Bridging the Gap
Early Spanish mission works in Negros
In so far as Negros is concerned, the site of the first town and mission under the Augustinians was Binalbagan (Vinalbagan in some Spanish records). This was in 1572 when the Augustinian missionaries in Panay went to Negros to do evangelistic work in that island (Medina, 1893). In 1575, a mission was also established in a settlement along the Bago River.
As was generally practiced in the other parts of the Philippine archipelago, the missionaries first endeavored to attract the datu, the nobility and other prominent people in the settlement. This was due to the fact that the missionaries were well aware that because of the authority of these people, they had tremendous influence over the decisions of the rest of the inhabitants. Also, happenings considered by the priest and the natives as miraculous brought on mass conversions (Blair & Robertson, XXI, 1903-09). This was the case in Binalbagan where Fr. Jacinto de San Fulgencio cured a datu's long-suffering son by simply passing a chalice over his head. In other cases, the fear of recurring Moro raids and the assumption that by accepting conversion they will be exempted from paying the tribute and rendering forced labor were effective causes of getting into the fold of the Catholic faith. The use of force by the military was, moreover, a factor in the submission of the natives.
Negros was described in 1582 by Miguel de Loarca, one of the earliest settlers in Panay and an encomendero, as an island already engaged in limited inter-island commercial export of rice and meat with the other islands in the country, including Panay. It had a small population of about 7,000 natives, excluding the Atis who were distributed largely on the side facing Panay. This populated area referred to by Loarca streched from Tigaguan (Saravia) in the north to Ilog in the far south. This fertile strip, later known as the Negros "sugar belt", was put under the administration of eight encomenderos. The people here engaged in the production of rice, swine, fowls, and abaca, the last one used in the manufacture of a local cloth called sinamay.
The eastern side of the island of Negros at that time, the one facing Cebu, was under three encomenderos and was sparsely populated. For lack of Spanish officials, Gonzalo Ronquillo of Arevalo in Iloilo, the alcalde-mayor in Panay, was also given jurisdiction over Negros (Loarca in Blair & Robertson, V, 1903-09). However, due to the distance, the arrangement was later modified so that the towns in Negros were assigned either to Iloilo or Cebu depending upon their proximity to these places. What happened, therefore, was that generally, those in the western side were put under the administration of Iloilo and those in the east were assigned to Cebu.
Due to the shortage of missionaries (In 1572, for example, there were only thirteen Augustinian friars engaged in evangelism throughout the archipelago), the early convents of Binalbagan and Bago did not have permanent priests. The Augustinians assigned in Negros moved about from place to place despite the hazards and dangers in reaching faraway places and the incursions of the Moros. More missions were established by the Augustinians such as Tanay (Tanjay) in 1580 and Ilog in 1584.(Font, 1892).
Due to the shortage of priests, the Recollects or discalced Augustinians were given charge of Binalbagan that had some 1,500 families in 1622. However, they did not stay long in that town because they were assigned to Romblon. Soon after, the Jesuits took over the administration of Binalbagan, in addition to the settlements of Cauayan, Himamaylan, Ilog, Inayawan, Kabankalan, Sipalay and Suay in the western coast and Tanay in the eastern part (De La Concepcion, 1710).
When the Jesuits were expelled from the Philippines in 1767, the Dominicans took over their missions in Negros but, within a few years, gradually turned over their missions to the seculars (Martinez, 1898). Nevertheless, it can be said that the foundation of the Catholic faith in the island had already been secured by the efforts of the early missionaries who reached out far and wide in their efforts to draw the island to their religion.