Bantay

Bantay is a 3rd class municipality in the province of Ilocos Sur. It is bordered by Santa and Vigan to the south, San Vicente and Santa Catalina to the west, San Ildefonso and Santo Domingo to the north, Magsingal to the northeast and Langiden and San Quintin, Abra to the east. The dominant language is Ilocano and Tagalog is also spoken here. It is populated by 37, 118 people

**History**

The early Spanish settlers made the town beautiful by building the 'tribunal', otherwise known as the town hall, the church, bell tower, roads and streets by forced labor. The St. Augustine Church was originally made of bamboo and cogon structure by Bantay residents to house the miraculous Image of Our Lady of Charity, but it was later-on changed into a permanent edifice (built and completed in 1590) because of the good fortune it brought to the people. The Augustinian friars chose St. Augustine de Hippo, the Doctor of Grace, as the Patron Saint and the town fiesta used to be celebrated every 28 August, but because of inclement weather during this month, Most Rev. Alfredo Verzosa (Parish Priest, 1912–1916) caused the transfer of the festivity to May 5 every year.

The original inhabitants of the town have family names with letter "P" taken from the designated listing, as an adopted system of the Spanish rulers in all towns of Ilocos Sur, to easily identify and monitor movement of residents. In a report of Most Reverend Bishop Domingo de Soria on August 15, 1613, the population of Bantay was 4,000 souls while at that time, Vigan has only 2,000. This can be explained by the fact that by then, Bantay parish was very extensive and broad the inclusions of the parishes of Magsingal (separated in 1676), Santo Domingo (separated in 1742), San Ildefonso (separated in 1769), San Vicente (Separated in 1795), Santa Catalina de Baba (separated in 1795) and Santa Catalina de Alexandria within its coverage or "visitas".

One of the Augustinian friars, Rev. Francisco Lopez, a great Augustinian philologist, with the help of Pedro Bukaneg, the blind genius of the Ilocano tongue who was from this place and author of the epic - "Biag Ni Lam-ang", labored hard to translate the *Bellarmine Cathechism* originally written by Robert Cardinal Bellarmine. The book was approved at the **Bantay Convent** in 1616 printed in Malayan Script and Spanish alphabet and was first published in 1621. The Bellarmine Catechism was the first book in Ilocano to be printed and its influence on the morality, culture and language of the entire Ilocos is measurable.

Several battles have spillovers in Bantay, one of which was the Ilocos Revolution (Dec. 24, 1762 to May 1763) led by Diego Silang. Here, this heroic figure resolved to kill the bishop-elect Bernardo Ustariz and all Spanish friars imprisoned by him in Bantay. The prisoners prayed fervently to Our Lady of Charity for their deliverance until a Spanish mestizo nicknamed "Miguel Vicos" treacherously killed Silang on May 28, 1763, with a pistol at his makeshift fort on a place on a hillside referred to as **Calle Encuentro** (now Crisologo Street). For the Spaniards, the treacherous Vicos was their savior and to his honor a commemorative monument was erected in 1763 which became the epitome of the Town Plaza. It is replaced later by a memorial to Diego Silang towards the end of the 19th century.

Bantay is politically subdivided into 34 barangays. In alphabetical order

* Aggay
* An-annam
* Balaleng
* Banaoang
* Bulag
* Buquig
* Cabalanggan
* Cabaroan
* Cabusligan
* Capangdanan
* Guimod
* Lingsat
* Malingeb
* Mira
* Naguiddayan
* Ora
* Paing
* Puspus
* Quimmarayan
* Sagneb
* Sagpat
* San Mariano (formerly *Sallacong*)
* San Isidro
* San Julian
* Sinabaan
* Taguiporo
* Taleb
* Tay-ac
* Barangay 1 (Poblacion)
* Barangay 2 (Poblacion)
* Barangay 3 (Poblacion)
* Barangay 4 (Poblacion)
* Barangay 5 (Poblacion)
* Barangay 6 (Poblacion)