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Not long after the arrival of the Spanish expedition led by Miguel Lopez de Legazpi in the Philippines in 1565, the colonizers moved to Panay. This was in 1569 when they were compelled to vacate Cebu for lack of food supplies and also because of the Portuguese threat. Thereupon, they established the first Spanish settlement, in the town of Pan-ay in the present Province of Capiz. This second settlement in the country became the radiating center of further exploration and proselytization of the northern part of Panay. The parish of Pan-ay included the adjacent towns of Pilar, Dao, Ivisan and Pontevedra in Capiz, and Carles in Iloilo (Claparols 1967). The Spanish colonizers, with Pan-ay as their base of operation, pushed further into some unexplored portions of the Capiz area which, at that time, included some sections of present-day Aklan. The colonizers established settlements in Dumalag, Dumarao, Batan, Ibajay, Kalibo and other places (Blair & Robertson 1903-1909). Kalibo (the present capital of the Province of Aklan) was founded by Fr. Andres de Aguirre, an Augustinian missionary and a companion of Legaspi. The capital of the Spanish administration was eventually moved to the town of Capiz (now Roxas City). From the very start of the Spanish occupation of Capiz, there was already opposition from inhabitants. The leaders of the resistance movements were mostly babaylans who tried very hard to win back the natives to their indigenous beliefs and who made the Suhot Caves as their headquarters and meeting place. Significantly, the Negritos joined those led by the babaylans in opposing Christianity and the impositions of the Spaniards. Another headache of the Spaniards in the Philippines at that time was the threat of the Moros from the south. In 1659, for example, when Legaspi was in the town of Pan-ay, the natives, especially from Kalibo and Ibajay, sought his aid against the Moro warriors who frequently devastated settlements in Capiz and the Aklan section. Legaspi sent the youthful Juan Salcedo to their aid, and his force consisting of Spanish soldiers and about 500 native warriors defeated the Moros and pursued the enemies who fled to Mindoro and Batangas (Regalado & Franco 1973). Among the known uprisings to Spanish rule in Capiz was the Dumalag Rebellion. One time, a very strict Spanish government official by the name of Duran was put in charge of the town. He abused his position and committed a lot of grave abuses. Finding out that no form of protest could make Duran stop his misdeeds, the people rose up in arms against him, threatening to burn his house and to kill him. Fortunately for Duran, the local parish priest intervened and appealed to the enraged inhabitants and, in the end, the latter were pacified. (Regalado & Franco 1973). As one can see in the above accounts, Capiz was considered by the Spaniards as an important and strategic point in their political and religious ambitions in the archipelago. This was the reason why, early in time, they already established a political base in the area from where they penetrated the interior sections and, moreover, laid the foundation of the Catholic religion, through the Augustinian missionaries, in the province as early as 1569.
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