During the last two centuries of the Spanish regime, some adventurers and families from the Visayas, Cuyo, Cagayancillo and other places in the country came to settle in the Calamian Group of Islands. Prominent among these immigrants were the Sandovals and the Rodriguezes from Iloilo, the Vincuas from Cagayancillo and the Manlavis from Cuyo. Those who came from Iloilo settled in Culion and those from Cagayancillo in Coron Island. Don Nicolas Manlavi y Ledesma who came sometime between 1800 and 1815 settled in Bancuang on the mainland of Busuanga, a place with a spring on the western side of the present Poblacion.
Because of intermarriage with immigrants from Visayas, Cuyo, Agutaya, Cagayancillo and other regions, the Calamianens are consequently losing their tribal identity. Today there are no longer many families of pure Calamianen stock in Coron. However, there are many people in the barangays who proudly trace their lineage to the Calamianen. Caramiananen, as the Calamian dialect is popularly known locally is still widely spoken in many barangays of Coron.
There are two conflicting versions regarding the origin of the name “Coron”. According to one version, the name Coron was derived from Coron Bay because its shape looks like an earthen pot. “Coron” which was given to the place by Don Nicolas Manlavi y Ledesma, a migrant from Cuyo, Palawan, is the Cuyunon word for pot.
The other version, states that the name Coron was derived from the Tagbanua word “coron” meaning enclosed. This was the name given by the Tagbanuas because the place is almost enclosed by tall mountains on its three sides. That place is now barangay Banuang Daan in Coron Island.
The first inhabitants of Coron were the Tagbanuas. They were part of the second wave of Indonesians who migrated to the Philippines some 5,000 years ago. Except for their dialect which is almost similar to Tagbanua and Agutayanos, the Calamianens are not much different from other Filipinos. The Calamianens must be descendants of the first wave of Malay immigrants who came to the Philippines between 200 B.C. and 100 A.D. and who were also ancestors of the Igorots and Bontocs of Luzon.
