Obispado de Cebu, July 29, 1856

Bishop Romualdo Jimeno, the Bishop of Cebu (1846-1872) was known in the Province of Capiz (of which Balete was then a part of) as the first Diocesan Bishop (he was actually a Dominican) to have made pastoral visit in this part of the ecclesiastical province of Cebu. He was further known as the bishop who was ambushed and killed on 17 March 1872 his way from Batang (Batan) to Dumalag. To commemorate his death the place where he fatally fell was named Jimeno (now known as Altavas).

To Balete-on, Bishop Jimeno may not ring a bell. But sometime in July 29, 1856 or exactly 154 years ago, the good Bishop wrote something to the advantage of the Baleten-on people. He was just informed of the death of Padre Don Jose Matias Piansay, the interino then of the Balete Parish. Worried that the faithful in the enchanting town of Balete were shepherdless, he immediately directed his chancellor to write a dispatch to Presbitero Don Diego Albao who was at that time in a mission work in the North to report to the Balete Parish as its parish priest. He instructed his priest that before reporting to the parish, he must first report to the Intendente General of the Hacienda (maybe the property covering the Aclan valley) that he may be given stipend in advance. He must be worried that his priest might have nothing to had when he arrived at his station.

We remember P. Don Diego Albao (Kalibo knows him as Fr. Diego Alba) as the parish priest who encouraged the faithful of Balete to do vigil and vesper prayers as cholera outbreak claimed the lives of many Baleten-on in the year 1858. Procession in honor of San Rafael was done the following day around the pueblo's callejones.