Rosario, Batangas Tourism Website

Before the Spaniards came, there were large centers of population in the west and northwest coast of Batangas, such as Nasugbu, Balayan, and Batangan (now Batangas City). Calatagan, Lemery, and Taal were old settlements. Taal, Balayan, and Nasugbu were trade outposts of people from other parts of Asia.

Along the southwestern coast of Batangas, down to Tayabas Bay were scattered small communities. In its hinterlands existed widely scattered small villages. In these coastal and mountain areas of the province lived peacefully people, who like the rest of the country’s inhabitants were related to one another by blood or by marriage. Besides the kinship, they were bound together by common economic activities, shared beliefs, and rituals. They worshiped their “kanunununuan” natural objects like trees, caves, and mountains; and other forms of culture of their own. Their social unit was the barangay, headed by a datu. These coastal communities were the ancestral settlement of the people whose descendants were later to form the town of Rosario.

A parish appeared to have been established on the southwestern coast of Batangas, where a river (now called Rosario River) runs through Lobo and nearby is Rosario Point. This Christian settlement became the target of a Moro raid during the Moro wars against Spain. In 1687, this settlement was plundered by the Moro pirates. Its inhabitants fled inland north to safety. They went upstream of the Rosario River and then the Kansahayan River.

Men, women, and children came in great hurry from the coast of Lobo evading the pursuing Moros of the south. In their flight to safety they were reciting the rosary in the Christian tradition. They were imploring the divine protection of the Nuestra Señora Del Santisimo Rosario. When the mass of people found themselves in Kansahayan River in Hilerang Kawayan of Taysan, they stopped. They believed the place was safe enough to settle in. Here, they set up their dwellings and started to rebuild their lives. From then on, they gave the place its etymological name Rosario – from reciting the rosary. Don Nicolas Morales was their gobernadorcillo at that time.

After a relative space between the Mohammedans and the Spaniards during the Moro wars, the province of Batangas was again the object of Moro raids by 1716. Due to the increasing Moro raids of the period, they feared that Rosario could still be attacked by the Moros. It still could be reached in less than a day-walk from the coast of Lobo. The Dominican fathers decided to transfer Rosario farther north one league (about 7.5 km) south of Lipa, perhaps shortly before or after 1739.

The devout inhabitants of Rosario had sought the divine guidance of the Holy Lady of the Rosary once again. They held a novena on their solemn trek north towards Lipa. They followed the old inland trail from Hilerang Kawayan crossing the plains of Tubig ng Bayan now Padre Garcia. The last day of their novena ended in the south bank of Tubig ng Bayan. Here it was decided to relocate the town of Rosario.

The place they left in Hilerang Kawayan is now called Pinagbayanan. It is one of the more progressive barangays of the Municipality of Taysan. The vestiges of the old town site are still present – the street layout, the market place, the church site, and the cemetery which the residents still use to this day.

The devotion to and faith in the Holy Rosary by the religious of Rosario did not waver in the vicissitudes of the Moro wars, and even to this day. This kind of culture perhaps fired a native son of Rosario, Gaspar Aquino Belen, to write the first Tagalog pasyon, “Mahal na Pasion ni Jesu Christong Panginoon Natin na Tula” published in 1706. He was rightly called by Epifanio delos Santos, Patriarca de los Poetas, Autores de la Passion (the patriarch of Passion authors, 1916.) To this day, this culture is still much in evidence among the faithful of Rosario. Of late, its heightened observance of Lent is the town’s annual Penitensyahan.

Rosario then was a vast territory. It was bounded on the north by Lipa, on the east north-east by the province of Tayabas, on the west by the present day Ibaan, and on the south of Batangas province shores. 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. Roads from the towns of Lipa, Tiaong, and Ibaan were opened to reach Rosario. From Rosario, roads were also opened to the south and the eastern part of the town. A civil court and a parochial secondary school were soon established.

Before the middle of the 19th century, Rosario was a thriving large town of southeastern Batangas. Its territory covered about 1/5 of the land area of the province. It had to give births to two large parishes; San Juan de Bolbok in 1846, then Taysan in 1860 which included Lobo.

In 1848, San Juan was officially separated from Rosario as an independent town. Taysan was already independent of Rosario in 1850 when it became a parish in 1860. Lobo became a separate town in 1871 and its parish was created 3 years later (1874). Rosario still had many barrios after the establishment of these towns and parishes.

In 1908, Cenena C. Magtibay, president of the women church organization raised funds for the purchase of a lot for the church of Rosario. Then, prominent men and the principal families of the town joined in the project to build the church. It was constructed on the lot adjacent to the site of the municipal building and plaza. This was at the instance of Don Antonino Luancing, then the municipal president. Despite these developments, the Roman Catholic Church still refused to make Rosario a parish with own priest.

