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Major Hubs 5 Major Destinations
Manila and Its Spokes
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Cebu and its Spokes
Laoag / Baguio and its Spokes
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Davao and its Spokes
Clark/Subic and its Spokes |
Others and its Spokes
Kalibo / Akland
THE PROVINCE AT A GLANCE
BRIEF DESCRIPTION
Aklan is the oldest province in the Philippines,
organized in 1213 by settlers from Borneo. The main island
is described as shaped like a duck whose head in the
northwest is bordered by the Sulu Sea and whose spine
stretches from the northeast down to the east bordered by
the Sibuyan Sea. It has 17 municipalities and 327 barangays
. Kalibo is the capital. Aklan is a mountainous province
with one third of its land area sloping at 30 percent on the
average. It is still one of the few provinces in the country
to maintain a total of 709 hectares of virgin forest.
Temperature does not vary greatly, from coolest
at 26 degrees Celsius but there are two different climates
because of a difference in the amount and schedule of
rainfall. In the western side of the province, dry months
are from January to April while the rest of the year is wet.
The wettest month is August , averaging 500 millimeters of
rain. The driest month is March.
BRIEF HISTORY
Aklan is the oldest province in the
Philippines, organized in 1213 by settlers from Borneo as
the Minuro it Akean to include what is now Capiz. The
capital of Aklan changed location several times.
Towards the end of the 14th century, Datu Dinagandan moved
the capital to the present site of Batan which was captured
in 1399 by Chinese adventurers under Kalantiaw, who
forthwith ruled Aklan. In 1433 the son of Kalantiaw,
Kalantiaw III laid down a written code of laws now known as
the Code of Kalantiaw. The short-lived Kalantiaw
dynasty ended when Kalantiaw III was slain in a duel with
Datu Manduyog, legitimate successor to Datu Dinagandan.
When Manduyog became the new ruler, he moved the capital to
Bakan (ancient name of Banga) in 1437. Several datus
succeeded Manduyog when Miguel Lopez de Legaspi landed in
Batan in 1565, Datu Kabayag was ruling Aklan from what is
now the town of Libacac.
Lopez de Legaspi divided the Minuro it Akean
into five encomiendas which he distributed among his
followers. Those encomiendas were in Mambusao, Baan
and Panay. Along with political changes, the Spaniards
introduced Christianity and in a short while thousands of
Aklanons were baptized. Towns were laid following the
Spanish pattern, each organized around a plaza with a
church, municipio and school. Roads were carved out of
forests to link principal towns. In 1716, the area of
the Minuro it Akean was designated a province. But to
the dismay of Aklanons it was called Capiz and until Aklan
became a province on its own in 1956, the Aklanons never
knew rest.
In 1896 an Aklanon member of Bonafacio's
Katipunan arrived in Batan and organized Aklan for the fight
against Spain. Battles marking this struggle are
commemorated today with numerous municipal holidays, notable
among them, the New Washington's "Pacto de Sangre"
celebration.
Having developed an identity of their own, a
distinct dialect being no problem, the people of Aklan felt
they should govern themselves. After the Americans
took the country from Spain in 1901 an Aklan delegation
petitioned the Taft Commission, which structured the new
civil government of the country for separation from Capiz.
The petition was not turned down, but it was not
granted either. As an S.O.P the Americans promised to
set up at the right time a separate court of first instance
for Aklan at Batan. They appointed Simeon Mobo Reyes
as first provincial secretary. But the struggle for
separation never let up. The newspaper "Aklanon" which
began publication in 1914 advocated the creation of a
separate province while Aklanons in Congress filed numerous
bills for the same purpose, including the Urquiola-Alba bill
in 1920, the Laserna-Suner bills in 1925 and 1930 and the
Tumbokon bill in 1934.
Aklan finally became an independent province
when president Magsaysay signed into law on April 25, 1956,
Republic Act 1414 separating Aklan from Capiz. This
law authored by Congressman Godofredo P. Ramos and the
province was inaugurated on November 8, 1956.
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