Aklan: History
=== Early history ===
Aklan is believed to have been settled in ancient times by settlers from Borneo, ruled by Datu Bangkaya, with his seat at Madyanos, near present-day Numancia.
Several datus succeeded Datu Manduyog until the Spanish explorer Miguel López de Legazpi landed in Batan in 1565 and claimed the island for Spain, in early Spanish accounts it was called El Río de Aclán. According to an 1818 census, Aklan which was still in political union with the province of Capiz had municipalities with large amounts of Spanish-Filipino families, of which Batan had 56, Banga had 8, Malinao had 11, Kalibo had 167, and Ibajay 30.
In 1942, the Japanese invaded Aklan during World War II. In 1945, combined Filipino and American army along with Aklanon guerrillas liberated Aklan during the war in the Pacific.
Aklan (Akean) became an independent province through Republic Act No. 1414 signed by Philippine President Ramon Magsaysay on April 25, 1956, separating Aklan from Capiz. The original towns were Altavas, Balete, Batan, Banga, Buruanga, Ibajay, Kalibo, Lezo, Libacao, Madalag, Malay, Makato, Malinao, Nabas, New Washington, Numancia, and Tangalan, then all part of the province of Capiz. The province was inaugurated on November 8, 1956. Jose Raz Menez was appointed the first governor of Aklan by President Magsaysay and he served until December 30, 1959.
In 1960, Godofredo P. Ramos became the first elected governor but upon resigning to run for Congress he was succeeded by the vice governor, Virgilio S. Patricio. In 1964, José B. Legaspi succeeded Patricio and he held office for two consecutive terms from 1964 to 1971.
The beginning months of the 1970s had marked a period of turmoil and change in the Philippines, as well as in Aklan. During his bid to be the first Philippine president to be re-elected for a second term, Ferdinand Marcos launched an unprecedented number of foreign debt-funded public works projects. This caused the Philippine economy to take a sudden downwards turn known as the 1969 Philippine balance of payments crisis, which led to a period of economic difficulty and a significant rise of social unrest. With only a year left in his last constitutionally allowed term as president, Ferdinand Marcos placed the Philippines under Martial Law in September 1972 and thus retained the position for fourteen more years. This period in Philippine history is remembered for the Marcos administration's record of human rights abuses, particularly targeting political opponents, student activists, journalists, religious workers, farmers, and others who fought against the Marcos dictatorship. Aklanons discovered that they could be arrested for even mundane things like being caught possessing a cassette tape of nationalistic songs.
With no way to express their grievances about government abuses after the declaration of Martial law in 1972, many students felt they had no option but to join the underground resistance movement against the dicttorship. Among the most prominent of them were underground movement leaders Antonio "Tonyhil" Hilario, Rolly Lorca, and Antonio Tagamolia, who were killed in a raid in Libacao in February 1974; as well as student journalist Antonio "Diore" Mijares and Baptist Youth organizer Edward Dela Fuente, who were caught, tortured, and killed somewhere in Ibajay on Good Friday, April 20, 1984. …