Leyte-Samar in 1770

THE ISLANDS of Leyte and Samar used to belong to the Province of Leyte, with the capital in Catbalogan, Samar. But some documents refer to the entire area as the Province of Samar, with the capital in Carigara, Leyte.

In 1747, the two islands became separate provinces. However, the Jesuit missionaries on both islands complained that such division did not work well, and so they were fused again into one. The Spanish king approved the merger in 1762, and its documents were received in the Philippines in 1765.

Again, in 1771, the two islands parted ways. The re-division was endorsed by Spanish authorities in Manila on April 25, 1777, summarized and considered in Madrid in 1786, and finally approved in 1799.

When the Spanish king expelled the Jesuits from the Philippines in 1768, Leyte and Samar lost the missionaries who had served them for 173 years since 1595. Most of the missions in Samar were turned over to the Franciscans, while the 14 pueblos (towns) in Leyte and three in southern Samar (Basey, Balangiga and Guiuan) went to the Augustinians.

It appeared that Leyte Island was more of a liability than an asset to the Spanish officials. Not only was it far from Catbalogan, it was also closer to Moro raiders that prowled the Bisayan seas at that time.

In October 1770, Fr. Joseph Victoria, the Father Provincial of the Augustinians, wrote a letter describing the status of his new missions. This was in response to a demand for information from the Spanish governor-general in Manila that could be used to justify the expulsion of the Jesuits.

Victoria described the sorry state of his new missions as follows:

"On the supposition, Sir, about the inhabitants of that province ... on this point, about primary teaching, Sir, I immediately gave an order to all the priests-ministers to put up schools for boys and girls in imitation of the other towns administered by my Province, where they hardly find subjects who do not know to read, and many could write ...

"The condition of the land ... you find very little is cultivated and lack of roads to allow traffic has reduced that province into a lingering forest. No town has some [degree of] reduction [i.e., being settled], and almost all the inhabitants live in the mountains without having been trained in something useful for employment, because they are not animals for the plow or for carrying cargo. There is very little cultivated land and there is not a place where the plow has entered, because even planting for their own food were done by the hand, and in the towns they do not have something to guard the dispersed lives from supreme damage to their souls and to their bodies ...

"With the consent of the Alcalde Mayor (Don Jose Campos), I gave an order to the priests-ministers to clear up the vicinities of the towns for the opening of roads, and to observe the Royal tributes as established by Royal Decrees ... I likewise advised the priests to as much as possible secure the entry of sufficient animals from other provinces to work the land and, towards this end, to introduce the use of the plow and other mainstream implements.

"I should also reveal to Your Majesty that it [Leyte] is a province that is continually invaded by the Moros, the reason that obliges its natives to live in fear in the towns. Because although they have enough means for escape, and weapons, they could neither guard nor even keep watch of the schools and the reduced number of inhabitants that live in nearby houses.

"For such serious reason, it is very proper of the Real Audiencia (Royal Council) of Your Majesty to persecute [the Moros] until they are oppressed, because in the recent years of our indifference, when we did not embark against them, that province alone counted two thousand captives from the year of 68 [1768].

"Though I still have to conduct my [pastoral] visit, I am generally informed of the loss of many souls and the decreasing number of tributes. For this reason, some towns have suffered such that there is no more room for the Minister, because the Moros have burned his house and church, and the religious had to use the baluarte [fort] for his room for not having found another.

"For this, it is seriously very proper for Your Majesty to consider assigning the Residence of Hilongos, Samar [sic, Leyte], with the towns under its coverage, under the Alcaldia [province] of Cebu to avoid inconveniences. The work that is life for the Moros [i.e., raiding] is general in all provinces of the Bisayas, with much loss of Royal tributes and manifest danger to the souls of its inhabitants."