Celebrating the abundance of seafoods in its area, the municipality of Sapi-an in Capiz staged last May 8 & 9, 2009 its Talahong Festival.

Talahong is coined from the words "talaba" (oysters) and "tahong" (green mussels).

Mayor Arturo "Turic" Agapito Orosco, the sports-minded chief executive of Sapian, said the festival aims to promote the town’s local products; foremost among these are seafoods.

Sapian does not only have the capacity to produce seafoods, specifically oysters and green mussels. Orosco said these delicacies have a distinct taste, superior from those produced by other towns and provinces.

The Sangguniang Bayan passed a resolution recently declaring the second Friday and Saturday of May of every year as Talahong Festival days. The municipality has identified oysters and green mussels as its town flagship products.

Originally, Sapian had its annual Tilibyugan Festival in line with its religious fiesta every July 21-26 in honor of Saint Anne.

Sapi-an, a coastal town, has 10 barangays. It has more than a hundred fisherfolks growing oysters and green mussels.

Sapi-an is in the northern portion of Panay Island, 27 kilometers west of Roxas City. It is adjacent to the province of Aklan, the reason why its inhabitants speak a mixture of Akeanon and Capiznon dialects. It is the town next to Ivisan, northwest of Roxas City.

Sapi-an is bounded on the north by Sapian Bay, on the northeast by the town of Mambusao, and on the west by town of Batan, Aklan.

In 1568 long after Spaniards set foot in Panay, some soldiers wandered on a hilltop settlement. The first person they met was a boy who was to an errand, and he was holding a "salapi" (50 centavos). The soldiers asked the boy the name of the place. Fifty centavo silver coins were said to have been circulated after the Spanish occupation. These coins were locally called “salapi.” The boy thought he was being asked what he had in his hand. He told the soldiers "salapi."

Thus the Spaniards named the village "salapi." Shortly afterwards, the town was organized and was called Sapi-an. But no one could tell the exact etymology of the word./PN