Brief History of Rosario Batangas
In the year 2015, Rosario, Batangas will be 328 years old. From its Pagan origin in its ancestral settlements in the coast of present day Lobo, on to its present site at the foot of Tombol Hill, is the saga of the early people of our town. These are the trials and triumphs, the struggles and pains, the fears and hopes of our ancestors.
In the pre-Hispanic time, our ancestral origins were but a few small scattered villages along the coast. In the mountains near the coast, were isolated villages of few people. Here lived peacefully a people related to one another by blood or marriage. Besides this kinship, they were held together in common economic interest, shared beliefs and rituals. This present area of Batangas was the last populated and settled part of the province, unlike its Northwestern part where Taal, Balayan and Nasugbu were already centers of population and trade-out posts of people from other parts of Asia. This was because our region of origin is mountainous, and the sea was not a travel nor a trade route. Thus, our ancestors developed a culture slightly different from our neighbors. Its people were characteristically industrious and persevering in nature.
Christianization of our ancestors took place in the late decades of the 1600's. Their settlements became the mission fields of the Augustinian Order. As were with Christianized villages, the inhabitants were made to live closer together to form a larger community for local administration of the mission. In 1687, the first mission pueblo was founded by the ecclesiastical administration of the Augustinian fathers. Two years later, a church was built in the mission. The marked devotion of our forebears to the Christian faith led to the founding in the area of the Church of Nuestra Senora del Rosario in 1698.
Like the rest of Christian villages in the country, our ancestral settlements near the sea became the objects of frequent Moro raids during the Moro wars of the 18th century. Mohommedan Krismen attacked and enslaved Spanish and Christian-Filipinos alike. The raids left a trail of death, blood, and ashes. Captives were sold in Sandakan and other slave markets in the East Indies. The raids were in retallation for the Spanish-in-roads in their (Muslim) territory. In one of the most vicious raids in our ancestral settlements, women and children hurriedly left their coastal dwellings to escape the pursuing Moros. Among those slain were their priest. They crossed over the mountains in the north. In their flight to safety, they were reciting the Holy Rosary in the Christian tradition, imploring the aid and protection of the Nuestra Sra. del Santisimo Rosario. In the next few days, the mass of the people found themselves in the vicinity of Kansahayan River in Hilerang Kawayan (presently of the Municipality of Taysan). They believed that the place was safe enough to live in. They set up their dwellings and started to rebuild their lives. Finally, they adopted the name Rosario for their new town settlement.
The 2nd half of the 18th century saw the bloody climax of the Moro Wars. Once again, Rosario by the Kansahayan River, was in constant changes from vicious Moro attacks. The Dominican fathers who were then the church administrators of the area, decided to transfer Rosario to a place one league away from Lipa. The devout people of the town sought the divine guidance of their Patrones. They held a novena while on their solemn trek further north to find a safer place to live. The last day of their novena ended near the river bank Tubig ng Bayan in now Padre Garcia. In this place the town was decided to be established. The place they left behind later became known as Pinagbayanan. The fertile fields of the new settlement yielded bountiful harvests in the hands of their industrious settlers. They worked on the plains and swamps of the place, They became adept at the wet culture of rice. The town grew. Its people prospered. In gratitude for the peace and prosperity, the town's people built a church of stone for their beloved Holy Lady. A civil court and a parochial secondary school were soon established. Roads from the town of Lipa, Tiaong, and Ibaan were opened to reach Rosario. From Rosario, roads were also opened to the south and the eastern parts of the town.
In 1776, Rosario became a parish. Rosario then was a vast territory. It was bounded on the north by Lipa on the east northeast by the province of Tayabas, on the west by the present day Ibaan on the south, the shores of Batangas province. The wide plains and large tract of fertile lands, the rich hunting grounds of its forest in the mountains, attracted people from nearby towns as well as from Batangas, Bauan, Taal, and Tanauan to settle in Rosario. By the middle of the 19th century, Rosario was so much a thriving large town. It had to give births to the town of San Juan in 1848, Taysan in 1850 and Lobo in about 1871. The administration of the parishes were ceded to the Recollect Orders. Rosario became its vicariate center.
During the Spanish-American War, Rosario was put to fire including its church and convent. In the Filipino-American conflict that followed, the Americans overtook a revolutionary force in Rosario which was trying to hide the remaining funds of the Revolution. Some 22,000 Mexican peso coins were confiscated by the enemy. An American garrison was stationed in the town to enforce the hamleting (sona) tactic. This forced the surrender of the remaining revolutionary force given refuge in Baybayin. Finally in April 1902, General Miguel Malvar surrendered to the garrison officials in Rosario. The confiscated funds were later used by the Americans to construct the Batangas High School in Batangas town. The American army officers with the cooperation of the prominent citizens of Rosario decided to relocate the town to a more suitable site. On June 09, 1902, the seat citizens gladly donated lands for the public structures - schools, local government building, plaza, market, and cemetery. The former town site was later called Lumang Bayan. Here still remained the seat of the church administration. New Rosario did not have its own church nor priest despite repeated pleas to the church authorities. This situation paved the way for some of the most prominent families of the town to join the church nationalist movement of the Filipino priests.
