Toledo, Cebu

Toledo, officially the City of Toledo (Dakbayan sa Toledo; Dakbanwa sang Toledo; Lungsod ng Toledo), is a 3rd class component city in the province of Cebu, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 207,314 people.

Toledo City is bordered to the north by the town of Balamban, to the west is the Tañon Strait, to the east is Cebu City and Naga and the town of Minglanilla, and to the south is the town of Pinamungajan.

On June 18, 1960, Toledo became a chartered city under Republic Act No. 2688.

Its patron saint is John of Sahagun and his feast day is celebrated every June 12.

Toledo is 67 km away from Cebu City and is widely known for its huge mining industry owned by Atlas Consolidated Mining and Development Corporation, which is the umbrella of Carmen Copper Corporation and its Toledo Mine.

Founders of Hinulawan
Toledo City came from Old Hinulawan and New Hinulawan. Old Hinulawan, presently called Daanglungsod, was founded by Mariano Libre, Fulgencio Lebumfacil, Areston Macapaz, Adriano Blanco, and Tranquilino Blanco.

New Hinulawan, presently called Toledo (on the present site), was founded by Fermin Poloyapoy, Máximo Macapobre, Jacinto López, Jestoni P. Estrada,Servando de Jesus, Juan Libre, Agapito Nieves, Francisco Blanco,Geresola,Compra,Amaquin, Paraba,Concina,Camoro,Laspoña, and Sñr. Noel Dayot

Destruction of Old Hinulawan
On June 3, 1863 a series of earthquakes shook Hinulawan. The first tremor toppled the newly built school, leveled several houses to the ground, and caused the church facade to collapse. It caused injuries and death to several residents from falling debris.

The quake that followed brought greater damage: complete destruction of the church and the convent; cracking of the lowlands in all directions; crumbling of the stonewalls along the Hinulawan river bank; and sagging of the ground, causing water from the sea and the river to rush in and flood the settlement to waist level.

A third temblor totally destroyed Pueblo Hinulawan.

The survivors were rescued by residents of neighboring highland localities.

New Hinulawan
The refugees who survived the Hinulawan earthquakes slowly rebuilt their lives in the days that followed. With the help of the people of Barangay Tubod, some of the survivors cleared portions of the virgin forest and plateau in the vicinity of Tubod and constructed houses with roof made of cogon grass. Those who did now want to live in the new clearings built their homes at the foot of the Tubod highlands. They buried their dead in a cemetery in a certain part of the plateau not far from where they lived.

The area occupied by this particular group, a majority of the survivors, subsequently evolved into the New Hinulawan.

A minority of the refugees decided to migrate to other places: the hinterlands of Da-o, Bulok-bulok, Landahan, and Sam-ang as well as the pioneering settlements in the seafronts of Cabito-onan and Batohanon.

In those days pirate attacks against pueblos situated near the shores of Tañon Strait were rampant. To protect themselves against such attacks, the residents of New Hinulawan built a baluarte, or bulwark, made of chopped stone blocks piled along the shoreline. With the passage of time, however, the bulwark became dilapidated and fell apart, its remnants forever buried in the sand during the construction of the first municipio, or Municipal Hall building. The municipio itself was destroyed by Philippine Commonwealth troops and Cebuano guerrillas in World War II.

Many years later, a few among those who resettled in New Hinulawan decided to return to their former homes in Old Hinulawan when the depressed lowlands gradually became habitable. Old Hinulawan is the present-day Barangay Daanglungsod.

The majority who opted to remain in New Hinulawan worked hard to regain the prosperity they had achieved before Old Hinulawan was wiped out by catastrophe.

Pueblo Toledo
Two significant events happened in mid-1869 which led to the change of name of New Hinulawan:

Carlos María de la Torre (1869-1872) became the new Spanish Governor-general of the Philippines. Father Mariano Brazal (1869-1876), who championed the Filipinization of parishes, assumed the duties as parish priest of New Hinulawan, replacing Father Servando Seoane who was transferred to another parish. Fr. Brazal and the new Governor-general were proponents of political liberalism which was on the rise in Spain during that period following the fall of Queen Isabel II.

Meanwhile, the alcalde mayor of Cebu (equivalent to the modern-day Cebu Provincial Governor), Esteban Perez, was the boyhood friend of governor-general De la Torre in their hometown Toledo, Spain. Perez was married to a Philippine woman and used to spend his vacation with his family in Talavera, a part of New Hinulawan, where he owned a beach resort. He and Fr. Brazal were also good friends.

A welcome banquet was given in the governor-general's palace in Manila in the evening of July 12, 1869 which was attended by students, priests, and Filipino leaders to express their gratitude to De la Torre's liberal policies.

