MUNICIPALITY OF MORONG, RIZAL, Historical Data of Part 2
PART II
PART I | PART II | PART III | PART IV | PART V | PART VI
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remained in such height that only a portion of the yearly crops was saved. Because of this calamity, the people suffered from a shortage or rice, and the government stepped in to prevent profiteering by supplying the people with Saigon rice from Manila. It was during that time that a cholera epidemic occurred in the town but was suppressed by the preventive measures taken by the health officers.
Felix San Juan - The administration was crowned with the building of the Tomas Claudio Memorial School, a concrete building of five rooms in Namay, San Juan. This building was built in memory of Tomas Claudio, the Filipino hero who died in the battlefield of France during World War I. The appropriation came from the Philippine Legislature, and the bill was presented by Senator Rafael Palma at the instance of the "Morong Youth," a local civic organization, and the Municipal Council of Morong, who were working hand in hand for the same project.
Domingo Santiago - There were two important events that took place during President Santiago's administration. The first was the approval of the contract with a private company to take a cadastral survey of all the lands in Morong. The second was the building and construction of the "Glorieta," the first of its kind in the whole Philippines. It is a concrete one with plenty of spaces around for dancing. The funds used for the construction was donated by the members of the "Morong Progressive Youth of America," and association of all Morongueños in the United States.
Justo B. Angeles - The first three years of his administration was mild and without any event of importance. The latter
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part was somewhat violent when the Democrata Party, with Atty. Ruperto Martinez and R. de Ungria as leaders, made the Cadastral Survey of Morong an issue in the forthcoming election of 1930. Parades and demonstrations were held, desiring to oust from office the municipal president and his councilors.
It was also during this time that the electric plant of Jose de Borja was established, giving light to the town.
Ricardo de Ungria - His administration was marked with the construction of public buildings. His public works undertakings were as follows: First - additional room to the Tomas Claudio Memorial School at a cost of ₱3,500.00, an aid from the National Government; Second - ₱500 for the repair of the Old Central School, from the Insular; Third - a ₱3,000 loan from the National Government for the construction of the Municipal Building; Fourth - a ₱2,643.32 loan from the Insular Government for the digging of artesian wells. It was also during his administration that a "petit" sweepstakes was held here for the construction of U-ugong Dam, but the proceeds were too little and the project was abandoned.
Jose Alegre - Mayor Alegre's achievements for the first three years of his administration were marked by many public works constructions, the funds for which were given free as an aid by the National Government. The different public works undertaken and finished were:
2. Three Additional Rooms to T.C.M.S. - ₱12,100.00
3. New School Building in Bombongan - ₱2,300.00
4. Repair of Maybancal Barrio School - ₱500.00
5. Additional Room for Maybancal Barrio School - ₱2,300.00
6. Additional Rooms for Lagundi Barrio School - ₱1,000.00
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8. Irrigation Project at U-ugong Falls - ₱20,000.00
9. 32 Superficial Wells for the Barrios of San Juan, San Pedro, Maybancal, San Jose, Lagundi, and Bombongan - ₱9,000.00
11. Aid from the National Charity Sweepstakes for the Puericulture Center - ₱200.00
12. Provincial Aid for the same center - ₱150.00
Mayor Alegre's administration was also marked by the revival fo the organization of civic associations. Physical culture was also emphasized and given impetus by holding ballgames competitions as well as track and field events. Social and economic aspects and problems were also given special attention during his first three years' term.
Peace and order was also maintained and the people began to see a prosperous future. During the election of 1940, he was re-elected by a vast majority.
VI - THE CHURCH OF MORONG
When Fr. Blas Madre de Dios was assigned as parish priest in Morong, he tried to continued the missionary work of his predecessors. He erected a small church in 1586 with the help of the converts. With this church as a center of worship, Father Madre de Dios and his successors worked extensively for the Christianization of the settlers in the Pueblo of Morong.
In 1612, a big conflagration occurred. It destroyed Morong and its church. But the destruction of the church did not hinder the Christianization work of the friars. A great number of the settlers in the pueblo made Fr. Maximo Rico work hard to build a bigger and better church. As resident priest of the pueblo, Fr. Rico laid down the cornerstone
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of the present Catholic church on June 24, 1850. The work on the church went on year after year. The nice and beautifully curved frontier piece and belfry were built by Bartolome Palatino of Paete, Laguna. Speaking of the tower of the church, its height is no less than a hundred feet from the ground to the topmost. The statue of San Miguel de Arcangel was placed on the topmost [part] of the tower. The whole tower had a candle-like shape. The foot of the tower, which has the entrance of the church, is around ten meters in diameter, and the top is about three meters in diameter. It is made of solid adobe stones covered with all kinds of architectural hand carvings from the bottom to the top. The top part of the tower has four windows, and each has a bell hanging. The four bells are of different sizes and with different tunes, and at the middle hangs a big bell whose diameter is about a meter and a half.
