August 15, 1733 - Fr. Olalde is Assigned to Argao

(The church of Argao as it may have appeared in the late 1800s)

August 15 is the the 277th anniversary of Fr. Ignacio de Olalde's appointment as the first Cura Parroco of the parish of Argao, Cebu.

To this very day, Fr. de Olalde remains almost a mystery. Local historians cannot even agree on his very name: was he surname OLALDE or OLAVE? Both are Spanish surnames, although Olalde has a much better claim as it is an old Basque family name. Olalde means "side" or the "cabin area", where ola refers to foundry or cabin while alde stands for side or region. The surname first appeared in the Arrasate-Mondragon region of Guipuzcoa, Spain in the fifteenth century.

On the other hand, Olave as a surname has a more difficult history to trace. Although is believed to also be of Basque origin, its meaning and origin remains a mystery to this day. As Olalde appears more frequently compared to Olave, it is very highly probable that Argao's first parish priest was an Olalde.

Before Fr. de Olalde was appointed as Argao's founding spiritual father, he was probably one of the priests assigned to the Carcar mission tasked to minister to the various vicarias or vice-parishes of the parish of Carcar, Argao being one of them. Although Argao was established as a separate town in 1608, it remained a vice-parish until 1733, a scenario that is not clearly explained in old Spanish records. However, in 1733, the prominent men of Carcar petitioned the Augustinian fathers of Cebu to return the priests assigned to Carcar who were, apparently, spending more time in Argao than in their mother parish. And so, on August 15, 1733, Fr. Ignacio de Olalde was appointed to take control of the newly created parish of St. Michael the Archangel. However, from 1733 until about October of 1735, Fr. Olalde did not stay for long in Argao.

This was, of course, understandable as there was no church in Argao yet. So Fr. Olalde probably stayed in the house of one of the principalia of Argao while overseeing the construction of the church. Stories passed from generation to generation state that the making of the Argawanon delicacy torta dates to this time, when the demand for eggs was high due to the need for a cement-type of component that the white in the egg produced. It is most probable that Fr. Olalde was the one who insisted that the yolk from the eggs not be thrown away and instead be used as an ingredient for the new pastry, torta de Argao.

Other stories from the time of Fr. Ignacio de Olalde include the carving of the first ever San Miguel statue from one of the older trunks of the Sali-Argaw tree, which remained in the possession of the people of Argao until the 1970s when it was allegedly stolen by the goons of Imelda Marcos. Another story states that before the Argawanon natives were allowed to hear mass, they first had to present a block of coral stone to be used as a building material for the church.

It is not known when Fr. Olalde died, but his term of office was listed as having ended on June 22, 1737, barely four years after he was assigned to Argao. As most parish priests in those times served for life, it is very possible that he died in the town of Argao.

The Pelicans of Argao

(The pelicans of Argao: Top, drawing at the Casa Real. Below, coral stone carving at the church)

Like most of the town’s heritage structures, the church and the old municipal building, better known as the Casa Real, are filled with artistic symbolisms that mean so much if only one takes the time to reflect on what they stand for.

A very interesting drawing on the Casa Real, which is duplicated as coral stone carvings on the lower portion of the church’s exterior portion of the archway of its main door, is that of a bird, which, according to most experts, is that of a pelican.

The pelican, throughout history, has been always associated with self-sacrifice, an allusion to the fact that the mother would sometimes feed its babies with its own blood if food is nowhere to be found. Because of this action, the pelican became a symbol of Jesus Christ’s passion as well as of the Eucharist. The pelican also was believed to kill its young, only to resurrect them using its own blood, another analogy of Jesus Christ’s death and resurrection.

The depiction of pelicans in the Casa Real and the St. Michael Church of Argao are very clear reminders to the leaders of Argao, both in the church and the government that they should act like the pelicans: sacrifice their self-interests for the good of the people.

CERGE M. REMONDE: Beloved Son of Argao

(The only time I met Cerge Remonde, when he launched my book Argao: 400 Years in Legend and History)

It has taken me a few days to finish this tribute to one of the two greatest Argawanon men in recent times (one of them being Ambassador Hilario G. Davide, Jr.), mainly because I never knew Secretary Cerge M. Remonde personally. But hearing from those who did know him, I felt that as Culture and Heritage Officer of the Municipality of Argao I ought to pay my respect to this amazing man in the usual way that I know: a genealogical discussion.

Unfortunately, I do not have much information yet on Cerge Remonde's family tree. However, I still have a few things that may clarify some of the confusing details that people knew about Cerge Remonde.

Cerge was born Glecerio Mamites Remonde (he later had his name legally changed to Cerge when he became famous) on December 21, 1958, to Teofilo A. Remonde and Florentina S. Mamites in barangay Lamacan, Argao, Cebu. Some people have said that Cerge was an illegitimate child, however, the truth is, it was his father, Teofilo, who was an illegitimate child. Teofilo Remonde, a bus driver, was the son of Flaviana Remonde. He married Florentina Mamites, daughter of Roman Mamites and Marta Sanchez, on June 25, 1958. Cerge was their one and only child, born six months after their marriage. Teofilo, however, died when Cerge was not yet one year old.

