Batangas

“ The attraction of the place lies in the fine scenery along the coast and in the unusual transparency of the water, which permits visitors, especially if glass-bottomed boats are at hand, to inspect the varied life which teems in the depths below. There is here as on the coast of Batangas a marine garden of bewildering and exquisite beauty. Nature seems to have made special effort to crowd beneath a few acres of sea all of the most entrancing wonders of the deep. ”

“ It is not possible to even approximate the enemy’s loss other than on the battlefield. The United States Coast and Geodetic Survey Philippine Atlas gives the table estimating the population of the various provinces of the Philippine archipelago prior to the American occupation. This estimate gives the population of Batangas province at 312,192. The American Census of the Philippines of 1903 gives the population of Batangas province at 257,715.6 This would present a difference in the population of Batangas prior to 1898 and its population after the war of 54,477. ”

“ The United States government has established a military post here, and the town has numerous fine public buildings and private residences. It is the most important port of a province noted for the fertility of its soil and the industry of its inhabitants. Its exports, which are large, include rice, coffee of excellent quality, cacao, sugar, Indian corn, horses and cattle. The horses of Batangas are unusually strong and active. Cotton is produced, and is woven into fabrics by the women. ”

“ Mr. Taft secured mine from Batangas, where all the best ponies come from, through the kindness of Mr. Benito Legarda, the staunchest of Americanistas. Batangas was a most unquiet province, the last, in fact, to become pacified, and Mr. Legarda had to pay an insurrecto for bringing the horses through the insurgent lines and delivering them at Calamba, near Manila. Although he did not know their exact origin when he bought them, Mr. Taft said that if the facts became known he would be accused, in certain quarters, of giving indirect aid to the revolutionists ”

“ Distribution of These Peoples.—All through the central islands, Panay, Negros, Leyte, Samar, Marinduque, and northern Mindanao, are the Bisaya, the largest of these peoples. At the southern extremity of Luzon, in the provinces of Sorsogon and the Camarines, are the Bicol. North of these, holding central Luzon, Batangas, Cavite, Manila, Laguna, Bataan, Bulacan, and Nueva Ecija, are the Tagálog, while the great plain of northern Luzon is occupied by the Pampango and Pangasinan. ”

“ In Ilocos, indigo was made, in Batangas, Pampanga, Bulacan, Laguna and the Visayas, sugar-cane was cultivated and sugar made; in Albay abaca was produced. Bigan, Taal, Balayan, Batangas, Albay, Nueva Caceres, Cebu, Molo, Jaro, Iloilo began to be covered with solidly constructed buildings; their wealthy citizens would come to Manila, make purchases, become acquainted with the great merchants, who entertained them in their quality as customers whose trade they needed ”

“ The territory over which it presides, as proper to itself, includes the ten civil provinces nearest to Manila—namely, Tondo, Bulacan, Pampanga, Nueva-Ecija, Batangas, Laguna, Cavite, Bataan, Zambales, and Mindoro—in addition to the small island of Corregidor, which is found outside the said province, and which forms a military police commandancy. It is not so extensive, with these provinces, as are its suffragan sees; but it is the one that unites the greatest number of souls. ”

“ The overwhelming majority of the people of said provinces have not taken part in said disturbances and have not aided and abetted the lawless acts of said bandits.
As a matter of fact, the report of the American Governor of Cavite—and conditions were conceded to be identical in the two provinces of Cavite and Batangas—shows that the reason it was so hard to suppress the Cavite-Batangas troubles of 1905 was that the people would not help the authorities to apprehend the outlaws. ”

“ The meeting which followed our spectacular reception was exceedingly interesting. The questions of the Commissioners elicited the information that Tayabas had been completely pacified for more than a year, although the surrounding provinces, Cavite, Laguna and Batangas, were among the most unruly in the Archipelago. This happy state of affairs seems to have been produced by Colonel Gardiner, in command of the garrison, who had displayed great tact in dealing with the peacefully inclined Filipinos and absolute military rigidity in his attitude toward the insurrectos. ”

