Malinao, Aklan

Once an arrabal of the town of Banga to the east, Malinao's town leaders in the mid-18th century were able to submit a petition of separation direct, to Manila that was approved. In addition, Malinao rose to prominence in Philippine history during the struggle against colonial rule under Spain at the end of the 19th century. Candido Iban, a resident of Malinao, was a member of the inner circle of the original Katipuneros, directly under Andres Bonifacio.

The people of Malinao are mainly of Malay stock. Aklanons are believed to be descendants of the settlers who fled the oppressive rule of Makatunaw, Sultan of Brunei. Led by Datu Puti, ten datus settled in the plains of the island of Panay. The colonization by the Spaniards, the trading by the Chinese have infused new blood to the original Malay race into what are now the people of Malinao.

There is no record of the history of Malinao until the 18th century. By this time, the area of what is now Malinao was part of the adjacent municipality of Banga. The Poblacion of Banga then was the Poblacion of Malinao today. In 1792, however, the town authorities transferred the Poblacion of Banga across the Aklan River at the foot of Manduyog Hill where it is now located.

Some prominent families chose to remain in the former settlement, which was later reduced to a barrio and named Malinao. The name was derived from the placid river that flows through the western and southern portions of the area before emptying into the Aklan River.

The people who remained in Malinao led by Don Juan Nepomuceno agitated to separate the lands west of the Aklan River to form a new town with Malinao as its poblacion.

Malinao as a municipality came into being in the year 1796 with Don Casimiro Barrera as its first gobernadorcillo.

Little written history is known of Malinao in its early existence, except for church records on baptism which starts on the year 1796, the same year Malinao became a town. The Spanish decree on change family names for easy identification of inhabitants led to the assignment of the initial letter 'Y'/ 'I' for families originating from Malinao. The 1818 Spanish census showed that there were 1,487 native families and 11 Spanish-Filipino families flourishing here.^[7]: 606

By the close of the 19th century, the political, economic and even the physical structure of Malinao conform to the classical colonial and feudal set-up existing throughout Christian Philippines. The layout of the Poblacion follows the classical Spanish town plan of the church facing the municipio with the plaza in between and streets laid out in grid pattern. The principalia partook of choice residential lots around the plaza. Their importance and influence reflected in the proximity of their lots to the center of power.

There was no concentration of land holdings by few families, unlike in other areas of the country. Original families in Malinao have their own pieces of land to work on. The land west of the Aklan River, because of its topography, must have escaped the encomienderos and hacienderos in the early part of Spanish colonization.

Despite its seeming ordinariness and unimportance in the national or provincial scheme of things, Malinao rose in prominence during the struggle against colonial rule at the end of the 19th century.

A native of Lilo-an, Malinao, Candido Iban was a member of the inner circle of the original Katipuneros directly under Andres Bonifacio. Candido Iban was the first overseas contract worker from Malinao, diving for pearls in Australia. As luck would have it, he won a considerable sum in a lottery and came back to Manila. He was befriended by Procopio Bonifacio, the brother of Andres, and was inducted as a Katipunero by Andres in the caves of Montalban. The first printing press of the Katipunan was paid for the lottery winnings of Candido Iban.

In 1897, Candido Iban and Francisco Castillo were sent to Aklan to organize the Katipunan in the Visayas. Barrio Lilo-an became the base of the katipunan. And in 1897, believing that the time was ripe for the start of the revolution, eighty-two (82) Katipuneros from Lilo-an marched to the Poblacion to persuade the local authorities to join the revolution. The uprising failed and the leaders captured. Candido Iban, Benito Iban and Gabino Yonsal were among the 19 Martyrs of Aklan executed by the Spanish authorities on March 23, 1897.

A monument of Candido Iban and the failed uprising called El Levantamiento de los 82 de Lilo-an stands prominently beside the town hall.

When the Japanese Imperial Army invaded the country during World War II, young men from Malinao were among the first to organize the guerrilla movement in this part of the country. During the Marcos dictatorship, many young Malinaonons took up arms to fight it.

Malinao is located in the geographic centre of the province, at 11°38′35″N 122°18′26″E / 11.6431°N 122.3072°E / 11.6431; 122.3072. It is 14 kilometres (8.7 mi) from the provincial capital, Kalibo.

According to the Philippine Statistics Authority, the municipality has a land area of 186.01 square kilometres (71.82 sq mi) ^[8] constituting 10.21% of the 1,821.42-square-kilometre- (703.25 sq mi) total area of Aklan.

Malinao is politically subdivided into 23 barangays.^[10] Each barangay consists of puroks and some have sitios.

In the 2024 census, Malinao had a population of 24,971 people.^[17] The population density was 130 inhabitants per square kilometre (340/sq mi).

Poverty incidence of Malinao

Source: Philippine Statistics Authority^{[18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25]}