BRIDGING THE GAP
Tales on the conversion of Dumalag, Capiz
With the coming of the Spaniards to the Philippines, Christainity spread rapidly, including in Panay. However, Spanish missionary work was not with the accompanying difficulty and adversity and, oftentimes, painted with corresponding myths and legends.
One obstacle to the early conversion of the people of Panay to Catholicism was the presence of numerous babaylans. The babaylan was a person to reckon with in early times, being the most powerful and influential in any barangay. He was the principal adviser of the datu, the medicine man or healer in the community, the psychiatrist and psychologist, and the fortune teller. He was supposed to possess superhuman abilities, including the ability to see environmental spirits. Thus, he was looked up to by the people in the community.
With their great influence in the community, the babaylans resisted the Spanish colonization of Panay and Negros. They organized revolts, set whole Christianized towns on fire, killed priests and natives who were subservient to the Spaniards, and continued with their native animistic beliefs and practices.
This was what happened in Dumalag, one of the interior towns of Capiz. According to Spanish records, Dumalag was a hotbed of babaylan uprising. The town was noted to be under the influence of the babaylans. Fr. Santaren, a Spanish missionary assigned to the place, claimed that the town was plagued by the disastrous beliefs of the babaylans.
Tales and legends abound regarding the waves of faith and rituals surrounding the native religion and the Christianization of the people. There is a legend on how Fr. Santaren was able to turn the attention and faith of the people from babaylanism to Catholiscism. A cave complex at the base of Mount Paningra-on, a 400 hundred meter mountain range just in the outskirt of the poblacion of Dumalag, was the worship and meeting place of the babaylans from all over Panay.
The predecessors of Fr. Santaren tried to stop the animistic practices and the rituals associated with babaylanism in the town but they all failed. The apprehension of the Spanish priests that, if nothing could be done to check the influence of the babaylans, all those who had been converted to Catholicism already might abandon it and go back to the old religion.
Fr. Santaren, on his part, publicly announced his intention of offering a Catholic mass in Mount Paningra-on. He staked his life to prove that the said mountain was not the exclusive domain of the babaylans. With a group of faithful followers, therefore, Fr. Santaren went up the mountain. At the peak, the mass was held as a pall of anxiety and anticipation hung in the air. When the mass ended, and the small crowd was about to go home, the legend says that a powerful tempest suddenly broke out of nowhere. Countless crosses, the size of those worn by the Christian converts, fluttered over the heads of the awe-stricken parishioners. With this event, babaylanism in Dumalag died away and Fr. Santaren's fame won the hearts of the Dumalagnons.
The legend also states that one of the crosses fell in Mapanag, a nearby town. A native picked it up and took it to Cebu as a gift for the convento of Sto. Nino.
One more legend tells of a certain tree that was very huge and tall, with a big trunk and many branches. This tree was situated on the way from Dumalag to Tapas. Everyone knew it by the name of Maliao. According to the inhabitants of the area, it was the resting place of their ancestors whose spirits had transformed into leaves, branches and dwarfs. Therefore, through the babaylan, they held rituals and offered sacrificial food at the foot of the tree. Because it was huge and had wide branches, thousands of birds built their nest on it.
The Spanish priest at that time was Fr. Morales. He signified his intention to cut the tree down to dispel all the beliefs of the people that went with it. He went to the site but there was a great commotion and his life was threatened by the followers of the babaylan. Nevertheless, undaunted, he had it cut down.
Right after the tree had been felled down, a crocodile devoured the leg of one of the men who attempted to kill Fr. Morales. Everybody had a clear attribution as to why the man died. Since then, the animistic beliefs, the existence of the dwarfs, and the name of the tree became a thing of the past. The people gave up their animistic beliefs and were readily converted to the Catholic faith.