“ The chief trade is in building-timber; for around the town are magnificent forests. The harbor is an excellent one, and, with increase of trade, the place should have a great future.
Lipa is the capital of the Batangas province, Luzon. It is a centre of the coffee-trade. Besides, the temperature there is cooler than that of most of the Philippine towns. It is noted for its large church and its convent—among the most remarkable in the colony. Most of the houses are three stories high, and many wealthy planters live in the vicinity. ”

“ To this period is due the propagation of the hemp fields of Ambos Camarines, Albay, and Sorsogon; the planting of the innumerable coconut groves; the sugar haciendas of Pampanga and Negros; the tobacco fields of Cagayan and the Ilocos provinces; the coffee of Batangas, and the utilization everywhere of the specially adapted soils for the production of these admirable articles of trade. One thing is to be noticed, and is important in estimating the future development of the islands. The money that was invested here was not brought in by capitalists but was made here. ”

“ The British successes in Manila, Pasig, and Maysilo, are mentioned, while in the month just past, the fort of Batangas in Bulacan has been captured. They are attracting all the natives of the islands to their banners, and have treated them humanely, freeing them from the tribute and the various ecclesiastical oppressions. The Augustinians have been especially active against the British, and against the vows of their profession have taken up arms, thus occasioning the shedding of much blood. They have also treated Silang cruelly. ”

“ In 2003, we inaugurated the Western Nautical Highway from Batangas through Mindoro, Panay and Negros to Mindanao. This year we launched the Central Nautical Highway from Bicol mainland, through Masbate, Cebu, Bohol and Camiguin to Mindanao mainland. These developments strengthen our competitiveness. ”

“ Batangas, Bulacan, Bataan, Camarines Norte, Cavite, Laguna, Manila, part of Nueva Écija and Tayabas, the districts of Infanta, Morong, and part of Principe, also the Island of Corregidor and the coast of Mindoro. They probably number about one million five hundred thousand souls.
Antonio de Morga, in his work ‘Sucesos de Philipinas,’ says (p. 126) : “The women wear the báro and saya, and chains of gold upon their necks, also bracelets of the same. All classes are very clean in their persons and clothing, and of good carriage and graceful (de buen ayre y gracia”) . ”

“ The Laguna de Bay became once more the scene of several battles, and the rebels were driven away from this lake, and also away from the vicinity of Lake Taal. Batangas was captured, and some of our troops moved both south and west, with considerable success.
In the meantime the campaign on the north had again reopened. The Insurgents were more badly scattered than ever, and could get together a regiment of soldiery only with the greatest of difficulty. There was some fighting in several other islands, yet this amounted to but little. ”

“ The Revolution, at the present moment, is predominant in the provinces of Cavite, Batangas, Mindoro, Tayabas, La Laguna, Mórong, Bulacan, Bataán, Pampanga, Nueva Ecija, Tárlac, Pangasinán, La Union, La Infanta, and Zambales, and is besieging the capital, Manila. ”

“ It has about six hundred Indians as tributarios. Two religious live there generally. Service is performed in the Tagál tongue. We have mentioned this convent in our description of the lake of Bongbong or Taal, which is the nearest convent to Batangas, from which it is even distant only one day’s journey; the road passes through certain most excellent meadows, resembling those of España; where one may rear an immense number of cattle. The Indians through all this district, which they call the Comintan, make use of domestic cattle on which they travel and carry their loads. ”

“ Batangas, 19,566; Cabatuan, 17,359; Xaro, 14,911. In these populations which do not conform to the rule there has always been recognized more or less instability, for the class of the plebeians, or caylianes, is immense, and out of proportion to that of the timauas, or nobles; and likewise because the unarmed authority of a gobernadorcillo must necessarily be vacillating, at the mercy of that great mass of people, who are easily set in motion by a seditious person, a few drunkards, or the superstitious tale of some old man. ”

