Valencia is on the southern coast of Bohol. It is forty-two kilometers from the capital. Its former name is said to be “Panangatan,” which is derived from “Sang-at”, meaning to put up on an elevated place. It is said that many years ago, on windy days, fishermen from Dimiao and Lila used to seek shelter at the mouth of the Panangatan River when the southwest moonsoon was very strong. Here they would put up (sang-at) their boats on the banks of the river where nipa palms grew in order to prevent them from being washed away by the waves. When the Spaniards came, Panangatan was still a part of Dimiao. It was separated in 1867, the year a Spanish priest was assigned to the municipality. The priest gave it the new name, after that of a seaport city in Spain. In 1879 Valencia had a population of 7,009.

The principal industries of the people today are weaving, pot making, and fishing. The most important products are coconuts, rice, corn and fish. It is in this town that the Badiang Health Resort is found—a popular resort which attracts excursionists and foreign visitors.

For the education of the children there are elementary schools in the poblacion and in the barrios. For their secondary education, students may go to the Valencia High School, a public school.

The market day, locally known as Tabu is held weekly every sunday. Local produce such as fresh fruits, vegetable, fresh meat and live poultry are sold. The days of this weekly community occasion differ from town to town.

Valencia is on the southern coast of Bohol. It is forty-two kilometers from the capital. Its former name is said to be Panangatan, which is derived from Sang-at, meaning to put up on an elevated place. It is said that many, many years ago, on windy days, fishermen from Dimiao and Lila used to seek shelter at the mouth of the Panangatan River when the southwest moonsoon was very strong. Here they would put up (sang-at) their boats on the banks of the river where nipa palms grew in order to prevent them from being washed away by the waves. When the Spaniards came, Panangatan was still a part of Dimiao. It was separated in 1867, the year a Spanish priest was assigned to the municipality. The priest gave it the new name, after that of a seaport city in Spain. In 1879 Valencia had a population of 7,009.

Located at the interior part of the province, this municipality was used as place of refuge by insurgents during the Philippine Revolution and the Filipino-American War. It is about 71 kilometers from Tagbilaran City and used to be a forest when after a provincial road was opened, settlers from Jagna, Valencia, Garcia-Hernandez, Candijay, Alburquerque and Loay made clearings. When the Homestead Act was approved, the settlers applied for the lands they had cleared and became permanent owners of their clearings. Farming is the most important industry of the people and rice is the chief crop. The tributaries of the Wahig River furnish water for irrigation purposes.

This interior town north of the municipality of Loboc was founded in 1872. In all probability, this town was named after the Spanish city of Sevilla. It was one of the latest towns established during the Spanish regime. Three towns contribute to its territory, namely, Loboc in the south, Balilihan in the west and Bilar in the east. The site of the town was first located in Bentig, on the other side of the Loboc River from the present site. When the Americans invaded the town, they burned all the buildings in Bentig. When peace was declared, the site of the town was transferred to Maraag, which is the present Poblacion. In 1879, it had a population of 4,835.

Pilar is a new municipality located in the interior town of Bohol. It was created by Executive Order No. 460 issued by the former Pres. Carlos P. Garcia on December 26, 1960. It used to be a barrio of Sierra Bullones and was called Lungsodaan because it was the old seat of the municipal government during the Spanish regime.

Mabini is located in the eastern part of the province. It was established in 1904 out of the barrios of Abaca, Banlas, Bulawan, Lungsodaan, Minol, Poblacion 1 and 2 and Tambo which then belonged to Candijay; Cabulao and San Jose which then belonged to Ubay and Batuanan which a that time was a barrio of Mabini. The first settlers of Sitio Libas came from Duero, Loboc, Guindulmlan, Jagna and Sevilla. The barrios were organized into a new town through the initiative of its parish priest, Fr. Jimenez and municipal president Canuto Bernales.

Loboc is known for its floating restaurants along the scenic and winding Loboc River. Tourists also come to see the tarsier, a small nocturnal animal with large eyes. It is one of the world’s smallest primates. Unfortunately, the tarsiers here are kept in an inadequate cage, and better be observed in the Tarsier Sanctuary in Corella.

