Batangas Students Make History as the 1st School Ordered Closed in the American Colonial Era
On the lighter side of history, from Volume 49 1 of the Woodstock 2 Letters, a publication of the Society of Jesus from 1872 to 1969, we...
March 2018
The Capture and Looting of Lipa by US Troops in 1900 during the Fil-American War
In December of the year 1899, almost a year after the Philippine-American War had broken out, after clearing the Bulacan towns of Baliuag ...
The Philippine Revolution in Batangas during the Tenure of Govenor-General Ramon Blanco
While high school history books told us that Batangas was one of eight provinces that first revolted against Spanish colonial rule late in...
Lemery, Batangas in the 19th Century as Described by a Spanish Historian
Continuing with this web site’s series on late 19 th century Batangas as described by the former government official and historian Manuel...
Atrocities in Batangas Cited during General Tomoyuki Yamashita’s Trial for War Crimes after WWII
Mention the name Yamashita in the context of the Second World War and in most likelihood the first thing that comes to most Filipinos’ ...
Francisco Rubio and his Recruitment of Rebel Soldiers in Tanauan in 1900
On 24 October 1900, one Francisco Rubio was arraigned and tried for charges of “being a spy” by a military commission convened in the town...
Movements of Company D of the USV 28th Infantry Regiment in Batangas in 1900
Continuing with the campaign of the United States Volunteers 28 th Infantry Regiment in Batangas in the year 1900, we now shift our atten...
Tingloy, Batangas: Historic and Folkloric Notes about some of its Barrios
This article revisits the otherwise forgotten history and folklore of the barrios of Tingloy, Batangas. The information contained herein ...
The State of Philippine Railroads in 1902 and American Attempts to Improve It, Including New Lines in Batangas
On 18 March 1902, the United States Senate directed Elihu Root, the Secretary of War, to provide “a statement of the legal and traffic rel...
San Juan de Bocboc, Batangas in the 19th Century as Described by a Spanish Historian
We move now to the town of San Juan in eastern Batangas, called San Juan de Bocboc during the latter part of the Spanish colonial era, for...
The Deadly 1902 Cholera Epidemic in the Philippines, with Special Interest on Its Consequences in Batangas
The disease cholera is an infection of the small intestines that leads to diarrhea, vomiting and muscle cramps. It is caused by a bacteri...
The Case of the 19-Year Old Makapili Charged with Treason for Activities in Lipa and Santo Tomas
In this article, we take a look at another Supreme Court case involving treason charges against a member of the Makabayang Katipunan ng mg...
Company C: the USV 28th Infantry Regiment Movements in the Taal-Lemery Area during the Fil-Am in 1900
This is the second article of a series about the 28sup>th Infantry Regiment of the United States Volunteers (USV) while on deployment i...
Santo Tomas, Batangas in the 19th Century as Described by a Spanish Historian
Continuing with the series in this web site on 19 th century Batangas as described by the former government official and historian Manue...
The State of Batangas in 1901 as Reported to the 2nd US Philippine Commission
The Second Philippine Commission, otherwise known as the Taft Commission, was appointed by the United States President William McKinley in...
Bauan, Batangas: Historic and Folkloric Notes about Its Barrios
We continue with our series featuring historic and folkloric stories from the barrios of Batangas, this time shifting our focus on the Mun...
Life and Economics in Lian, Batangas Early in the 20th Century
An Anthropological paper 1 written by one Pastor M. Layosa in 1927 offers a compelling descriptive picture of the life end economics in t...
The US Army 28th Infantry Regiment in Batangas in 1900 and their Operations in Taal, Lemery, Calaca and Nasugbu
This article starts a new series in this web site on the activities of the United States Army’s 28 th Infantry Regiment as it saw action ...
The Case of the Makapili in Tanauan and the Heroic Dr. Brigido Carandang
From the archives of the Supreme Court of the Philippines, we get this story 1 of both the heroism and treachery of fellow Batangueños on...
19th Century Tanauan, Batangas as Described by a Spanish Historian
We continue with the series of articles on late 19 th century Batangas as described the former government official and historian Manuel S...
Antonio de las Alas, the Outstanding Taal-born Public Servant of the American Colonial Era
The 1931 publication “Men of the Philippines 1 ” included several Batangueños. In the book’s foreword, the gentlemen included were qualif...
Ibaan, Batangas: Historical and Folkloric Notes about its Barrios
This article continues the series that resurrects historical and folkloric trivia about the different barrios of Batangas. For this insta...
