The town of Barotac Nuevo is at the northern part of Iloilo City. It faces the island of Negros at the northern part of Iloilo Strait, and south of Dumangas town. The name Barotac came from a combination of the words "Barro" which is a Spanish word for mud and Hiligaynon word "malutak" which means muddy.
During the early years, this town is called Barrio Malutac since it is always muddy and during the rainy days the mud is really deep. The Spanish word Nuevo which means "new" is added to the name because when this town was established there is already an existing Barotac Viejo to its north. Sometimes, Barotac Nuevo is called Barotac Diutay (small) while Barotac Viejo is called Barotac Daku (big).
How Barrio Malutak became a town is because of a horse named Tamasak.
Before 1811, this town was formerly an arrabal of the town of Dumangas. Barrio Malutak is a progressive town. One of the people living in Barrio Malutak is Don Simon Raymundo Protacio who became well known because of his 200 horses. The most important of his horses is named Tamasak. Tamasak became popular not only in their barrio but also in neighboring towns due to its unusual characteristics. It is nifty, tall, strong and was very quick to gallop. Its strength can only be equaled by a horse from India and owned by the governor-general. Barrio Malutac became a town due to the efforts of Don Simon Protacio. He made a petition, together with his towns folk to make their barrio an independent town. However that petition was opposed by Father Vicentico of Dumangas, The petition left unanswered for forty (40) years from the administration of Governor-General Simon de Anda y Salazar (1770 - 1774) until the administration of Governor-General Manuel Gonzales de Aguilar (1810 - 1813).
After forty (40) years after the petition has been made, there were some Spanish delegation who came to the Philippines. They brought a horse from India. They travel around the Philippines until they reached Iloilo and came to Dumangas. They heard about Don Simon and his horses. They immediately went to see him and were amazed to see Tamasak. They immediately wish to buy it no matter how much the price however Don Simon did not sold it. He will only give the horse on the condition that they will make Barrio Malutac an independent town.
The delegates went back to Manila bringing Tamasak with them. The Governor- General was so pleased with Tamasak that he ordered immediately the gobernadorcillo of Iloilo to fulfill the agreement they had with Don Simon. He even wrote and thankful to Don Simon for giving him the horse. This event took place in 1811 under the administration of Governor-General Manuel Gonzales de Aguilar.
To give honor and respect to Don Simon Protacio and Tamasak, a monument was built by Mayor Bernardo Siaotong in 1921 in the middle of the plaza as a symbol of gratitude of the people of Barotac Nuevo.
Photo Source:
Flickr.com
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