Its History
Boljoon possibly started as a small settlement which eventually grew and prospered. In 1732 alone, Boljoon had 1,760 parishioners. By the year 1760, Father Provincial Pedro Velasco, OSA, reported that parishioners increased to 1,950 which is equivalent to 650 paying tributes, excluding 1,454 non-paying tributes that made a total of 3,404 parishioners. Royal treasury which is the equivalent of taxes in modern terminology. Originally, one attribute was equal to three persons.
Boljoon was exempted from any tribute in 1894 and 1896. The population then was 7,694. Population increases was at such a slow rate due to the Muslim raiders which ransacked everything in the town and left all things on fire. Boljoon once contributed an annual rent of 80 cavans of borona to the convent of then San Agustin Church now the Basilica del Santo Niño de Cebu. This was later reduced to half in 1726 because it was found too burdensome for Boljoon, during the time of Bishop Sebastian de Foroinda, OSA (1718-1728), the ninth Bishop of the Diocese of Cebu.
Muslim raiders used to raid the settlement which often left the community in shambles. A Christian mission was also possibly erected in the place called the "Ermita" where priests perform religious services. The earliest Christian mission in Boljoon may have been established by the Augustinians in 1599. The Province of Cebu was then under their pastoral care and missionaries from the town of Carcar regularly visited by settlement in Boljoon. With the convention of the people to Catholicism, a provisional church may have been constructed but without a resident priest.
the first recorded residency of a priest in Boljoon was in 1692. Even with the presence of a priest in the settlement, the predations of the Muslim raiders upon the settlement continued, until the early 1800s. In fact, it was due to the incursions of the muslim raiders that a massive stone church was erected by the Missionaries, designed to withstand the raids. In addtion, the Augustinians placed the church under the protection of the Virgin Mary and accordingly enshrined her image in the Church's altar.