Finding Barrio Sulok, the Strategic Barrio in WWII Santo Tomas, Batangas
In my researches on World War II Batangas, one obscure little barrio kept popping up in documentation of United States Army movements duri...
Bauan, Batangas in the 19th Century as Described by a Spanish Historian
We continue with the series of articles on 19 th Century Batangas as described by the former Spanish government official and historian Ma...
Two Makapilis and the Marauoy, Lipa Massacre by Japanese Soldiers in February 1945
The date 11 February 1945 was among the darkest in the history of the then town of Lipa in Batangas. “Almost an entire community” was mas...
Lian, Batangas: Historic and Folkloric Notes about some of its Barrios
We take a look at the small western Batangas town of Lian to continue with our series of barrio history and folklore. The information con...
The Economic Roles Women in Batangas played in 1916
In the present day, women in Batangas can be just about anything they desire to be. They can be owners or top executives of companies, ca...
Know the Most Frequently Used Names among the Barrios of Batangas
It is not uncommon in Batangas if somebody is asked where one is from to be told that there is a similarly named barrio somewhere else in ...
Mabini, Batangas: Historic and Folkloric Notes about some of its Barrios
We return to the barrio histories of Batangas with this feature on the town of Mabini, located on the Calumpang Peninsula. The informatio...
The Town of Lobo in the 19th Century as Described by a Spanish Historian
This article continues our series about nineteenth century Batangas, as seen through the eyes of the Spanish government official and histo...
Dates when each Town of Batangas was liberated from the Japanese in WWII
Just ten hours 1 after the treacherous attack on Pearl Harbor in December of 1941, as part of a well-coordinated attack, Japanese planes ...
A Glimpse at Life in Batangas Early in the 1600s
The Spanish government official and historian Antonio de Morga 1 gave a fascinating glimpse of what life must have been in the Lake Bombo...
Eulalio and Glicera Villavicencio of Taal’s Patriotic Ilustrado Class: Funders of the Philippine Revolution
If one reads through the histories of barrios in Taal and nearby towns, one finds countless stories of village folk, tired of Spanish oppr...
The Fierce Battle for the Control of Cuenca and Mount Makulot in 1945
After the landing of Allied forces on the shores of Nasugbu on the last day of January 1945, among their immediate objectives was the clea...
Calaca, Batangas: Historic and Folkloric Notes about some of its Barrios
We continue with the series of articles dedicated to resurrecting otherwise forgotten pieces of historical and folkloric trivia about the ...
The Mariang Ilaya and Engkanto Legends of Mount Makulot as Told by Elders in Cuenca in 1922
If you are from these parts, then you will only be too familiar with stories people tell about the “suno” (hitchhiker) who allegedly board...
Taysan’s Relative Isolation from the Rest of Batangas in 1916
Taysan is one of the province of Batangas’ middle-sized municipalities, with a land area of roughly 9,362 hectares and a population of jus...
Traditional Ways by which People of Lipa Estimated Time and Predicted Weather
To be perfectly honest, the methods described in this article were probably more universally used than the title suggests. Still, they wi...
Taal, Batangas in the 19th Century, as Described by a Spanish Historian
This article is part of a series that attempts to bring to modern day readers descriptive images of the towns of Batangas in the late nine...
Agoncillo, Batangas: Historic and Folkloric Notes about some of its Barrios
This article is part of a series dedicated to bringing to younger readers otherwise forgotten historic and folkloric information about the...
An Old Tourist Spot in Taal Called the Pansipit Fishery
I still carry inside my head very hazy memories of a family trip to the Taal-Lemery area back in the early or mid-sixties. I could not ha...
10 Historical Trivia about Batangas All Batangueños Should Know
The history of the great province of Batangas overflows with richness and trivial notes will not do it any justice. That said, there are ...
The Balisong and the Old Knife-Making Rivalry between Taal and Lipa
The blacksmithing industry in the Philippines likely predates the arrival of the Spaniards. A 1590 manuscript called the Boxer Codex 1 , ...
The Story of Juanang Ilaya, Supposedly a Legend Started in Lipa Town
A few years back, somebody on social media suggested that I wrote about the legend of Juanang Ilaya for this web site. I replied that I w...
The Merchants of Taal in 1934 and a Business Model Based on Filipino Honesty
A 1934 Anthropology paper written by one Crisologo Atienza documented a remarkable business model used by the merchants of Taal that was t...
