Capalonga, Philippines

History

Agtas and Dumagats are believed to be the first inhabitants of the village which used to be called "Apalong". This name was derived from a wild plant called "Palong Manok", which looks like a rooster's comb. It is said that whenever the settlers of Apalong went to other places and asked where they came from, the usual reply was "We came from Kapalungan". Historians may comment that the natives were either referring to their place which has many "Palong" (roster's comb) or maybe they wanted identification for their settlement. Whatever it was, no record will show and no one at that time is still living, what is clearly known to Capalongueños is that this place was and still is an environment of flowers called Palong Manok.

In 1572, the Spanish Conquistador Capt Juan de Salcedo and his men reached pacific shores and landed on Kapalongan settlement. Instead of finding gold, they found abundant wild beautiful red flowers that looked like roster's comb. The Spaniards built a church, formed a government, and the village was made a town and officially named Capalonga. The Spaniards for some years persisted on mining for gold at Sitio Maglagonlong, and the Spanish control was described to be brutal, harsh and full of harassment until they went away leaving behind imprints on the community's cultural heritage.

From the History section of Capalonga on Wikipedia, under CC BY-SA 4.0.