Escalante used to be known as Manlambus meaning “to strike with a club” because its coastal waters were teeming with fishes that can be caught by using a club or lambus. The capital of Escalante used to be Nueva Sevilla, a coastal community which is known today as Old Poblacion.
The Parish of St. Francis of Assisi was established by the Augustinian Recollects in 1860 when the parish separated from Silay. The parish’s territory extended from Guihulngan to Cadiz. It was the first appointed Parish Priest, Father Cipriano Navarro, who renamed Manlambus to Escalante after his Spanish hometown.
According to the book Handurawan: Visita Iglesia Negros Y Recoletos, it was Father Gregorio Aperte, Parish Priest of Vito, was responsible for the construction of the old church of Escalante.
When we went to the church ruins in 2009, I saw some old photographs displayed on the walls of the church office. Below is a 1960’s photograph of the 100 years celebration of the Barangay Sang Birhen with Parish Priest Teodulf Vrakking. The St. Francis of Assisi Church of Old Poblacion, Escalante can be seen in the background.
The church was made of white coral stone. Unfortunately, this once beautiful church today stands in ruins. Earthquakes and typhoons devastated the church that reconstructing it would no longer be safe. This eventually leads the parish to build a new church in the 1980s.
The St. Francis of Assisi Church Ruins of Escalante is classified as Historical Structure by virtue of NHI Resolution No. 3, series of October 22, 1991.
Martyr of Escalante
If only the walls could speak, they were silent witness to a murder of an Augustinian Recollect priest in 1909. On the night of May 15, 1909, Fr. Victor Baltañas was hacked in the head by an Aglipayan assassin. The American bishop of Jaro said he was slain “solely because he was a priest and religious.” The perpetrators of the crime were brought to justice and were sentenced to life imprisonment.
The remains of Father Baltañas were buried inside the church of Old Poblacion and were exhumed only in 1995.