San Luis, Batangas: Historic and Folkloric Notes about some of its Barrios
This article is part of a series of articles dedicated to resurrecting otherwise forgotten historic and folkloric trivia about the barrios...
Calatagan, Batangas in the 19th Century, as Described by a Spanish Historian
This is the eighth article of a series that seeks to acquaint modern day readers with conditions in the different towns of the Province of...
Agricultural and Other Products of Batangas in 1916 and the Top Producing Towns
An Anthropological paper written by one Galicano C. Luansing in 1916 offers a glimpse at economic activities undertaken by the people of B...
12 Violent Earthquakes that Rocked Batangas from 1645 to 1901
The shaking of the ground which we all refer to as “earthquake” may be caused by different factors: the collapse of an underground cavern ...
Nasugbu, Batangas in the 19th Century as Described by a Spanish Historian
In this seventh article of the series featuring the towns of Batangas as described by the Spanish historian Manuel Sastron, we focus on th...
The State of Agriculture in San Juan, Batangas in 1919
A 1919 paper written by one Beato M. Bukid 1 provides a rare glimpse at the state of agriculture in the eastern Batangas town of San Juan...
Taysan: Historical and Folkloric Notes about some of its Barrios
This article is the latest in the series dedicated to folkloric and historic trivia about the barrios of Batangas. This time, we focus on...
19th Century San Jose, Batangas as Described by a Spanish Historian
This article is the sixth of a series featuring the towns of Batangas in the late nineteenth century, as described by the Spanish Historia...
Ananias Diokno: the Taal-born General Recognized as the only Tagalog to lead a Military Expedition to the Visayas during the Philippine Revolution
It was 1898. The Philippine Revolution was becoming the success its instigators might have hoped for probably only in their wildest dream...
12 Marriage and other Customs Observed in Calaca, Batangas in 1931
A 1931 Anthropology paper entitled “Customary Laws in Calaca, Batangas 1 ,” written by one Marcela Endaya, presumably a native of the town...
19th Century Ibaan as Described by a Spanish Historian
We continue with the series featuring each of the 22 towns of Batangas as described by the Spanish historian Manuel Sastron in his book “B...
Tuy, Batangas: Historical and Folkloric Notes about some of its Barrios
We continue with the series on the barrios of Batangas, and this time we look at the small western Batangas town of Tuy. As with the othe...
Know the Population of 22 Batangas Towns in 1877
An 1895 book entitled “Batangas y su Provincia 1 ” (Batangas and its Province) paints a compelling picture of the province far from the co...
Beliefs Held by the People in Lian, Batangas in 1924
From the small western Batangas municipality of Lian, we feature some beliefs held by the people during the American colonial era, specifi...
Cuenca, Batangas in the 19th Century, as Described by a Spanish Historian
This article continues our series dedicated to showing how the towns of Batangas were like in the nineteenth century, as described by the ...
When the Town of Bauan was founded along the Shores of Taal Lake
For most modern day people of Batangas, it is probably stock knowledge that the town of Bauan is close to the shores of Batangas Bay and i...
Lemery: Historical and Folkloric Notes about some of its Barrios
This is yet another article in the series dedicated to historical and folkloric trivia about the barrios of Batangas. The information con...
Rosario, Batangas in the 19th Century, as Described by a Spanish Historian
This article takes a look at the town of Rosario in the nineteenth century through the eyes of Manuel Sastron, the Spanish ex-government o...
19th Century Talisay, Batangas as Described by a Spanish Historian
This article is the second instalment of a series featuring the towns of Batangas in the nineteenth century. Most of the information cont...
The 1749 Eruption of Taal Volcano which Forced 2 Pueblos to Become One as Tanauan
The present-day city of Tanauan is among the Province of Batangas’ oldest population centers. It can trace its roots back to two pueblos ...
The Glory of 19th Century Villa de Lipa as Described by a Spanish Historian
A nineteenth century book written by the Spanish ex-government official and historian Manuel Sastron 1 painted a captivating descriptive ...
Malvar: Historical and Folkloric Notes about some of its Barrios
This article is the latest installment of a series dedicated to featuring otherwise forgotten historic and folkloric information about the...
The Augustinians and their Role in the Founding of Taal, Batangas, Tanauan, Bauan and Lipa
The Augustinians were the first Catholic religious order to come to the Philippine Islands. In fact, the expedition led by the conquistad...
