Las Navas, Philippines

History

During the Spanish regime, one of the municipalities that was recognized as a town is Las Navas, formerly known as "Bungto" (meaning town). Upon recognition, a Parochial Church was constructed with a Parochial Priest as head of the town.

Towards the end of the 18th century, a band of Moro pirates sailed to the river and reached the town. There, the inhabitants were robbed and the town was burned. Afraid that the pirates would return again, the people abandoned the town for a period of time.

After several months, the people returned to the place and retrieved all that were left by the fire. They constructed their homes and reestablished the town and the seat of the government. As soon as the municipality was reestablished and the community was stabilized, the populace and leaders unanimously agreed to change the town's name from "Bungto" (Town) to "Binongtu–an" to emphasize and commemorate that the place was once a thriving town, was abandoned because of Moro pirates' assault, and was resettled after sometime.

A research on the history of Las Navas revealed documents from the National Archives, "Errecion de los Pueblos Samar 1786-1898, Pueblos de Catubig y Binungtuan Tomo", Exp. 9, pol. 149–197. Exepediente promovido en 1832 sobre la erreccion de la visita de Binungtuan en pueblo civil independiente de su matriz Catubig en la prov de Samar, Manila, 20 de Dissiembre de 1848.

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