Who is Manuel Artigas y Cuerva?

By: GERARDO CODILLA REYES JR.

The saying goes that "Fear history, for it respects no secrets".

I find it interesting to unfold the mystery of the struggle of the people of Palompon. I thought before that the stories about Moro raids of my grandparents, and granduncles were just folklore, or pure pigments of the imaginations of the early forefathers, I was wrong.

Now, I came across with the documents written by Manuel Artigas y Cuerva, a well-known historian and a native of Tacloban, Leyte.

The book “ Reseña Historia de la Provincia de Leyte” written by Artigas sometime in 1890's, was a material for the intensive research of history of Leyte town, including that of Palompon, from pages 341-351, it tells about the town named “PALUMPUN” which he described as Se encuentra situado en la costa Occidental de Leyte, al Este de Buga, de las Isla de Sugbu de la cual dista cinco horas por agua continando con Kiot hacia el Sur y con Villaba por es Norte. Esta dotado de na clima sano y templado banandore dos rios llamados Binakinhan y Lakan. This aptly refers to the place now known as PALOMPON, situated in the Northwestern coast of Leyte province.

Artigas was born on October 15, 1866. He was a biographer, bibliographer, historian and journalist. He wrote for Diario de Manila. His first book, Manual de Empleado (Employee's Manual) was published in 1891.

His accounts about various aspects of Philippine history were contained in such books as Historia Municipal de Filipinas and Diccionario Tecnico-Historico de la Administracion de Filipinas. Among his significant works are Historia de las Revoluciones Filipinas, El General Antonio Luna Novicio-Manila, Historia de la Instruccion Publica en Filipinas, and Reseña Historia de la Provincia de Leyte.

History has been always my favorite subject, and I do believe this will help us a lot in understanding the whole thing or the present by bridging it to the past, as one of the sayings rightly put it "Perhaps getting acquainted with the past will correct my judgment. I do not put my trust in theories; I am guided by facts."