HISTORICAL BACKGROUND OF MADDELA

HISTORY OF MADDELA
(Compiled and Updated by: Glory S. Almoite, Rosalinda C. Edu, Filomena B. Molina, Nenita B. Domingo,
Edwin S. Besas, Maryflor D. Ylanan, Lynette C. Lazaro)

Before the advent of migration and long before the approach of development planning for urban settlement or resettlement, Maddela was inhabited by natives who lived among the fingers of the Sierra Madre Mountains and in the hinterlands of the Mamparang Ranges.

The natives were the Ilongots (or Bugcalots) and the Dumagats, with the strain, culture and character of the small valleys in the foot of Sierra Madre, fished along the mighty Cagayan River and hunted in the wild forests.

Of the two tribes, the Ilongots showed more sophistication. They occupied the western upland portion of the territory and also upstream of the Cagayan River up to Dupax, Nueva Vizcaya. They lived in villages with organized but simple governments headed by a director of non-Christian.

The Dumagats occupied the eastern portion of Cagayan River, and along the Ngilinan and Manglad streams, up the forestlands and unto the downslides overlooking the Pacific Ocean. Unlike the Ilongots, the Dumagats were nomadic with no describable neighborhood. They lived in the makeshift huts of forest/anahaw leaves ( there were no cogon in those early days). They feasted on half-roasted wild pigs caught in booby traps or by means of the bow and arrow and spear, and ate root crops for their carbohydrates.

In 1919, a group of 20 Ilocanos headed by Forester Vicente Velasco arrived and put up settlements along the Cagayan River. Gradually, they moved into the valley of Pinappagan, now Maddela. Being the most adventurous and enterprising, the Ilocanos penetrated fast into vast rolling untouched fields and planted crops like palay, tobacco, corn and peanut.

They paddled canoes made from trunks of trees, cruised upstream the Cagayan River and fishes a lot for their sustenance of protein.For the Ilocanos with the trait of being friendly, respectful and hospitable, winning the confidence of the non-Christian tribes was not a problem. Easily, they forged friendly relation with the natives who, as the years drooled, learned the basics of agriculture, the art of neighborhood community living. In some instances, such closeness, unit and cooperation resulted intermarriages.

The period 1922-1925 marked the start of permanent settlement and a military government headed by Lt. Quintin Alcantara who initiated the opening of a road connecting Pinappagan and Panang.Three years later, Pinappagan was made a municipal District attached to the town of Bagabag, Nueva Vizcaya. Then Nueva Vizcaya Governor Juan Manzano appointed Eusebio Martin as first President of the District with a three year term of office.

Villa Hermosa, Dumabato, Sto. Niño, Dipintin, Abbag and San Pedro were the first barrios that composed the municipal district. Martin was re-elected district president. Rafael Daguio, Federico Ramos and Rodrigo Pascual who served as such up to the outbreak of World War II succeeded him.

During the Japanese occupation, Marcos Pimentel and Fernando Castillo were named alternately as municipal district mayors.
 
In 1950, Pinappagan was renamed Maddela and became a regular town with Jose Ancheta as first mayor. He was re-elected mayor but died before the end of his second term. Vice mayor Gregorio Baroma took over to serve the unfinished term of Ancheta from 1953-1955.

In the first regular election for local officials in 1956, Dionisio Sarandi was elected mayor. Also elected were vice mayor and six municipal councilors. He was re-elected, but in 1962, he filed a leave of absence and Jose Medina took over as mayor.

It was during the term of Sarandi that the barrios of Cofcaville, San Salvador, Sto. Tomas, Divisoria Norte, Divisoria Sur, Cabaruan, Anak, Ponggo, San Dionisio I, San Dionisio II, Balligui, Ysmael, Pedlisan and Villa Hermoza Norte were created.

By the time Maddela started reaching out to neighboring towns of Isabela, particularly San Agustin and Jones and early bubble in commerce and trade was experienced. With the creation of additional new barrios, agricultural expansion gained initial headway. Maddela has a total of 32 barangays

BRIEF HISTORY OF MUNICIPALITY OF DIFFUN

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.

BRIEF HISTORY OF MUNICIPALITY OF CABARROGUIS

Prior to the advent of settlement, Cabarroguis is a vast forested area and form parts of the municipalities of Saguday, Diffun and Aglipay. It is originally occupied by the Aetas and later displaced by the Ilongot tribe because the Aetas are known of their nomadic characters. Many years later, permanent settlement were made by different civilized ethnic groups like Ilocanos, 

Tagalog and others in search of good fortune in this virgin land. As the population and settlement increases, regular barrios were created. These are the barrios of Zamora, Banuar, Burgos, Del Pilar, Dibibi, Eden, Villamor and five (5) more sitios of Villapena, Villarose, Tucod, Calaocan and Dingasan at the municipality of Aglipay: barrios of San Marcos, Gundaway and portion of Mangandingay at the municipality of Diffun and the other part of Mangandingay at the municipality of Saguday. The above stated barrios of different municipalities became the territorial jurisdiction of Cabarroguis by virtue of Republic Act No. 5554 enacted by the Philippine Congress authored by then Honorable Senator Leonardo Perez on June 21, 1969. The newly created municipality of CAbarroguis was named in honor of the late Congressman of Nueva Vizcaya, Honorable Leon Cabarroguis.

