| Flag Size: | 120x80px | ||
| Seal Size: | 100x80px | ||
| Image Map1: |
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| Pushpin Map: | Philippines | ||
| Pushpin Label Position: | left | ||
| Pushpin Map Caption: | Location within the | ||
| Subdivision Type: | Country | ||
| Subdivision Name: | Philippines | ||
| Subdivision Type1: | Region | ||
| Subdivision Type2: | Province | ||
| Etymology: | dingding maingle (Old Kinaray-a: hard wall) | ||
| Native Name: | Banwa ka Dingle | ||
| Nickname: | Spelunker's Paradise, D-Town | ||
| Anthem: | Town of DingleDingle nga Matahúm | ||
| Subdivision Type3: | District | ||
| Established Title: | Founded as a visita of Pototan | ||
| Established Date: | 1593 (Fray Francisco Manuel Blanco) | ||
| Established Title1: | Established as the pueblo of Baong | ||
| Established Date1: | 1611 (Fray Pedro del Castillo) | ||
| Established Title2: | Annexed to Dumangas | ||
| Established Date2: | 1629 | ||
| Established Title3: | Re-established as the pueblo of Baong | ||
| Established Date3: | 1634 (Fray Alonso de Méntrida) | ||
| Established Title4: | Annexed to Laglag | ||
| Established Date4: | 1641 | ||
| Established Title5: | Re-established as the pueblo of Dingle | ||
| Established Date5: | 1823 (Don Juan Marcelino Dayot) | ||
| Established Title6: | Annexed to Pototan | ||
| Established Date6: | 1904 | ||
| Established Title7: | Chartered as the municipality of Dingle | ||
| Established Date7: | 1907 (Hon. Adriano Hernández y Dayot) | ||
| Parts Type: | Barangays | ||
| Parts Style: | para | ||
| P1: | (see Barangays) | ||
| Leader Name: | Rufino P. Palabrica III | ||
| Leader Title1: | Vice Mayor | ||
| Leader Name1: | Quindialem D. Villanueva | ||
| Leader Name2: | Ferjenel G. Biron | ||
| Leader Title3: | Municipal Council | ||
| Leader Title4: | Electorate | ||
| Leader Name4: | voters (electorate_point_in_time}}|) | ||
| Elevation Max M: | 318 | ||
| Elevation Min M: | 14 | ||
| Population Density Km2: | auto | ||
| Population Blank1 Title: | Households | ||
| Population Demonym: | Filipino Taga-Dingle | ||
| Timezone: | PST | ||
| Utc Offset: | +8 | ||
| Postal Code Type: | ZIP code | ||
| Website: | https://lgudingle.wixsite.com/lgudingle | ||
| Demographics Type1: | Economy | ||
| Demographics1 Title2: | Poverty incidence | ||
| Demographics1 Info2: | % | ||
| Demographics1 Title3: | Revenue | ||
| Demographics1 Title4: | Revenue rank | ||
| Demographics1 Title5: | Assets | ||
| Demographics1 Title6: | Assets rank | ||
| Demographics1 Title7: | IRA | ||
| Demographics1 Title8: | IRA rank | ||
| Demographics1 Title9: | Expenditure | ||
| Demographics1 Title10: | Liabilities | ||
| Demographics Type2: | Service provider | ||
| Demographics2 Title1: | Electricity | ||
| Demographics2 Title2: | Water | ||
| Demographics2 Title3: | Telecommunications | ||
| Demographics2 Title4: | Cable TV | ||
| Blank1 Name Sec1: | Native languages | ||
| Blank2 Name Sec1: | Crime index | ||
| Blank1 Name Sec2: | Major religions | ||
| Blank2 Name Sec2: | Feast date | ||
| Blank3 Name Sec2: | Catholic diocese | ||
Dingle (in Tagalog pronounced as /ˈdiŋlɛʔ/, locally /ˈdiŋliʔ/), officially the Municipality of Dingle (Banwa ka Dingle, Hiligaynon: Banwa sang Dingle, Tagalog: Bayan ng Dingle), is a 3rd class municipality in the province of Iloilo, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 45,965 people.
