Municipality of Isabela

Isabela is a 3rd class municipality in the province of Negros Occidental, Philippines. According to the 2000 census, it has a population of 48,719 people in 9,469 households. Isabela is known for BISCOM (Binalbagan Isabela Sugar Company).

Isabela was known before as a part of Binalbagan when the Spaniard arrived to the island of Negros. The place was once inhabited by native people with full of tattoos in the body called “Pintados”. The natives, however, called those occupying the coastal areas as the “Higuencinas” while those in the upland and hills were called “Igneines”. Among the early villages in the area of Isabela was “Tinungan”. During the Spanish occupation of the island when the town of Himamaylan was founded “Tinungan” was made a visita Parish of Himamaylan and makeshift chapel of bamboo and nipa and sawali was built there. The site of the “first church” however, was plague by recurring floods during the rainy days when the river would overflow. In 1834, the Parish Priest of Himamaylan, Father Agustin Silva transferred the church Tinongan to another place called “Manacup”, which is now the present site of the Poblacion of Isabela.

Festivals

Tigkalalag Festival of the Municipality of Isabela celebrated every 2nd day of November is the most peculiar festival of Negros Occidental.

This is the Isabeleños way of giving respect to the souls of our departed loved-ones in a form of merry-making and a way of giving recognition to the super naturals spirits in the third dimensional world which our Filipino forefathers believed in.

Tigkalalag Festival does not depict pagan rituals but merry-making activity, unlike in the mid 40’s that children were threatened by their forefathers to be at home during the Angelus because they might be made as “daga’ or offering to the sugar mills to appease the spirits living in the “mariit” site.

With the advent of modern technology and science, this festival is considered to be the past culture and is only reminisced to give recognition to the human and superhuman forces.

Famous Landmarks

Glory Hill has a cross on top which was built by an American engineer of Binalbagan-Isabela Sugar Company (BISCOM). The hill is visited by penitents during the holy week.

Ancestral House of the Miranda Family is a century-old house where bita is found. The tree bears flowers during the summer and scents permeates throughout the area.

Century-old Bell is widely considered as the sweetest-sounding bell in all of Negros in the past.

Lima Lima Falls is 13 kilometers away from the Poblacion. It is said to be the home of Papa Isio- the acknowledge “pope” of the Babaylanes who fought the Guardia Sibil during the Spanish period.