| MUN. OF SANTA BARBARA |
 |
| MUN. OF SANTA BARBARA |
|
History
of the Municipality of Santa Barbara covers four centuries. According to
the Agustinian Archives, Vols. 1718, which records the documents on the
missionary achievements of the Agustinians missionaries, it bares the historical
note that as early as 1617, the missionaries attended to the spiritual
ministration of a community or "pueblo" then known as Catmon. The name
was derived from a fruit –bearing tree, which served as an imposing landmark
in the vicinity. The place was a rich and fertile plain traverse by the
Salug, now Tigum and Aganan Rivers, producing rice, corn, sugar, mongo
and tobacco. During that time Catmon was only a "Visita Caatmon" of Jaro
vicariate. Lately, in 1760, Catmon was canonically established as an independent
parish, whose patroness was Santa Barbara, and the settlement, which was
constituted in to "pueblo", was named after her. Its total population at
the time was 15,094. In 1845, its inhabitants reach a total of 19,719 and
covering an area which are now the Municipalities of Zarraga, New Lucena
and a part of Leganes and Pavia.
Unknown to the Spaniards, however, Delagado had already become a "revolucionario". On October 28,1898 he publicly declared himself for the Revolution and took the municipal building. The Revolutionary Government of the Visayas was organized and on November 17 1898, was formally inaugurated at the town plaza of Santa Barbara. A large crowd of people gathered from many places in Iloilo for the historic occasion. The Filipino flag was raised for the first time outside Luzon. The Revolutionary Government Officials were inducted into office and presented to the people who loudly hailed them.
Sta. Barbara became the base of the Revolutionary forces and from here Gen. Delgado launched the campaign to liberate the whole province which culminated in the surrender of Iloilo city by governor-general de los Rios on December 24, 1898.
At the establishment of the civil government Martin Delgado was appointed the first provincial governor of Iloilo and was elected to the same position in the first elections held in 1903. Sta. Barbara became a town under the American regime and was incorporated into a municipality by the Commonwealth government. The town began to progress. Better roads and bridges were built that linked Sta. Barbara to the city and other neighboring towns. The railway line between Iloilo and Capiz built in 1906 passes through the poblacion. Sta. Barbara Golf Course – the first in Asia was established in 1907 by a group of Scot, English and American expatriates working in Iloilo business. Elementary education was enhanced with the establishment of the Sta. Barabara Central
School. Later, this was made available to the barrio children with the construction of the elementary schools irrigation systems, the Tigum and Aganan Irrigation Systems give boost to rice production. These were constructed in 1926.
World War II brought destruction to whatever little progress that were achieved during the Commonwealth period in Sta. Barbara. Almost all of the ground. Only the Roman catholic Church and the Convent, the Elementary school building was utilized by the Japanese as garrison. Life was hard for the residents of the poblacion. the men were forced to worked in the repair and maintenance of the Tiring Air field, at Tiring Cabatuan and the women and children at the cotton plantations along the river banks. Able-bodied men and youths that escaped the forced-labor joined the Guerilla Movement and engaged in a hit-and-run warfare. The town was finally liberated from the Japanese in 1945 with the help of the Americans. Civil government was restored. The last decade of the 20th century ushered in a new form of governance for the local government units. RA 7160 took effect January 1992. As a result of its implementation, the municipal government absorbed the devolved functions of other national government agencies. The barangays and the municipality have their individual shares of the internal Revenue Allotments from the national Government.
Public transportation is not a problem in the locality. Interior PUJ’s, buses and PU’s are available and regularly going in and out of the town. Minimum fare of P2.00 for first 5 kilometers and P7.50 for direct fare from Iloilo City. Sta. Barbara Iloilo vice versa route public jeepneys are being park at Mabini St. in Iloilo City, while the space in front of the Public Market is being used.
Land Classification
Topography
Soil Types
Man-made attractions