Tacloban seemed to have evolved from a fusion, during the Spanish era, of two former enemy barangays: Kanhuraw (in the City Hall area) and Kankabatok (the vicinity of San Fernando market). Both appear to be place-names and names or attributes of their respective chiefs.

In our essay, "Tandaya or Kandaya, The Puzzle Revisited" (serialized in Bankaw News, Nos. 6-12), we have theorized that Kanhuraw might have been the Leyte extension of the powerful Kandaya (of Big Boat) "kingdom" based in Basey, Samar, during ethnic times. Kankabatok (of the Enemy), along with Candahug (of the Mischievous) and Campetic (of the Sly), seemed to be allies of the Leyte-based "kingdom" and guarded against further territorial encroachments of Kandaya in Leyte.

As a scare tactic to protect their Leyte beachhead, the Samareños seemed to have conducted regular fluvial war games, a ritual that persists to this day in the fluvial procession for the Santo Niño during the Tacloban fiesta celebration.

Extant histories of Tacloban claimed that this place "was a barrio of Basey, Samar, known as Kankabatok" (Iluminado Lucente, who claimed that the place-name was already so in 1739). The place was "a favorite haunt for fishermen. They would use a bamboo trap called ‘taklub’ to catch crabs or shrimps. When asked where they are going, the fishermen would answer ‘ha tarakluban,’ which referred to the place where they used ‘taklub’ to catch crabs. Later, the name was shortened to Tacloban" (Francisco Tantuico, Jr., 1980).

Lucente’s claim stands further elaboration in the light of our theory. We hypothesize here that it was not Kankabatok per se that made "proto-Tacloban" a barrio of Basey. Rather, the link might have been Kanhuraw, which was annexed to the flourishing Kankabatok during the Spanish regime.

When Kankabatok became Tacloban is still subject to speculation and research. The common belief was that Tacloban was officially proclaimed a municipality in 1770 (Tantuico).

Kankabatok was in the possession of a small image of the Santo Niño, which the local folks venerated as their patron saint (Dr. Lorenzo Ga. Cesar, 1967).

In Basey, Samar, a barrio known as "Buscada" also held the Santo Niño in veneration. The image in Buscada was likewise small and not well sculptured. But a Tagalog who had prospered in that barrio vowed to have a bigger and more beautiful image to replace the small one. He fulfilled this vow.

After some years, the parish priest of Basey arranged with the natives of Buscada and Kankabatok, who were his parishioners, the exchange of their images. This exchange is commemorated to this day in the "Balyuan Ritual," performed as part of the Tacloban fiesta celebration in the seafront of Kanhuraw area.

Kankabatok, which expanded in area and had become more populated than Buscada, obtained the bigger and more beautiful image of the latter. Today, Tacloban venerates the image that came from the church in Basey.

The traditional fiesta of Kankabatok was celebrated on the third Sunday of January, a fiesta date similar to that of Cebu, which also venerates the Santo Niño.

However, events happened that changed this tradition. In 1888, plans were made for a very elaborate fiesta celebration in 1889. For this, the image of the Santo Niño was brought to Manila for some retouching and change of vestments.

Unfortunately, the boat carrying the image back to Tacloban caught fire at sea between Mindoro and Romblon. To save the ship, the crew threw out its cargoes, including the crate containing the image. Without the image, the fiesta for 1889 was not celebrated as scheduled.

Luckily, the crate containing the Sto. Niño was salvaged by some barrio folks off Mindoro and was eventually returned to Tacloban. Its arrival on June 30, 1889 was met with much jubilation and was claimed to have miraculously controlled a raging cholera epidemic here.

To commemorate the return of the image to Tacloban, the townspeople set aside June 30 as the day for them to pay homage to the Santo Niño.

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