When we think of “Sugarlandia,” our minds almost instinctively drift across the Tañon Strait to the sprawling haciendas of Negros, with their romantic ruins and vast, emerald fields. But we often forget that long before the sugar barons of Bacolod built their palaces, Talisay City, Cebu, was a beating heart of the Spanish colonial sugar industry. If you walk through the modern streets of Talisay today, amidst the subdivisions and the bustle of the South Road Properties, you are walking over the bones of an industrial giant that once dictated the rhythm of life for thousands. Yet, what may seem at first like an insignificant long gone ruin holds a secret of violence, death, and the birth of a revolution in Cebu. Now, it is a relatively unknown part of history: from a time that still shapes the way the city has developed until today.
THE HISTORY OF THE SUGAR INDUSTRY IN TALISAY
The cultivation of sugarcane became immensely popular not only in Cebu but across the entire Visayas region, fueled by the ease of trade and various incentives provided by the Spanish Government. By the 1840s, sugarcane was being cultivated in most Cebuano towns, including Mandaue, San Nicolas, and Talisay. By the 1860s, production had expanded further west to Toledo and Balamban – a result of the opening of trade in the Philippines to the world through Governor General Basco and the opening of the Suez Canal. In 1882, with the assistance of the friars, the first of two sugar mills was constructed. It was known as the “Maquina de Vapor,” likely a reference to the constant plumes of steam emitted by the mill’s machinery. Sugarcane was harvested from as far south as Carcar, with Talisay serving as the final milling station before the product was transported to the city for international export.
Although sugar production in Talisay quadrupled between 1840 and 1860, the town still lagged behind larger municipalities with greater populations and more expansive plantations. An 1890 study mapping sugar production across Cebu ranked Talisay 12th out of 40 towns. During the Spanish period, the standard unit of measurement was the Pico, equivalent to approximately 63.45 kg. Talisay produced 11,250 Picos—significantly less than the leading producer, Medellin, which recorded 72,000 Picos, and even trailing behind its neighbor, Minglanilla, at 15,000 Picos. Despite the modest volume of locally grown cane, the Talisay mill reportedly never stopped belching steam; day and night, caravans arrived laden with sugarcane harvested from various other regions across the island. It can be concluded that Talisay was a processing area for the sugar, rather than being its primary producer.
The Maquina de Bapor was located in what is now Sitio Uldog/Oldog in Talisay City, Cebu (Keep the name of the location in mind.) The sugar mill was established and built in 1882 and was owned, at the time, by the Augustinian friars. Machinery and other equipment was most likely made in Spain or in Britain and then imported through companies in Cebu City which had already become accustomed to the importation of foreign products. From what can be gathered using the few scant photographs available and some descriptions by elderly locals who witnessed the ruins when they weren’t so ruined, this is the setup of the Maquina de Bapor.
There were three structures which comprised the Maquina de Bapor sugar mill. First, there was a large rectangular, possible, bunkhouse made of cut coral stone blocks that covered a coral rubble foundation – typical of structures of the time meant for durability and permanence. A theoretical usage was that this structure was where the employees would sleep after a days work or where the engineer/overseer of the entire operation would have his office. Second, there were two 6-7 meter tall octagonal chimneys from which the smoke would belch out during the processing of the sugar (thus the name “Maquina De Bapor” was born.) Both of the chimneys were of a considerable thickness and were made of the same material as the possible bunkhouse. They are robustly built, with large stones at the base. In other areas of the Philippines these would be called “Horno” in Luzon, “Simborio” in Negros. The local name for this chimney structure was “Panghaw.” The whole area was cleared of vegetation. If not a permanent feature of the Sugar mill, an engineer or overseer was present to manage the day-to-day operations of the Maquina De Bapor.
THE DEATH OF BALDOMERO BALLONGA AND HIS FAMILY
The story of the Maquina De Bapor does not end, however, with just being used as a processing plant for the Sugar products destined for foreign markets. It must be noted that there existed a deep enmity between the land-owning Augustinian Order and the local land tenants who had only become tenants due to a perceived land-grab by the friars of the order. As a primarily agricultural town with soil rich in nutrients, Talisay had long been a producer of crops in Cebu, however, the Augustinian Order laid claim to much of the land in Talisay and Minglanilla, thus forming the Talisay-Minglanilla Friar Estate. This estate of the friars grew to several thousand hectares – some 8,000 more or less and comprised nearly the entirety of Talisay and Minglanilla at the time – a textbook example of a hacienda. The extent was so great, it made the government struggle to find land to build their own civic structures (as was the case in Talisay when the Municipal Hall was first built.) The townspeople were already angered by the fact that they could not own land of their own and looked towards a symbol of Augustinian power in the town: the Maquina De Bapor sugar mill. The people probably saw the structure for more than what it was: it was a target as it directly supported the friars who, in their eyes, were undermining them. Even hidden in the name of the Sitio it was built on holds a clue into the hatred of some locals towards them. “Uldog” means something along the lines of “Bloated like a frog” or “Puffed-up,” referring to the friars.
The tension would come to head when the Philippine revolution came to Cebu. A day before the famous events of “Tres De Abril” or the Battle of April 3, 1898, in Cebu City, one of the first offensive actions of the revolutionaries was in Talisay. On April 2, 1898, future General Potenciano Aliño (A notable writer, a native of Talisay, who would become a general in the Philippine-American war) and Martin Cabuenas (who would later become a “self-styled Captain-General” and lead 200 men against the Americans from 1900-1902 then later be sentenced to death) , gathered the men who had been persuaded to the side of the revolution and attacked the headquarters of the much hated Guardia Civil in Talisay. The revolutionaries slaughtered the entire garrison assigned to keep the peace in Talisay and killed their Spanish commanding officer. They left the Guardia Civil headquarters and marched forward towards another hated symbol of Spanish tyranny: the Maquina De Bapor.
