Spanish colonization Silay was first settled in 1565, under the name
"Carobcob", which means "to scratch" in
Kinaray-a; residents of the settlement relied upon harvesting
tuway clams, which involved "scratching" (or raking) the sands for the
mollusks at low tide, as a means of livelihood. In early writings, the settlement was also referred to as
"Calubcub",
"Caracol" and
"Caraco". The last two variations mean "snail" or a "spiral" in
Spanish.
Carobcob was built near the mouth of a
creek; nothing is left of the village today.
Carobcob was granted as an
encomienda to Cristobal Nuñez Paroja, one of the seventeen soldiers of
Miguel López de Legazpi on January 25, 1571. In the second half of the century,
Moro slave raiders escalated their incursions on the large island, forcing the
Corregidor of
Negros to adopt the policy of flight rather than resistance. People left their homes sometime in 1760 and settled in a new location between two small rivers, Matagoy and Panaogao. A
paloisades or
estacada (
Spanish for "palisade" or "stockade") was constructed to protect the populace from Moro raiders. The place is now known as Sitio Estaca, its name derived from the Spanish word
estacada. In 1760, Silay was recognized as a town being referred to in a letter from Governor Juan Jose de Mijares (1772–1775) mentioning Silay as a leading town in the north. In 1776, the bishop of
Cebu considered Silay as the center of the
parish. In 1760, it became a
pueblo or town. By the year 1818, it became a flourishing community of over 204 houses. Furthermore, the town was settled by 25 Spanish-Filipino families. By 1896, it had become a leading sugar-producing area because of the
Horno Economico (
sugar mill) built in 1846 by a
Frenchman who became a permanent resident of Silay,
Yves Leopold Germain Gaston, the sugar mill he built is the first mechanized sugar mill in the Philippines.
Negros Revolution on Cinco de Noviembre Street With the outbreak of the
Revolution of 1896 came a division between the
sugarcane planters of Silay and the
clergy. Some planters and clergy supported the rebels while others were against the revolution. On November 5, 1898, at about 2:00 in the afternoon, residents of Silay gathered in the street corner now known as
Cinco de Noviembre Street and from there they proceeded to the Spanish garrison near the Catholic Church. The encounter was bloodless. The Spanish civil guard commander, Lt. Maximiano Correa, refused to surrender. After negotiations with the revolutionaries mediated by Juan Viaplana, a local Spaniard, the Spanish garrison did surrender. A
Philippine flag was raised for the first time at the Silay plaza later that afternoon.
Aniceto Lacson became president after the signing of the terms of surrender. Timoteo Unson and the group of Silay residents then marched south to join forces with some residents of
Talisay for an attack on
Bacolod, the capital.
World War II On the slopes of
Mt. Silay lies Patag, the site of
Imperial Japan's
last stand in Negros during
World War II. In 1945,
U.S. military forces landed in the island. The occupying forces of the Nagano Detachment of the
Imperial Japanese Army retreated to Silay and proceeded up Mt. Silay to Patag. There, they established a defensive position. Military forces of the
Philippine Commonwealth and soldiers of the
U.S. 40th Infantry Division proceeded up the slopes of Mt. Silay with help from Filipino soldiers of the 7th, 72nd and 75th Infantry Division of the Philippine Commonwealth Army and Negrense guerrilla fighters and defeated the Japanese defenders. Today, the site is marked by a monument dedicated to the efforts which led to the liberation of the island of Negros.
Post-World War II Cityhood On June 12, 1957, Silay was converted into a city, by virtue of Republic Act 1621. ==Culture==