San Nicolas, a Place in History

On September 10, 1574, San Nicholas was founded as a parish. Placed under the patronage of San Nicolas Tolentino, it had for its parish priest the Augustinian Alonso Serano.

Is San Nicolas “the first and oldest town of the Philippines,” as some of its residents claim? The sought-for distinction is rather arbitrary. What, after all, is a town or pueblo? It is a loose category that privileges Western (Spanish) acts of occupation since; after all, the archipelago already had several important population centers long before the Spanish coming.

San Nicholas itself existed as a community before the Spaniards came. Its old name is Tiwi (after a species of tree that grew in its riverbanks and shores). Others say it is Sawang (a place name that survives to this day and originally referred to “a place where people congregate”). Still, others say it is Sugbo (which, etymologically, means “to wade or enter into the waters”).

Whatever may be the case, San Nicolas was an important pre-Spanish settlement. In the early colonial period, it was referred to as “the native town”, to distinguish it from Ciudad de Cebu, which was originally reserved for Spaniards. In the late nineteenth century, it was referred to as :Tondo of Cebu” – an honorific, since it referred to how San Nicolas was the seal of the anti-Spanish revolution in Cebu.

 - Ybarra