Diffun
was created as a legal and corporate entity on July 2, 1950 during the
incumbency of Congressman Leon C. Cabarroguis and Governor Manolo Maddela of
Nueva Vizcaya.
Diffun
was former sitio of Barrio San Isidro, Santiago, Isabela since 1926.
Later, before the outbreak of World War 11, Sitio Buntotan was established to
become the barrio site of Diffun. During the survey of Santiago, Isabela
( 1924-1932) Provincial Governor of Nueva Vizcaya discovered that Diffun
is a part of Nueva Vizcaya. In the year 1948, Congressman
Leon C. Cabarroguis presented a bill in Congress, Bill No. 1593 which
authorizes the President of the Philippines to define the boundaries of Nueva
Vizcaya, with bearing and distance, as maybe prepared by the Bureau of
Lands and secured from the most authoritative and latest maps of the Bureau of
Coast and Geodetic Survey. House Bill No. 1593 was made into law pursuant
to Republic Act No. 236 which the Provincial Board of Isabela contested its
validity. To settle the boundary dispute between Isabela and Nueva
Vizcaya, Malacañang created a Fact Finding Committee under Administrative
Order No. 69, S-1948. The Fact Finding Committee found out that Diffun
legally belong to the Province of Nueva Vizcaya thus Administrative Order
No. 121 was proclaimed uplifting the provisions of RA No. 236. Later, President
Elpidio Quirino of the Republic of the Philippines signed Executive Order No.
157 as amended by Executive Order No. 161 implementing the
provisions of the RA No. 236, followed by the issuance of Executive Order No.
466,S-1950 creating the Municipality of DIFFUN.
During
the early days an Spanish mestizo named Don Liberato Bayaua acquired the plains
and hills of Diffun as his hacienda by virtue of a Titulo Enformasion de
Possessoria. They established and put up a cattle ranch then the Sitio
Bontotan. One of the guardia civiles of his ranch suffered celebral
malaria and died after a few days. The quack doctor termed the cause of
death of the guardia civil as Siphon but the two Ilocanos mispronounced
it Di-pon and from that time on the place was known in its present name
DIFFUN.
I did not know this. What I learned from my father (Isidoro Las Marias) my uncle (Silverio Pascua) the first Mayor of the town, Diffun derived its name from the native word "dappungan" or a place where people meet. It evolved into "pagdadapungan" then transliterated to Diffun.
ReplyDeleteI do not question where the author got her information but it only highlights that there must be a way to settle this for the information of the current and future generations.
Manong Jess Las Maarias