Corcuera, Romblon

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Map of Romblon showing the location of Corcuera

Corcuera is a 5th class municipality in the province of Romblon, Philippines. According to the 2000 census, it has a population of 10,972 people in 2,270 households.

Corcuera comprises the entirety of Simara Island. Asi is the native language of the island's inhabitants.

Contents

[edit] History

The ancestors of Simara were escapees from a group of Christian captives. When their Muslim captors were on return voyage to Sulu from southern Luzon, their vessels were overtaken by a storm and they were forced to seek refuge in a narrow bay along a narrow strip of Suba Valley now called San Roque. The captives escaped toward Pidapi where they met the first few primitive families of Simara.

After the Muslims had sailed away, two groups of escapees moved further to a wider lowland. As years passed by, the population increased. Some families transferred to Guintiguiban which was absorbed by the barrio of Mabini and to the interior rugged highlands.

In the book entitled "Naming the Province of the Philippines", revealed that in the year 1500, there were 150 existing families in the community of San Jose. During the short sojourns of the three Malays in Simara, the "Asi" dialect, a mixture of local and Malayan term began to flourish as the vernacular vehicle of communication. This dialect soon developed into common language spoken not only in the island of Simara but also in its sister islands of Banton on the north and Sibale island on the northwest. This was so because the earlier inhabitants migrated to Banton and Sibale from Simara and later on to Calatrava, formerly Andagao, San Andres and Odiongan in Tablas island. This disproved the allegation of another historical writer that Bantoanons did found the settlement called San Jose which later became Corcuera.

[edit] Geography

Simara is 120 nautical miles southeast of Manila. It is an elongated island formed like a hook covering an area of 23.40 square kilometers. Its island name was derived from the local word "sima" which means hook. By area, it is the fifth island in a group of seven that comprises the marble province of Romblon and one of the 7,107 islands of the Philippines.

Simara lies on the northwestern coast of the province. It is hemmed in by bodies of water from all sides; on the north and east by the Sibuyan Sea, on the south by Tablas Strait and on the west by the sea that separates the municipality of Concepcion. It is located at 122046' north latitude and 36 kilometers from the Capital of the province. The name of its town which was formerly "San Jose" was later changed to Corcuera by the town's first Gobernadorcillo, after the name of the liberal Spanish Governor General of the Philippines, Jurtado de Corcuera. Corcuera, as a municipality, occupies the whole island of Simara. The topographical feature of the island municipality is generally hilly. The highest upland is 755 feet above sea level.

Corcuera is politically subdivided into 15 barangays.

  • Alegria
  • Ambulong
  • Colongcolong
  • Gobon
  • Guintiguiban
  • Ilijan
  • Labnig
  • Mabini
  • Mahaba
  • Mangansag
  • Poblacion
  • San Agustin
  • San Roque
  • San Vicente
  • Tacasan

[edit] Transportation

Transportation between Corcuera and other municipalities is available by pumpboats. Daily trips ply between Calatrava and Corcuera daily. Pumpboats leave Corcuera at 8:00 o'clock in the morning to Calatrava and return to Corcuera at 12:00 noon of the same day. Going to the capital town of Romblon, there is a special trip on Mondays and Fridays. Usually going to the Capital, people take pumpboat via Calatrava where jeepneys are available for San Agustin. In San Agustin, pumpboats are available for Romblon at 8:00 AM and 1:00 PM.

[edit] Population of Corcuera at Various Time

Barrio/Barangay
Name		 Land Area
(Hectares)		 1894
 1896
/c		 1903
/h		 1918
/a		 1939
 1948
 1960
 1970
 1975
 1980
 1990
 1995
 2000
 2007
/i
San Jose
(Poblacion)		 118
San Isidro
(Poblacion)		 130
San Miguel
(Poblacion)		 117
San Pedro
(Poblacion)		 135
San Roque
(Poblacion)		 133
Poblacion (U) 13.72 1,892 510 564 597 735 545 512 572 562 610
Alegria 251.59 219 464 574 913 1,098 1,216 1,459 1,436 1,366 1,595
Ambulong 136.72 312 235 256 452 429 476 382 427 447
Bagadolong /f 117
Colongcolong 125.36 128 133 249 385 219 468 479 621 581 655 722
Corcuera 514
Fonda /d
(Ponda / Yonda)		 150
Gobon 107.20 387 594 805 872 677 752 740 823 792 895
Guintiguiban 113.26 152 137 181 282 240 297 301 339 290 294 352
Ilijan 156.90 134 287 441 591 669 755 777 864 872 848 971
Labnig 170.26 120 105 316 519 656 638 641 715 705
Mabini 149.91 366 487 700 764 296 358 276 280 328
Mahaba 147.06 128 238 346 540 450 576 616 647 750 698 851
Mainit /g 129
Mangansag 208.35 140 259 292 413 536 683 669 727 813 981 1,115
San Agustin 50.05 413 481 463 451 524
San Roque 109.73 566 671 626 682 861
San Vicente /i 241.40 424 333 521 438 382 438 570
Suba /e 136
Tacasan 90.30 249 282 318 448 503 508 531 469 486
Total 2,071.81 /b 1,987 1,892 2,176 4,004 5,158 6,510 7,805 8,739 9,479 9,438 9,658 10,972 10,249

/a – Part of Banton Municipality in 1918 /b – No Data /c – Reported in 1897. /d - Renamed Alegria /e - Present day San Roque, abolished in 1901 and annexed to Poblacion, later it was annexed to Mangansag as sitio. /f - Abolished in 1901 and annexed to Poblacion, later it was annexed to Labnig. /g - Abolished in 1918 and attached to Ilijan. /h - The American civil government, from 1899-1901, reduced the number of barrio to facilitate the military policy of concentrating the civilian population of the poblaciones. Thus in 1901, Corcuera became a single barrio municipality as enumerated in 1903 census of population. /i - Created barrio under R.A. No. 2485 in June 21, 1958 including sitios Bayungos, Agsalem, Taler, Madabas and Bantaden.

Note: Information here are based on facts and early records found in archieves and not on mere speculations. I tend to disagree with Corcuera's history written above. "Malanga ang mga ulihing tinubo sa history nga tukod-tukod ta" If the Asi people are really from Sulu, therefore the Asi language should be at least related to the Tausug (Southern Visayan language group) in its structure, but Tausug is more related to Surigaonon and Butuanon which is a total different language. Assuming these captives were from Luzon, or Batangas as what a local historian narrated last time during your 50th golden jubilee celebration (I was there during that fiesta celebration) saying the people of Simara were from Batangas, is the Batangueno dialect of the Tagalog language related to Asi language? Besides, Corcuera or Simara existed only on records in 1582 based on Miguel Lopez de Loarca's narration with a population of 50 people. Could this 50 people populate and inhabit a more established pueblo (Banton) with around 250 highly cultured and civilized people in the early 16th century? Just asking.

[edit] External links

v • d • e
Municipalities of Romblon
Alcantara • Banton • Cajidiocan • Calatrava • Concepcion • Corcuera • Ferrol • Looc • Magdiwang • Odiongan • Romblon • San Agustin • San Andres • San Fernando • San Jose • Santa Fe • Santa Maria

Coordinates: 12°47′N, 122°03′E