Place:Abra, Cordillera Administrative, Philippines

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Abra, officially the Province of Abra, is a 3rd class province in the Cordillera Administrative Region of the Philippines. Its capital is the municipality of Bangued. It is bordered by Ilocos Norte on the northwest, Apayao on the northeast, Kalinga on the mid-east, Mountain Province on the southeast, and Ilocos Sur on the southwest.

History

the text in this section is copied from an article in Wikipedia

Pre-colonial period

The first inhabitants of Abra were the ancestors of the Bontocs and the Ifugaos. These inhabitants eventually left to settle in the old Mountain Province. Other early inhabitants were the Tingguians or Itnegs as they are also known.

Spanish era

In 1585 the Tingguians were mentioned for the first time in a letter from Father Domingo de Salazar to the King of Spain.

In 1598 Bangued was occupied by Spanish-Iloko forces. The Spanish established a garrison to protect their missionaries from head hunters so that they could Christianize the Tingguians and locate gold mines.

Bangued was under the care of the Spanish missions in Vigan and Bantay. Fr. Esteban Marin and Fr. Agustin Minon established a mission in Bangued as early as 1598. On April 5, 1612 Fr. Pedro Columbo became the first minister. It would seem that this actuation of the Augustinians was precipitated by the Dominican take-over of the ministry of Narvacan. The Dominicans wanted to convert Narvacan as a mission center to evangelize the other parts of Abra. To check this Dominican move, the Augustinians elevated Bangued as a ministry.

Fr. Juan Pareja OSA, a former parish priest in Bantay, led the conversion of the province. Fr. Pareja came to Abra in 1626. He is reported to have converted as many as 3,000 inhabitants including the chieftain Miguel Dumaual. Fr. Pareja founded the mission of San Diego and later the ministry of Bangued. He established the following towns as visitas of Bangued: Tayum, Sabangan and Bukao (now Dolores). Inspired by Fr. Juan Pareja these towns battled almost daily against the rancherias of Palang, Talamuy, Bataan, Kabulao, Kalauag, and Langiden.

Fr. Jose Polanco OP contributed to the conversion Abra. A man of austere mortification, died in Abra in 1679. He was considered a saint by the locals.

Fr. Bernardino Lago OSA arrived in the early 19th century. In 1823 Fr. Lago began work in Pidigan. After 25 years the Christians there numbered about a thousand "baptized, living in community, with schools, church and municipal house, tilling the earth to support themselves and their children." Fr. Lago also founded the town of La Paz. Fr. Galende enumerates the foundation of the other towns of Abra:

• Tayum, 1803
• San Gregorio, 1829
• Pidigan, 1823
• La Paz, 1832
• Bucay, 1847
• San Jose, 1848
• Villavieja, 1862
• San Quintin, 1868
• Dolores, 1882
• Pilar, 1882
• San Juan, 1884
• Alfonso XII, 1884

Originally the area was called El Abra de Vigan ("The Opening of Vigan"). During the British Occupation of the Philippines Gabriela Silang and her army fled to Abra from Ilocos and continued the revolt begun by her slain husband Diego Silang. She was captured and hanged by the Spanish in 1763.

In 1818 the Ilocos region was divided into Ilocos Norte and Ilocos Sur. On October 9, 1846 Abra became an independent province with the capital and residence of the provincial governor located in Bucay. In 1863 the capital was transferred to Bangued, the province's oldest town. It remained so until the arrival of the Americans in 1899.

American period

In 1908 the Philippine Commission annexed Abra into Ilocos Sur in an attempt to resolve Abra's financial difficulties. On March 9, 1917 the Philippine Assembly re-established Abra as a province under Act 2683.

World War II

In 1942 Japanese forces occupied the Philippines and seized Abra.

Abra was liberated by the Philippine Commonwealth forces and local Cordilleran guerrillas during the Battle of Abra in 1945 at the end of the Second World War.

Modern history

The revolutionary Marxist priest Conrado Balweg, who fought for the rights of the Cordillera tribes, began his crusade in Abra. After successfully negotiating a peace accord with Balweg's group in 1987 the Philippine government created the Cordillera Administrative Region, which includes Abra.

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