Oldest dug well

Overview

The Oldest Dug Well is a historic water source in Barangay Guiwanon, Baclayon, held by local tradition to be the oldest dug well in Bohol and linked by that same tradition to Datu Sikatuna — the 16th-century Boholano chieftain who stands opposite Spanish explorer Miguel López de Legazpi in the 1565 blood compact (Sandugo), the first formal treaty between Filipinos and Spaniards.

If the Sikatuna connection holds, the well predates Spanish colonial settlement of the island — a domestic water source older than the church, the fort, and the road network built after.

Location

Barangay Guiwanon, Baclayon, Bohol. Baclayon is approximately 6 km east of Tagbilaran City. Guiwanon is one of Baclayon’s barangays.

[TO ENRICH: precise road directions to Barangay Guiwanon; GPS coordinates of the well]

Getting There

From Tagbilaran City, take a jeepney or bus eastbound along the coastal road to Baclayon, then ask locally for Barangay Guiwanon. A habal-habal may be needed for the final stretch.

[TO ENRICH: distance from Baclayon Church to the well; road condition]

Practical Info

• Classification: BPTO History & Culture — Structures & Building
• Historical association: Datu Sikatuna (mid-16th century)
• Claim: Considered by some to be the oldest dug well in Bohol

[TO ENRICH: well dimensions, stonework or lining material, current condition, access status, whether water still present]

What to Expect

The well itself is a modest structure — its significance is oral history, not scale. It sits at the intersection of pre-colonial Bohol and the earliest Spanish contact, and it rewards visitors more for that context than for anything to see at the site.

[TO ENRICH: physical description; any signage or marker present at the site]

Notes

• Datu Sikatuna is the Boholano chieftain who performed the Sandugo blood compact with Legazpi in 1565 — that ceremony took place at a site now marked in Tagbilaran
• [FACT NEEDED: archaeological or historical documentation of well age; exact barangay location]
• The phrase “considered by some” in the source description signals this as local tradition rather than verified archaeological record

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