History of Bauan
Bauan
is a name that came from a Tagalog word bauang which means “close or
concealed and rugged mountain” (Noceda-Sanlucar, Vocabulario, 1860, p. 43). It
was also said that one day a Spanish official asked a group of local farmers
what was the place called. The farmers replied “bawang” , a local term
for garlic, believing that what the official wanted to know was what they were
planting. This happened when the farmers were planting garlic at the old site
of Bauan along Taal
Lake. From that time on,
the place was known and registered as Bauang, which later became Bauan.
On the later part of the 16th century
until the middle of 17th century, Bauan was one of the principal
barrios of Taal. Bauan was also called Segundo
hijo de Taal (second son of Taal) because it was the second visita
(a small community which has a chapel but without a resident priest from the
town proper) of Taal from 1590 to 1596 (the
first visita was Balayan).
On May 17, 1590, the Augustinian friars of Taal had chosen Fr. Diego de Avila as the
priest-in-charge of the natives of Bauan. On May 12, 1596, Bauan became a
parish with Fr. Ildefonso Bernal as its first parish priest.
The parish of Bauan was the fifth parish
established in the province of Batangas, which as made under the Archdiocese of
Manila. Later in 1641, Bauan parish was placed under the guidance of the
Immaculate Conception and hence called the Immaculate Conception Parish,
although since 1596, the patron of the parish was the Holy Cross of Bauan or
the Mahal na Poong Santa Cruz.
The original site of the old Bauan with a church
and a convent was a place called Tambo, along Bonbon
Lake (now Taal Lake)
and near the foot of Mr. Macolot. This was from 1590 to 1662. From Tambo, the
old Bauan was relocated thrice. The first was to Durungao in 1662 under Fr.
Jose Rodriguez and Governadorcillo Josep Cabral. The people stayed there until
1671. A church and a convent made of stone was built there in 1667. The second
was to the western part of Bauan beside sitio Sinala which was then called
Duclap, named after a plant with many thorns. This was in 1671 under Fr.
Nicolas de Rivera and Governadorcillo Juan Manigbas. They stayed there until
1690. In 1689, a church, a convent, a school and a cotta or fort were
built there.
The third and last relocation was made in 1690
under Fr. Simon Martinez and Governadorcillo Lucas Mangubat. The location,
which was the fourth and the present site of Bauan was called Tulusan.
This site was near the sea and not so far from Punta de Asufre (now
Cazdor Pt.) and Isla de Maricaban (Maricaban Island).
There, in 1695 – 1697, a church with a convent was built under Fr. Ignacio
Mercado and in 1700 – 1710; another one was built under Fr. Blas Vidal. The
present church of Bauan was built in 1762 with the supervision of Don
Juan Bandino and under Fr. Jose Victoria, the same priest who had started the
built-up of the historic Taal
Church.
In 1776, a fort was built in Aplaya under Fr.
Miguel Brañas to protect the town from the attacks of Moros or Muslims.
This fort was ordered to be decommissioned in 1845 by Fr. Manuel de Arco.
Earlier in 1653, Bauan was separated from Taal
and constituted as a town. The main reason for the separation was the distance
between the two places and the growing populace of Bauan. The people of Bauan,
led by Fernando Mangobos, who later became the first governadorcillo, made a
petition for separation which was approved by the Spanish authorities. But then
in 1660, Bauan was again placed under Taal due
to lack of taxes collected in the town. In 1672, Bauan began to keep its own
registry of births and deaths.
The first center of population of the town of Bauan was a place along Bonbon Lake
called Calumala (now a part of Sta. Rita, Batangas). When Taal Volcano erupted
in 1754, Bauan inhabitants moved to a sitio called Gintuan, located in the
western side of a hill we now call Durungao. After staying there for three
years, the people moved to another sitio called Taboc due to lack of
water in sitio Gintuan. Sitio Taboc had a river with the same name. But after
six months, the people again transferred to a wider and more fertile area
called sitio Tulusan, which was near the sea and had a spring called Pansol.
This was the present site of Bauan poblacion or town proper. Tulusan was
so called because at that time there were plenty of tulos (stake) for
the mam-inam (mam-in is a plant used by old folks in their nganga,
a habit to strengthen teeth) owned by Agustin Madlangpilac, who later donated a
portion of his property to the municipal government.
