DULAG A SIGNIFICANT TOWN IN LEYTE AND PHILIPPINE HISTORY

DULAG A SIGNIFICANT TOWN IN LEYTE AND PHILIPPINE HISTORY

Introduction

As a foreigner I have been living in a Dulag Barangay (village) now for a number of years. If you visit Dulag one would think it is just another provincial rural town. These were my thoughts as well until I started to conduct research. I was amazed at what I discovered and would like to share. The article is a summary but links are supplied if readers are interested in additional information.

Dulag boundaries

 Dulag covers just over 11,000 hectares of land on the eastern side Leyte fronting the Leyte Gulf. If you visit Dulag it is approximately 36 km (22 miles) from Tacloban via the Maharlika Highway. Travel time depending on traffic is around 45 minutes. The town is bounded 12 kilometers to the north by the municipality of Tolosa, to the west seven kilometers to the Municipality of Julita and seven kilometers to the south to the Municipality of Mayorga.
Location map from Tacloban

Population of Dulag

According to the 2015 Census Dulag has a population of over 47,000 people. If you visit Dulag town proper you would think there are not 47,000 people here! The Dulag Municipality has 45 barangays villages. Eleven barangays are within Dulag Town Proper while the other 34 are in the country side inland from the sea. The population of these barangays can range from a few hundred to over 1000 people.

 First settlement and early history

According to Wikipedia 2015 Dulag was there before Spanish Colonization in 1521

The first Jesuit missionaries arrived at Dulag in September 1595

 Dulag became a booming locality by May 1596 and a center for commercial activity

Years of peace ended when Moro raiders ravaged the town in October 1603. The Moro people comprise the 13 Islamised ethnolinguistic groups of Mindanao, Sulu and Palawan.

After the Moro raids two typhoons and a significant earth quake hit Dulag

In 1613 the Moros returned and destroyed the town and church and burnt crops. Men woman and children were taken and sold as slaves

 During the American regime, Emilio Celso Abad was elected the first Capitan. The steady progress of the town resulted in the expansion of the town limits.

Dulag is known as the liberation town

The landing of the liberation forces took place between 17^th October to the 20^th 1944. The shelling of Dulag was severe and took a heavy toll on the residents. The main church, public buildings and people’s residences were destroyed. Streets made on concrete and asphalt were just rubble. There was a significant loss of civilian life

The main reason why Dulag was so heavily shelled during the American liberation was to take control Japanese Airstrip located in the present day barangay called “Rawis” The control of this airbase would benefit the Americans in the continuation of liberation. As I live locally I visited the barangay Rawis to see if there are any remains of this airbase.

Did General Douglas MacArthur first come ashore in Dulag?

Some World War 11 veterans who witnessed the 20^th October, 1944 landing of General Douglas MacArthur claim the General did not first land in Palo near Tacloban as history states. They claim the General landed first in Dulag. The veterans described a church in Dulag that General MacArthur passed. The description of the church matches the one given by the veterans.

Another factor to keep in mind is Hill 120 a few kilometers from Dulag town proper. This is where the first American flag was raised on Philippine soil at the beginning of liberation.

History still stands and the official landing is Leyte is at Palo where the MacArthur Memorial is erected. I have read a number of articles where the claim is made of General did first land in Dulag but nothing related to WW11 official documentation.

It is believed there is a possibility related to the significance of securing the Japanese Airstrip in the barangay of Rawis Dulag and the raising of the first American Flag at Hill 120. It would have been tempting for the man that said “I shall return”.

HILL 120 IS A POPULAR TOURIST SITE

Typhoon Yolanda International name Haiyan

There are many articles written about Typhoon Yolanda. I was not in the Dulag area on that horrific day but have a story to tell. I was working in the Middle East as an Australian Expatriate when this deadly typhoon struck. I had been married only six weeks. Our Dulag barangay is four kilometers inland from the sea so the storm surge was not an issue. I returned immediately from the Middle East to find my wife and family. There was no cell phone coverage and for many days I feared the worst!

Link to my personal story

Dulag Fiesta and Karatong Festival

As you drive into the Dulag area from Tacloban you will see a sign crossing the highway that says “Welcome to Dulag, Karatong Country. For a visitor, the first question would be “What does karatong actually mean”? Karatong is a bamboo device used in the 16^th Century to inform the townspeople of Dulag of danger. This was a communication device to warn people of incoming Moro raids.

Dulag celebrates its Fiesta on the 7^th and 8^th of September each year. A big high light of the fiesta is the Karatong Festival. This Festival is a dance revelry that demonstrates the legend of Karatong.

There is allot of effort that goes into training the dancers for this event. The dancers are made up of students and some professionals. Choreographers are employed to conduct the training.

From my personable observations the students would start dance practice three weeks before the festival. The training is seven days a week. During the first two weeks dance training would be from 6pm to 9pm. In the last week I could hear the training going into the early hours of the morning as we live only a few hundred meters from our barangay Civic Center.

The efforts of all involved in the karatong festival dance training can be described as very impressive.

KARATONG FESTIVAL 2017

Dulag October 2017

Since Typhoon Yolanda Dulag appears to have progressed in leaps and bounds. Buildings have been repaired although some damage is still evident.

What is impressive is the number of businesses starting up. Dulag now has a Department Store, a Monterey Meat Store and a Pure Gold Supermarket which just opened recently.

Janas’s Resort with a nice swimming pool and basic accommodation and the Jan Jose (barangay of Dulag) Skim Board Park are great examples of people willing to invest in the area.

There are nice swimming areas in Luan another barangay. As mentioned in a previous blog my favorite place is a basic beach side resort called Harapitan.

HARAPITAN IS ONE OF MY FAVORITE PLACES

Final thoughts

Dulag has significant history dating back hundreds of years. Dulag suffered high civilian causalities during WW11 liberation. Dulag was also damaged severely during Typhoon Yolanda 08 November 2013.

Every town has a story to tell! Most visitors and tourists come to the Dulag area to visit Hill 120 where the first American Flag was raised during liberation which is just a part of the history.

For myself I enjoy living here with the simplistic life style and being close to the sea. This will not last forever as I can see in the future business people will see the potential here and this will become a commercial tourist destination.

See additional pictures and descriptions below 

References
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dulag,_Leyte
http://en.wikipilipinas.org/index.php/Hill_120
http://www.choosephilippines.com/do/festivals/3285/karatong-festival-dulag-leyte

BEACH, BARANGAY LUAN LOOKING TOWARDS DULAG

RICE FARMING DULAG AREA INLAND FROM THE SEA

 MAHARLIKA HIGHWAY LUAN DULAG