it was created as a separate Municipality of Pandan.We can help but looking back the years w~en our revolutionary leaders offered themselves in giving birth to Libertad. It is a big challenge for each Libertadnon as we are facing the next millenium. Let us be part of the history by giving and sharing what we have to our town. Each one of us has specific function to undertake. Each one of us has an important role to do in order to continue the ideals and values our ancestors have started.

We are very lucky because we have a strong women leader who is very ready to face the big challenge ahead. A leader who believe that we can survive and excel in the fast-rising borderless society if one’s municipality will be able to produce better educated, healthier and highly skilled people.

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