When Bauan was created as a legal town, it was
consisted of the towns of San Jose (formerly called San Jose de Malaking
Tubig), Cuenca (then, a part of San
Jose), Alitagtag, Mabini (Calumpang
Peninsula), Tingloy (Maricaban Island),
and San Pascual. San Jose, Alitagtag, Mabini,
and San Pascual were separated from Bauan in 1767, 1910, 1918 and in 1969,
respectively, while Cuenca was separated from San Jose in 1876 and
Tingloy, from Mabini in 1955.
In
1767, the barrio along Malaking Tubig (a river
flowing from this place to Bauan) separated from Bauan and became the
town of San Jose with Ignacio de los Santos as its first
governadorcillo. In April
26, 1765, after the first mass held in the place, Fr. Jose Victoria
named the
barrio as San Jose de Malaking Tubig.
In November 7, 1876, the town of Cuenca was created, taken from San Jose de
Malaking Tubig. Cuenca was so named by Governor
General Paez after a town in Spain
with the same name, since the two (2) places had similar environment. The town
of Cuenca was along Borbon
Lake at the slope of Mt. Macalot
and its town proper was at the southern foot of the said mountain.
The barrio of Alitagtag, which was also along Borbon Lake
and not too far from Mt.
Macolot, became the
second town that was separated from Bauan. On May 27, 1909, the national
authorities issued a decree which stated that beginning on the first day of January,
1910, Alitagtag would be a legal town. The barrio leaders who led the movement
for the separation were Jose Maranan, Fulgencio Gutierrez and Raymundo
Bautista.
On January 1, 1918, the town of Mabini was created with Don Francisco Castillo
as the first appointed Presidente Municipal. The town was consisted of
the barrios along the bays of Batangas and Balayan in Calumpang
Peninsula, southwestern part of Bauan
and the Maricaban
Island. The town was
named in honor of Apolinario Mabini, a national hero from Tanauan, Batangas.
The Maricaban
Island was created into a
municipality on June 17, 1955 under Republic Act No. 1334 of Pres. Ramon
Magsaysay’s administration. This municipality was named Tingloy after tinghoy,
a tree used for lighting purposes which was prevalent in the island. The first
municipal mayor of Tingloy was Atty. Ramon de Claro.
The last town separated from Bauan was San Pascual.
The municipality
of San Pascual was
created on August 4, 1969 under Executive Order No. 6116 issued by Pres.
Ferdinand E. Marcos. The move to separate San Pascual from Bauan was led by
Francisco Mendoza. The new town was consisted of Barangay San Pascual (formerly
called Barrio Lagnas, which means boundary, a boundery then of the towns of
Bauan and Batangas, and which was changed to San Pascual in 1959) and other
eastern barangays of Bauan.
As years passed by, Bauan continued to prosper. In
1907, the Pansol Spring, the main source of water in Poblacion, was developed
under the administration of Presidente Municipal Andres Buendia. In 1915, an
artesian well (now called gripo de Tarcena) in Aplaya was installed by
Presidente Municipal Higino Marasigan. Under Mayor Benito Cusi, the Gabaldon
Building of Bauan Elementary School was built in 1920 and the public market in
1924. The asphalting of Aplaya road and other roads in Poblacion was done in
1929 under Mayor Simeon Ilagan. Mayor Ilagan also started the electrification
and the construction of water pipelines of Poblacion in 1930. These were
completed under Mayor Quintin Castillo in 1934. Feeder roads from San Roque to
Gulibay, from Sinala to Alagao, and from Manalupang to Pitugo were constructed
under the administrations of Mayor Quintin Castillo, Conrado Buendia and
Godofredo Brual from 1934 to 1941. In the early forties, Bauan was already a
first class municipality.
Bauan had its share of tragedies aside from
eruptions of Taal Volcano and frequent attacks of the Moros. In November 26,
1926, Aplaya was flooded that resulted to loss of so many lives as well as
sizeable damages to crops and properties. In July 13, 1928, the Bauan Catholic
Church was burned together with its magnificent chandeliers, candelabras, and
other priceless religious paraphernalia.
