MUNICIPALITY OF DOLORES, Historical Data

In the early days, during the time of our forefathers, Dolores as we call now was a barrio of the Pueblo of Tayum. The first people who inhabited this place were [a] semi-civilized group of the people called Itnegs. The oldest, the wisest, and the richest man among them was called Bucao. Thus, the people then came to name this place Bucao.

Another wave of immigrants came to inhabit this place. They were far more civilized than the Itnegs. They wanted a change. They appealed to the higher authorities to change the status of this place to a municipality.

On January 1, 1886, the appeal was granted. On the same day, the name Bucao was officially changed to Pueblo de Dolores. The townspeople thought [it] fit to name the newly created town Dolores in honor of the Governor and his wife, Maria Dolores, who were responsible to effect the change to a municipality. Maria Dolores, at the same time, was chosen as the patron saint of the town. In response to the honor and gratitude the people had shown to the governor and his wife, they gave a gift to the town, which was a statue of Nstra. Sra. De Dolores. This statue is now under the care of the Roman Catholic Church.

Eduarte, Zapata, Guzman, Tordil, Turquesa, Balmaceda, Balaoro, Barbero, Barbosa, Asencio and Prenicolas were the original families who founded the town.

Below is a list of persons who held leading official positions as:

A. Teniente Bazar Absoluto

B. Gobermadorcillo

C. Presidente Local

D. Presidente Municipal

E. Municipal Mayor

There is still a living monument that brings our spirits to the days of our forefathers. It is the first building erected in this place during the Spanish time. What has remained now are only its walls. This is found in barrio Mudiit. This served as a guardhouse and living quarters of the civil guards.

During the Spanish occupation the people were forced and obliged to do the following:

(a) All residents, except municipal officials, were forced to give hens, eggs and the like, by schedule, to the parish priest and to the heads of the Civil Guards.

(b) Every resident from 18 to 59 years of age was forced to give a yearly tax of ₱2.0D. Failure to meet this obligation had a corresponding punishment.

(c) All physically-abled male residents from 18 to 55 years of age were required by turns to do certain work for the parish priests and head of the Civil Guards without pay.

Sometime during the Spanish Occupation, an epidemic raged [in] this place. People called the disease, "Karetket ken Bayangutong." [The] Mortality rate was very high because no scientific cures were resorted to, to combat the plague.

The worst and most terrible typhoon and flood the town ever suffered was on October 13, 1908. All houses in the sitio of Sabangan were all washed away by the angry and turbulent water. Many corn lands were eroded. The course of the river flow near Sabangan altered. Instead of the deep and silent stream, where once were the abodes of eels, dalag, paltat and botobot, now is a wasteland of sand where lidda and cogon grow.

The early people of this place believed in many gods. They worshiped the spirits of their dead, the anitos. They worshipped also heavenly bodies. They prayed to the sun, the moon, the stars, the rainbow and other objects considered sacred.

The people offered sacrifices for many purposes. They made an offering when they wished a sick person to get well; when they planted or when they began to harvest their crops. They performed these offerings with the belief that they could gain the good graces or appease the anger of the spirits.

It was a belief that there were diseases caused by evil spirits. Such spirits have inflicted such sicknesses to a person as a punishment of his failure to have done his obligations toward those spirits. To cure such sicknesses, an ininapet was performed. [The] Ininapet was an offering. Roasted pig, chickens, wine, buyo, cooked malagkit and many others were offered to the spirits that have caused the sufferings. This offering was done to appease the anger of the spirits.

A priestess performs the ceremony. She utters language which is believed to be understood only by the priestess and the spirit.

After the ceremony, the sick gets well if the offer made pleases the spirit; but if not, the suffering continues.

(1) You are going somewhere. On your way, you see a lizard that crosses the street. Do not continue to where you intend to go for that is a sign of bad omen. But, if a snake other than a lizard crosses the street, it is a sign of good luck. Continue on your way.

(2) You may be going to hunt, to fish or to gamble. If on your way, the first one whom you may meet is a woman, your mission is a failure, But if it is a man, your aim is a success.

(3) You may want to go somewhere or to do a thing. Just as you start your plan, simultaneously, someone sneezes. If the sneeze is done before the doer, disappointment will be met in the course of doing it, but if the sneeze comes from behind the performer, success is awaiting.

(4) If the rays of a comet is in the form of a broom it, foretells famine or war.

(5) If an owl hoots near a sick person's house, it is a warning that death will take him not long after the hooting.

(6) A person conceiving should not go under a tree pregnant with fruits because all of its fruits will fall.

In the beginning, rice and corn were in abundance. All people ate plenty of these. Because there were so much of these, people became very careless. When they pounded, little grains that fell on the ground were no longer picked up. When they harvested, many were left. When they cooked, they always cooked more than enough. They threw leftovers away. In other words, people became wasteful.

One day, the rice and corn felt very sorry on how they were wasted. The rice said, "People seem to have grown tired of us. Let us get away from these careless people. Let us go to the mountains."

"Yes," said the corn. Many rice and corn fled to the mountains and there, the rice turned to camañgeg and the corn turned to carrot.

Just after a child was born, it was placed in a winnower. An old woman turned the winnower with the child in different directions or tossed it up and down. They did this with the belief that the child would not get frightened so easily in her later life.

Usually, marriages were arranged by the parents of the groom and the bride when they were still children. A dowry or sab-ong, as we call it, was given by the parents of the groom to the girl's parents. Sab-ong was in the form of land, gold or animals.

[The] Marriage ceremony was simple, The people drank wine and announced the married couple.

They buried their dead with their precious jewelry and other priced possessions because they believed that these could still be worn or used after life.

Time during the night was roughly estimated by the crowing of the cocks and also by the position of some stars in the sky.

When the leaves of the acacia tree begins to fold, people at work go home to rest.

The position of the sun in the sky and shadow lengths are the most commonly resorted to, to calculate the time

1. "Barking dogs seldom bite."
2. "If they throw you stone, throw the bread."
3. "You reap what you save."
4. "Rolling stone gathers no moss."
6. "Look before you leap."

1. Three persons entered a cave. When they came out, they were all red. (Beetle nut, leaf and lime)

2. Four persons using only one hat. (House)

3. It has a body, but it has no face. It has no eyes but it sheds tears. (candle)

4. If you remove something from it, it becomes bigger; but if you add something to it, it becomes smaller. (Digging a pit hole or filling it)

5. If I prick your body, the blood that comes out is white. (papaya)

6. I have a little garden, no one can open it except my friend. (letter)

7. Three can carry one and one can carry [a] thousand. (stove and pot of rice)

8. A camote is planted in Manila. One of its branches reaches here. (road)

9. There is a little lady but she eats her body. (candle)

Submitted by:

CLEOFE C. BRINGAS
Principal
Bolores Elementary School

Transcribed from:

History and Cultural Life of the Municipality of Dolores, online at the National Library of the Philippines Digital Collections. The pagination in this transcription is as they appear in the original document.