Lies in the eastern part of the Philippines, is a city of exquisite endowment which traces its beginnings longe long before the Spanish conquistadores set foot on the island of Mindanao. Its earliest settlers were the Subanens, known to have settled and lived along the banks of the river or "suba" out of which their present day tribal idenday tribal identity originated.
The name of the place is derived from the word "Dapit" which means "to invite" in the local Cebuano dialect. This refers to the original group of Boholanos from Panglao, Bohol who were invitewho were invited by Datu Pagbuaya, the acknowledged founder of the city, to go with him to the "Dakung Yuta", that is Mindanao, and the settlement they established was called Dapitan.
The history of the place changed as a great man arrived in the shores of Dapitan and settled in settled in Talisay as an exile on July 17, 1892. He was Dr. Jose Protacio Rizal Mercado Y Alonzo Realonda, the Philippine's national hero.
Knowing the value of good education, Rizal then established a school for boys in Dapitan where he taught reading, writing, languages, history, mathematics and morals. He also trained his pupils to "behave like men" instructing them "arnis" or native fencing. In Dapitan, he also built his native house and designed the city plaza and the relief map of Mindanao made of grass and soil near the parish church.
Above all these, Rizal's romance with a foreign lass made the most unforgettable interlude of his stay in Dapitan. In God's own time, he met Josephine Bracken, an Irish girl from Hong Kong. Amorously, Rizal and Josephine fell in love with each other at first sight. They had romantic memories in "Mi Retiro Rock" or more popularly known as "Lover's Rock" located in Talisay and they lived as man and wife. Rizal and Josephine lived happily in Dapitan and for Rizal, Dapitan was a heaven of bliss.
On July 31, 1896, Rizal's four-year exile in Dapitan came to an end. Almost all Dapitan folks, young and old, were at the shore to bid him goodbye.
As the steamer pushed out into the sea, Rizal gazed for the last time on Dapitan waving in farewell salute to its kind and hospitable folks with his crying heart filled with tears of nostalgic memories. Indeed, Rizal's exile made Dapitan to be nationally-known as the "Shrine City of the Philippines". His coming engraved the sea-side town into the chronicles of Philippine history.
"HANDURAW" then was initiated to celebrate the rich customs and traditions of the historical city flashing back on the stories and lives of Dapitanons and the eternal legacies and teachings left by a universal emblem that defined what the city has become today and what it could possibly become tomorrow.
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