San Nicolas and Santa Teresita: Historic and Folkloric Notes about some of its Barrios
In this article, which is part of a series dedicated to historical and folkloric trivia about the barrios of Batangas, we feature the town...
Dr. Maximo Kalaw: the other Great Kalaw of Lipa during the American Colonial Era
Many Filipinos – yes, not just Batangueños – ought to have heard of the name Teodoro M. Kalaw, if just for the countless number of streets...
Francisco Matienza and the Tagalog Revolts in Balayan and Taal in 1745
Most Filipinos ought to have a fairly good grasp from high school history lessons of what went on in the Philippine Revolution of 1896, si...
22 Beliefs Held in San Jose, Batangas in 1925
One of the most refreshing documents that I have come across among the Henry Otley-Beyer Anthropological Collection at the National Librar...
The Arrival of Cacao in the Philippines and the Thief from Lipa who helped Propagate It
Mention the name Lipa and most probably the first thing the enters most people’s minds is coffee, something that can be attributed to the ...
Taal, Batangas: Historical and Folkloric Notes about some of its Barrios
This article is part of a continuing series that focuses on historical and folkloric trivia about the barrios of Batangas. The informatio...
Cecilia Muñoz-Palma: the Bauan-born 1st Female SC Justice who stood up to the Marcos Regime
“Ingrata.” This was how then-Secretary of Justice Vicente Abad Santos was supposed to have called Supreme Court Justice Cecilia Muñoz-Pal...
When Batangas was the “Orange Capital” of the Philippines
At the mention of the name Batangas, among the first things that immediately comes to mind is coffee, even if the boom years of the plant ...
San Jose: Historic and Folkloric Notes about some of its Barrios
This article is another installment of a series dedicated to resurrecting otherwise forgotten folkloric and historical trivia about the ...
Maria Orosa: the Taal-Born Scientist credited with the Invention of the Banana Ketchup
Back in the sixties when I was a small boy growing up inside Fernando Air Base in Lipa City, the only brand of ketchup my mother ever brou...
Historical and Folkloric Notes about some Barrios of Alitagtag
This article is part of a series dedicated to historical and folkloric trivia about the barrios of Batangas Province. The information is ...
13 Superstitious Beliefs of the People of Santo Tomas, Batangas in 1925
From an Anthropology paper entitled “Superstitious Beliefs from Santo Tomas, Batangas,” written in 1925 by one Aurora A. Hernandez, we get...
Bonbon, Bombon, Bongbong; Possible Origins of Taal Lake’s Former Name
Earlier this year, I wrote an article to help promote the Bonbon Festival, an eco-cultural event held annually in the past few years for t...
Balayan: Historical and Folkloric Trivia about some of its Barrios
This article is part of a continuing series that attempts to bring to the Batangueño public and anyone else interested otherwise forgotten...
Was Dr. Jose P. Laurel, Batangueño President of the 2nd Philippine Republic, a Traitor?
I have a fairly vague recollection of this self-same question being asked during a high school history class decades ago. If Dr. Jose P. ...
Documented General Characteristics of the Batangueño in 1915
A 1915 Anthropology paper written by one Leon Bibiano Meer 1 gives some very fascinating insights about the characteristics of the Batang...
Historical and Folkloric Trivia about some Barrios of Nasugbu
This article is part of a series dedicated to providing historical and folkloric information about the barrios of the cities and municipal...
WWII Japanese Atrocities Committed in the Barrios of Lipa
In a previous article, I had written that the Japanese, particularly towards the end of their occupation in the Philippines, had massacred...
Tanauan City: Historical and Folkloric Trivia about some of its Barrios
This article is part of a series that focuses on historic and folkloric trivia about the barrios of the towns and cities of Batangas. Inf...
Mataasnakahoy: Historical and Folkloric Trivia about some of Its Barrios
This article is part of a series on historical and folkloric information about the towns and cities of Batangas at the barrio level. The ...
Marriage Customs in Batangas in 1916
A paper written in 1916 by one Remedios Q. Kalalo entitled “Marriage Customs in Batangas 1 ” provides valuable insights about Batangueño c...
Historical and Folkloric Trivia about some Barrios of Batangas City
This article is part of a series featuring historic and folkloric trivia about the barrios of Batangas Province. For this instalment, the...
How Some Barrios of Lipa City Got their Names
In 1953, Department of Education divisions all over the country had to submit local histories to the National Library of the Philippines t...