Presumably, there was not enough time to hear of the news of the violence happening in the Poblacion, as there were still several people at the sugar mill when the revolutionaries arrived. The revolutionaries attacked and killed Baldomero Ballonga – a Spanish engineer employed by a company working on public infrastructure and the overseer of the mill. There were six other persons at the site: his Filipina wife, and their five children. They too were not spared from the carnage, and were dispatched along with Baldomero Ballonga. The seven bodies were presumably buried at the site of their deaths. It is unknown in what order the Ballonga family was killed – only that they died together with not a single survivor among them. However, there was one survivor of this attack, a certain Hilario Gandionco. Gandionco was a cartilla teacher of Talisay who was spared, for he was known to treat Filipinos kindly and because of his work as a teacher. Next, the revolutionaries would move north towards the city, leaving the Maquina De Bapor in shambles after the violent attack. The mill never reopened its doors: having only been in operation for sixteen years until it was forcefully shut down while meeting a violent end.
Note: There is a Baldomero Crespo Ballonga from Calanda, Spain. I am not sure if he is the same mentioned here.
THE BOOM AND BUST OF THE SUGAR INDUSTRY
Before the decline of the sugar industry in Cebu, there was a massive boom. Necessitated by the growing hunger for agricultural products from the Philippines such as Manila hemp, massive American companies began to establish themselves in Cebu. It was in 1921 when the Talisay Sugar Central was built in Barangay Mohon by the Hawaiian Sugar Planters Association; it served in conjunction with the Bogo-Medellin Milling Company to serve the hungry needs of export products. However, the decline would come in the form of the Hare-Hawes Cutting Act of 1933 and the Tydings-Mcduffie act of 1934 that promised independence for the Philippines, but also imposed tariffs and trade restrictions that hampered and constricted the flow of goods between the colony and the colonizer. To add to the decline of the Sugar industry in Cebu, the Talisay Sugar Central burned down on April 7th, 1933. Much of the capacity and need for Cebu to produce sugar simply disappeared or was prohibitively expensive to the point that rebuilding the Sugar Central of Talisay was uneconomical. The final blow came on March 26, 1945, during the “Talisay Landing.” of World War 2. To liberate Cebu from the Japanese, American destroyers and aircraft pounded the coast. The stone ruins of the mill were probably damaged because of the bombs and shells from the sea and above – much like the other heritage structures in Talisay.
After World War 2, it could not be said that the Sugar industry died in its totally. Rather, it transitioned into more locally owned, smaller scale ventures. No Sugar Central was ever built in Talisay again, and the sugarcane fields dwindled in number. Nevertheless, some families like the Kong Family of San Isidro started their own Sugar mill as early as 1954 through Marpepe Mills. The family continued the long running business of sugar processing and has prospered until today. The Kong family was an exception though, and much of the farm land once devoted to the cultivation of sugar cane was converted into rice or corn fields.
THE MEMORY AND LEGACY OF THE MAQUINA DE BAPOR
Following the attack on it in 1898 and the neglect during the American period, followed by years of post-war disinterest, the already precarious ruins fell more into decay. Though this may be the case, there are still those who have in their memory, stories of the area and the strange sightings and occurrences: marking it as a landmark of the town where many had come to fear. First, we have Dolores Plaza, 93, who narrates how in the 1950s, she and her friends would walk on the road that would pass right in front of the ruins on the way to the neighboring Barangay Tabunok. One time, as they were heading home in the early evening as it began to rain, they were accosted by what she describes as “A floating fire, bluish and orange.” The “spirit” chased them from the front of the ruins all the way to the corner of a house closer to the Poblacion where it finally left them. Dolores and her friends were terrified. They swore to themselves that they would never pass by that area again at night. Based on other experiences in the town, it is possible that Dolores Plaza encountered a “Santilmo” or St. Elmo’s fire. She also clarified that there were two chimneys, but one was pulled down for its durable building materials.
Another local resident, Romuel Angcon, says that in the 1980s and 1990s, he observed the existence of scattered human remains at the base of the chimney in the form of clearly defined skulls. He explains how the remains were brought to the surface due to the flooding brought about by Typhoon Ruping and Typhoon Nitang. He would have investigated further, but chose not to out of respect for the souls of the dead, in addition to stories he had heard as a child of the many who perished at the Sugar mill. Knowing the history of where he was looking, it becomes plausible that the human remains Mr. Angcon saw were the remains of Baldomero Ballonga and his family. It appears they never had the chance at a proper repatriation.
Today, there are no more ruins or remnants. What was previously the site of the Maquina de Bapor was sold to a prominent family in Talisay who later sold it in 2007 to a commercial firm. If you look at the current area, you will only find a large tile exporter and a electric tricycle display center. The robust materials of the ruins were sold to two locals. One local went on to cart away the cut coral stones they purchased and use them as decoration for their home garden. Another local bought the materials, using them as fill to make some land they own in a marshy land higher to defend against floods. Such is the fate of many heritage structures: to fall in the face of modernization, though, in the stones that remain, they have seen so much history. The memory of the Maquina De Bapor fades, but I record it here for future generations – a record of a place full of historical value and tragic events. Thank you for reading this long article (if you did reach the end.)
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