“ The district abounds in rice and cotton. The people possess much gold in the way of trinkets, but there are no mines in this region. This same race of Moros have made settlements as far as the villages of the Batangas; their number will be told later. They have also peopled the island of Mindoro and that of Luban, but they are to be found in no other region of these islands. The inhabitants of the province of Camarines at the eastern end of this island, through whose strait arrive the ships from Nueva España, resemble the Pintados ”

“ During these transactions in Manila, the commanding officer of Pasig (Backhouse) had gone to the provinces of the [197] Lake and Batangas, in order to intercept the money of the Philipino, which, it was said, was on its way thither. He left his position on the Pasig with eighty mixed troops, arrived at the bar of Tagui, and removing the sampans (which our people had grounded on the bar to prevent his passage) , he entered the Great Lake, and proceeded to Tunasan; from whence dislodging the troops which had fortified themselves in the government-house, he plundered it of every thing. ”

“ Batangas was only disturbed by reason of the fugitive ladrones from Cavite, Samar was thrown into disturbance by the uneducated and partly savage peoples living in the mountains, who, having been given by the municipal code more power than they were able to exercise discreetly, elected municipal officers who abused their trusts, compelled the people raising hemp to sell it at a much less price than it was worth, and by their abuses drove their people into resistance to constituted authority. Cavite and Samar are instances of reposing too much confidence in the self-governing power of a people. ”

“ In Manila, Cavite, Batangas, Bulacan, Morong, Infanta, Tayabas, and Bataan they form the bulk of the population, and they also appear in Zambales, Principe, Isabela, Nueva Ecija, Mindoro, Marinduque, Polillo, &c. Their language (Tagalog) especially has made extensive encroachments on the other Philippine tongues since the conquest. The Tagal is physically well developed, has a round head, high cheek bones, flattish nose, lowbrow, thickish lips, and large dark eyes. The lines from the nose to the mouth are usually strongly marked. The power of smell is of extraordinary acuteness. ”

“ Basutoland (250) , a fertile, healthy, grain-growing territory in S. Africa, SE. of the Orange Free State, under protection of the British crown, of the size of Belgium; yields large quantities of maize; the natives keep large herds of cattle.
Basutos, a S. African race of the same stock as the Kaffirs, but superior to them in intelligence and industry.
Batangas, a port in the island of Luzon, one of the Philippine Islands, which has a considerable trade.
Batavia (105) , the capital of Java, on the N. coast, and of the Dutch possessions in the Eastern Archipelago ”

“ This was a brigade expedition of December, 1899. Two weeks before the General had ridden out of Manila. Various pieces of infantry had been left to garrison the many towns which would not stay held without pins. Two or three days more, then Batangas, and the big ride was over, the lower Luzon incision complete, and drainage established.
Morning, with the troopers, had to look to his mount in regulation fashion, and did not reach Headquarters until after the others. The Alcalde’s house in Rosario as usual stood large among the straw-thatched bamboo huts. ”

“ Hence, the intrusions of the mediquillo and of the matandá (the old man) who with true enchantments and superstitious remedies cures the poor sick people, cannot be combated with efficacy. In Batangas dead flies that were killed by the fresh paint of a saint have been prescribed, and brick dust where the mark of a foot had appeared to the native curas as a miraculous thing imprinted by the Virgin who was coming to adore a cross near by. ”

“ Another tribe of people, the Zambales, are to be found toward the center of Luzon. Few Igorrotes, Ilocanes, and Negritos live in the province of Zambales or Pangasinan. Pampanga Province also has its own tribe and a different dialect. Tagalog is spoken around Manila, in Laguna Province, in Batangas, and the Camarines; Visayan is the language of the southern islands.
A monotonous sameness is the characteristic of most of the small Filipino towns. In seeing one you have seen all ”

“ The territory, over-run, as above described, by Generals Bates, Wheaton, and Schwan, was divided into two districts.58 Colonel Hare commanded the First District, Cavite province and vicinity. General Hall commanded the Second District, Batangas, Laguna, and Tayabas. The area and population of these four provinces, according to the Census of 1903, were as follows:
For convenience of subsequent allusion, this group of provinces may be treated as representing roughly 8500 square miles of territory and 700,000 people. ”