Pictures of Taal Volcano Taken before the Destructive 1911 Eruption
At the University of Michigan Digital Archives, there is a collection of pictures taken of Taal Volcano likely before the 1911 eruption. ...
Classic Photos of Bauan, Taal and Tanauan taken in the Early 1900s
In a way, photographic essays can be more descriptive than those made with words; and this one gives very graphic descriptions of life in ...
Dr. Jose P. Laurel and the “Dirtiest Election” in Philippine Electoral History
Many readers would have heard of Dr. Jose Paciano Laurel, born in 1891 in what was then the town of Tanauan in Batangas, from secondary sc...
Forgotten Historical Trivia about some Towns and Cities of Batangas Part II
PART II PART I | PART II This is the second of two articles featuring historical trivia largely ignored by conventional Philippine hi...
Forgotten Historical Trivia about some Towns and Cities of Batangas Part I
PART I PART I | PART II Because important historical documents in the possession of the National Library of the Philippines were dest...
The Folkloric Story of the Beginnings of Batangas City
The origins of today’s modern, large and still growing port city of Batangas, capital of the province of the same name, can only be recons...
4 Different Versions about How Taal Got Its Name
Among the names of Batangas’ towns and cities, perhaps the one that has fascinated me the most is Taal, and not least because there are se...
The Rainbow Regiment: the Batangueño Guerilla Group in WWII
In two earlier articles, I wrote about the exploits of the Hunters/ROTC, a guerilla group that was formed in the province of Rizal but rel...
Feminist Clemencia Lopez of Balayan, the First Filipina to Visit the White House
In the year 1902, a 26-year old Batangueña from the town of Balayan in Batangas became the first Filipina to ever set foot in the White Ho...
US Terrain Intelligence Pre-WWII Photos of Batangas
The photographs contained in this collection are taken from a dossier dated November 1944 entitled “Terrain Study No. 95 Batangas-Lucena.”...
6 Batangueño Amusements to Pass Time in 1916
Boredom is, by and large, no longer a concern for most contemporary Batangueños. There are large malls in the province which people can v...
The Recruitment and Organization of Anti-Japanese Guerillas in Batangas in WWII
Around August of 1943, soldiers of the Japanese Imperial Army stationed in the Philippines in World War II started to conduct a severe ant...
Rare Early 20th Century US Army Photos of Batangas, Lipa et al from the Sandra Plummer Collection
The Sandra Plummer Collection is part of the Fort Worth Library Digital Archives. Basically, the collection is a documentation of America...
Operations of the Hunters/ROTC Guerillas in Batangas Prior to the 1945 Nasugbu Landing in WWII
On 31 January 1945, troops of the United States 8 th Army landed on the beaches of Nasugbu in Batangas virtually unopposed. That they di...
Beliefs Held by People of Lipa in 1924 with Regards Natural Phenomena
This article will be the first of several to feature papers about Batangas written during the American colonial period which are part of t...
Historic Pictures Taken in Batangas during the American Colonial Era
The American colonial era in the Philippines began with the cessation by Spain of the latter to the United States in 1898 and ended with t...
The Hard Luck and Suffering in San Juan and Balayan after the End of the Philippine-American War in 1902
With the surrender of General Miguel Malvar in April 1902, for all intents and purposes, the Philippine-American War also came to an end. ...
How the Population of Batangas’ Towns and Cities Has Grown from the 1903 to the 2015 Census
Nipa huts in a reconcentrado camp in Batangas circa 1903. Image credit: "The Last Holdouts." In 1902-03, the fledgling Ame...
How Churches in Balayan, Bauan, Ibaan, Lemery, Lipa, San Jose, San Juan, Tanauan and Taysan Looked Like in 1911
The images were all taken in the year 1911 by the American Luther Parker, who first came to the Philippines in 1901 and stayed in the Phil...
How Taal, Batangas Looked Like in 1911 as seen from Pictures of the Luther Parker Collection
The nostalgic images in this page are from the Luther Parker Collection publicly available as part of the National Library of the Philippi...
The Life and Culture in the Town of Lipa, Batangas in the 1800s
For a 1948 publication called the Batangas Directory, one Baldomero B. Reyes wrote a fascinating article entitled “Important events that o...
The Mystery of the Tawilis’ Origin and Its Transformation from a Marine to Freshwater Fish
If you are Batangueño, then it goes without saying that you are familiar with your home province’s iconic fish, the freshwater sardine fou...
