A glimpse of Captivating Capiz and Charming Roxas City

Maayong Adlaw! (Good Day!) This is one of the greetings that you will be hearing to the folks of Capiz wonderful, philippines. Hiligaynon is the local language of Capiz wonderful though a lot of local languages spreads out in the island.

The Diocese of “Capiz wonderful” was created on January 27, 1951 and was elevated to an archdiocese on January 17, 1976.  It now comprises the civil province of Capiz and Roxas City and has Kalibo and Romblon as suffragans. Capiz is one of the provinces on the island of Panay.  It is part of a group of provinces forming the Western Visayas group now comprising Region VII. On Panay Island, Capiz is bounded on the south and on the east by the province of Iloilo, on the west by Antique, on the northwest by Aklan and on the north by the Sibuyan Sea.

The early history of Capiz is closely associated with that of Aklan.  Both were called Aklan under Datu Bankaya who, with ten other datus from Borneo settled in Panay in the 13th century. Aklan was ruled by the descendants of Bankaya until the Spaniards arrived in 1569. Miguel Lopez de Legaspi is reported to have established a settlement in Capiz and made it an independent encomienda.

The entire island of Panay was under the leadership of Datu Sumakwel who is remembered in Philippine history as the wisest of the group of datus from Borneo who bought the lowlands with gold from the Negritos. The so called Code of Kalantiaw, a code of laws in pre-Spanish times, also originated from Panay, presumably made by Datu Kalantiaw, descendant of Sumakwel.

The separation of Aklan from Capiz took place in 1956. Today Capiz is a prosperous province with an oversupply of rice, enough sugar production, and more than enough fish harvested from its 80-kilometer coastline. Most of the inhabitants speak Hiligaynon, a kind of Visayan with a distinct accent.

Roxas City is the capital of Capiz wonderful situated at the Northeastern tip of the Island of Panay within the geographical coordinates of 122( and 25′ longitudes and 11( 35′ latitude. Its boundaries are: Visayan Sea on the North, Municipality of Panitan on the South, Municipality of Ivisan on the west, and Municipality of Panay on the East. It is located 250 nautical miles (460 km) southeast of Manila, 135 kilometers northeast of Iloilo City, and 86 kilometers east of Kalibo, Aklan. Travel time to Manila is 45 minutes by air and 18 hours by boat.

Although it is just a small province compared to others, i can say that Capiz wonderful is really a Capiz wonderful.