HISTORY OF TAMBUNAC

Researcher: ROBE JAN IVAN P. PAGULONG

Grammarian: MARY JOY PALERMO-DAPAT

Tambunac was originally a sitio of Barrio De la Paz. Sitio Tambunac occupied most of the
plains on both sides of the east while Hurman-Hurman Creek (now Agutayan Creek), running from
up-stream source in Barrio De la Paz, down to Cabugao where Tambunac are rolling hills that extend
up to the adjacent barangays of Bantayan and Paga.

Tambunac got its name from “Tabun-ac”, a tall grass that abundantly grew in the area before.
During the Spanish period, there were many bandits who plundered and looted the different towns
and barangays of Panay Island. One day as the Spanish soldiers was working the spewing searching
the bandits; they met a group of natives cutting Tabun-ac grass. They approached a woman carrying
a bundle of Tabun-ac for fuels. The Spaniards asked the name of this place. The woman could not
understand the languages. She answered that she is carrying Tabun-ac for fuel. Ah! Tabun-ac. The
soldiers mispronounced the word “Tabun-ac” for “Tambunac”, and when they returned to their
garrison, they told their Commandant that the place is called Tambunac.

With the Cadastral survey of Passi in 1922, the barrios of the Municipality of San Enrique
(then an arrabal) were also surveyed and their boundaries defined, most of the inhabitants of Barrio
De la Paz, however, transferred to Sitio Tambunac due to its favorable topographical situation. And
when government infrastructures and a primary school were built along the population center,
Tambunac outplaced in development its mother Barrio De la Paz which had been gradually relegated
into Sitio. When the Municipality of San Enrique was recreated in 1957, by virtue of Executive Order
No. 259, signed by President Tambunac was legally constituted into a barrio.

With the advent of electrification plus the benefits of a newly constructed communal
irrigation project, Tambunac with its two (2) sitios Pagdalidun (now part of sitio Malipayon) and De
la Paz (now part of sitio Lobo) is moving forward to find its place in the company of other
revolutionized rural communities

The first barangay captain appointed after the recreation of the barrio Tambunac in 1957 was
Federico Pamposa. He served as barangay captain from 1957 to 1966. He was followed by Jaime
Palomo Paclibar in 1966 until 1976. Leon Estrella served as the third barangay captain from 1976
until the EDSA Revolution in 1986. After the EDSA Revolution and the approval of the new
constitution, Rodolfo Palabrica was appointed as barangay captain from 1986 to 1987. In 1987,
Federico Pamposa became the barangay captain and served from 1987 to 1992. After the Local
Government Code of the Philippines was implemented, Ernesto Pabilona was elected as punong
barangay and served from 1992 to 2002. In 2002, Bernardo Palabrica Pagulong was elected and
served from 2002 to 2007. Jose Panes Pachica was elected to serve as punong barangay from 2007
to 2013. He was followed by Raul Pabilona Uy, who served from 2013 to 2018. In 2018, Rubirosa
Lagutang Pabilona was elected as the first woman to serve as punong barangay up to the present. /