The Legend of the Miraculous Holy Crosses of Alitagtag and Bauan
In this article, we shall be featuring the legend of the finding of the Holy Cross in Batangas, as written by the Rev. Father Juan S. Coro...
Fidel A. Reyes, the Lipa-born Nationalist Writer of the Early American Era, and the Case of the Bust to Honor His Memory
In the year 1901, while the Philippine-American War was ongoing, Filipino nationalists founded a Spanish-language newspaper which they cal...
The Apolinario Mabini Syphilis Rumors and Late 19th Century Philippine Power Play
Those among readers who daydreamed through lessons on Apolinario Mabini in high school Philippine History would likely have paid attention...
First-Hand Narrative of the Violent 1911 Taal Volcano Eruption which Killed More than a Thousand People
“Tiny” Taal Volcano, at just 311 meters or 1,020 feet above sea level considered the world’s smallest active volcano, is also among the de...
General Juan Cailles, the Nasugbu-born Soldier of the Philippine Revolution and the Philippine-American War
Obscured by the fame of Jose Rizal, Andres Bonifacio, Emilio Aguinaldo, Miguel Malvar and other great historical figures is one Nasugbu-bo...
The Tree after which Ibaan was named and other Historical Trivia about the Town
The Municipality of Ibaan is one of the Province of Batangas’ middle-sized towns, with a land area of 6,899 hectares and a population (201...
Captain Roberto Lemery, the Spanish Outpost Commander after whom a Town is Named
A quick examination of the list of Batangas’ cities and municipalities shows that the names of all the province’s 34 geopolitical subdivis...
Why Marcela Agoncillo was asked to Design the Philippine Flag
It is one of those quirks of history that Marcela Mariño de Agoncillo, in all honesty a peripheral figure to the Philippine Revolution, is...
The Towns of Batangas that used to be Part of other Towns in the Province
Batangas as we know it in the present day had vastly different geopolitical subdivisions at the dawn of the Spanish colonial era, with onl...
James H. Polk: The Batangas-born former US Army Europe Commander-in-Chief
There is this little known fact that one American born in the province of Batangas, and thus by the principle of Jus Soli 1 (birthright c...
19th Century Tulisanes Banditry in Calaca, Batangas
I was amused last week to hear President Rodrigo Duterte brand Senator Antonio Trillanes IV as a tulisan. I doubt that many among the you...
Taaleño Felipe Agoncillo’s Failed Efforts at Securing Self Rule for the Philippines in 1898
Most of us only have a cursory knowledge acquired from basic education text books of Don Felipe Agoncillo, the lawyer from Taal after whom...
Emilio Macabuag and his WWII Guerilla Group in Calatagan, Batangas
In June of 1943, roughly a year and a half into the Japanese occupation of the Philippines in World War II, a guerilla unit was formed in ...
The Rape of Tanauan by the Japanese in World War II and Its Difficulties after the War
On 7 December 1951, then Philippine President Elpidio Quirino signed Executive Order Number 486 requiring the compilation of historical da...
How Barrio Banaybanay Got Its Name: A Folkloric Story
If you board a Batangas City bound jeepney from Lipa City and tell the driver you are bound for Banaybanay, if you do not look familiar to...
Balandis: the Slanted Houses Along a Road in Cuenca/Alitagtag
Back in the sixties when this writer was still a young boy, whenever he went with my family to Nasugbu, where his mother was from, they co...
Batangas Province’s Oldest Towns and Cities
Batangas was the first place in Luzon that the Spaniards explored in 1570 when Miguel López de Legazpi sent Martin de Goite and Juan de Sa...
TM Kalaw: Knowing the Batangueño of the Common Street Name
Even in my trips to cities in the Visayas and Mindanao in the past, it was not uncommon to see a street or side street that was named TM K...
Batangas Uno and other Antique Furniture that Sell for at least ₱1M
In September of 2010, in what was regarded as the “Deal of the Decade,” an authentic Batangas “Uno” altar “mesa” or table was sold at an a...
Balisong, the famed Batangas Butterfly Knife, May Not Have Been Invented in Batangas
Like many young boys my generation, this writer used to own a balisong back in the seventies when he was in high school. Not that he ever...
Pablo Manlapit, the Lipa-Born Batangueño Instrumental in Fil-Americans’ Search for Labor Justice in Hawaii and California
Understandably, in the present day, mention the name Pablo Manlapit, even in his hometown of Lipa in the Province of Batangas, and you wil...