This paved the way for the town’s leading men, headed by Don Melecio Bolaños to consider joining the nationalist movement for religious freedom of Bishop Gregorio Aglipay, the Obispo Maximo of the Iglesia Filipina Independiente. Don Melecio was a former classmate of Bishop Aglipay. The parish of Rosario was offered and accepted by the Iglesia Filipina Independiente. On January 19, 1909, on the Feast of the Nuestra Sra. Del Rosario, Bishop Aglipay celebrated the 1st Aglipayan mass in the church of Rosario – getting a foothold in this part of Batangas for his church.

Before the advent of the Commonwealth period, Rosario was already a vibrant town. It continued to be so under the leadership of Dr. Crisanto A. Gualberto who was elected alcalde in 1936. The progress of the town was interrupted only by the outbreak of the war in 1941.

Shortly after the arrival of the Japanese Occupation forces, the municipal government of Rosario was made to function under the same pre-war officials. Its Alcalde, Dr. Crisanto A. Gualberto deftly guided the town through the war years. The town’s old Chief of Police, Isabelo Zuño, declined to render further service.

The Guerilla Movement was introduced in Rosario by Jorge Espina and Maximo Bool of the Fil-American Irregular Troops of Col. Straughn. However, to the guerillas were attributed the disappearance of one of the members of the town’s old family – Casiano of the Quizon brothers – reportedly because of an old feud with one of its leaders. Julian Luna (father of Mayor Feliscisimo H. Luna) and Lupo Urea were liquidated by a rival group – President Quezon’s Own Guerillas (PQOG) – from Tiaong. After the Liberation, on the reorganization of the local civil government, the U.S. military authorities installed the pre-war officials to their former positions except the alcalde of the town, Dr. Crisanto A. Gualberto. The CIC of the U.S. military authorities arrested Dr. Gualberto on charges of collaboration (a common charge against officials who served during the war). He was publicly displayed in the town plaza as collaborator to the dismay of his town’s people whom he had served with fortitude during the war. He was sent to the Iwahig Penal Colony along with Don Claro M. Recto and many other national political leaders of that time. Atty. Jose P. Recto was the last alcalde under the Commonwealth Period and became the First Mayor under the Third Philippine Republic.

A simple ceremony in front of the makeshift municipal building of Rosario marked the celebration of the 1st Independence Day of the Third Philippine Republic on July 4, 1946. A platoon of Bataan veterans, led by Lt. Indalecio T. Magsino, participated in the lowering of the American flag, and the raising of the Filipino flag. The Alcalde or Mayor Recto planted a commemorative Independence Tree (a narra seedling) in front of the “municipio.”

In June 1994, Mayor Rodolfo G. Villar thought of celebrating the founding of Rosario. Mr. Conrado T. Reyes was directed to undertake a research on the history of Rosario. The Sangguniang Bayan decided to declare June 9, 1997 and every year thereafter as “Araw ng Rosario” under Res. No. 14-96 dated March 5, 1996. The Historical Committee proposed the commemoration of the 310th Foundation Year of Rosario and the 95th Year of Establishment in Tombol on the “Araw ng Rosario” in 1997. The request for the President of the Philippines to declare June 9 of every year as “Araw ng Rosario” was granted under Proclamation No. 88, dated March 4, 1999.

Rosario finally acquired its 1st Class Municipality status again before the advent of the 21st century. Trade and industry had risen, increasing the collection of the municipal treasury in fees and taxes, surpassing expected levels. Early in the new century there are already some 8 rural banks and 3 commercial banks – the Landbank of the Philippines, the Bank of the Philippine Islands and Metrobank which have established their branches here. Cell sites have been installed in several locations around the Poblacion and in other barangays. Many of the amenities of an urban community are now present in Rosario. The town’s other growth areas are catching up with progress and modernization. In Barangay Masaya, the Puyat Steel Corporation has established a galvanizing plant producing the APO Galfan G.I. sheets. Nearby has commenced the establishment of a commercial recreational and residential hub – the Pueblo Niño Town Center.

The Batangas State University has opened its extension of its Rosario Campus in Barangay Namunga of the site donated by the Zuño and Inandan families. A few years later, a private college, the Teodoro Luansing College of Rosario was also established in the same barangay.

Mrs. Clotilde G. Villar was 1st elected lady mayor of this town. The following election of 2004, the late Hon. Felipe A. Marquez fondly called Mamay Ipe became the new Municipal Mayor. Following the untimely departure of Mayor Mamay Ipe Marquez, the Municipality of Rosario entered a new chapter in its history when the HON. MANUEL B. ALVAREZ was sworn in to become the new Municipal Mayor.

Beginning 2012 under the current administration of Mayor Manny Alvarez, the Municipality of Rosario has been witnessing rapid economic growth and development happening at almost an exponential rate, with new investments coming in and existing businesses pursuing expansion aggressively. It is as if every 6 months, the Poblacion and elsewhere along the major transit corridors within the municipality, transformation is going on at a surprising speed, with many at neighboring towns marveling at what’s going on in what is envisioned to become the CITY OF ROSARIO.