The Abolition Of The Parian Parish

One hundred fifty-one years ago this January, the town and parish of Parian were finally abolished by order of the governor-general, culminating a controversy that lasted 30 years. The parish’s troubles began in 1828 when the bishop of Cebu first ordered its abolition. That same year, the political administration in Cebu entered the fray by questioning the town’s jurisdiction over the barrio of Zamboanguillo. Numerous representations with Manila’s ecclesiastical and political authorities ensued between 1832 and 1850 to no avail.

The real reason behind the town’s troubles may have been the growing commercial and agricultural success and clout of the town’s Chinese mestizos that threatened the economic position of the Spaniards and the Augustinian friars, whose Hacienda de Banilad was within the parish’s jurisdiction.

Parian began on October 22, 1614, as a parish for Christian Chinese and native Filipinos, separated from the formal city or Ciudad that was reserved for the Spanish. Its population of 100 in 1744 had grown to 2,500 by the 1840s, owing to the economic prominence of its residents.

A church that rivaled the decaying Cebu Cathedral indicated this success. Unfortunately, it too became a casualty to the controversy, having been ignominiously torn block by block in 1878-1879. Today, only an old sign beside a wooden chapel marks the spot where the church, testament to the town’s prosperity, used to be.

- Ybarra