Bilogo, Taysan, Batangas: Historical Data Part I

Historical data from the National Library of the Philippines.

PART I

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Full transcription of the so-called “Historical Data” for the barrio of Bacao in the Municipality of Taysan, 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 THE BARRIO (of Bilogo)

The present official name of the barrio is BILOGO. The name is not changed since its establishment. It remained popular since the beginning. Such [a] name is derived from the shape. Its site is almost round with no sharp angles in its border. Wrong, which means “bilog” in our local dialect, suffixed to a vowel “o,” summing up the word BILOGO. Three sitios are within its territorial jurisdiction included within the territory are Bunga, Pulo, and Karsada. These sitios were named according to their location and preferably from the common plant which thrives almost everywhere. Bunga, which means “betel nut,” is named after that palm which covers the greater area of the plain. Pulo is far on the eastern part of the barrio. It has some groups of houses built near together forming a pook surrounded with tall trees and from beyond, is a wide vast area suitable for pasture. S1 views it from a distance, the pook leaves no difference from an islet. Karsada is named after a provincial road constructed during the earliest part of the American regime. The barrio has an established population of 650 inhabitants at present. Most of the people live in pook Karsada.

The date of the barrio establishment is unknown due to [the] lack of [an] an informant. No date is secured, but according to some old citizens of the barrio which I interviewed, the results were: long before the arrival of the Spaniards, our place had already its name, have the designated name was

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carried up to the present time. [A] Successive list of cabezas is not officially known. Losing no patience of inquiring, I was able to produce favorable results.

So far as it is known, the original families are arranged from the earliest to the latest. The biggest families are the Marasigan, and then the Peradilla, Zamora, Bisa, Ilag, and Alday. The present Marasigan living belongs to the seventh generation. Wider areas of the cultivation of agricultural lands belonged to the Marasigan and Bisa families. These people lived mostly on the produce of their belongings. They engaged in farming with crude methods of cultivation.

The following is the successive list of the Tenientes del Barrio:

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This barrio had been known long before the Spaniards arrived. The date of establishment is unknown. There are no traces of old ruins. At the latest part of the Spanish rule, the barrio was under the supervision of Kabesang Pedro Panganiban. Nobody from Bilogo would act as barrio authority because it was the period of gangsterism. The banditry lasted for two consecutive years. At that time, a family suspected of having five pesos at hand would be subjected to trouble. It was not very safe to live in a remote place. Large cattle were stolen at the point of their sharp, long, shiny bladed kampilan; owners couldn’t acclaim their real property or else death on your part. Men of barbarous character at that time survived aggravating citizens.

During the Spanish regime, the place was sparsely populated. [The] Greater portion of the land was uncultivated, covered with thick forests. The place was the hideout of the bandits or tulisanes. Being a remote place, very little improvement in the educational line was noted. No school was constructed. Parents eager to have their children educated send their sons or daughters to the convent under the parish priests. Education was not free as enjoyed now. Few could obtain knowledge due to lack of money and fear of the tutors. Bilogo School was constructed during the American administration. It was [the] begin-

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ning of the great influence in the educational, cultural, spiritual and social life of the people of the barrio. Roads then were further improved although the bridges were already passable. It was then the “Lime Mines” in Mapulo Hill which was developed. The lime products were carried chiefly on carts along the improved roads. It was not long before that time when rinderpest attacked the large animals of the entire municipality of Taysan. Large cattle were herded to town for safety. Animals still free if disease were kept and were isolated in the plaza upon the order of the proper town authority. Before World War II, the inhabitants were deeply grudged in politics. They rally behind a man whom they favor. Leaders campaigned, promising the citizens that were helping their candidates that aid would be forwarded to them, in case of their economic needs. Citizens of the barrio kept on the side of the politician who can give and assure them of public interest such as school improvements, and road construction, and reparations and other mass necessities.

Historical data states that the Philippines was ceded to the United States by Spain. It was on December 19, 1899 which marked the beginning of the American rule of the archipelago. Schools sprang up in many places. Roads were greatly improved. Communication became swifter than before. At the out-

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set, three barrios were built. Bilogo was one of them.

When the war broke out in 1900, great throngs of people from Batangas fled to the barrio. The natives still flew to the nearby mountains for fear of the invaders. Food was in abundance that time.

TRADITION AND DOMESTIC LIFE

The war broke out on December 8, 1941. Batangas fort [port?] was bombed on December 10, 1941. In the early part of January, news spread out of the Japanese landing in Atimonan, Quezon. The people of the barrio were totally scared, especially when the rattling of machine guns were sneezing and cannons were heard from the east.

The road that time was dry. Japanese troops passed by coming from Batangas. In was the first time that Japanese soldiers were seen. Later on, during the same month, a company hiked from Rosario. This was the second time to see the Kempetai. Civilians were amazed to face them, because they didn’t know their language. The Imperial Army began to loot foods, chickens, eggs, fruits, and even Filipino money.

During the Japanese occupation, large cattle, pigs, and palay were confiscated from peaceful-living citizens. Civilians were forced to work in the Lipa Airfield. Each barrio had a quota of laborers to work in the Japanese landing [strip]. Failure to attain the quota would mean punishment.

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In March, 1944, all male citizens were made to assemble in the town by the P.C. under the Japanese order. This was due to a rumor that guerrillas were somewhere in the vicinity of the town, ready to attack the Japanese forces. The civilians of the entire municipality were kept suffering [for] two days and one night under the hot summer sun and misty night.

After those events, each male factor was ordered to carry with them whenever they visited the town, a pointed, two meter-long small bamboo. Squads after squads of Jap soldiers searched every house in the barrio for long sharp bolos. Some were taken to their camps and others were taken to be burned or broken into pieces. Almost all of the houses were searched for firearms. These were all done due to some pro-Japanese who belated [?] their own fellowmen.

Guerrilla movement was then organized. Majority of the male citizens of the barrio joined the movement. It was not long before and the Jap soldiers grew hostile and at last, the town was left in ashes, and bridges connecting the two towns were dynamited. They even shot whom they saw, bayoneted whom they seized. It seemed this was their last chance to inhale the Philippine air nor news of the Gen. MacArthur’s landing in Leyte, then in Lingayen, and later in Nasugbu, filled the air. Every house was closed.

There was an incident there that happened before the coming of the Americans. This is how the story

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goes. The underground movement was in its rapid function, wen unfortunately, Japanese troops came passing by. One of the members of the organization who was conversing with the barrio people was armed with a revolver. After mumbling several words, which could not be understood, one of the Japanese soldiers approached the armed man. The Japanese soldier began searching his body for firearms, but before the Japanese soldier touched his body, the guerrilla made a two-backward step walk, giving actions that he wanted to drink. He hurriedly went to a nearby hut and immediately went to the kitchen and hid his weapon inside the corn husks. The soldier followed him inside the house. Meanwhile, the rest of the barrio folks immediately offered the remaining soldiers several bunches of bananas. Inside the house, the soldier found no firearms and even in the body of the guerrilla, he found nothing. After the departure of the Japanese troops, the man and the barrio folks heaved a sigh of relief.

Civilians fled to [a] nearby thicket, waiting for Uncle Sam’s triumphant parade. USAFFE occupied Batangas. [The] Greater part of the population of Bilogo hiked to Batangas for fear of the snipers roaming the barrio. One of the Bilogo evacuees was seized by snipers and beaten to death. [The] Sudden news flashed [through] the air that Lt. Julian Mercado, [a] native of Bilogo, and [a] USAFFE [soldier], was unluckily hit by straight bullets. He was one of those who suffered Jap atrocities in the concentration camp in Capaz, Tarlac.

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