Place:Miagao, Iloilo, Western Visayas, Philippines

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source: Family History Library Catalog

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Miagao (also written Miag-ao), officially the Municipality of Miagao, is a 1st class municipality in the province of Iloilo, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 68,115 people.

Miagao is considered as the "Onion Capital of the Visayas". The town center of the municipality lies on the western bank of the Tumagbok River, the largest river in the municipality. The poblacion is made up of eight barangays.

The town holds their patronal fiesta in honor of St. Thomas of Villanova (more commonly known as Santo Tomas de Villanueva) every September 22 that lasts several days. The town is also the location of one of the Baroque Churches of the Philippines, the Miagao Church, which was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The entire town of Miagao was later inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage City and became a member of the Organization of World Heritage Cities (OWHC).

History

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

A settlement in Damilisan were recorded by Spanish Map early in 1700 with 13,493 people and 2,974 houses. Miagao gained its independence as a municipality in 1716 . Prior to that, it used to be a part of an arrabal of four different towns in southern Iloilo. Until 1580, Miagao was an arrabal of Oton. From 1580 until 1652, it was an arrabal of Tigbauan. It was an arrabal of Suaraga (now San Joaquin) from 1652 to 1703 and before becoming independent, it became an arrabal of Guimbal from 1703 to 1716. In 1731, Miagao had its first capitan and teniente mayor (now equivalent to mayor and vice mayor) after an election was held in Guimbal under the supervision of Victorino C. Ma., an authorized representative of the governor.^[1]

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