Bagong Tubig, San Luis, Batangas: Historical Data

Full transcription of the so-called “Historical Data” for the barrio of Bagong Tubig in the Municipality of San Luis, 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.

HISTORY AND CULTURAL LIFE
OF THE BARRIO OF
BAGONG TUBIG

Part I – History

The establishment of this barrio cannot be recalled. The place has been called the same since the early days of the American Occupation. During those days, the place was settled by only a few families. The place has been Bagong Tubig even during the latter part of the Spanish rule. However, it was officially considered a barrio in 1918 when San Luis became a town for a second time.

The place got its name from a stream with its source at the foot of the hill and running through the center of the barrio. When this stream came into existence, it was called Bagong Tubig. Since then, the place was called Bagong Tubig until it became the official name of the barrio.

The original inhabitants of the place were the Jerez, Alcaraz, and the Huerto families. During the early days of the barrio’s existence, there were only a few scattered families, and during that time, the place was considered a part of the barrio of Banoyo.

The following were the barrio lieutenants of B. Tubig: Ananias Hernandez, Miguel Jerez, Francisco Alcaraz, Sebastian Noche, Fulejencio Alcaraz, and Feliciano de Claro. At present, the barrio lieutenant is Mr. Aquilino Lastimosa.

During the Japanese Occupation, a company of Japanese soldiers under the command of Captain Sato camped in Bagong Tubig. They dug several tunnels for their hideouts and for the storage of the supplies and ammunition. The longest tunnel was about three hundred meters from end to end. These tunnels were built by the people of Bagong Tubig and the neighboring barrios through forced labor. Many of the men who built these tunnels suffered many blows and beatings from the Japanese soldiers who supervised the work. In this camp were placed two guns, one a heavy gun and one light gun.

During the battle for liberation, the American soldiers stationed in Lemery shelled this camp. The shelling caused the burning of several homes in the locality.

Before the Japanese recruited from Bagong Tubig, two casualties among the natives resulted from the Japanese atrocities. Those killed were Agapito Lastimosa and Leon Patolot.

During the American Occupation, many men from the place joined the insurgents against the American forces. One of the natives by the name Perpetuo alias Towong became a traitor to the people’s cause. He became an American spy and, because of that, he was liquidated by the insurgents in the barrio of Boboy.

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Part II – Folkways

The superstitious beliefs, customs, traditions, and practices need not be mentioned here because those mentioned in the reports for the neighboring barrios like Banoyo, Luya, Locloc, Boboy, and those of the Poblacion are similar to the ones found in the locality.

Data and information gathered
and compiled by:

[Sgd.] SIXTO C. CARANDANG

Transcribed from “History and Cultural Life of the Barrio of Bagong Tubig,” 1953, online at the National Library of the Philippines Digital Collections.