After Cerge's father died, his mother remarried to Andres Alburo and from that marriage he had eight siblings: Asterio, Virgilio, Andres Jr., Antonieta, Hemres, Serina, Vicente and Sincero.

Like his mother, Cerge married twice. His second wife, Marit Stinus, is from Denmark.

The Remonde surname may be a derivation of the Spanish word remonte, which means repairing, recounting, or soaring. It may also be from the word remonda, which means the end. The family Remonde is an old Argawanon family that has been in public service since the early 1800s, being one of the ruling families of Argao in the Spanish period. All Remondes of Argao, whether those from the mountain barangays (like Cerge Remonde) or those from the coastal barangays, can trace their family tree to Calisto Remonde and Martina Remonerar, who both lived in Argao, Cebu in the middle 1700s. The Remonde family produced six cabezas de barangay from the early 1800s (Don Francisco Remonde) until the end of Spanish rule (Don Luis Remonde). The same Don Luis Remonde later became a municipal councilor from 1913 until 1919. One member went on to become a vice-mayor of Argao during the martial law years, from 1972 until 1986.

As the official genealogist and historian of the town of Argao let me correct my previous write-up in my book Argao: 400 Years in Legend and History. Cerge M. Remonde was the first Argawanon to become a senior Cabinet Member. Juan Alcazaren and Narciso Albarracin were both only Undersecretaries, thus making Cerge M. Remonde the only Argawanon to ever hold the post of a Cabinet member.

THE FOUNDING OF ARGAO, CEBU

This year, Argao, Cebu, celebrates its 400th anniversary as a pueblo. For a while many people have always been unsure of the exact year of Argao's founding. If the town was founded in 1608, why was it only made into a parish in 1733?

It is unfortunate that the earliest towns established by the Spaniards do not have any record left pertaining to their foundation. However, Argao's celebration of its 400^th anniversary is right on track. It was indeed established as a pueblo, or a town, in 1608, but was also settled by people long before the Spaniards came. Archaeological finds in the municipality indicate that the town was already settled as early as 500 A.D.

We know for a fact, based on the writings of early Spanish missionaries, that the early Argawanons, like the early Cebuanos, had a flourishing civilization. Early Spanish observers believed that Cebuanos, Argawanons included, were mostly of the Indo-Malay stock; many wrote that the inhabitants of Cebu, Bohol, and Negros were most probably from the Islands of Macasar (which is now Makassar, a city in central Indonesia and the capital of the Sulawesi Selantan Province, in the southwestern portion of the island of Sulawesi (Celebes), on the Makassar Strait) or from Borneo as they were much closer to them and not far from the Moluccas and in ancient times they had better relations and communications with them.

They traded with their Asian neighbors. Many of the pottery and jewelry found in grave sites around Argao came from the Chinese and the Borneans.

Based on the observations of the missionaries, the early Argawanons were more corpulent than the Tagalogs. They had flat noses and round faces, and looked much like the Chinese and the Japanese. Everyone wore earrings, and children of both sexes from age one or two had their ears pierced.

All men wore bahag, while women wore skirts. The members of the datu class wore their skirts below the knees, while the slaves wore theirs above the knees. They liked to wear ornaments. They buried their dead together with priced possessions like beads and gold.

The early settlements in what is now Argao were scattered and few. In fact, only the barangays of Tulang, Mompeller, Taloot, Bulasa, Bogo, Talaga, Canbantug, Mandalikit, Panadtaran, Capio-an, Colawin, and Lengigon have shown signs of settlements from way before Spanish colonization.

The earliest reference of Argao is on November 3, 1571, when it was assigned to Hernando de Monroy to be part of his encomienda. It became a vicaria, or a vice-parish (an area similar to a parish in size but not yet advanced in its development sufficiently to be elevated to the position of a parish), of Carcar in 1599 and then established as a pueblo in 1608. It, however, remained a visita of Carcar because the town was deserted of people and there were only about eight to ten households in the cabecera or poblacion. Sometimes, the town's population swelled in number, and then the next few years would again see its population drop. This means that, as one of Carcar's visitas, the priests in Carcar would visit Argao from time to time to administer religious ceremonies.

In 1733 the principales of Carcar demanded that the priest the Father Provincial had assigned to Argao be returned to Carcar as it was older and Argao was just a visita. With the recall of the priest stationed in Argao, there seemed to be only one solution to solve this problem. So, on October 16, 1733 the Church of Argao was officially founded with St. Michael the Archangel as its patron saint and administered by the Augustinians.

This year, Argao is already 400 years old from its establishment as a pueblo or town in 1608. It is already 437 years old from the time it became part of Monroy's encomienda in 1571. It is 409 years old since it became a vicaria in 1599. And it is already 275 years old since it became a parish in 1733.

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This article is part of the Argao 400 Genealogy Project.