Maabud, San Nicolas, Batangas, Historical Data
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| Historical data from the National Library of the Philippines. |
Full transcription of the so-called “Historical Data” for the barrio of Maabud in the Municipality of San Nicolas, 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.
[Note to the reader.]
At the time when this document was created, the barrio of Maabud was still a part of Taal rather than San Nicolas. The latter did not become a separate municipality until the year 1955, after the passage of Republic Act No. 1229.
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Prior to 1861, when the town of Lemery was still a barrio under the territorial jurisdiction of Taal, when that town was still bearing the name of San Genaro instead of Lemery, Maabud was already a barrio of Taal. The name Maabud was derived from the word “mauubud.”
Maabud, according to [a] story, is only several decades younger than new Taal, but some centenarians aver that Maabud is as old as Taal if not older. In 1754, the old Taal, which was the capital of the Province of Batangas, and which was situated on the site where San Nicolas is now located, was destroyed by the eruption of Taal Volcano. Shortly after the destruction of the town, [a] large majority of the people evacuated the place nearest their hearts, and moved southward to establish another site for the town, while some of them moved eastward and founded a new settlement of their own. Because of those events, Maabud came into existence.
The turtle pace of the social and cultural development of the people of Maabud under the leadership of the original families of the place, viz: Juanso de Sagun, Alejandro Barrion, Baltazar Umandap, Nicomedes Biscocho, and other families belonging to the upper social strata of the place during that time.
The following teniente/cabeza have contributed much in the development of Maabud. They were: Alejandro Barrion, Juanso de Sagun, Baltazar Umandap, Nicomedes Albaira, Valerio Umandap, Jose Fajardo, Marciano Umandap, Valentin Arriola, Basilio Balba, Raymundo Terio (appointed by the Japanese government) and Francisco Dejan.
During the Spanish occupation, by the order of General Martin Cabrera, Colonel Tacio and Captain Vicente recruited three hundred guerrillas. Those three hundred braves, in the prime of their youth, harassed and routed the Spanish Army in the Battle in Pulong Anahap, Payapa,
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Talisay, and Lipa.
During the American occupation, the constituents of Maabud had taken long strides toward social, economic, and educational development and advancement. In 1916, the first public school was established with four teachers to take charge of the education of the children. The school building was erected on the vacant space between “Maabud Ilaya” and “Maabud Ibaba.” In 1925, to extend the benefit of public education to the people of Cubamba, Bancorro, and Balite, a semi-permanent school building was constructed on the present site. In 1935, a second-class road was constructed, connecting Maabud to the main provincial road, thus making Maabud accessible to modern civilization. These events paved the way to weaning away from the population of Maabud individuals inclined to hooliganism and vandalism.
During the Japanese occupation, Maabud suffered the worst and greatest drawback in her history. In 1942, after the fall of Bataan, a guerrilla unit was organized under the command of Captain Mayuga. This organization made the Japanese very angry and mad with the people, and in 1945, a group of Japanese marauders razed the whole barrio of Maabud to the ground, burned everything that would burn, murdered the inhabitants, annihilated those hiding in Santugue Cave, and then looted the barrio.
On March 4, 1945, the towns of Taal and Lemery were liberated from the grip of the Japanese Army. With the defeat of the Imperial Army in the Philippines, the people of Maabud began the reconstruction and rehabilitation of their homes wantonly destroyed by the enemy. With sheer patience and fortitude, from the ashes and ruin brought about by World War II, rose the new Maabud many times better than the pre-war one. By 1950, the losses of the barrio of Maabud were totally rehabilitated except, however, the losses of lives which could not be resurrected.
The great reverses brought about by World War II and morale and [the] morale fibers of the people which snapped under the pressure of
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the Japanese occupation notwithstanding, the stamp of the Filipino culture and civilization are still clearly traceable among the present population of the barrio of Maabud. The traditional hospitality of the Filipinos, the belief in ethereal life after death, respect for old men and women, belief in ghosts and in [the] anting-anting, [and] belief in witchcraft are still dominant factors which influence the lives of the people.
The contemporary history of Maabud with Taal proper and the barrios located along Taal Lake engineered the similarities of their myths, legends, interpretations, superstitions, etc. For instance, the majority of the people of Taal believe in fatalism and some proverbs derived there from: “Bahala na” and “matira ang matibay” are still the common sayings of the common tao. Many people still believe that anyone who eats from a cracked plate shall forever be unlucky. However, the government’s effort in bringing the schools near the people and the mass education sponsored by the Bureau of Public Schools, resulted in the rapid disappearance of fantastic and ridiculous beliefs, customs and practices from among the people.
Respectfully submitted:
JOVITA N. ENCARNACION