The town is known for its baroque-architecture church and its archaeological cave sites, such as the Lapuz Lapuz Cave, famous for revealing the hunter-gatherer lives of the ancient people of Panay.
The name Dingle is believed to have been formed by joining the Old Karay-a words dingding for wall, and maingle for hard. This hard wall refers to a rock formation found on the banks of the Jalaur River in barangay Namatay situated in the eastern part of the municipality. Locally, this hard wall is known as dalipe or tampi.[1]
The town was known as Sumandig after a datu of the same name. The settlement however was officially called Baong upon its establishment as a visita in 1593 by the Augustinians. The name comes from the physical form of the settlement which was situated in a depression surrounded by low rising hills. The said name translates to kawa or vat, a cooking utensil similar to, but very much bigger than a carajay.
At around 1212, the site of modern-day Dingle was under the jurisdiction of Simsiman. The area was first inhabited by the Ati or Panay Negritos with Pulpulan as chief. Under Marikudo, son of Pulpulan, Simsiman remained as the seat of government of the Ati polity. The settlement was eventually called Sumandig after a datu whose domain covered the areas along Mount Putian from current-day barangay Lincud in the north to Suague river in the south and from the creek up to present-day barangay Alegria in the west.
Buyóng Labaw Donggon, the Suludnon god of gifts and graces of the 29,000-verse epic Hinilawod, one of the longest known in the world, built his home with his wife Uhay Tanayon beside the spring of Moroboro in Dingle.[2] It was noted that there were still native Mundos of Dingle who worshipped Labaw Donggon even until the last years of Spanish rule in the Philippines.[3] These worshippers would stealthily enter a certain cave in the evening of a certain day of the year in order to render homage and to offer chickens, doves, rice, bananas, and pigs to the ancient Visayan god.
In 1586, Datu Disayaran, chief of the Siwaragan settlement, and his son Datu Bantugan, led the serious aborted revolt against the Spaniards in Dingle, known at this point as Baong, by the descendants of the settlers from Borneo, the native priests called maaram, and the marauding Ati who refused conversion to the Catholic faith.[4]
The Augustinian priest Fray Francisco Manuel Blanco found Baong as a visita of Pototan in 1593 until it became a pueblo on April 23, 1611.[5]
In 1614, a Dutch fleet of 10 galleons under the command of Joris van Spilbergen were seen in Iloilo waters. Fray Diego de Oseguera, parish priest of Baong, and Fray Juan de Lecea, the Augustinian prior of Ogtong, came with supplies and did much to placate the people of Baong who were completely restless after seeing how little the Spaniards could do against the Dutch. 300 native allies who joined the Spaniards have been cornered and were unable to go anywhere because the natives were also at war. Through the intervention of the friars, the townspeople were led back to the pueblo after they have hunkered down from the mountains while soldiers were dying from lack of food after all the rice and every supply in the convent have been consumed. Fray Francisco Encinas of the Society of Jesus also came to hide in the convent of Baong.
In 1628, the pueblo of Baong and its visitas had two Augustinian priests and a population of 2,400. In 1629, however, the pueblo was nearly depopulated because of the incursion of the Ati who destroyed farms and killed most of the settlement's population. Only about 600 of the inhabitants survived. During the same year, Dingle was made a mere visita of Dumangas. In 1634, Fray Alonso de Méntrida managed to secure a seemingly independent existence for the settlement but in 1641, it was annexed as a visita to Laglag, present-day Dueñas, and remained as such for 182 years when it was again depopulated.
Re-establishment of the pueblo
On March 8, 1820, with the support of 31 cabezas de barangay of the principalía or the hispanized Christian descendants of the pre-colonial datus of Dingle and certification of the parish priest of Laglag, Fray Juan Raile (Dingle cura párroco, 1829–1849), a petition for the re-elevation of Dingle into a pueblo was submitted to Miguel Calderón, alcalde mayor (equivalent to the present-day provincial governor) of Iloilo, through the leadership of the Dingleño teniente mayor (municipal vice-mayor) of Laglag, Don Juan Marcelino Dayot (Dingle gobernadorcillo, 1829–1835). On April 28, 1823, Dingle was thus re-elevated into a pueblo after five years under Dumangas and 182 years under Laglag.[6] Its first gobernadorcillo in almost 200 years was Don Julio Dator (1823–1827). Two of the more notable gobernadorcillos of Dingle who sold some of their vast landholdings to pay for the tributes of their constituents were Don Magdaleno Muyco (1835–1843, 1851–1853) and Don Luís Cantalicio Dayot (1853–1861, 1869–1873), respectively better known to the Dingleanons as Tan Mano and Tan Cantaling.
