Asodisen family tree

The municipality of Hinundayan was founded over two hundred years ago. It derives its name from an interesting legend traditionally accepted by the townspeople

During the early Spanish period, a group of soldiers went to the pueblo to determine the peace and order conditions existing. Legend states that the people at the time were preparing for their fiesta that was to take place the following day. The windows of all the houses were decorated with seashells colored with native dyes as was the custom of the time, among the well-to-do. The Spaniards, surprised at the display, asked what these things meant. The natives, ignorant of the Castillian language, answered in their tongue, "Ang hinungdan niini dayan-dayan." (The purpose of this is for decoration.) Since then, the Spaniards have referred to the pueblo as such. Since it was a difficult name to remember, much less pronounce, the name was changed to its present form: Hinundayan.

Church records as early as 1853 show that the official name of the town was Hinundayan.

In 1752 and for two years thereafter, the town was continually raided and pillaged by moro pirates under the much-feared moro bandit, Agud-ud. The moros burned all the homes and public buildings including the church which was built by the Jesuit missionaries. Because the moro pirates decided to stay within the sitio, the people moved their barangay to another site which was then called Ylihan. Finally, however, the moros left at their own accord and the natives returned to their former pueblo and began to rebuild what the pirates had destroyed.

In 1883, the pueblo was inaugurated as a municipality. On May 9, 1885, the new town was erected into a parish with Fr. Manuel Concuera as the first parish priest. A year after the outbreak of the revolution against Spanish rule, the town was annexed as a barrio again to the municipality of Hinunangan.

The American forces arrived in 1901 and established their headquarters at Hinunangan. Peace and order had not been restored yet due to the active guerilla maneuvers of the insurrectors, so Hinundayan had to remain under the jurisdiction of Hinunangan.

On January 1, 1910, Hinundayan was inaugurated as a full-fledged municipality. It was under Mayor Inocentes Villaflor that the town won its independence from Hinunangan. Previously, Villaflor had succeeded in opening the first intermediate classes in the locality. It was the only complete elementary course in the southern part of the province.

World Wary II broke out and the years of occupation passed without any major change in the municipality.

However, Japanese troops occupied the town one-month after the declaration of unconditional surrender by the Filipino troops to the Japanese Imperial forces. A puppet mayor was designated. The appointed mayor campaigned for the return of the evacuees to their homes. When the Japanese moved out of the town upon orders from their headquarters at Tacloban, the town enjoyed comparative peace for two years.

A guerrilla band under the leadership of Atanacio Asodisen was organized, and with his three brothers as captains of the band, there arose fear in the town proper because of the existence of an organized guerrilla movement. With the aid of the Japanese soldiers, which came upon hearing of the Asodisen guerrillas, the puppet mayor was re-instated.

On October 21, 1944, two American airplanes sunk a Japanese ship, as it was about to drop anchor at Hinundayan Gulf. Those who survived proceeded to Tacloban by land. The Filipinos who decided to cast their fate with the Japanese accompanied them.

On the following day, October 22, Hinundayan was finally free from the clutches of Japanese rule.

The people returned to their homes and the Municipal government again began to function under peacetime conditions. Acting Mayor Teodoro Niog took the reins of the town government until the inauguration of Philippine Independence. Leoncio Olarte, the first mayor under the new regime, succeeded him.

Hinundayan like other coastal towns is blessed with an abundance of natural resources.

A fourth class municipality, Hinundayan produces copra as a major product. Fishing is one of the major industries and the catch of more than three tons annually are sent to neighboring towns as well as to Cebu.