Bauan was on its way to progress when the Second
World War broke out in 1941. Just a week after the blasphemous December 8, 1941
bombing of Pearl Harbor, the military
auxiliary airfield in Lipa (now Fernando Air base) was also bombed by Japanese
high dive bombers. This made the residents of Poblacion and Aplaya scamper to
seek refuge at the hilly barrios of Sinala, Alagao, Durungao and Inicbulan
where their relatives were. A year after, they returned to their homes to find
out that the town was still peaceful and the people are busy working. There was
no Japanese garrison stationed in Bauan and that the Japanese soldiers were
only passing enroute to Mabini, Cuenca
or Batangas.
In September 1942, the Japanese-Formosa commercial
firm, Taiwan Takahatsu Ltd., established a branch in Bauan and set up an office
at the residence of Don Eusebio Orense. The company was engaged in the
production of cotton and this helped farmers earn a living by planting cotton
to be sold to the said firm. It was also during this period of Japanese
occupation when the port
of Bauan in Barrio Aplaya
became a major inter-island port. Hence, trading became one of the major
sources of income in the town. Traders from the Visayas embarked and
disembarked all sorts of food items like sugar, rice, coconut, fruits and even
cattle at the Bauan port.
There was no guerilla unit ever established in
Bauan. However, some Bauangueños secretly joined guerilla forces in nearby
towns. Information regarding guerilla organizations reached the Japanese Kempeitai
through paid spies that resulted in the arrest of prominent residents of Bauan
who were suspected to have connections with the guerillas. Some of them were
brutally tortured but were allowed to return home. Others were not that lucky
and were believed to have been killed by their captors.
In the morning of February 28, 1945, a Japanese
detachment stationed in Cuenca
under the command of Captain Hagino forcibly gathered Bauan townspeople inside
the Catholic Church. All healthy-bodied males were arrested and marched into a
house owned by Severino Bautista, just across the side stairway of the church
patio. When all the captives were inside, the house was locked and was blasted
using dynamites.
Those who survived the blast and rushed out of the
house were fired at and bayoneted to death. By noontime, Capt. Hagino ordered
his men to ransack and burn the whole town. In that single massacre, more than
two hundred Bauangueños were killed and only three houses were left unburned.
In memory and for their honor, a monument / statue was built across the street
in front of the church and called it “Dambana ng mga Bayani”.
After the war, the task of rebuilding Bauan from
the ruins of war began. It was led by a breed of new and young political
leaders; Mayors Gregorio Arreglado, Jose Daite and Ciriaco Ingco. Mayor Daite
who was a medical doctor, visited the barrios to bring medical and social
services to the people. Mayor Ingco started Bauan’s industrialization by the
establishment of an oil refinery owned by Caltex Philippines, Inc. along the
coast of Batangas Bay in Brgy. San Pascual
(now a municipality). During his four consecutive four-year terms (16
uninterrupted years of service as a mayor, 1956-1972), various infrastructure
projects were completed as a consequence of a progressive local economy.
In 1972, Mayor Bienvenido Castillo continued the
projects left by his predecessor. Bauan’s economy was very much affected by the
separation of San Pascual wherein Caltex Refinery was located. Mayor Castillo
invited new investors to locate their businesses in Bauan’s remaining coastal
areas to counter this economic blow. Other infrastructures like school
buildings, roads, hospital, public market, waterworks and electrification were
also completed during his administration from 1972 to 1986 and from 1988 to
1998.
In 1998, Mayor Herminigildo J. Dolor won the
mayoralty race and became Bauan’s 246th local chief executive since
1653; the 23rd since the First
Republic (1898) and the 8th
since the Third Republic (1945). Within only more than a
year in office, various infrastructure projects were completed, new commercial
and industrial establishments were added and old ones were expanded. Various
health, social and educational programs were conducted in Bauan under his
administration.
In 2007, the second son on Mayor Hermie J. Dolor;
the Hon. Ryanh M. Dolor became the new Local Chief Executive of Bauan at the
young age of 27 years old. From the father onto his son, the leadership of
Bauan was passed; another first in the colorful history of Bauan.
Immediately after assuming his post, Mayor Ryanh M.
Dolor worked hard for the completion of the computerization program of the
local government, the development and rehabilitation of parks and plazas where
people can relax after a hard day’s work, invitation to business investors to
set up their businesses in Bauan to boost further Bauan’s economy, construction
of schools, play courts and roads.
