Piat

Piat, officially the Municipality of Piat (Ibanag: Ili nat Piat; Ilocano: Ili ti Piat; Tagalog: Bayan ng Piat), is a 4th class municipality in the province of Cagayan, Philippines. According to the 2015 census, it has a population of 23,597 people.

It is located in the south-west part of Cagayan province in what is known as the Itawes Region, along which the Rio Chico runs west, south, and north-west of the town until it debouches into the Rio Ibanag somewhere near Nassiping.

Piat is dubbed as the “Pilgrimage Center of Cagayan Valley” because of the thousands of devotees and tourists who come here to pay homage. It is the home of Our Lady of Piat which continues to be the source of inspiration and object of devotion of many Catholics in the region.

There are places one visits that change his life. Places that challenge concepts of the world in which you live. Places which keep recurring in your memory.

The municipality of Piat, Cagayan is one such place. In the minds of many, the very sound of the name, Piat, Cagayan is synanymous with the miraculous Lady of the Hill – Nuestra Senora de la Visitacion de Piat or Our Lady of Piat. Piat has earned the distinction of being the “Antipolo of Northern Luzon”, “Mecca of the devoted Pilgrims “, and the “Pilgrimage Center of the Cagayan Valley”. Attesting to these are the millions of devotees and tourists who regularly flock to the municipality the whole year round. Over the centuries, countless testimonials confirm that Piat has earned the Jesulaem of the Philippines for countless generations. It is for these reason that the Department of Tourism has included Piat as a tourist destination and included in their ‘Fiesta Islands” calendar of activities.Piat was founded on May 1, 1610. The town proper is nestle in a plateau some 42 kilometers northeast of the capital town of Cagayan – Tuguegarao. It has 18 barangays and it is classified as 4th class municipality. Piat also boasts of having the Robina Sugar Milling Corporation (CARSUMCO) within its territorial jurisdiction, thereby creating more employment oppotunities of its constituents. The Caagayan State University (CSU) has also one of its main branches in the municipality. The university offers under-graduate and graduate program such as Bachelor of Elementary Education, Bachelor of Secondary Education, Bachelor of Technology and Livelihood education, Bachelor of Science inCriminology, Bachelor of Science in Police Administration, Bachelor of Science in Information Technology, Bachelor of Science in Agriculture and Master of Science in Agriculture. The district hospital, which is known as the Nuestra Senora de Piat District Hospital (NSPDH), is also located at Maguilling, Piat, Cagayan. It provides immediate health service not only to its own residents but also to the residents of Sto. Nino, Solana, Amuling, Tuao, and Rizal.

Just like most of the municipalities of the country, Piat was created into municipality during the Spanish Regime. The first Spanish missionaries who came to the province found out that the existing settlements were sporadically distributed along the Chico River. The Rio Chico flows down the province through flats and foothills and finally meets Cagayan River in the Nassiping area. The people living on these flats and foothills are known as Itawes. The Itawes region formed the second part of Cagayan, and included the towns of Lobo (Tabang),Piat,Tuao, Malaueg and Sta. Cruz de Gumpat (Lingay). In 1603, the orders of the Alkalde Mayor Juan Clavijo were so oppressive thet the natives rose up in revolt in the Itawes and the Yrraya regions.Bishop Benavides wrote up king of Spain about these abuses of the encomienderos and Spanish officials.During the time of Bishop Diego de Soria, the King of Spain ordered him to make arrangements with the Dominicans for the pacification, and ultimately the conversion of these Itawes tribes. Accordingly, three friars were sent in 1603 to the estuary of Lobo (Rio Chico or Bangag). In 1591 there was encomienda here consisting of 4,000 tributes (families) with a population of 16,000. In 1598 the Dominican Chronicle mentioned the mission of Lobo which was accepted ecclesiastically on May 9,1604 and was later called Tabang. This was the first mission in the Itawes area.

The second mission built by the Dominican in the Itawes was Piat, originally called “Pia”. According to Fr. Malumbres there were encomiendas here before the coming of the friars. The encomienderos were Don Pedro Barrada, an army officer; Don Juan de Aranda and Dona Isabela de Cardona in the yaear 1617. The first was said on August 24,1604 when there were already about 1,000 families. It became an ecclesiastical town on May 1,1610 under the patronage of Sto. Domingo de Guzman. A convent and a church was put up in 1740 by Fray Francisco Jimenez but was burnt in 1865 and reconstructed by Fr. Gurumeta, and the roofing with iron sheets was done by Fr. Isidro Rodriguez.
The image of Our Lady of Piat was sculptured in Macao and brought to Nueva Segovia by Bishop Diego de Soria in 1604. In the pacification and conversion campaign of the Itawes, it was decided to bring the image to Sto. Domingo Church in Piat. Before long the people saw manifestations of divine favors through Our Lady , and devotion and attachment to her image bordered fanaticism. This can be gleamed from the fact that when Fr. Juan de Santa Ana took the image to Tuguegarao City, the people of Piat protested and would not accept a replica of it in return even though hoe beautiful. Because of threats and fear of revolt, the original image was brought back to Piat, but because the people of Tuao were also clamoring for it, it was decided that the image will be placed in a chapel located between Piat and Tuao. It was decided to build a sanctuary on a hilltop, half mile from the church of Sto. Domingo. The sanctuary was built and completed in 1623.