Recollections of Nasugbu in the Sixties – the Simple Life in Batangas
While Lipa City, back in the mid- to late-sixties when I was a young boy, was still by and large agrarian in nature, there were still many...
Life in the Province of Batangas Right after World War II
Before the onset of World War II in the Pacific in late 1941, Batangas was one of the most bustling provinces in the country in terms of c...
The Philippine Army Air Corps Class 42-C and Life in Fernando Air Base in the Baby Boomer Post-War Years
Those who were born, raised or came to Fernando Air Base in Lipa City during the fifties and early sixties will recall that there was a de...
How Batangas was Liberated by Allied Forces from the Japanese in 1945
By early March in the year 1945, the liberation of the City of Manila by Allied Forces had been completed after a month of the heaviest ur...
Gregorio Zara: the Lipa, Batangas Born Inventor of the Videophone
The next time you use a videophone application on your mobile such as Skype or FaceTime, if you are from Batangas, it may serve you in goo...
Why Once There were no Chinese in Taal, Lemery and Bauan in Batangas
This is more or less common knowledge in Batangas; albeit, from my own personal experience, if you ask people, nobody would be able to giv...
Spanish Governance and Christian Instruction in Batangas in 1591
(Chapter XIII of a Batangas Historical Series) A new decade of Spanish rule in the Philippines brought with it changes with which the Sp...
1903 Batangas Seen through the Eyes of an American Colonial Officer’s Wife
A series of letters written by Edith Moses about the Philippines provides a colorful insight into life in the country at the turn of the p...
The Mysterious Our Lady of Caysasay Story as told in Old Tagalog by the 18th Century Agustinian Friar Francisco Buencuchillo
The story of the Our Lady of Caysasay, or the Nuestra Señora de Caysasay as she used to be known during the Spanish colonial era in the P...
The Concentration Camp Policy that the US Army Used to Force the Surrender of Gen. Miguel Malvar
Now that Philippine President, Rodrigo Duterte, has dug up from history and brought back into public consciousness the massacres at Bud Da...
Thomas Cavendish: the 16th Century English Pirate who Prowled Philippine Waters
Many will recall from World History lessons the abortive sixteenth century invasion of England by the so-called Spanish Armada, so ordered...
Provincia de Bombon y Balayan, as 16th Century Batangas was Known
(Chapter XII of a Batangas Historical Series) The Royal Audiencia established in Manila was supposed to allow the governance of the Phi...
The Practice of Sending Convicted Criminals as Soldiers to Spanish Colonial Philippines
“While this ship was on the point of departure, one of two ships which your viceroy Don Martin Enrriquez 1 despatched from Nueva España (M...
Gabriel de Ribera, Mariscal de Bombon, Batangas’ Representative to the Royal Audiencia
(Chapter XI of a Batangas Historical Series) Gonçalo Ronquillo de Peñalosa’s term as Governor of the Philippines would be cut short by h...
Spanish-Style Corruption Arrives in 16th Century Philippines, Including Batangas
(Chapter X of a Batangas Historical Series) After Miguel de Loarca’s pseudo-census of the Philippine Islands, Spanish documents for all ...
Searching for Nasugbu’s Lost Airfield
When I was a small boy back in the sixties, I had been hearing from my Mother, who was originally from the town of Nasugbu in western Bata...
Miguel de Loarca’s 16th Century “Census” of Batangas
(Chapter IX of a Batangas Historical Series) Mention has already been made in the second chapter of the Spaniard Miguel de Loarca as thi...
The Galleon Trade, Their Filipino Crews and the Earliest Filipino Community in the United States
Most Filipinos, from high school history books, ought to have a fundamental knowledge of the so-called Galleon Trade, that maritime link a...
The Chiefs of Balayan and Their Role in the 16th Century Spanish Invasion of Borneo
(Chapter VIII of a Batangas Historical Series) It was no surprise that Spanish overtures of peace and friendship with the King of Borney...
When Islam was a Widely-Practised Religion in Luzon, Including Batangas
(Part VII of a Batangas Historical Series) Documents of the earliest Hispanic contacts with Batangas referred to the natives of Bonbon a...
Deaths of the Early Spanish Conquistadores of Luzon and Batangas
(Part VI of a Batangas Historical Series) The three main characters of the initial Spanish exploration and subsequent conquest of Luzon ...
