Liloan, Cebu

Liloan
Municipality
The Bagacay Point Lighthouse located within the town of Liloan
Seal
Nickname(s): The Light of the North
Motto: Abante Lilo-an!
Map of Cebu showing the location of Liloan
Liloan Location within the Philippines
Coordinates: 10°24′N 123°59′E / 10.400°N 123.983°E / 10.400; 123.983Coordinates: 10°24′N 123°59′E / 10.400°N 123.983°E / 10.400; 123.983
Country	Philippines
Region	Central Visayas (Region VII)
Province	Cebu
District	5th District of Cebu
Founded	1845
Barangays	14
Government[1]
• Mayor	Vincent Franco "Duke" Frasco (UNA)
• Vice Mayor	Dr. Lito Pilapil (UNA)
Area[2]
• Total	45.92 km2 (17.73 sq mi)
Population (2010)[3]
• Total	100,500
• Density	2,200/km2 (5,700/sq mi)
Time zone	PST (UTC+8)
ZIP code	6002
Dialing code	32
Income class	1st class, partially urban
Website	www.liloan.gov.ph

Liloan (Alternate spelling: Lilo-an) is a first class municipality in the province of Cebu, Philippines. According to the 2010 census, it has a population of 100,500 people.^[3]

Liloan is part of a metropolitan area informally called Metro Cebu.

Barangays

Liloan is administratively subdivided into 14 barangays:^[2]

• Cabadiangan
• Calero
• Catarman
• Cotcot
• Jubay
• Lataban
• Mulao
• Poblacion
• San Roque
• San Vicente
• Santa Cruz
• Tabla
• Tayud
• Yati

History

Along its coastline, there is spot called Silot, where a whirlpool is created by the ebbs and flows of the waters from the bay. This phenomenon is called lilo in Cebuano. Because of this, the town was known as Liloan, meaning "a place where there is a lilo".

Long ago, as the legend goes, when Lilo-an was still a wilderness, a marriage of a couple was objected to by the parents. As such, they boarded a boat and fled to a far away place. Somewhere at sea, a storm overtook them. For safety, they entered a channel, now called "Suba," (a name of a place in Liloan) and proceeded into the interior. They took shelter at its bank and noticed the abundance of the fish in the vicinity. They decided to stay, and with the extra fish they caught, they sold or bartered the catch in the nearby villages. When asked where the fishes were caught, the answered, "Sa may liloan" (by the lilo). Asked where they live, they gave the same answer: "Sa may liloan." In time, the place was called, as we know the town now, "Liloan".

Sometime in the 1970s, a newspaper article stated that the "Pueblo de Lilo-an" was separated from the Municipality of Mandaue (now Mandaue City), and was created a new municipality in 1840. However, in the "BRAVE ENSENA de lo que fue y de lo que es la DIOCESIS DE CEBU En Las Islas Filipinas," published in 1866, it was mentioned that Lilo-an was created as a parish in 1845 (in 1995, Lilo-an celebrated its sesquicentennial - 150th anniversary.)

The creation of the municipality of Lilo-an could have been at the same time the parish was established, but not earlier than its being a parish. As recorded, the first priest of Lilo-an, Fr. Vicente Dolorech, served in 1845. The first mayor, then called "Kapitan" was Basilio Bantilan. His term was from 1845 - 1846.

During the war years (World War II), Lilo-an had three mayors at one time. The elected mayor was Catalino Noval. The Japanese Occupation Forces appointed another - Pascual Delgado. Not to be outdone, the Guerilla Forces also designated another - Jose Cañete.

Records show that the mayors with the longest length of service were Lazaro Ramas and Cesar Bugtai, each having served Liloan for 21 years. For priests, the longest was done by Fr. Vicente Rallos - 19 years (1931 - 1950).

Demographics

Landmarks

Lighthouse

The Bagacay Point Lighthouse

One of the best known landmarks in Lilo-an is its historic lighthouse at Bagacay Point. The original lighthouse was built in 1857 by the Spanish. However, the current tower was constructed in 1904 by order of William Howard Taft,^[4] the first Governor-General of the Philippines and later the President of the United States. The tower is 72 feet tall and remains in active use today using solar energy.^[5] The lighthouse has been declared a National Historical Landmark^[6] on August 13, 2004 by the National Historical Commission of the Philippines (formerly known as National Historical Institute).

Liloan Church (San Fernando Rey Parish Church)

The San Fernando Rey Parish Church

The designer of the church in Liloan is viewed by some as visionary. Despite Liloan having only 5,000 citizens when the church was constructed in 1847, this local church was even larger than that of Mandaue, Cebu's second largest city. Today, 159 years, more than 30 priests, 50 mayors, and some 47,000 people later, the church still has enough room to accommodate the faithful.

One unusual detail about the Church in Liloan is that it faces the mountains to the West, whereas most churches face the sea to the East. Some have theorized that this is because Mass is often performed in the morning, and the church is thus shielded from the morning sun, making it less hot and uncomfortable. Others have speculated that the church's direction has a symbolic significance related to church rites.

Rosquillos Festival

Celebrated every last week of May in honor of patron saint San Fernando Rey

History

The making of these little ringlet cookies date back to April 3, 1907, when the then 21-year-old Margarita "Titay" Frasco was tinkering in her kitchen with her baking ingredients and made her new culinary creation.

Kneading the dough manually and using a wooden eggbeater, some baking tins and a clay oven, little did the 21-year-old know that she was starting a product that would put her little town in the national and international map of gastronomic delight.

The market for her unnamed cookie started with her neighbors and passersby who were offered the snack as a freebie for every purchase of a bottle of soda. It was then Cebu governor Sergio Osmeña, who later became Philippine president, who gave it the name rosquillos after the Spanish word rosca.As years passed, people going to northern Cebu have made it a habit to drop by the store to buy the rosquillos. It is also a known fact that those who couldn't visit Cebu would ask friends who are in Cebu to buy some for them.

Rosquillos have become a household name, a product that is aptly celebrated in a festival that Liloan could call its very own.

Economy

Liloan is home to a number of ceramics manufacturers. Their shops sell a variety of ceramics items - from ordinary plant pots, to bricks and exotic jars.

Titay's

Titay's Liloan Rosquillos was founded in 1907 and had withstood the taste of the times in baking prowess. It started with just the Rosquillos and tablea making. It later expanded to an array of homemade delicacies ranging from torta, mamon, monay, otap, CPA (chicken pork adobo), bao-bao and a lot more mouth watering pastries. Titay's Liloan Rosquillos gains the prestige of being known for its select delicacies domestically and internationally.

Municipal Mayors

See also

• Metro Cebu

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Liloan, Cebu.

• Philippine Standard Geographic Code
• Philippine Census Information

		Compostela
	Cebu City		Camotes Sea
	Liloan
		Consolacion

v t e Province of Cebu Municipalities Alcantara Alcoy Alegria Aloguinsan Argao Asturias Badian Balamban Bantayan Barili Boljoon Borbon Carmen Catmon Compostela Consolacion Cordova Daanbantayan Dalaguete Dumanjug Ginatilan Liloan Madridejos Malabuyoc Medellin Minglanilla Moalboal Oslob Pilar Pinamungahan Poro Ronda Samboan San Fernando San Francisco San Remigio Santa Fe Santander Sibonga Sogod Tabogon Tabuelan Tuburan Tudela Component cities Bogo Carcar Danao Naga Talisay Toledo Highly urbanized cities Cebu Lapu-Lapu Mandaue (Except Mandaue City, all are administratively independent from the province, but grouped under Cebu by the National Statistics Office)