[3] The town is being pushed to be included in the UNESCO World Heritage List due to its impressive array of colonial structures with hints of indigenous Mindanaoan architecture.Legend has it that one day during the Spanish regime a group of guardia civil, while patrolling the seashore near the settlement of the natives, chanced upon some fishermen pulling fishing nets.Not understanding the language and thinking that he was asked what he what was doing, the fisherman, pointing his finger to the net, answered “baling”, and then turning it to the contents of the boat nearby, added “kasag”.According to early accounts, the present town site of Balingasag was heavily forested, making it the favorite hiding place of bandits and pirates, who constantly terrorized the inhabitants.Governor General Narciso Claveria issued on 21 November 1841 a decree (Renovacion de Apellidos) requiring the natives to change their family names and if they had none, they have to adopt a new one.If this royal decree were the basis of the existence of the present Balingasag, Mamerto Manuel Valmores and Antonio Ramon Madroño would then be considered as the “Founding Patriarchs” of this municipality.The royal recognition of Balingasag as a political or administrative entity under the Spanish sovereignty engendered new systems and structures of governance, which supplanted the indigenous ways of running community affairs.Holding this position for about 16 years (1822-1837), Francisco Anuario Valmores, the eldest son of Mamerto Manuel, may be considered as the longest serving gobernadorcillo.Higaonon and Binukid peoples were Balingasag's first inhabitants, albeit are minority today mainly due to the periods of migrations from other parts of the country since the Spanish colonial times.The majority of the municipality's residents today are descended from Visayans who came from Cebu, Bohol, Siquijor and Negros Oriental before Spanish colonial era.However, other ethnolinguistic groups also made residents of Balingasag, such as Bicolanos, Hiligaynons, Ilocanos, Kapampangans, Tagalogs and Warays whose ancestors or settlers themselves who came to the municipality for employment opportunities in logging, mining, farming, fishing, trading and teaching during the late Spanish and American colonial periods and since postwar era, making the municipality a melting pot of cultures.