Cabarroguis operated as a regular municipality after the 1971 local polls wherein Honorable Anastacio dela Pena become the first Local Chief Executive.. Barangay Mangandingay also became the temporary seat of the municipal government, Years later, when Honorable Diomedes Dumayas was appointed as the town’s executive, the seat of the Local Government officially transferred to Barangay Zamora where a 12 hectares lot was donated.

BRIEF HISTORY OF AGLIPAY

The municipality of Aglipay, Quirino was named in honor of the late Gregorio Aglipay, the head of the only existing religious sect in the community at that time. It was created through Executive Order No. 368 signed by the then President Elpidio Quirino on 11 November 1950 which reorganized the municipalities and municipal districts of the province of Nueva Vizcaya. It became one of the ten municipalities of the said province with an area of approximately forty one thousand one hundred twenty six (41,126) hectares. Its first seat of government was at Barangay Guinalbin with the late Hon. Gregorio Divina as its first appointed town Executive. It was then composed of only six barangays and inhabited mostly by Christians from the lowlands comprised mostly of Ilocano’s with some non-Christians tribes.

On 18 June 1969, Republic Act 4734 was enacted, creating Quirino as a sub province of Nueva Vizcaya, Aglipay, together with the municipalities of Diffun, Maddela, and Saguday, composed the new political unit.

This law was further amended through Republic Act 5554 enacted on June 21, 1969 which created the municipality of Cabarroguis and made it as the capital of the sub-province. The capital town’s creation resulted in the separation of three barrios and sitios from Diffun namely Gundaway, San Marcos and Mangandingay and thirteen from Aglipay, to wit, Zamora, Villamor, Burgos, Del Pilar, Eden, Bannuar, Mangandingay, Dibibi, Tucod, Dingasan, Bikbik, Malini and Capellangan.

With the creation of the province of Quirino through the Republic Act No. 6394 signed on 10 September 1971, Aglipay became one of the five municipalities of the province. The municipality of Nagtipunan was created later making the municipalities of the province into six.

The first elected Municipal Mayor of Aglipay was Hon. Flaviano Fontanilla who transferred the seat of government  from barangay Guinalbin to Barangay Pinaripad. However, when Hon. Gregorio Divina was again back in power as the elected mayor, he transferred the seat of governance to Barangay Progreso.

Aglipay is a third (3rd) class municipality and rank third (3rd) in land area of the province. The  municipal center is located at Barangay San Leonardo making the local government accessible to the town folks and the general public and at the same time promoting the growth of trade and commerce in the municipality.

It is now composed of 25 barangays namely: Alicia, Cabugao, Dagupan, Diodol, Dumabel, Dungo, Ligaya, Nagabgaban, Palacian, Pinaripad Norte, Pinaripad Sur, Progreso, San Benigno, San Leonardo, San Manuel, San Ramon, Victoria, Villa Pagaduan, Villa Santiago, Villa Ventura, Guinalbin, Ramos, Rang-ayan, San Antonio and San Francisco.

Assuming office last July 1, 2007 and reelected for a second term, Hon. Jerry T. Agsalda is currently the municipal mayor. He spearheaded may programs and projects, and his most-loved project is the transformation of the Municipal Hall into one of the landmarks of the province.

CULTURE IN THE PROVINCE

PEOPLE, CULTURE AND ARTS

            The Ilongots and the Dumagats are the original inhabitants of the province, which used to be the forest region of Nueva Vizcaya. These tribal groups roamed the hinterlands, building their huts in the heart of the jungle. The Ilongots used to be  a feared  tribe because of their headhunting ritual, which coincides with the blooming of the red-blood flower of the “bagbag-tree”. They are simply half naked and clothed g-strings for the male and wrap skirts for the females. They are also fond of coiled wire bracelets and fancy jewelries.   

            The Ilongots are hunters and slash and burn farmers living around the headwaters of the Cagayan River who have a strong pride in their penchant for hunting heads but they have already abandoned the practice.  Men do most of the hunting while the women plant rootcrops, rice, tobacco and bananas in small cleared fields.  The Ilongots have little contact with lowland people except when occasionally trading dried deer meat. 

            Other cultural communities like the Ifugaos and the Igorots in search for the proverbial “greener pasture” migrated to the province and are now living in the highlands. Of the ethnic groups, the Ifugao have the greatest number.

            With the onset of the Christian settlers like the Ilocanos, who form the majority of the people living in the province, the Tagalogs, Pangasinenses, and the other people from neighboring provinces, these indigenous tribes went deeper into the forest.