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Do you know Fr. Fernando Cuenca? He was one of the first farmer-priests in Negros. He greatly helped the sugarcane industry in the Philippines and he also set up many of the churches and universities you see around Bacolod.

Fr. Fernando Cuenca, was born in Zaragoza, Spain and became a priest of the Order of Augustinian Recollects at an early age. As soon as he was ordained, he was immediately assigned to the Philippines and set foot in Talisay in 1844 at the very young age of 20.

From the start, Fr. Cuenca helped pioneer the sugar industry Negros. Being from Spain, he tapped the Recollects vast knowledge of farming and provided technical assistance to hacienderos who were just starting the industry in Negros. He was the first person to establish a mechanized hydraulic sugarcane mill in the island. He also imported sugarcane patdan (seeds) from other places and distributed them among the different towns of Negros. He helped organize parishes to incorporate migrant workers into their communities and also find them jobs with the numerous hacienderos around the area. He was also a close associate of the father of the Philippine sugarcane industry, Nicholas Loney. When Nicholas Loney would dole out his famous sugarcane loans, Fr. Cuenca and other Recollect priests would act as guarantors of the loan. Surprisingly, Fr. Cuenca was rumored to even have his own hacienda in Minuluan (Talisay) where he would supervise the cultivation of sugarcane himself.

Aside from blazing a trail for the sugarcane industry, Fr. Cuenca helped develop Bacolod's spiritual culture as well. In the 5 decades that he was in Negros, he opened 56 parishes. He was also a famed healer and healed both poor and rich alike. He had such high profile clients that they would come from neighboring islands and even nearby countries just to have him administer to them. He has the pride of listing some of his patients as the scions of the Zobel and Ayala clans. He also had a hand in developing the coffee industry in Negros as well as propagating lanzones in Barrio Concepcion in Talisay. He was a very popular priest with the people and he was one of the only priests that weren't harmed by revolutionaries in the Philippine Revolution of 1898 (other priests and Spanish were killed outright).

He loved Talisay very much and was one of the people who laid the foundations that led to the construction of the San Juan de Tolentino parish in Talisay. If you look closely at the murals on the walls of the parish, you can see his picture holding sugarcane (pictured below). He died in Talisay in 1902 and a local legend has it that the water well he dug there in the 1850s never ran out of water even in hottest of summers. Fr. Cuenca's well can still be found at the parish. It is located under the present day convent of San Juan de Tolentino.

Fr. Cuenca's Recollect legacy lives on in many ways today aside from the parish in Talisay. His colleague, Fr. Mauricio Ferrero began construction of the Bacolod Cathedral in 1876. The cathedral remains the corner stone of the Catholic faith in Negros island up to today. Also, his Recollect brothers purchased the University of Negros Occidental from Dr. Antonio Lizares and Dr. Fransisco Kilayko in 1962. This university then became University of Negros Occidental – Recoletos (UNO-R) and it was thusly proclaimed as the first Catholic university in Negros island.

Now you know a little bit more about this farmer-priest and how he helped shape the culture of this island.

Sources: Clash of Spirits - Filomeno Aguilar, Jr. , Modesto P. Sa-Onoy - Daily Star Sept. 16, 2014 & Dennis V. Madrigal.