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Concept
Pototan
Summary
Pototan (Banwa ka Pototan, Banwa sang Pototan, Bayan ng Pototan), is a 1st class municipality in the province of Iloilo, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 78,298 people.
The town lies on the banks of the Suage River, north from Iloilo City. The town has an area of 94 km2, 85% of which is agricultural land. In December 1997, it was declared as the "Christmas Capital of Western Visayas" because of its famed Christmas Festival of Lights.
Considered the rice granary of Panay, the town is bordered by Dingle to the north, Zarraga to the south, Barotac Nuevo to the east, New Lucena, Iloilo and Mina to the west.
The first people of Pototan were the family of Datu Ramon, grandson of Datu Puti, a Malay from the town of Dumangas. They first settled at Barangay Naslo, which was formerly the poblacion (town center). In that place was found a luxuriant growth of trees called "putat", after which the place was subsequently called "Kaputatan" or "place of many Putat trees." However, due to its hilly terrain and poor water supply, they decided to move nearer the bank of the Suage River, now called Pototan.
In the middle of the 16th century, the Chinese traders arrived in Pototan.
The arrival of the Spaniards in 1593 sparked new changes in the socio-economic and political life of the natives. It was the start of a new era, the natives were converted to Catholicism through the efforts of Augustinian Friars. The settlement was subsequently made into a Parish. Education, though at the onset only for the privileged few, was introduced. The name "Kaputatan", which the Spanish have difficulty pronouncing, was changed to "Pototan".
The Spanish built roads and bridges. Don Tomas Sajen and Don Escribano supervised the construction of the Tribunal (municipal hall) with the natives contributing the labor. The Tribunal withstood World War II and in the early 50s was modified into what is now the Western Visayas Hospital.
In 1874, Pototanons began to run their own political affairs with the appointment of Don Juan Marcelo as the first Capitan Municipal.
Official source
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