On November 21, 1849, governor-general Clavería issued a decree requiring Filipinos to adopt Spanish and indigenous names from the Catalogo Alfabetico de Apellidos for civil and legal purposes. Upon the orders of Iloilo alcalde mayor Felipe Combe, surnames with the same initial letters as the initial letters of the corresponding pueblo were to be assigned. As such, surnames starting with the digraphs da- and de- were distributed to Dingle, e.g. Dairo, Daguro, Dayatan, Deaño, Deatrás.
On August 16, 1850, by order of governor-general Urbiztondo, Dingle became an independent parish. In 1865, Fray Fernando Llorente y Santos ordered the construction of the current structure of the Parish Church of St. John the Baptist which was completed in 1886.
Cry of Lincud
During the second phase of the Philippine Revolution against Spain during the Spanish–American War, Dingle staged the first armed uprising in the province of Iloilo and in the island of Panay. Now known as the "Cry of Lincud", the revolt occurred in Barrio Lincud on October 28, 1898. The leaders of the victorious uprising were Gen. Adriano Hernández y Dayot, Gen. Julio Hernández y Dayot, Maj. Estefano Muyco y Dayot, Maj. Nicolás Roces, Lt. Col. Francisco Jalandoni, and Col. Quintín Salas who fought together with 600 revolucionarios. Today, this event which started the Philippine Revolution in Iloilo is commemorated as a special non-working holiday.[7] [8]
In 1903, by virtue of Act No. 719, an Act reducing the fifty-one municipalities of the province of Iloilo to seventeen, Dingle, alongside Mina, was annexed to Pototan under the Americans, the latter being larger in population and was economically more prosperous. Nonetheless, through the efforts of then Iloilo 4th District Assemblyman Adriano Hernández y Dayot, the separation of the town from Pototan was given impetus in 1907.[9] Mina, however, would remain with Pototan until their eventual separation in 1968 by virtue of Republic Act No. 5442.[10]
The Americans believed that education is essential for self-rule so that they made this the keystone of their system of governance in the islands.[11] The school house then was called the "tribunal." The first one was built on the site presently occupied by the municipal building. A Mr. Eastman, an American, was principal. However, the teachers employed were Dingleanons. Notable among them was José Muyco y Dayot.
During the administration of municipal president Don Tomás Sanico in 1912–1915, the construction of the Gabaldon school house was started and it remains to be the main edifice of the Dingle Elementary School complex. Funds were provided for by an appropriation bill sponsored by Nueva Ecija Assemblyman Isauro Gabaldón. The building was completed in 1917 during the second term of municipal president Don Vicente Dayot (1916–1919). The first superior to hold office in the new building was Juan Datiles and its first school principal was José Lagora. The first Dingleanon principal however was Paciano Dajay.
The cause of education was further served during the terms of office of municipal presidents Don Luís Dayot y Roces (1925–1928) and Don Julio Muyco y Dayot (1931–1934, 1938–1945), and municipal mayor Cristino Abelardo Muyco Aportadera (1934–1938). It was during the incumbency of Luís R. Dayot when the Jalandoni-Dayot Elementary School was established. Dayot also donated a school building to the Bureau of Public Schools. More primary schools were opened in the barrios during the terms of office of the last two mentioned municipal mayors.
During his second term in office as municipal president (1919–1922), Julio Dayot Muyco became responsible for the establishment of the first peuriculture center in Dingle which extended basic health services to the townspeople. The Centro de Peuriculture de Dingle was incorporated on November 6, 1922 with María D. Dayot as president.[12]
Shortly after the establishment of American rule, the Philippine islands were afflicted by cholera and dysentery epidemics which caused the death of more than 200,000 people. Smallpox was likewise still unchecked by vaccination becoming a cause for considerable worry. During the administration of municipal president Don Cipriano J. Montero, Sr. (1928–1931), the antipolo system of human waste disposal was imposed.
