Hamtic
became a distinct municipality by virtue of Executive Order No.3 signed by
the late president Ramon Magsaysay in 1954. At present it is considered a fifth
class municipality.:: Municipality of Hamtic ::
Hamtic
became a distinct municipality by virtue of Executive Order No.3 signed by
the late president Ramon Magsaysay in 1954. At present it is considered a fifth
class municipality.
It has a total land area of 13,960 hectares and is a narrow Coastal municipality in the southern portion of the sea-horsed shape province of Antique. It is 7 kilometers from San Jose de Buenavista the Provinces capital and about 90 kilometers away from Iloilo City. he municipality is composed of 47 barangays, 42 of which are composed of rural barangays and only 5 are urban. It is bounded on the West by Sulu Sea or Cuyo East Pass, part of China Sea, on the North by San Jose de Buenavista , on the Northeast by Sibalom boundary, on the East by San Joaquin, Iloilo, and on the South by the municipality of Dao now Tobias Fornier.
Hamtic in accordance with historical records the oldest among the 17 towns that comprise the province of Antique. It was the seat of the first organized authoritarian government in the Philippines known as the Madia-as Confederation under Datu Sumakwel way back as early as the twelfth century. Similarly, it was made too as the first capital of Antique during the Spanish regime. In 1802, the capital site was moved to San Jose de Buenavista, thus, Hamtic was relegated to a mere barrio.
When Datu Sumakwel was instructed by his superior Datu Puti to reconnoiter the Western part of Panay Island, he chose Malandog, a place which abound with food, fish, fruits and plants for human survival. Datu Puti with six others of his peers from Brunei decided to settle permanently in Malandog, hence, the distinction as the first Malay Settlement in the Philippines. As time went by the settlement progressed and continued to grow until such time that it embraced three sakops. These were Hamtic, Aklan and Irong-irong. These 'sakops' constituted Aninipay which, later on, was renamed Panay Island, under the overall leadership of Datu Sumakwel.
Hamtic at the time was already a flourishing Malayan settlement when the Spaniards came to Panay. However, the settlement was renamed Antique by the conquerors and made the first capital of the province. The provincial capital was transferred anew to Bugasong, another progressive and steadily developing Spanish settlement located in the central part of the province. Later the seat of the government was moved again to the present town of San Jose de Buenavista until the present. By virtue of the adoption of Executive Order No. 3 dated January 5, 1954 from the Office of the President of the Philippines, the town of Hamtic was ushered into existence out of its mother municipality. The Municipality of Hamtic was officially inaugurated on January 20,1954.
Learning institutions in Hamtic are all owned and operated by the government. The municipality has 2 school districts, with 17 complete schools, 11 primary schools, 5 high schools and 1 College of Agriculture. The municipality is lucky enough to have the TESDA principal training center located at Villavert�Jimenez, Hamtic. This was established in 1983. It is attached to the Department of Labor and Employment, managed separately by a council, and financed by the National Government to provide training skills to the labor force especially the out-of-school youths. An Upland Development Program was initiated in 1975 and it covers the upland barangays of the municipality. Two consumers cooperative credit union and a Rural Bank help solve the financial problems of the people in this municipality.
(Reprinted from the Binirayan 2000 Souvenir Magazine)