Cantilan Community Network

The inhabitants of Cantilan include the native Cantilangnons and those who settled in Cantilan during the last quarter of the 1900s.  There are some refugees of the Mindanao conflict that are still temporarily sheltered in Cantilan.

The people considered as native Cantilangnons include the following:

1. The original Malayan settlers and their descendants.
2. The Visayan settlers of Spanish and European descent and their descendants.
3. The descendants of the Spanish priests and Spanish government officials who were assigned in Cantilan.
4. The American teachers (Thomasites) who married and settled in Cantilan and their descendants.
5. The Chinese immigrants and their descendants.
6. The government workers, teachers, and businessmen from Luzon and Visayas who married and settled in Cantilan during the first half of the 20th century and their descendants.
7. The ethnic Manobos.
8. The nomadic Agtas.

The intermarriages of the descendants of the Malayan/Visayan settlers with the offspring of the Spanish priests and government officials, the American teachers, the Chinese immigrants, and the immigrants from Luzon and the Visayas produced the new Cantilangnon breed of today.  The generation of Cantilangnon speaks Cantelangnon, Surigaonon, Cebuano, Filipino and English.

Source:
A Rural Town in the 21st Century...CANTILAN 2005 A.D.
by: Fredesuendo G. Ong, CPA, CSP