In 1908, Bishop Gregorio Aglipay celebrated the 1st mass of the Aglipayan church in the New Rosario. Two years later, the Roman Catholic Church founded its own parish in New Rosario. Before long, Rosario was once again the premier town in southeastern Batangas. It was the rice granary of the province. It had the best water works system by the 1920's. Its elementary school accommodated children from its daughter towns. The progress of the town was interrupted only by the Japanese occupation. Its own local guerilla units harrassed the enemy. The town was burned in March of 1945 by the retreating Japanese Army. The next month, Rosario was liberated by elements of 11th Airborne Division of the U.S. Army. From the ashes of the war of liberation, Rosario made a painful start to regain its position among the towns of the province. Lumang Bayan with several other barrios in the north agitated to become an independent municipality of Padre Garcia, curving out about a third of Rosario's territory.
The political violence and squabbles that followed in the decades after the war had its toll on the class standing of the town. From its 1st class position, it gradually sank to its lowest 5th class rating. It lost to Padre Garcia a major source of revenue. This was the operation of the cattle market which is now one of the biggest in the country. Fire gutted the public market in August of 1968. The new public market was built before the fire came to life. Gradually, a middle class society began to appear. Their members engaged, however modestly, in the growing trade and industry of the town. The Chinese community which before the war controlled the retail trade, became hardly felt. A few shifted to the manufacturing industry. Most of them became integrated to the main stream of the growing middle class society, becoming more Filipinos than Chinese. A rural bank was established by this emerging group in 1961. Doctor residents of the town started building their own hospitals. In the 1980's, local investors came in to invest in the multi-million peso agri-business enterprises. A number of banks put up their branches here. The municipal government started to enjoy substantial yearly budget surpluses. Social services and infrastructure projects were given their boosts. Modern telecommunication facilities were made available both to local government and the residents of the town by way of radio and telephone facilities.
Rosario and its people, ever in the grace of the Most Holy Rosary, has been selected one of the province's special growth zones. Rosario is envisioned to be, not only the center of Agro-Industrial Development in the southwestern Batangas under the CALABARZON Project, but also a haven for international sports enthusiasts of the country. A racing circuit is now in operation. A golf and country club and other modern facilities for a satelite city are now on the drawing board. All of these are of international standards. The challenge of new dimension in local government now faces our local officials. It is our hope and prayers that our leaders will be capable to assume the now more complex roles in socio-economic development, to shape and hasten the developmental direction of Rosario's potentials.
By Conrado (Ka Rading) Reyes
(HRMO V-Ret.)
In the pre-Hispanic time, our ancestral origins were but a few small scattered villages along the coast. In the mountains near the coast, were isolated villages of few people. Here lived peacefully a people related to one another by blood or marriage. Besides this kinship, they were held together in common economic interest, shared beliefs and rituals. This present area of Batangas was the last populated and settled part of the province, unlike its Northwestern part where Taal, Balayan and Nasugbu were already centers of population and trade-out posts of people from other parts of Asia. This was because our region of origin is mountainous, and the sea was not a travel nor a trade route. Thus, our ancestors developed a culture slightly different from our neighbors. Its people were characteristically industrious and persevering in nature.
Christianization of our ancestors took place in the late decades of the 1600's. Their settlements became the mission fields of the Augustinian Order. As were with Christianized villages, the inhabitants were made to live closer together to form a larger community for local administration of the mission. In 1687, the first mission pueblo was founded by the ecclesiastical administration of the Augustinian fathers. Two years later, a church was built in the mission. The marked devotion of our forebears to the Christian faith led to the founding in the area of the Church of Nuestra Senora del Rosario in 1698.
Like the rest of Christian villages in the country, our ancestral settlements near the sea became the objects of frequent Moro raids during the Moro wars of the 18th century. Mohommedan Krismen attacked and enslaved Spanish and Christian-Filipinos alike. The raids left a trail of death, blood, and ashes. Captives were sold in Sandakan and other slave markets in the East Indies. The raids were in retallation for the Spanish-in-roads in their (Muslim) territory. In one of the most vicious raids in our ancestral settlements, women and children hurriedly left their coastal dwellings to escape the pursuing Moros. Among those slain were their priest. They crossed over the mountains in the north. In their flight to safety, they were reciting the Holy Rosary in the Christian tradition, imploring the aid and protection of the Nuestra Sra. del Santisimo Rosario. In the next few days, the mass of the people found themselves in the vicinity of Kansahayan River in Hilerang Kawayan (presently of the Municipality of Taysan). They believed that the place was safe enough to live in. They set up their dwellings and started to rebuild their lives. Finally, they adopted the name Rosario for their new town settlement.