The Founding of Pueblos or Towns by the Agustinians in 16th Century Batangas
(Part V of a Batangas Historical Series) The awarding of Bonbon as a repartimiento to Martin de Goite by Miguel López de Legaspi in 157...
Glimpses of Bonbon (Early Batangas) at the Dawn of the Spanish Colonial Era
(Part IV of a Batangas Historical Series) Just over a year after first sighting the bay of Balayan in an exploratory voyage from Panay t...
Bonbon in Present Day Batangas the First Colonial Estate in Luzon Rewarded to de Goite
(Part III of a Batangas Historical Series) After leaving the coast of Tulay early one day around the third week of May in the year 1570,...
Martin De Goite Brings Peace to Warring Natives from Balayan and Nearby Tulayan
(Part II of a Batangas Historical Series) “These people declare war among themselves at the slightest provocation, or with none whatever....
The 1570 First Spanish Expeditionary Excursion into Batangas
(Part I of a Batangas Historical Series) History tells us that Fernão de Magalhães (Ferdinand Magellan), the Portuguese explorer who sai...
Antique Book Suggests Batangas Tagalog was Once More Widely Spoken in Pre-Hispanic Times
The book’s complete title, in Spanish, is “Doctrina Christiana en Lengua Española y Tagala Corregida Reglos por Los Religiosos de las Orde...
Did the Tagalog People Originate from Batangas? (And Other Notes About the Origins of the Tagalogs)
Percy Hill, in an article published by the Philippine Magazine in 1937, seemed to think so. “The shores of the lake [Taal], its towns and...
20 Forgotten Filipino Superstitions from an Obscure Lipa City Historical Document
The superstitions enumerated in this article are from an obscure document entitled “Historical and Cultural Life of the City of Lipa” whic...
The Story Behind the Sinking of the Galleon San Diego Off Nasugbu’s Fortune Island
“That, whereas, because of the coming to these islands of two hostile English [sic] ships, the preparation of a fleet to attack them was i...
Finding Ferdinand: the Search for the Irish Ancestor of the Mayo Clan of Lipa
After I posted my previous article about the escapades of the British army in Batangas in the 18 th century on social media, my former bo...
British Troops Chase after Treasures in 18th Century Batangas
Most Filipinos are vaguely aware from high school History lessons that for a brief period in our nation’s storied past, the British ruled ...
Map of San Luis, Batangas
The municipality of San Luis is a 4 th income class town of the Province of Batangas. It used to be part of Taal but formally from its m...
The “Cruel” Koreans of the Japanese Army in the Philippines in World War II
In the midst of a discussion about Japanese atrocities committed in the Province of Batangas during the last world war, an acquaintance wi...
Hypotheses on the Difference in Accents between Eastern and Western Batangas
When the Filipino actor Leo Martinez started gaining a bit of fame on Philippine television cast as a Batangueño with an exaggerated accen...
Taal Lake's Forgotten Past: How a Volcanic Eruption Reshaped It
Even to those Batangas born and raised, knowledge of Taal Lake is often limited to that which was taught in elementary geography: that it...
Alternative Stories about How Lipa City Got Its Name
Before yesterday, the only story I had heard about how Lipa City got its name was this silly folklore about two Spanish conquistadores who...
The Nasugbu Landing in WWII and Its Significance to the Liberation of Batangas
Among the wartime stories that I used to hear from my late mother was the amphibious landing of American troops on the beaches of her home...
When Passenger Train Service Ran from Calamba to Batangas City
When I was a small boy back in the sixties, I used to hear of trains that one could take if one wanted to go to Baguio up north or Bicol d...
The Appearance of the Devil According to the Lipa Marian Visionary
Anybody who visits the Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Church in Lipa City will likely immediately sense that it has a feel to it quite distinct fr...
When 25,000 Batangueños were Massacred by the Japanese in World War II
My late mother was a maiden in the town of Nasugbu during the Japanese occupation. The Japanese invaders, she used to tell us, were not a...
Fernando Air Base: Its World War II Roots
Many historical accounts have already been written about Fernando Air Base. Thus, or so I thought to myself, if I wrote one at all, it wou...
The Forgotten Military Airfield in Batangas City
My late father used to be a pilot in the Philippine Air Force. Naturally, I and my siblings used to hear wartime stories from him. Among...
The Original Locations of Some of Batangas' Towns and Cities
This article shows where the cities of Lipa and Tanauan along with the Municipalities of Bauan, Rosario, San Juan and Taal were once origi...