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HISTORY OF SAN LUIS

HISTORY OF
SAN LUIS

The present official name of the town is San Luis. Before 1861, San Luis was a part of the municipality of Taal. From 1861 to 1903, San Luis was a town, but in 1904, because of her small income, the town was made a part of Taal again. When San Luis was annexed to Taal, all the barrios in existence retained their names but the place where the poblacion now stands got back its former named Balibago. Balibago was the name given to the place during the Spanish time. On February 2, 1918, San Luis became a town for the second time.

ETYMOLOGY

No reliable information could be gathered as to why the town was called San Luis. However, some people believe that it was named San Luis because, when it became a town, it was during the feast of St. Louis. With regards to the name Balibago, the name of the place where the poblacion now stands, it was derived from the name of the stream that forms the boundary of San Luis on the north separating it from the Municipality of Taal. The stream was called Balibago because it changed its course several times (pabago-bago, meaning changing its course often).

San Luis became a town in 1918 through the efforts made by the following: Aquilino Badillo (now dead), who was the Vice-Mayor of Taal that time and was later appointed first President of San Luis and later elected President in the elections in 1919. Mariano Diokno (dead), Ambrosio Hernandez (dead), Anselmo Lasala (dead) and Andres Medina also dead. During that time, the late Mariano Diokno had a great influence on Don Ramon Diokno, now a legal luminary who worked hard and exerted effort to influence the leading national officials during that time to favor the move of the people of San Luis to separate from Taal. They succeeded, and so San Luis became a town for the second time.

FOUNDING
FIGURES

HISTORIC
STRUCTURES

  • The only public building erected during the Spanish time that can still be seen today is [the] one of the “Casa Real” office of the town officials situated at the corner of V. Ilustre and D. Medina Streets owned by one of the great grandchildren of a Capitan Cuadrillo (the town CHIEF [OF] POLICE). This house is the oldest now in the community. The prison cell can still be traced under the remodeled house.

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  • The first public building erected in the poblacion was a one-room school building (Gabaldon type) erected in 1911. This building is still serviceable and was repaired several times.

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  • The present municipal building, a semi-permanent structure, was a project started by the late Aquilino Badillo but was finished during the term of Municipal President Victorio Lasala in 1923.​​

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  • During President (later Mayor) Pedro Diokno’s different terms, the different buildings in the central school like the main building, Industrial Arts Department, and the Home Economics Building were constructed.

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  • In 1922, there was a move by the people from Calumpang to have the site of the poblacion transferred to Calumpang. The case reached the defunct Department of Interior and was decided in favor of the former site through the effort of ex-Senator Ramon Diokno. The case was decided by Dr. Jose P. Laurel, who was the Secretary of Interior.

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During the latter part of 1901 and the early part of 1902, the people from the different barrios were concentrated for several months in the poblacion for the purpose of drafting the able-bodied men to serve in the American forces. During that time, a cholera epidemic broke out which caused the death of many people due to [the] lack of proper sanitation. Many of these cholera victims were buried in the site now occupied by the central school. Some skeletons were dug by the boys while they were working during their ground improvement period. Then, that cholera epidemic was followed by another one in 1910, but it did not cause many deaths as compared with that in 1902 on account of the improved sanitation.

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In 1918, [a] smallpox epidemic occurred and spread to the neighboring barrios. It causes many deaths especially to the people in the barrio of Tungal and a part of San Martin. During the same year, a rinderpest [epidemic] broke out but was soon checked.

EPIDEMIC
HISTORY

WARTIME IMPACT AND
RECOVERY

During the Japanese Occupation, the central school building was used by the Japanese soldiers for a time. The store room was opened and many books and other school supplies were lost.

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During the liberation, the Industrial Arts Building was utilized by the American soldiers as a kitchen. Some of the Filipinos who were kitchen boys broke open the tool room. Many tools were lost.

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Because the town was not very much affected by the last war and because no building private or public was destroyed, no rehabilitation work was needed. However, the PCAU and the Red Cross gave much aid in the form of food (mostly canned food), second hand clothing, medical supplies, and medicine.

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When the last war broke out, the people’s lives were not very much except when it was rumored that the Japanese would land in Balayan Bay. Many people left their homes and evacuated to other places with some of them even reaching Candelaria, Quezon.

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