Negros Oriental Historical Timeline

1565

Miguel Lopez de Legazpi dispatched a frigate from Bohol to reconnoiter the neighboring islands and found one which the natives called Bug/as. Finding many black inhabitants in it, the Spaniards called the island Isla de Negros

1571

On September 6, Legazpi assigned 15 encomiendas in Negros but only three were assigned to the eastern part, namely.Riosde Tanae, Davi y Monalongon,which referred respectively to Tanjay, Dauin and Manalongon.

1580

On June 11, the first Agustinian friar mission was assigned to Tanjay. Fr. Diego Ferreira, appointed in 1599. was the first priest of the Tanjay parish. The Tanjay parish is the oldest in Negros Oriental and the seat from which subsequent evangelical missions were undertaken.

1600

The Moros began terrorizing the coastal towns of Negros Oriental after the Spaniards abandoned the Fort of La Calder anear Zamboanga in 1599. The first recorded raid was in Dumaguete with the razing of barrios Budiong, Dauin and Siaton. The most destructive raids took place in 1722, 1754 and 1785.

1784

Negros became a corregimiento, a separate military district with a government of its own, ending the encomienda system in the Island.

1850

On July 20, a Frenchman named Don Pedro Gustavo Furbeyre was granted permission to reside in Dumaguete, the first foreigner ever given the privilege. In the same year sugar cane planting came to Negros Island, quickly making it one of the most productive islands in the whole archipelago.

1860

On June 2, the Moros attacked the town of Guihulngan, destroying or hauling away many valuable items. The beautiful convent was burned to ashes

1877

On September 2 a report was submitted recommending the separation of Negros Oriental from Negros Occidental following an investigation conducted on the situation in Negros Island.

1888

On December 28, a Spanish warship, Marquez del Duero, arrived in Dumaguete with Governor General Valeriano Weyler to personally inspect the progress of the campaign against bandits, the most notorious of whom went by the epithet Buhawi.

1890

On January 1, Negros Oriental was established as a separate political unit and Dumaguete was chosen as the capital. Siquijor was awarded to Negros Oriental as a sub province.

1896

On July 1, Jose Rizal dropped by Dumaguete from Dipolog under military escort. He was on his way lo Manila en route to Cuba to serve as a military-doctor under Spain during the Cuban revolution. (L. Ma. Guerrero, First Filipino, p. 386)

1897

On February 6, an encounter look place between the babaylanes and the Civil Guards in Sitio Bontoc between Tayasan and Ayungon. Eighty-five babaylanes were killed and twelve Civil Guards were badly wounded.

1898

On November 14, Don Diego de la Viña and his men stormed San Carlos and occupied it. On November 17 they began their southward march to liberate the province from Spanish tyranny. On November 24, they arrived in Dumauete, completing the liberation of Negros Oriental. On November 26, Demetrio Larena was appointed Governor.

1899

In January, a Federal Republic was proclaimed and the Island declared as a state or canton, temporarily uniting the two Negros into a Negros Republic under “American Protection.”

1899

President Demetrio Larena issued a decree on February 25 emphasizing that the Malolos Constitution was the official constitution of the province. Delegate of War De laVina ordered a stand against the American threat to occupy the island,

1899

On May 27, the first batch of American soldiers arrived in Dumaguete, moving the very next day to Bais and Tanjay. In August, Gen. de la Vina resigned “in disgust” because of Demetrio Larena’s unilateral decision to accept American rule.

1901

On April 9, the Philippine Commission arrived in Dumaguete to address the desire of Eastem Negros to separate from Negros Occidental and to preside over the equitable division of $70,000 (Mexican) in the Treasury of the Government of Negros. The meeting ended with the decision to establish a Civil Provincial Government for Oriental Negros on May 1, 1901.

1901

In August, the Presbyterian missionaries founded the Silliman Institute, the forerunner of what was to become Silliman University

1902

A cholera epidemic broke out on September 29 up to December 31, claiming 1,895 lives.

1903

Drought and locusts almost completely destroyed the production of hemp, sugar, corn, tobacco, rice and copra.

1905

On April 18, the municipality of Nueva Valencia was renamed Luzuriaga by Act. No. 13130 in honor of Jose Luzuriaga, chairman of the Philippine Commission which came to Dumaguete on April 9, 1901 to study the apportionment of funds in the Negros Treasury between Negros Oriental and Negros Occidental

1906

On February 5, Sr. Hermenigildo Villanueva was declared provincial governor amidst protests and investigations following hotly contested electoral proceedings.

1906

On December 24, a pulahanes scare caused a stampede in the Tanjay Catholic Church, filled to capacity for the midnight mass at Christmas Eve.The mother of Assemblyman Jose Romero was one of those crushed to death.

1907

Popular suffrage was exercised for the first time by the people of Oriental Negros on November 15 in the election of their provincial officials by direct balloting. The positions were bitterly contested but no disturbance to public order was reported nor were there any protests when the results were announced.

1908

Executive Order No. 37 dated May 13, an Act of the Philippine Commission, divided Dauin and Bais. Each town in turn gave rise to the towns of Zamboanguita and Manjuyod, respectively.

1908

In June, acetylene gas lamps lit up for the first time the campus of Silliman Institute.

1910

On January 1, two new municipalities, Maria and San Juan, were created in Siquijor, increasing the number of the island’s municipalities from three to five.

191212

1912

Three typhoons in the months of October and November seriously damaged crops and resulted in the most severe famine Negros Oriental had ever experienced.

1913

On January 1, at Don Diego de la Viña petition, the municipality of Vallehermoso was established by Executive Order No. 84. De la Vina donated the site for the school building, municipal hall, market and plaza.

1914

On May 27, Pablo Bueno took his oath of office as Lieutenant-Governor of Oriental Negros. After the ceremony was completed, a sail boat carrying 19 people, passengers and crew included, was wrecked between Dumaguete and Canalwang Point in the municipality of Siquijor.

Towards the end of the year, the bridge across Okoy River in Sibulan was completed. The Okoy bridge, a160-feet steel truss on concrete abutments, was opened to traffic on January 13, 1915.