Antequera Town's Old Tales And Folk Stories

As mentioned in the books of the Eskaya tribe, which was handed down from generation to generation, it describes that the town of Antequera was already populated with the Eskaya Tribe by the year of 600 A. D. headed by Datu Tamblot.  It describes that he kingdom of the Eskayas was located in the lowlands of Antequera where their established capital was the present barangay of Viga, stretching to the riverside valleys beyond the Abatan Bridge.

 Before Antequera became a town, it was a barangay of the town of Maribojoc named Agad. The center of this barangay was graphically located in the present day at Barangay Celing because of its abundance of water in the place. Records reveal that it was indeed the liveliest place in those times.

 An old tale tells that the term “Agad” means a blessing or departing words for the voyagers because the place was a vast forest and a total wilderness. When the people coming from Maribojoc would visit this place, the rest of their families will bid them goodbye and wish luck on them saying "Agad pa unta ug molampos mo sa inyong pagpanaw didto." which means " May you get success in this journey." That is why the name Agad was adapted.

Later, Agad became a new town and it was christened with the name "ANTEQUERA" in honor to the city in Spain with the same name of the hometown of then Governor of the District of Bohol, Don Joaquin Bengoechia and the Governor General of the Philippines, Don Romualdo Crespo.

At present, there is a place in Brgy. Poblacion named Agad neither a sitio nor a barrio but just an area located on the eastern side of the road going to Tagbilaran adjacent to the present tennis court up to the boundary of Barangay Villa Aurora.

Here in the town of Antequera, a folk story  retold by the people about a silver church bell called Lingganayng Ugis thrown in the deep river of Bahian, a sitio in Viga by Tamblot during the Spanish time. It was described that when the bell rung, it was so loud that it could be heard clearly up to some fifteen-kilometer radius.

A Jesuit friar favored to entrust the whole church to Tamblot and gave him a silver church bell, the "Lingganayng Ugis" for the use of the church. He did it for the reason of gaining favor to the Tamblot as well as to the natives. Later, when the new settlement of the priest happened lead by Malabago, a contemporary of Tamblot in the upland territory, it created a feud. Because the priest decided to get the "Lingganayng Ugis" from the church in the kingdom of Tamblot, but Tamblot resented not to give him the bell. 

To settle the feud, a contest then was organized by the priest to challenge Tamblot. Whoever wins the contest would get the bell. The contest was called "lumba sa abilidad" or a power showdown. The priest first challenged Tamblot to light a cigar without any matchstick, friction sticks, or the sun. This time the priest won. But Tamblot then was the next to challenge and he said whoever shows something inside a bamboo whenever he cuts the chambered stem would win the contest and this was the final round. The priest could not get even water from the bamboo stem but Tamblot somehow got water, rice, some berries and just anything every time he cut each chamber of the long bamboo stem.

But the priest did not accept his defeat and decided to get the bell by all means. One day, Tamblot climbed up the hill where the bell was installed. He had an extraordinary strength that he could lift the heavy silver bell alone. He stood overlooking the people below and called out "To be fair, no one should own the bell but the waters of this land. If anyone tries to get the bell out of the river, I will have this place flooded." He threw the bell to the deep river of Bahian, a sitio in Viga near the place where the church was built. 

The ruins of the church in Viga still exist nowadays and look like a rocky ruin of a crudely made temple. But many folks testify that by the early 1900’s, the bell was still visible and many efforts were exerted to get the bell out.  But every time they lashed the bell out of the river, a flash flood would happen and the river becomes muddy. Nobody dares to get the bell out of the river until now. It was not seen anymore, for the folks said it is already buried deep under the river’s sand.

One historic tragic incident in Antequera is the killing of some six innocent civilians Antequeranhons which they called it "Bicahan Cave Massacre". They were killed through bayonets by the Japanese soldiers not long after the arrival of the Japanese.