Website by:
Leo Mamicpic

Photos by:
Faisal Alih
Leo Mamicpic

 Brief History of the  Town and Parish of Lazi
(With excerpts from an Aug. 7, 2005 article in the Negros Chronicle
by Diocesan Historian Rev. Fr. Roman C. Sagun, Jr. and
contributions from Dr. Concepcion A. Aljas, Verna M. Alih & Leo Mamicpic)

Fray Juan Felix de la Encarnacion, having already spent some eighteen years in the whole island as pastor of the Siquijor parish was no doubt its trailblazer. He was assigned to Manila in 1846 and stayed for 9 years. It was during this time he developed a very good relationship with Governor-General Manuel Pavia y Lacy (02Feb1854 - 28Oct1854) and proposed the creation of Lazi as an independent parish. The Governor-General chose to name the parish ‘Lacy’ after his mother’s last name. This was subsequently changed to Lazi, following the 19th century reform of the Spanish language. 

On 01 January 1857, Fray Juan Felix de la Encarnacion wrote to Bishop Romualdo Jimeno of Cebu recommending the establishment of a new parish town in the Island. “For an effective administration of that town (Lacy), there is absolute necessity to establish the parish… so that those inhabitants may not find themselves negligent in all their religious and civic duties.” 

“The visita or district called Tigbauan in the Island of Siquijor was declared an independent town to be named Lacy by virtue of a decree by Governor General Manuel Pavia y Lacy on 31 May 1854. In the same place, there exist a church, a parochial house, a government building, and schools (for boys and girls), edifices required for the erection of a parish.” Moreover, the new town of Lacy had 599 (families) paying tribute as opposed to Siquijor with 1,616.” 

Presented on 28 May 1857 by then Governor-General Fernando Norzagaray y Escudero (09Mar1857 - 12Jan1860) that ‘Lacy’ be independent from Siquijor, Bishop Romualdo Jimeno of Cebu established the parish on 08 August 1857. The first pastor was the Recollect Friar Victor Garcia who came to nurture the faith sown by its trailblazer, Fray Juan Felix de la Encarnacion. 

The most notable of the Recollect missionaries was M.R.P. Ex-Definidor Fray Toribio Sanchez (05Aug1882 - 09Aug1894) who is credited with Lazi’s National Cultural Treasures - the San Isidro Labrador church and convent. These two grandiose buildings occupy two blocks of the hilly town, and beneath the church complex is the poblacion called Tigbauan. They increasingly command more respect, especially when their magnificence is viewed from the bay.