Alburquerque

A woman was the forefront in the creation of the town of Alburquerque. Her name was Dona Mariona Irag. One of the earliest residents of Segunto, Dona Mariona mastered the Spanish language and she became the teacher of the locality. The land where the school, the convent and the church was built was owned by her.

However, there was no record of her being married to someone. In 1842, Dona Mariona signified her wish to the curate of Baclayon for a chapel in Segunto. Even if the chapel wasn’t finished yet, people converged in it to hear mass. Since the chapel was becoming more and more congested, they built a second chapel. Both chapels were made of wood and bamboo.

On the incessant request of the Dona, Fray Jose Abad, the parish priest of Baclayon strongly recommended to the civil ecclesiastical authorities in Cebu for the creation of Segunto into an independent pueblo. When Segunto became a pueblo, it was given the name Alburquerque – a name of a town in Mexico which was a colony of Spain. The present church was built from 1888 to 1908, while the convent was erected from 1876 to 1884. All these structures were constructed by the use of forced labor (polo).

native name: Segunto
no. of barangays: 11
rep. dist.: 1st district
patron saint: St. Monica
feast day: May 4