The 2nd half of the 18th century saw the bloody climax of the Moro Wars. Once again, Rosario by the Kansahayan River, was in constant changes from vicious Moro attacks. The Dominican fathers who were then the church administrators of the area, decided to transfer Rosario to a place one league away from Lipa. The devout people of the town sought the divine guidance of their Patrones. They held a novena while on their solemn trek further north to find a safer place to live. The last day of their novena ended near the river bank Tubig ng Bayan in now Padre Garcia. In this place the town was decided to be established. The place they left behind later became known as Pinagbayanan. The fertile fields of the new settlement yielded bountiful harvests in the hands of their industrious settlers. They worked on the plains and swamps of the place, They became adept at the wet culture of rice. The town grew. Its people prospered. In gratitude for the peace and prosperity, the town's people built a church of stone for their beloved Holy Lady. A civil court and a parochial secondary school were soon established. Roads from the town of Lipa, Tiaong, and Ibaan were opened to reach Rosario. From Rosario, roads were also opened to the south and the eastern parts of the town.
In 1776, Rosario became a parish. Rosario then was a vast territory. It was bounded on the north by Lipa on the east northeast by the province of Tayabas, on the west by the present day Ibaan on the south, the shores of Batangas province. The wide plains and large tract of fertile lands, the rich hunting grounds of its forest in the mountains, attracted people from nearby towns as well as from Batangas, Bauan, Taal, and Tanauan to settle in Rosario. By the middle of the 19th century, Rosario was so much a thriving large town. It had to give births to the town of San Juan in 1848, Taysan in 1850 and Lobo in about 1871. The administration of the parishes were ceded to the Recollect Orders. Rosario became its vicariate center.
During the Spanish-American War, Rosario was put to fire including its church and convent. In the Filipino-American conflict that followed, the Americans overtook a revolutionary force in Rosario which was trying to hide the remaining funds of the Revolution. Some 22,000 Mexican peso coins were confiscated by the enemy. An American garrison was stationed in the town to enforce the hamleting (sona) tactic. This forced the surrender of the remaining revolutionary force given refuge in Baybayin. Finally in April 1902, General Miguel Malvar surrendered to the garrison officials in Rosario. The confiscated funds were later used by the Americans to construct the Batangas High School in Batangas town. The American army officers with the cooperation of the prominent citizens of Rosario decided to relocate the town to a more suitable site. On June 09, 1902, the seat citizens gladly donated lands for the public structures - schools, local government building, plaza, market, and cemetery. The former town site was later called Lumang Bayan. Here still remained the seat of the church administration. New Rosario did not have its own church nor priest despite repeated pleas to the church authorities. This situation paved the way for some of the most prominent families of the town to join the church nationalist movement of the Filipino priests.
In 1908, Bishop Gregorio Aglipay celebrated the 1st mass of the Aglipayan church in the New Rosario. Two years later, the Roman Catholic Church founded its own parish in New Rosario. Before long, Rosario was once again the premier town in southeastern Batangas. It was the rice granary of the province. It had the best water works system by the 1920's. Its elementary school accommodated children from its daughter towns. The progress of the town was interrupted only by the Japanese occupation. Its own local guerilla units harrassed the enemy. The town was burned in March of 1945 by the retreating Japanese Army. The next month, Rosario was liberated by elements of 11th Airborne Division of the U.S. Army. From the ashes of the war of liberation, Rosario made a painful start to regain its position among the towns of the province. Lumang Bayan with several other barrios in the north agitated to become an independent municipality of Padre Garcia, curving out about a third of Rosario's territory.
The political violence and squabbles that followed in the decades after the war had its toll on the class standing of the town. From its 1st class position, it gradually sank to its lowest 5th class rating. It lost to Padre Garcia a major source of revenue. This was the operation of the cattle market which is now one of the biggest in the country. Fire gutted the public market in August of 1968. The new public market was built before the fire came to life. Gradually, a middle class society began to appear. Their members engaged, however modestly, in the growing trade and industry of the town. The Chinese community which before the war controlled the retail trade, became hardly felt. A few shifted to the manufacturing industry. Most of them became integrated to the main stream of the growing middle class society, becoming more Filipinos than Chinese. A rural bank was established by this emerging group in 1961. Doctor residents of the town started building their own hospitals. In the 1980's, local investors came in to invest in the multi-million peso agri-business enterprises. A number of banks put up their branches here. The municipal government started to enjoy substantial yearly budget surpluses. Social services and infrastructure projects were given their boosts. Modern telecommunication facilities were made available both to local government and the residents of the town by way of radio and telephone facilities.
Rosario and its people, ever in the grace of the Most Holy Rosary, has been selected one of the province's special growth zones. Rosario is envisioned to be, not only the center of Agro-Industrial Development in the southwestern Batangas under the CALABARZON Project, but also a haven for international sports enthusiasts of the country. A racing circuit is now in operation. A golf and country club and other modern facilities for a satelite city are now on the drawing board. All of these are of international standards. The challenge of new dimension in local government now faces our local officials. It is our hope and prayers that our leaders will be capable to assume the now more complex roles in socio-economic development, to shape and hasten the developmental direction of Rosario's potentials.
By Conrado (Ka Rading) Reyes
(HRMO V-Ret.)