Water
In 1926, during the term of office of Luís R. Dayot as municipal president, the Iloilo Metropolitan Waterworks, created by virtue of Commonwealth Act No. 3222 dated September 16, 1926, constructed their waterworks system in Barrio Lincud. Its original pipelines are still in operation as of date, supplying water to Dingle and Pototan. Two natural springs, Lubong-Tubig and Talinab, serve the as water source.
Immediately after the U.S. declaration of war on Japan on December 8, 1941, a squadron of Japanese planes flew over Dingle on its way to bomb Iloilo City. The townspeople went out of their houses into the streets and looked at the passing formation quite indifferent and unconcerned, unaware that war was going on. Only when a lone straggler, on its way from the bombing mission overflew the town at a very low altitude and directed bursts of machine gun fire against the citizen army training center, now Camp Adriano D. Hernandez, did the townspeople seek some sort of shelter.
Residents from the poblacion of Dingle left their homes and sought refuge in the town's far-flung barrios and mountainsides. They were joined by many others from Iloilo City and its adjoining towns, including Dingleanons who have been residing from other provinces. Among the more prominent who took shelter in Dingle were the families of post-war Iloilo governor Mariano Peñaflorida and post-war Iloilo 4th District Assemblyman Ceferino de los Santos of Pototan, and the brothers Eugenio and Fernando Lopez of Jaro, Iloilo. Peñaflorida stayed at Barrio Caguyuman at the foot of Mount Bulabog while the latter three sought refuge at Mount Dumingding. Thatched makeshift shelters and lean-tos blossomed overnight on the town's foothills and mountainsides. Many barrio residents shared their homes with the evacuees.
Iloilo Civil Resistance Government
In Iloilo, the civil resistance government, with headquarters at Barrio Moroboro, Dingle, was headed by Tomás Confesor as wartime governor of free Panay and Romblon with former Dingle municipal president Luís R. Dayot as assistant, who helped finance the war effort in Panay.[13] Former Dingle mayor Cristino Abelardo Muyco Aportadera was deputy governor.
In 1942, Julio Dayot Muyco and Numeriano Dayot Dator continued to act respectively as municipal mayor and vice-mayor of the Iloilo civil resistance government at Barrio Moroboro while Atty. José Dacudao was designated by the Japanese as puppet mayor and governed from the poblacion. Many Dingleanons were employed as clerks and aides, and as provincial guards. José Dacudao felt the futility of his efforts in complying with unreasonable Japanese demands and in helping the Dingleanons against Japanese cruelties and atrocities that he left the puppet mayorship. His wife, Remedios Dacudao, assumed the post from 1943–1945. It was during her tenure as puppet mayor when 14 Dingleanons were executed by the Japanese. A passing Japanese patrol rounded up 14 able-bodied Dingleanons suspected of being guerillas and were later beheaded on Dayot Street, behind the town's Catholic church. Mayor Remedios Dacudao was, however, able to offer some measure of help by persuading the Japanese to leave without added civilian casualties.
Guerilla movement
Among the Dingleanons who took a more active part in the military operations of the guerilla movement were Lt. Raymundo Muyco Espino and his elder brother, Lt. Alfonso Muyco Espino. Brig. Gen. Alfredo D. Dayot and Brig. Gen. Noé D. Dayot, survivors of the 1942 Bataan Death March, joined the former after they were released as prisoners of war in Capas, Tarlac. On the other hand, Gen. Vivencio D. Dayot, the first Filipino radar expert, was sent to the United States to avoid his capture by the Japanese forces as his contribution to the development of radar was vital to the needs of the Imperial Japanese Army. Others with similar notable exploits were Lt. Mateo Luto, Capt. Fulgencio Dairo, and Maj. Abelardo Muyco. These men, together with many other Dingleanons involved in the guerilla movement, took part in ambushes against enemy patrol and reconnaissance forces. These ambushes, however, often resulted in heightened enemy operations, then called "penetration" involving reprisal raids and search and destroy missions conducted against the civilian population.
