Towns in Batangas Province That Were Formerly Part of Lipa City

The present-day municipalities of Malvar, Mataasnakahoy, and Balete were once part of Lipa. Their eventual separation from the old municipality, however, took place at different times and under different political circumstances — first during the American colonial period and, in the case of Balete, after the Philippines had already become an independent republic.

The documentary record is unusually clear about the legal creation of all three municipalities. Malvar was created by Executive Order No. 56 in 1918; Mataasnakahoy by Executive Order No. 308 in 1931; and Balete by Republic Act No. 5659 in 1969.¹

Malvar was the first to separate. On December 16, 1918, Interim Governor-General Charles E. Yeater signed Executive Order No. 56, which stated that many inhabitants of the barrios of Luta, San Galo, Payapa, and Calicañgan had requested that these be separated from Lipa and organized into an independent municipality. The order accordingly created the Municipality of Malvar, with Luta as the seat of government, and provided that its organization would take effect on January 1, 1919².

The new municipality was named in honor of General Miguel Malvar, the Batangueño revolutionary leader who was one of the last Filipino generals to surrender to American forces during the Philippine-American War. The 1953 historical data compiled by the people of Malvar specifically states that the prominent men of the former barrio of Luta decided to name the newly created municipality after the famous general³.

An AI-imagine image of the inauguratino of Mataasnakahoy as a municipality.

The movement for separation had local roots. The same 1953 historical data identifies as founders Gregorio Leviste, Miguel Aranda, Mariano Lat, Julio Levistet, Gregorio Villapando, Pelagio Wagan, Julian Lantin, Andalicio Llanes, Francisco Mitra, Rafael Latayan, Nicasio Gutierrez, and Abundio David. It also records a succession of barrio lieutenants, including Gregorio Villapando during the American period⁴.

Another local historical account identifies the Samahang Mag-aararo as an important organization in the movement and names Mariano R. Lat, Gregorio Leviste, Miguel L. Aranda, Simeon Esleigue, Constancio Manalo, Pedro Lat-Torres, Nicasio Gutierrez, Gregorio Villapando, Estanislao Lat, Pelagio Wagan, Sebastian Trinidad, and Julian Lantin among its members. It also credits then-Interior Secretary Teodoro Kalaw with assisting the movement. Because these details come from later local historical accounts rather than from Executive Order No. 56 itself, they are presented here as historical testimony concerning the separation movement, not as provisions of the legal instrument⁵.

Thirteen years later, another portion of Lipa separated to form Mataasnakahoy. Executive Order No. 308, signed by Interim Governor-General George C. Butte on March 27, 1931, states that many inhabitants of the barrios of Mataasnakahoy and Kalingatan had requested their separation from Lipa so that they could constitute an independent municipality. The order created the Municipality of Mataasnakahoy and provided that its organization would take effect on January 1, 1932⁶.

A later local historical narrative gives names of people who worked for the separation. It relates that, sometime after 1916, a group led by Lieutenant Colonel Antonio Mandigma, Candido Recio, Segundo Paran, Agapito Templo, Enrico Caraan, Juan Hernandez, and Casiano Silva began meeting at the store of Marciano Aguila to discuss formally separating Mataasnakahoy from Lipa. Their efforts were directed toward having a formal motion submitted through Batangas Representative Jose Dimayuga and then-Senator Manuel L. Quezon. Manuel Macasaet Matanguihan also assisted and contributed personal funds⁷.

The 1953 Historical Data for Mataasnakahoy independently identifies Antonio Mandigma, Victor Templo, Agapito Templo, Casiano Silva, and Candido Recinto as the leaders who worked hard for the realization of the new municipality. It states that these civic-minded citizens spent their own money, time, and effort in the undertaking⁸.

The same historical data records the first administrative officials of the new municipality: Antonio Mandigma as appointed president, Candido Recinto as vice-president, and Victor Templo, Agapito Templo, Enrique Caraan, and Juan Hernandez as councilors. Casiano Silva served as municipal secretary, Ernesto Sauz as municipal treasurer, Dalmacio Tibayan as chief of police, and Jose Manguiat as justice of the peace⁹.

The third and much later separation was that of Balete. By then, as everyone knows, the Philippines was already an independent nation. Consequently, the creation of Balete was accomplished not through an executive order of an American governor-general but through an Act of the Philippine Congress¹⁰.

Republic Act No. 5659, “An Act Creating the Municipality of Balete in the Province of Batangas,” was approved on June 21, 1969. Section 1 separated from the City of Lipa the barrios of Malabanan, Looc, Alangilan, Palsara, Makina, Magapi, Solis, Sampalukan, Calawit, and Balete, together with the sitios of Sala, Paligawan, and Wani-Wani, and constituted them into the independent Municipality of Balete. The law designated the present site of Barrio Balete as the seat of government and provided that the three sitios would automatically become barrios upon approval of the Act¹⁰.

The Act further provided that the first mayor, vice-mayor, and councilors of Balete would be elected in the next general elections for local officials, and that the Act would take effect upon their qualification¹¹.

The official history of Balete does preserve the names of the successive tenientes del barrio who served between 1910 and 1969: Federico Dimaano, Ricardo Macasaet, Apolonio Boa, Sixto Africa, Maximo Cabrera, Raymundo Javier, Martin Nipay, Policarpio Umali, Vecinte Enriquez, Hospicio Nipay, Petronilo Maya, Prancisco Lunar, Cirilo Pasia, and Hospicio Ramirez. The available source, however, does not establish which of these local officials, if any, directly led the movement for municipal separation¹².

The three cases therefore illustrate a gradual change in the legal and political process by which communities became independent local governments. Malvar separated from Lipa in 1919 under the American colonial administration; Mataasnakahoy followed in 1932, again through an executive order; and Balete became a municipality in 1969 through an Act of the Philippine Congress in an already independent Philippines.

They also demonstrate why local history must distinguish between what the legal documents establish and what later historical accounts preserve. The executive orders and Republic Act tell us precisely which territories were separated and when the new municipalities were legally constituted, while local historical records preserve the names of people associated with the movements for separation. Where the available evidence does not establish a particular fact, it is safer — and historically more responsible — to leave that question open than to supply an assumption as though it were documented history.