Lumbangan, Tuy, Batangas: Historical Data

Historical data from the National Library of the Philippines.

Full transcription of the so-called “Historical Data” for the barrio of Lumbangan in the Municipality of Tuy, 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.]

Batangas History wishes to advise the reader/researcher that may be inevitable errors in the transcription of the documents for the poblacion as well as barrios of the Municipality of Tuy because the original documents were either typed using poor typewriter ribbons or poorly scanned. Many of the pages, therefore, were very difficult to read.

[p. 1]

Lumbangan

Lumbangan, meaning “Lumbang Grove,” is a barrio located on the western part of Tuy. It is only a kilometer away from the town proper. It separates Talon from Mataywanac, another barrio of Tuy, and Luntal from the town proper.

Old folks used to tell that its native name came from the lumbang trees which were in abundance during the time. Once upon a time, the people used to say, “Let us go to Lumbangan to gather lumbang seeds.” The old folks still remember that time when the place was grown to luxuriant evergreen lumbang trees, dark palms and other fruit trees. The people were happy and prosperous. Lumbang oil was extracted from the seeds of the lumbang trees. Because of the wealth derived from the seeds, the people turned to the manufacture of lumbang oil. They traded the oil for other products in the neighboring places.

The coming of the Americans brought prosperity to the Philippines. Foreign capital flourished in western Batangas. A sugar central was constructed in Nasugbu. The people, realizing that sugarcane yielded more money than lumbang oil, gave up the lumbang oil manufacture and turned to sugarcane production. Although today, you can seldom find any lumbang tree, it has become the custom of the people to call this place “Lumbangan.”

It has been narrated by the old folks that this barrio is older than the town of Tuy. This village was once the center of civilization of the adjoining barrios of the hinterland. It was established around the middle part of the 18^th century. The early inhabitants were of the Indonesian division of the Shri Visayan [Sri Vijayan?] family. Their dialect was Tagalog. The Andalajaos, Ermitas and Consigos were the first families to settle in this place. It is not densely populated. Its area is about 1000 square hectares.

During the Spanish era, the head of the barrio was called “Matanda sa Nayon.” The coming of the Americans changed the name of the leader of the barrio to Barrio Lieutenant. The barrio, according to the old folks, were headed by the following: Agaton Codesal – 1905-1911; Simon Andalajao – 1911-1915; Francisco Adrias – 1913-1921; Anacleto Bator – 1921-January, 1952; and Emilio Anyaya – January 21, 1952 to date.

[p. 2]

Important Facts, Incidents or Events that Took Place

A. During the American Occupation

1. Educational –

The first school was established on or about 1920. The first teachers were Mr. Eleno Adrian and Mr. Lorenzo Robles. For a time, the school was closed but was reopened in 1925.

Before the outbreak of World War II, in 1941, a schoolhouse was erected in the barrio of Lumbangan. This school was known as Lumbangan-Talon Barrio School. Grades I to IV were organized.

B. During the Japanese Occupation

During the Japanese Occupation, classes were also held up to 1945 when the liberation forces landed. Fortunately, the school building was not destroyed during the occupation.

C. After World War II

After liberation, classes were resumed in 1946. In 1948, the PTA (Parents-Teachers Association) was organized by Mr. Victorino Gener, the head teacher. Mr. Emilio Anyaya was elected President. Through the efforts of Mr. Gener and Mr. Anyaya, with the cooperation of the members, they were able to put up a PTA building to house the Grade V and Grace VI classes. Talon has now a complete elementary school. A Home Economics Building was constructed in 1952 through the efforts of Mr. Gener with the help of Congressman Apolinario Apacible.

[The] Talon-Lumbangan Elementary School is one of the barrio schools which will serve as a model to the other barrios. This shows what effort and cooperation can do for the education of our youth.

2, Political

During the year 1947, the “Lumbang Magbubukid,” similar to a labor union, was organized by Atty. Ceferino Inciong of Balayan, Batangas. Many farmers from different barrios joined this organization which [blurred word] of politics. In fact, the founder of the organization, Atty. Inciong, ran for congressman in the 1949 election, losing to Atty. Apolinario Apacible. This organization selected their own candidates in that election. Miss Filomena Avena, their candidate for Mayor, lost to Mr. Pedro Macalalad, the incumbent mayor.

3. Economics

During the milling season of 1947, the organization staged a strike. Members of the organization who milled their canes were threatened by other members.

They staged a strike, the purpose of which majority of the members did not understand. Being illiterate, they just followed [the] order. The farmers were too aggressive that they entertained the idea that they could [do] as they pleased and they acted as if they were the owners of the land. This led, then, to misunderstanding, destroying the good relationship between land owners and tenants. In many of the tenancy cases, the members of the S. M. lost their cases.

Most of the people of Talon, Lumbangan and Luntal are Catholics except for a few who are affiliated with other religions.

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