During that happy occasion Carlos Maria de la Torre and Esteban Perez had the opportunity to reminisce their boyhood days in Spain in the presence of Fr. Mariano Brazal. In the course of their recollection of the happy past, Perez told the governor-general about New Hinulawan and his special affection for the place because his Filipina wife was a native of Talavera, a barangay of New Hinulawan. He told De la Torre about how similar the environment of New Hinulawan was to their homeland Toledo, Spain and how the winding river of Hinulawan was comparable to Rio Tagus Tajo in Spain.

That everning Perez and Fr. Brazal recommended to the governor-general that the name of New Hinulawan be changed to Toledo.

Governor-general De la Torre delightfully approved the recommendation at once. He even announced to all people present in the banquet the promulgation of a decree changing the name of pueblo New Hinulawan in the province of Cebu into pueblo Toledo, the name of his beloved birthplace in Spain.

Second World War
In 1942 the Japanese Imperial forces captured and occupied the town of Toledo.

In 1945, local Filipino forces of the Philippine Commonwealth Army from the 8th, 82nd, 83rd, 85th and 86th Infantry Division aided by Cebuano guerrilla resistance fighters, battled against the Japanese Imperial forces and liberated the town of Toledo.

Cityhood
On June 19, 1960, Toledo became a chartered city under Republic Act No. 2688. It was made into a city through the efforts of then Congressman Manuel A. Zosa, representative of the old Sixth District Cebu, who authored Republic Act No. 2688.

Although not as progressive as Cebu's other cities, it is unique in that it is the only city in the province on the western seaboard facing Negros Oriental – and therefore strategically located. (Danao, Mandaue, Lapu-Lapu, Cebu City, Talisay, Naga, and Carcar are on the east. One more city, Bogo, is in the north, on the eastern side.)

Shrine of Saint Pedro Calungsod
Following the canonization on October 21, 2012, of Visayan teen martyr Pedro Calungsod (1672), the hilltop parish of Cantabaco became the first shrine and church named after the second Filipino saint.

Malubog Lake
Toledo has been the source of water for Metro Cebu, Cebu City Water District. It uses Vacuum Type Water Systems, the Pipes from this lake go up the mountain and go down to Cebu Proper, Malubog Lake is situated and located more higher than Cebu City Proper.

Barangays
It is composed of thirty-eight (38) barangays, ten (10) of which are urban and twenty-eight (28) are rural barangays. Each barangay consists of puroks and some have sitios.

Economy
Toledo City is known as the "Copper City". Carmen Copper Corporation a subsidiary of Atlas Consolidated Mining and Development Corporation operates the Toledo Copper mine covering 1,674 hectares. The mine is located in Barangay Don Andres Soriano (Lutopan), Toledo City. The copper concentrate are shipped and delivered mainly to smelting factories in China, India and Japan.

Aside from mining, Toledo City is also known as the "Power City" as a handful of power providers are located in the city. Global Business Power Corporation (GBP) is a holding company that has become the leading energy provider in the Visayas region. It owns Toledo Power Co. (TPC) which owns a 60 MW and 82 MW coal-fired power plants in Barangay Daanlungsod and a 40 MW diesel plant in Carmen; and Cebu Energy Development Corporation (CEDC), a 246 MW clean coal-fired power plant utilizing Circulating Fluidized Bed (CFB) boiler technology also located in Barangay Daanlungsod. Another coal-fired power plant is AboitizPower subsidiary Therma Visayas, Inc.(TVI) which has a net capacity of 300 MW located in Bato, Toledo City. Aside from coal-fired power plants, a 60 MW solar power plant is located in a 73-hectare property in Barangay Talavera owned by First Toledo Solar Energy Corporation a subsidiary of Citicore Power Inc. a community-focused renewable energy company. The National Grid Corporation (NGCP) currently has two substations in Toledo City located in Barangay Calong-calong and Magdugo.

Other companies in Toledo City include Atlas Fertilizer Corporation and San-Vic Agro-Builders, Inc. to name a few.

Shopping malls are also present in Toledo like Gaisano Grand, Gaisano Metro and Prince Warehouse Club.

Leisure time
The barangays of Cantabaco and Poog have limestone cliffs that local climbers have developed into popular crags for sport climbing.

Notable people

 * Máximo Macapobre was a 19th-century Philippines leader and activist.
 * Juan Clímaco was the second governor of Cebu, Philippines, the first governor to be elected to the position, and a Cebu revolutionary during the Philippine-American war.
 * Gisele Shaw - professional wrestler
 * Jay-R Siaboc – actor, singer and season 1 finalist of Pinoy Dream Academy