As-is, Bauan, Batangas: Historical Data

Full transcription of the so-called “Historical Data” for the barrio of As-is, Bauan, Batangas, the original scanned documents at the National Library of the Philippines Digital Collections not having OCR or optical character recognition properties. This transcription has been edited for grammar, spelling and punctuation where possible. The original pagination is provided for citation purposes.

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HISTORY AND CULTURAL LIFE OF AS-IS

1. The present official name of the barrio is As-is.

2. The popular name of the barrio is As-is and this name was derived from the name of a tree called “As-is” which is very useful for scrubbing things.

3. The date of establishment of As-is cannot be ascertained. No one in the barrio can give information about it.

4. The original families were the following:

5. The following are the tenientes from the earliest time to date:

6. The whole barrio was never depopulated. There are some sites in the east central part of the barrio that were depopulated. Some families who once inhabited those sites went to live in Quezon province and others moved to some other barrios of Bauan.

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7. There are no other historical sites or structures except the public school building, the history of which is included herein.

8. (a) No important facts can be mentioned about the place during the Spanish occupation except that the old people say that they were forced to work on roads without pay.

9. (a) For lack of an informant, nothing could be mentioned about the destruction of lives, properties and institutions during 1896 - 1900. On Feb. 8, 1945, Japanese soldiers who were stationed in Manghinao bridge bayoneted to death the following persons from this barrio:

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HISTORY OF AS-IS BALAYONG ELEM. SCHOOL

The As-is Balayong Elementary School is almost as old as the American Educational System in the Philippines. In the year 1904, the school operated under a nipa roof. It was without walls and had the ground for the floor. It was in the middle part of As-is east of the road. The first public school teacher was Mr. Cayetano de los Reyes. He taught for one year. He was succeeded by Miss Ignacia Panganiban who taught also for one year. Then, the school was transferred to the southeastern part of the barrio where the main building now stands. The school building was made stronger for the roof was of cogon grass and was provided with bamboo slats for walls. Miss Ignacia Panganiban was succeeded by Miss Agrifina Castor. Year after year, a new teacher was assigned to this barrio school. Those who were assigned were Miss Maria Enriquez, Miss Petronila Rosales, Miss Lucila Dimayuga, Mr. Lorenzo Pinawin, Mr. Severino Farol, Mr. Genaro Sandoval and Mr. Anselmo Cordero. In the year 1915, Mr. Tirso Azucena, a native of the barrio, made the school building much better than before. It was provided with bamboo floor, it was also that time when the help of the barrio of Balayong could be secured. Since then, the people of Balayong sent their children to this school. Before this time, Balayong had its own teachers who had classes under houses. In 1918, Mr. Azucena was given a helper (Miss Maria Castillo) who held her class of Grade I in a private house in the middle part of the barrio of As-is. At this time, a third grade class was created. After one year more, a Grade Four class was added. Because of the increased school enrolment, the number of teachers was hiked to three. In the year 1927, one half hectare of land was acquired. Then followed the construction of a three-room semi-permanent school building. In the year 1929, this school got the highest score in Grade IV Arithmetic in the Philippine Achievement Test. Mr. Azucena’s services terminated when he retired in the year 1935. Mr. H. Ciceron succeeded Mr. Azucena. When Mr. H. Ciceron was transferred to Cupang Barrio School in 1937, Mr. Federico Cordero was given the post that was vacated.

After the school year 1937-1938, Mr. H. Ciceron was recalled to his former position in As-is Barrio School. In June 1938, another room was added by then Congressman Orense. This room was left vacant until another teaching position was

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created. In August 1938, a concrete flagpole was erected in front of the main building. In the same year, a cement walk was laid out from the gate to the main building. In the school year 1938-1939, Mr. H. Ciceron would acquire of half hectare of land which was added to the former school site. This time, the people of Balayong, asked to have the name of their barrio included in the official name of the school. In 1940, a Grade Five class was created. In 1941, the Japanese-American war broke out and the school was ultimately closed. The Japanese, being victorious then, opened the classes, with only Grades One to Four. The Head Teacher was Miss Loreto Abrahan.

It was after liberation from the Japanese occupation when Mr. H. Ciceron assumed again his old position in this school. The school site was then fenceless because the Japanese got the barbed wire fence that surrounded it. This time, the teachers were given their pre-war salaries which was not enough for them to meet their daily expenses. So, the school heads appealed to the parents of the school children for help. Each school child gave fifty centavos monthly to his teacher.

Mr. H. Ciceron gave his helper Miss Leona Alabastro fifteen pesos monthly for seven months, thus making her salary fifty-five pesos as month.

For seven months, Mr. H. Ciceron was able to accumulate more than three hundred pesos from As-is pupils and two hundred pesos from Balayong pupils. These amounts should have been taken from Mr. and Mrs. H. Ciceron in addition to their salaries, but Mr. H. Ciceron spent the total amount for re-fencing the school site and to effect some minor repairs in the main building.

In 1950, during the long vacation, Mr. H. Ciceron with the help of some school-spirited citizens from As-is Balayong, was able to accumulate nine hundred pesos through voluntary contributions. A Home Economics building was erected. A Grade Five class was opened the following July. For lack of accommodation, a temporary building was built through another voluntary contribution of the two barrios. The Third Grade class was taught there. Then, in the following year, a Sixth Grade class was opened, thus making this school a complete Elementary School. An Industrial Arts Building was then erected through the help of the municipal officials and the combined forces of As-is and Balayong.

Now, the official name of this school is As-is Balayong Elementary School.

Transcribed from “History and Cultural Life of As-is” 1953, online at the National Library of the Philippines Digital Collections.