Bunducan, Nasugbu, Batangas: Historical Data Part I

Historical data from the National Library of the Philippines.

It has been called Bunducan by the natives, deriving the name from the hills that rise at its southern end which look like an altar, and forms the most attractive part of the village.

When the Spaniards arrived, they did not take complete control of the place. The cabezas and teniente del barrio of Pantalan acted as head of the place.

Bunducan includes within its limits Bunducan proper and the sitios of Barac, Kay Sayad, Pulong Parang, Banabahan, Alas-as, Dalig, Kuloom, and Balangutan.

Bunducan Proper - is composed of some thirty (30) houses grouped into five, six houses each. The land in Bunducan proper, which is about eighty (80) hectares, is planted to corn, rice and sugarcane, vegetables and fruits. The non-arable lands are made into grazing lands and fish ponds. People here are farmers, fishermen, sugarcane planters, laborers, plow makers and manufacturers. The young boys are wood vendors and the women and children help in the daily chores. The center of culture and education is the barrio school.

Pulong-parang was named during the Spanish times. This sitio was the wealthiest sitio during the Spanish times. It has been the most thickly populated among [the] sitios, being the headquarters of the Filipino soldiers. It was once proud of a market place “Tiangge.” It is also the most historical of all place around it.

After the Filipino-Spanish War, it was reconstructed. The first inhabitants composed of twelve families occupied a land more or less than 12 hectares. It had belonged to a man, Demetrio Villaluna and until present belongs to his family. At present, it is composed of four families. The land is planted to sugarcane. It is surrounded by bamboo groves which provide the source of building materials for the houses of the barrio and the neighboring places.

Next to Pulong-parang is the sitio of Kay Sayad. Its name was derived from an incident with a foreigner who happened to borrow a horse from a native. He was so big and tall that when he rode the horse, his foot touched the ground, which made him [a] funny sight to the natives. He got so mad, that nobody could stop his anger until an interpreter came and told him that his foot touched the ground, meaning “sayad.” This local term transferred from one generation to another until it stuck to the place up to the present. It belonged to a wealthy man of Nasugbu, Modesto Alvarez. It was composed of 10 houses and the same number of families. At present, there are only four families or houses. The land is planted to rice, corn and vegetables.

The next sitio is Barac. It is derived from the name of a native plant “barac,” which grew aplenty in the mountains that surround it. Until at present, the plant survives in the place. In those times, the place which was then composed of almost thirty (30) hectares belonged to only two owners. One [was] a wealthy man of Malabon, Rizal whose property lies close to the mountain. This part is called “Tungtong ng Barac” or Lead [unsure, blurred] to the mountains of Barac. The other half, which comes nearer the lowlands, belonged to Kapitan Teodoro Villafania of the town of Nasugbu.

The highland boasts of its vast woodlands, wild game and graze lands. The woodland was the source of strong building materials and fuel, while the lower portion yielded the biggest corn, rice, vegetables and fruit crops in the whole neighborhood.

At present, twenty-five to thirty families occupy the thirty hectares of cleared land.

The sitio of Alas-as comes after Barac. It is a small sitio of about eight hectares. It is near the mountains. It got its name from the many alas-as trees that grow around its borders. It is divided between two owners. Alas-as has just been cleared so nobody owned it before. The land is planted to rice, corn, fruit trees, and sugarcane.

Another sitio that is next to Bunducan proper and sometimes mistaken to be a part of it is the sitio of Dalig. It had belonged to the owner of Bunducan, Kapitan Pedro Ruffy and a partner who shared the twenty hectares lot. The partner is Tiburciao Igana of Nasugbu. It was then composed of ten houses and up to the present, ten families survive.

The land at present is planted with corn and sugarcane. Poultry raising, piggery and animal breeding helped in the landowners’ subsistence.