Also in 1942, the guerillas burned all the houses and public buildings within the poblacion. Only the market place and the Catholic church were left practically undamaged. This they did while conducting some sort of scorched earth policy. The guerillas believed that with the houses and buildings gone, the Japanese would not set up a permanent garrison in the town.
Post-war rehabilitation
The war against Japan officially ended on September 2, 1945 with the signing of the term of formal surrender of the Japanese Imperial Government. The aftermath of the war found most of the poblacion in ruins. This, however, was the handiwork of the guerillas and not of the Japanese occupation forces.
The town made a rebound under the leadership of municipal mayor Julio Dayot Muyco, then serving a carry-over of his term. He initiated rehabilitation schemes for the municipality, with priorities extended to the peace and order situation, the re-establishment of classes, and the reconstruction of damaged roads and public buildings. The town's economy visibly improved. Market activities resumed in the poblacion's public market, first on Sundays, but later on through a consensus among the town's officials, on Saturdays.
It was also during this period when municipal mayor Julio Dayot Muyco worked out for the donation of a permanent site for the Dingle Citizen Army Training Center, an army training camp. Former Dingle municipal president, Luís R. Dayot, made the initial seven-hectare grassland donation for the said purpose. This site, now the Philippine Army Camp Adriano D. Hernandez, today serves as a training and mobilization center not only for the town and province of Iloilo, but also serves the country's citizen army training requirements.
Julián Masna was appointed municipal mayor in 1945 during the last days of the Commonwealth government under President Sergio Osmeña, and continued the reconstruction and rehabilitation work begun by Julio Dayot Muyco.
In 1947, Alfonso Muyco Espino was elected municipal mayor during the country's first post-war local elections. He ran as a Liberal against former puppet mayor Remedios Dacudao, a Nacionalista. During his administration, more municipal and barrio roads were constructed. The town plaza and the poblacion itself underwent major beautification changes. The swimming pool in Barrio Moroboro was deepened and widened. These improvements brought in more tourists, whose patronage generated some income for the municipality and for some enterprising small businesses that catered to their needs. In the same year, the Dingle Agricultural and Technical College (DATEC) and Dingle Junior High School were opened in Barrio San Matias.
In 1954, the sitio of Nazuni was converted into a barrio and was added as a barangay of Dingle.[14]
In 1955, President Ramon Magsaysay personally inaugurated the Jalaur Diversion Irrigation Dam constructed at Barrio Moroboro during the administration of municipal mayor Alfonso Muyco Espino and vice-mayor Maximiliano D. Dayot for the benefit of about 11,0000 farmers and 14,000 hectares of farmland in the municipalities of Dingle, Zarraga, Pototan, Barotac Nuevo, Dumangas, Anilao, and Banate.
In 1955–1956, José J. Perono composed the hymn "Town of Dingle," the official municipal hymn of the Municipality of Dingle, officially adopted by the municipality during the incumbency of municipal mayor Robin Espino Solinap (2001–2006).
The topography of Dingle is relatively rolling hills and narrow plains from the poblacion. The flat lands extend along the Jalaur River through its borderline to the southeast. This starts to roll upward from the poblacion going to the north-west. From the west of the poblacion rises the slopes, steep and mountainous. This indicates that the topography of Dingle meets a certain type-cropping pattern.
Dingle is from Iloilo City.
Dingle is politically subdivided into 33 barangays. Each barangay consists of puroks and some have sitios.
In the 2020 census, the population of Dingle, Iloilo, was 45,965 people, with a density of NaNPD/km2NaNPD/km2.
The Panay Diesel Power Plant located at Tinocuan and Tabugon, Dingle provides 110 megawatts of electricity to Panay. The power plant is operated by the National Power Corporation.
Two natural springs, Lubong-Tubig and Talinab, serve as the water source for the Dingle-Pototan Water District. While the Jalaur Diversion Irrigation Dam built in 1955, also known as Moroboro Dam, provides irrigation to the agricultural lands of Dingle and nearby towns.