History

Cabancalan. A walking distance from Mandaue’s center is a large mossy cave that locals called “Bito” that is 20 feet deep and has a flowing spring. Oldtimers believed it harbored a mythological beast. Ricefields used to encircle Bito and these were punctuated by bangcal or Leichhardt trees (Nauclea orientalis) where weary rice planters rested for meals or away from the midday sun. Thus when people asked where the Bito cave was or where so-and-so farmer had been, the reply would be “Diha ra gyud sa may ka bancal-an” (just by the bangcal trees). The name stuck but the popular Bito has become an obscure memory.

A newspaper article says that the mythological beast in Bito was the montage, depicted by the late artist-scientist Julian Jumalon as a gigantic squid. The HDP or Historical Data Papers claims that, as a barrio, Cabancalan was founded in 1602.