How the older builders piled up the curved stones without concrete, how the tower has lasted so long, and how that big bell was put on the topmost part of the tower when the way to the tower is only about two feet wide, is still beyond our comprehension. Tourists from all parts of the world as well as those from other parts of the Philippines wonder and admire the workmanship of the builders of this edifice.
The church, since its completion, has not undergone any repair, has survived against the shade of the eruption of Taal Volcano in 1911. It withstood the hard and heavy storm that passed Morong in 1882, 1905, 1928, and the earthquake in 1937, when some of the towers of the churches of the neighboring towns crumbled.
The part of the church which is used as a convent
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runs from the tower eastward and the hall of the church to the altar runs from the tower northward. In the middle of this triangular shape of the edifice is the "patio," where one can see different ornamental plants of various colors and fruit trees.
The church was fully completed on February 6, 1593, under forced labor.
The church is located on top of a hill leveled by the townspeople. It is visible from all directions of the town.
Other historical structures are the Morong Bridge and the Morong Central School, which was the former capitol of Morong Province. These have been treated in Chapter IV - Morong as a Province.
VII - MORONG AND THE FILIPINO-SPANISH REVOLUTION
The Province of Morong was one of the eight provinces that started the Filipino-Spanish Revolution of August 1896. The causes of this revolution were said to be many, but the principal ones were as follows:
1. Heavy taxation without representation.
2. Imprisonment with capital punishment without trial.
3. Forced labor with severe treatment.
Morong, as capital of the district or province, felt the hardships of the Spanish regime. She revolted and succeeded in capturing the Spanish "Casadores," then stationed at Morong. How this happened may only be a dream to many of the Morongueños now. But the fact is that if they will only think of the bolos and few arquebuses with which our forefathers lived and died fighting with, they will, perhaps, glorify the men from Morong who died for the freedom of the country.
Prior to the Filipino-Spanish hostilities, the agents
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of Andres Bonifacio, supreme head of the Katipunan, succeeded through Adriano San Jose of Lanang, Morong in planting the Katipunan society here. The first head of the local branch was Adriano San Jose, with Ciriaco San Juan as secretary. Within a few days of the organization, many flocked to the Katipunan standard, embracing the principles of the society. Later, Adriano San Jose was succeeded by Agustin Natividad.
When the Katipunan was discovered, the revolution was declared on August 13, 1896. Agustin Natividad, who was then a civil guard in Binangonan, escaped from his post through mountain trails to Morong, his home place. He gathered his men from Morong and established a "real" (camp) for themselves in a nearby mountain called Tukip. After organizing themselves into a formidable fighting unit, they attacked the town of Morong in mutual understanding with the Filipino civil guards to the effect that the civil guards would not fire at their brother Katipuneros. Instead, they would fire their guns in the air over the heads of the attacking hordes.
After brief skirmishes with the Filipino civil guards, the Spanish soldiers and other loyal civil guards who did not desert retreated to the "Gobierno Politico-Militar" building where they barricaded themselves and sought protection from the stone walls of the building. Meanwhile, the few arquebuses under Agustin Natividad, who was then the elected captain by mutual consent, sheltered themselves in the rice "camarin" of Capitan Mariano, which was just about 30 meters left of the Spanish stronghold.
After several days of siege, the revolutionists were able to dislodge the Spaniards from the building due to a shortage of supplies and ammunition. During the evacuation, the insurgents found that there were women and children among the
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casadores, so they ceased firing and allowed the women and children to pass on their way to the church. But, as they fled, the Spaniards soldiers, fighting a rearguard action, fought hand to hand battle with the revolutionists across the "Puenta del San Geronimo," while the rest of the Spaniards soldiers continued their retreat protected by heavy firing from the tower and loopholes in the church.
The insurgents later made a frontal attack on the church, but they were at the churchyard by the better armed Spaniards. However, by sheer daring and courage, the insurgents forced the enemy to retreat inside the church to gain protection from the stout stone walls of the building.
At this point, when General Pio del Pilar heard of these victories accomplished by the company of Capitan Natividad, he ordered Natividad's company to help the revolutionists in Bulacan, Pampanga, Tarlac, Nueva Ecija, and other northern provinces. So, the Morongueños marched on to fight for the liberation of the Philippines from Spanish rule. The siege of the church was left to "Conding" (Col. Cornelio Garrovillas), a gallant man who was then stationed at Kay Naga (a hill at the right overlooking the church). The siege continued for several months.
After almost two years of fighting, the Filipino revolutionists conquered the Philippines from the hands of the Spaniards. Except for Manila, the Province of Morong was the last to capitulate. For this reason, the Filipino leaders gathered in the Barasoain church near Malolos and drew up the Malolos Constitution, which was the foundation of the short-lived Philippine Republic in 1898.
