Visayan families in Balabac
Families from the Visayas and the Cuyo Islands came south as settlers, bringing their languages and their churches.
Written from public sources to get this page started. We'll replace it with the story as Balabac residents tell it.
Visayan, or Bisaya, covers the many peoples of the central Philippines, together the country's largest ethnolinguistic group. In Balabac it usually means families who came from the Visayas, and Cuyonon families from the Cuyo Islands of northern Palawan, whose language is also Visayan.
They came as settlers, looking for land, fishing grounds and work. Cuyonon families are among the town's Christians, with Kagayanen, Tagalog and some Pala'wan families. Balabac's Catholic church is the Immaculate Conception Parish.
We don't have good figures for how many Visayan families live in Balabac today, or when most of them arrived.
Stories we're gathering
This is a short introduction written from public sources. We'd like to replace it with the story as Visayan families tell it themselves. If that's your family, send us a message.