The sitio of Kuloom and Sampalukan have an area of nine hectares. It belongs to Saturnino Villajin of Hacienda Nasugbu. Fruits, poultry and piggery are the main sources of income of the people after the land has been cultivated and planted to rice and corn. The place is surrounded by small mountains. It is so much in closed and damp that it gained the name “Kuloom,” the Tagalog term for damp. It retained its name up to the present.

The smallest sitios around Bunducan are Banabahan and Balangutan. Both got their names from the native plants which grow in abundance in both places. These places are not important economically because there are only four and one families, respectively. Their sources of livelihood come from the neighboring sitios or barrios where they work as tenants of the land from the Nasugbu Land System who took charge of selling the land from the Hacienda owners of Nasugbu, the Roxas y Cia.

The families who first lived in Bunducan were natives who were keeping close to the mountains to flee from the conquering Spaniards, but those tenants who came later and cleared the lands that belonged to the famous Kapitan Don Pedro Ruffy were the old families of the de la Rosas and the Mendozas of Tuy. Then, the Casabal family followed until through intermarriage and migrations, the place became well populated.

After the Spanish times, the first real teniente del barrio was chosen. That was from 1919 to 1940. He was Mr. Simeun Zafra, the eldest wise man of the barrio at present. His wise guidance and adept attention to justice and fairness and his undying leadership made Bunducan and its neighboring sitios as they are at present, not very behind but [a] little up-to-date with the trends of culture, government and education.

After his resignation, he was followed by Eutiquio Caisip, also a good leader. His position was short-lived because of his relations with the Filipino guerrillas of the Japanese period. He was forced to leave his post to flee from the enemy’s persecution. That was in the year 1940-1941.

The next who succeeded him was an active man of the barrio who was popularly voted upon being the second or the auxiliary to the man who left. He had been strict, but soon, he lost his post due to popular demand.

The people been selected an old man of the barrio to take his place. Eulogio Andino, the one-time leader of Bunducan, was noted for his hot temper and self-centered ideas. At last, the public demanded another change. However, he took his post a little longer than the rest of his predecessors. It lasted from 1942.

Thus, Mr. Apolonio Mendoza, whom we can call his heir to his post, being his nephew, took charge of the place he vacated. The latter is still holding the position up to the present.

(a) The present school site was a place of historical significance. The place had been made the site of the rice granary or “tambobong,” where the women kept the supply of rice for the Filipino soldiers who fought at the sitio Pulong-parang.

(b) Pulong-parang was the site for the Spanish Massacre of hundreds of Filipinos during the Filipino-Spanish War of 1896-1898.

(a) During the Spanish Occupation – Bunducan was a quiet barrio doing its daily chores, marriages, births and burials until after the Filipino uprising against the Spaniards which took place in eight of the Tagalog provinces, Batangas being one of the battlegrounds could boast of Bunducan’s contribution, though it is of minor importance.

The owner of the place, then a real Filipino Kapitan and leader of the uprising in the sitio of Pulong-parang, established the rice granary or “Tambubong,” to feed the hundreds of Filipino soldiers called “Insurrectos” by the Spanish government.

(b) The years 1898 to 1899 marked the uprising in Pulong-parang. During this year, when the spirit of the uprising spread to all the Tagalog Provinces, Kapitan Pedro Ruffy, the owner of the land, led his men to a hand to

hand fight against the Spaniards. Being devoid or lacking in arms, the bloodiest combat was witnessed as told by those who lived to tell the piteous tale. Like the Japanese, the Spaniards took women and children and used them as battery. Hundreds were massacred between the clump [?] of bamboos. Pulong-parang had been converted to a vast graveyard for the Filipinos who died heroic deaths.

(b) Today, the place is enjoying peace and order. Only the barrio school can be considered a monument to the world [word?] rehabilitation and construction a worldwide education and a way to self-government and democracy.

All its vast rice and sugar lands, its fishponds and grace and woodlands, belong to the people who occupy them. Thus, they enjoy happiness and contentment in life.

Those gorillas who wear recognized received their compensation for their struggles for freedom during World War II.

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