The History of Towns in Region VIII, Philippines
These histories were taken from the book Leyte Towns, Histories/Legends by Francisco S. Tantuico Jr of Tacloban City. Click on a town and view the history below the menu.
Jaro
In the early time of the Spanish regime, the section where the
Jaro is situated today was a lush forest enjoying its primitive
freedom undisturbed by human beings.
In those days, struggles between Christianity and
Mohammedanism took place. Datu Buisan and Sirungan led one of the
Moro expeditions. They came to the Visayas leading a fleet of
colorful moro vintas razing Christian towns to the ground,
killing the inhabitants and taking some as slaves. Christians had
to unite against the invaders and this was how Jaro came into
being. There were two Leytenos known far and wide for their skill
with the native arms and bravery in wars. These two men were
Bonsilao of Ormoc and Sinirungan of Dagami. These two men were so strong that
the people concluded that they possessed supernatural powers.
This belief was strengthened by the fact that they managed to
drive the Moros away. Later, the two men decided to settle in a
centrally located place where they could easily give aid to the
beleaguered Christians especially the inhabitants of Balugu,
Kalgara and the neighboring towns. An ideal place was finally
found. This was atop a hill and this same hill is where the
parochial church of Jaro is situated. As time went by, the place
was consequently cleared and homes were built. Small crooked
paths were widened and thus a town was born.
The legendary background of this municipality has been for the
most part connected with the surging Cabayongan River, which
crisscrosses the town. This river had served the inhabitants in
many ways, becoming as it were the flesh and blood of the
community. As historical data points out, the municipality of
Jaro was once called "Salug," a proximate location to
the Cabayongan River. Its fertile soil and abundant fruit-bearing
trees contributed immensely to its early growth and expansion. It
became a "visita" because of the periodic baptismal
visit regularly made by the priest coming from the town of
Barugo. This "Visita" became the second name of the
municipality of Jaro.
In later years, the village became the centrifuge of people
coming from the outlying districts and regions due to a running
well found at the foot of the hill where the present church now
stands, the water of which was believed to be medicinal because
of herbs whose roots were leading to the well. The old folks
termed the mixture of the herbs from the hill as
"Haro," a medicinal potent drug supposed to cure all
kinds of afflictions and diseases. People from near and far
municipalities flocked to this place to be treated.
Thus, ultimately, the word "Haro" became a by-word
among the people and later on used to denote the name of the
place when it became a municipality in 1810. When the Spaniards
came, they changed the spelling from "Haro" to
"Jaro" for phonetic euphony, hence its present name.
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