Bilar

Bilar is an interior town northeast of Loboc. This town used to occupy a big area and included what are now known as the municipalities of Sevilla, Batuan and Carmen. They were formerly sitios of this municipality. In 1879, it had a population 5,669. The term "bilar" is a native word from the infinitive nagbilad. During the Spanish regime, the Spaniards, in their effort to spread Christianity, toured the interior villages and somehow chanced to pass a plateau where a group of women were drying palay. When the women were asked as to the name of the place, the immediate reply was "nagbilad", meaning drying, thinking that the foreigners were asking their activity. The Spaniards shorten the term to "bilad" and later on to "bilar" due to the difficulty in pronouncing the term. By virtue of a royal decree, the name Bilar was adopted as the official name of the municipality.

(Based on figures from the census of 2000)