The surviving Morongueños who fought in the different parts of the Philippines returned to their good old homes in
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Morong, happy and contented that they contributed something towards the liberation of their country from the tyranny of Spain.
To those Morongueños who lost their lives in the fields of battle, the people of Morong now revere their memories as true symbols of patriotism and love for their beloved country, the Philippines.
Some of the gallant men of Morong during the Filipino-Spanish War were Capitan Agustin Natividad, Cornelio Garrovillas, Ildefonso Geronimo, Ciriaco San Juan, Victoriano Alfonso, Miguel de Leon, Juan Portillo, Luis Ramos, Ildefonso Masinsin, Jacinto Fenequito, Venancio Hilario, Ignacio Sta. Catalina, Jacinto Pascual, Victorino Espiritu Santo, Casimiro Halimao, Adriano San Jose, Leonardo Millare, and Francisco dela Vega.
VIII - MORONG AND THE FILIPINO-AMERICAN REVOLUTION
Wild the Filipino revolutionists were in the process of establishing the short-lived Philippine Republic, the Americans came to the Philippines in 1898. They came for the purpose of fighting the Spaniards in the Philippines. The reason was because Spain and the United States where at war at that time.
The Filipino revolutionists, thinking that they were another group of foreigners who came to take their country and to destroy the Philippine Republic that they had just established, fought against the Americans. The scene revolutionists in Morong once again took up Arms to defend their freedom. They were then under the command of Hilarion Raymundo. The dog up trenches in the southern entrance of Morong. They built several
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rolling barricades out of bamboo tied together to a man's height and above five meters in length. When the Americans were approaching the capital, Morong, through the southern entrance, the Morongueños went out to meet them in the sitio of Balso under the protection of these rolling barricades. Because of the superior arms and equipment of the Americans, the insurgent retreated to the town about one and a half miles under the protection of these barricades also, which they carried on their back.
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Note to the Reader: Some pages are missing after the previous page in the original file at the National Library of the Philippine Digital Collections. Presumably, these pages fall under the section "Folkways." Pagination restarted at p. 8, which this transcription will follow.]
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1. BIRTH
During labor, especially if it so occurs in the evening, a lamp is lighted and placed under the house. If there is a long labor on the part of the mother, salt is scattered around the house with the believe that it will drive evil spirits (aswang) away which causes undue delay in the delivery of the child. If the labor becomes persistent, the belt used by the "Nazareno" is borrowed and it tied around the waist of the mother in order to facilitate an easy birth.
After delivery, the water bag is buried right at the spot where rainwater drops through the drain spout. This is believed to make the child strong and able to withstand cold weather when he grows up.
2. BAPTISM
Some of the common practices in Baptism are as follows:
The mother of the child selects a man or woman as sponsor, depending upon whether the child is a girl or a boy. It is believed that good character and good traits will be inherited from them. The child, according to this practice, must be named according to the calendar date on which his or her birth ralls. This must be followed according to this belief because at the time of death, his agony in bed is prolonged if his or her name is not indicated in the calendar. It is also believed that the sponsor must always accompany the child on the day of Baptism to the church, or else the child will turn our bad. It is also necessary that the sponsor go to the house of the child after Baptism and partake a little of whatever is prepared for the guests so that he or she may be well remembered by the child. The sponsor should also give a gift at the day of Baptism.
3. COURTSHIP
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The customs observed here with regards to courtship during the Spanish period are almost extinct or ignored nowadays, and are hardly observed by the modern beaus. However, there are still some, especially in the outlying barrios, who still adhere to these practices.
A young man, for example, who goes to pay a call to his beloved must wait for the evening to come on Thursdays or Saturdays — never during Mondays. Upon reaching the gate, he calls "tao po" at least three times, and if there is no answer, he usually leaves the house. However, if the parents of the maiden hear him, he will be invited to come up with a curt reply of "tuloy."
The young man, having been invited to come up, does not immediately go upstairs. He lingers first the foot of the stairs and wipes his feet, coughs of makes other signs to make the people in the house aware that he is already at the stairs. Upon knowing that he is already there, the parents of the girl invite him upstairs with the invitation "magtuloy ka" or come upstairs.
Upon hearing this invitation, he slowly climbs the stairs and, upon reaching the last rung, kneels and says "mano po" (English equivalent: "good evening.") [Note to the reader: This translation is, of course, erroneous. "Mano po" refers to the old custom of touching the hands of the elders to one's forehead.]
The parents acknowledge this sign of courtesy from the young man, and then he stands and waits again till the parents of the maiden invite him to sit. If he sits on the chair without being invited to [do so], he is considered ill-mannered.
Upon assuming his seat, the young lady, who pretends to be in hiding, will not go out and meet the man unless she is told to do so by her parents. If the parents do not have any liking for the man, usually the young lady is not allowed to
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