The St. Peter Parish Church in Loboc is the second oldest church in the country. The Loboc Children’s Choir has won numerous competitions both local and international, most notably festival competition in Barcelona, Spain entitled “Europe and its Songs”, last September 17-21, 2003.

• 1 History
• 2 Barangays
• 3 References
• 4 External links

Loboc is an interior town located in a valley through which the Loboc river winds. According to Filipino historian Fr. Horacio de la Costa, Loboc was founded by Fr. Juan de Torres who succeded in persuading the local population to settle their barangays in this site in 1602. This makes Loboc one of the oldest towns of Bohol. In 1879, it had a population of 11,430.Loboc is also the site of an historic Spanish period church and a small attached museum, and a separate bell tower. You can also witness here one of the biggest blunders in planning in Bohol: a partly completed bridge, which if it where to be completed would require the church to be destroyed. A few kilometers down the road, you can come across a traditional hanging bridge.

On the southern coast of Bohol is the municipality of Loay. It is located at the mouth of the Loboc river. This town was said to be established in 1740. In 1879, Loay had a population of 8,171. The population has 2 parts, the lower and the upper parts. The lower part used to be called Canipa-an because of the presence of nipa swamps in this part of the town while the upper part is named Ibabao, being located on the plateau.

Lila is a town on the southern coast of Bohol, twenty-eight and a half kilometers from Tagbilaran. It lies between Loay and Dimiao and for a time was a part of the latter municipality. There is no record to show the date of its establishment during the Spanish regime, but according to the account of the Agustinian mission in Bohol, it was a separate municipality in 1879, with a population of 4,023. When it was annexed to Dimiao, is not known because all records have been burned. However, it was on January 1, 1915 when it was separated from Dimiao and made an independent municipality.

During World War II, the Japanese caused untold sufferings to the people of the town. Many civilians were maltreated and tortured. It is said that some thirty-one civilians were killed by the Japanese.

Jagna is a busy little town on the southern coast of Bohol, so busy, everyday is market day. Of interest to travelers is the church with its ceiling frescoes and the bats that sleep by the altar in the daytime; arguably the best cockpit on the island; the waterfall, a setting so lovely and accessible that photographers from Manila use it on occasion; and the double reef just off the shore.

The double reef is a protected zone and marked off by buoys so fishermen can’t even go there. A retired ex-prosecutor, who has the power to arrest, has the welfare of the reef as his hobby so don’t even think about dynamite fishing near Jagna.

Jagna has a new market; the last one burned down in 1998 and the market has occupied the plaza ever since. Now that the new market is up, the plaza can finally be reclaimed, but that will take a bit of time since some of the merchants occupying the plaza don’t have the money to move into the new market.

Like Tagbilaran, Jagna is a port town. Ferries run daily to and from other islands but currently ferry transportation to Mindanao is only available to Butuan. The gorgeous island of Camiguin is visible from Jagna but only accessible by pumpboat.

For places to stay, there are a few: some rooms by the port, the Garden cafe, but the pension house in Pangdan is the nicest.

Jagna’s town fiesta is on September 29th.

Jagna is a bustling port town in the eastern coast of Bohol. This municipality was first settled by immigrants from Loboc who transformed the wide valley into rice paddies. It became a rather prosperous community. In 1879, it had a population of 11,829.

Today, Jagna is the place from where you can embark in the direction of Mindanao. While you pass here, don’t hesitate to have a taste of the local delicacy, calamay, a mixture of sticky rice, coconut milk, and sugar, packed in a coconut shell.

Guindulman is an old town situated in the eastern part of Bohol. It is said that this town used to be called Guindulman, meaning “overtaken by darkness”. The story is that formerly there ere only 2 towns organized in this part of Bohol namely, Jagna and Batuanan (now Alicia). Travellers starting from either of these 2 towns were sure to be overtaken by darkness in this place; hence the name which was later changed to Guindulman.