University of San Carlos Publications

THE ROOTS OF PILA, LAGUNA: A SECULAR AND SPIRITUAL HISTORY OF THE TOWN (900
AD TO THE PRESENT)
Author(s): Luciano P.R. Santiago
Source: Philippine Quarterly of Culture and Society, Vol. 25, No. 3/4, SPECIAL ISSUE:
LOCAL HISTORIES (September/December 1997), pp. 125-155
Published by: University of San Carlos Publications
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 Philippine Quarterly of Culture & Society
25(1997):125-155

THE ROOTS OF PILA, LAGUNA: A SECULAR AND SPIRITUAL

HISTORY OF THE TOWN (900 AD TO THE PRESENT)

Luciano P.R. Santiago

A Glorious Past

stands for pila, signifying

"soil" or "stone." Thus, pila-pila or pilapil, for short, is a mixture of soil
and stones which form the bunds of ricefields still gracing many a Philip?
pine landscape (de San Buenaventura 1613:686 and Pedro Chirino SJ in
Blair and Robertson 1903-1909, vol. 12, pp. 242-244) and stones are apt
symbols of the saga of Pila. Blessed by the bounty of nature with a rich
soil, Pilenos have trodden through rocky, muddy roads set up by the im?
placable aspects of nature as well as of man down through the centuries.
As early as the Iron Age, at the turn of the first to the second millenium
A.D., or a little earlier, clay pottery of handsome design and proportion
was being fashioned in local kilns. These were discovered from 1967 to
1968 by archaeologists (Tenazas n.d.) in Pinagbayanan, the name of which
means "where the town was located."
The oldest written record in Philippine history, a copper plate bearing
the Saka-year 822 (900 A.D.), was recently found in nearby Lumbang,
Laguna (Postma 1991). It mentions the town of "Pailah" twice and "Puli
ran," which possibly refer, respectively, to Pila and Pulilan, the latter being
the old name of the western portion of the lake of Laguna de Bay near
which Pila lies. The ruler of Pailah was Jayadewa who represented the
"Chief and Commander of Tundun [Tondo]" in the transaction involving
acquittal of a debt in gold. Jayadewa, in turn, appointed another nobleman,
Ganasakti, as his proxy. Lawa ng Bae, which the Spaniards later called

Luciano P.R. Santiago, M.D., is affiliated with the Medical Center Hospital, Greenhills, Metro
Manila, and his address is Medico Building Room 409, San Miguel and Lburdes Road, 1600 Pasig,
Metro Manila.

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 126 PHILIPPINE QUARTERLY OF CULTURE & SOCIETY

Laguna de Bay, is one of the largest fresh water lakes (9,000 hectares) in
insular Southeast Asia. Its eastern portion was called Silangan by the an?
cient Tagalogs. (Some scholars believe that the copper plate inscription re?
fers to barangays in Bulacan Province rather than in Laguna.)
Several centuries before the advent of the Spaniards, Pila was already
one of the most important centers of trade, as well as of culture during the
early part of the present millenium (Tenazas n.d., see also Tenazas 1973).
Also recovered archaeologically were a considerable quantity of exquisite
Chinese porcelains (many of them completely unknown in the Western
collections) including vibrant figurines and scholar's tools like miniature
pouring vessels, brush washers and writing implements used in the art of
calligraphy. The ancient Pilenos tempered their mercantile spirit with aes?
thetic and spiritual values. Without neglecting the production and improve?
ment of local earthenware, they accumulated works of art which date back
to the Dynasties of the Northern Sung (960-1127 A.D.), the Southern Sung
(1127-1280 A.D.) and the Yuan (1280-1368 A.D.). And they regaled their
loved ones with these masterpieces as pabaon (provisions) in their journey
to a better world (Tenazas n.d. : 12, 15-20).
Around 1375, however, due to some calamity of weather, most prob?
ably flooding, the original settlement had to be abandoned and the baran
gay transferred to Pagalangan, which signifies "the place of reverence."
The datu of Pila, "with his own gold," purchased the new site from another
chief who had owned it and who thus moved to another place. The datu
then farmed out the arable land among the nobles and the freemen who, in
return, paid him an annual rent of a hundred ganta of rice (Tenazas n.d.:
16, 20; Juan de Plasencia OFM in his "Customs of the Tagalogs," Blair
and Robertson 7:175).

The Coming of the Spaniards

Two hundred years later, in 1571, the Spanish conquistadors, led by

Don Juan de Salcedo, "discovered" Pila in Pagalangan after the "pacifica?
tion" of Manila. On 14 November of the same year Miguel Lopez de Le
gazpi, the first Spanish governor-general, awarded the encomienda
(tributes) of Pagalangan and other Laguna villages to Don Francisco de
Herrera, a regidor (councilman) of Manila. With the reorganization of the
encomiendas in 1575, the tributes of Pila were granted to Don Hernando

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 THE ROOTS OF PILA 127

Ramirez on 29 July. This was the first time the name "Pila" appeared in
Spanish records. In recognition of the nobility of its people in background,
manners and customs, the town was conferred the special title, "La Noble
Villa de Pila." As privileged subjects of the king, the Pilenos were appar?
ently exempted from forced labor of the general type such as felling and
hauling trees in the forests of distant regions and building, repairing and
manning ships for the Galleon Trade. Only a handful of Philippine towns
in the sixteenth century merited this appellation from the fastidious con?
quistadors. (Tormo Sanz 1971:123, 144-149; de San Agustin 1975:345
346; Zaide 1979:14-24: de San Buenaventura 1613, title page and 707; de
Huerta 1855:137-139).

Bajo La Campana

The first missionaries of the villa were the Augustinians who adminis?
tered it from Bae, the first capital of the province (1571-1688). The Fran?
ciscans took over in 1578 with the arrival of the intrepid pair, Fray Juan de
Plasencia (ca. 1540-90) and Fray Diego de San Jose de Oropesa (ca. 1535
90), "the apostles of Laguna and Tayabas." Impressed by the Faith of the
Pilenos, Oropesa decided to established his "principal residence" among
them while Plasencia chose Lumbang as his home base. From these two
centers, they radiated out to the other towns in Laguna and Tayabas, form?
ing reducciones, that is, gathering the early converts in one place to facili?
tate their religious instruction and training in the new faith. Hence, they
were called "Padres de las Reducciones." Plasencia evidently spent con?
siderable time in Pila also. His monumental treatise, The Customs of the
Tagalogs (Published in Nagcarlan in 1589) was partly based on his obser?
vations in the town, especially of the people's concept of land tenure. In
fact, it was Plasencia who confirmed in this work a momentous episode in
the history of Pila that took place long before the arrival of the Spaniards
the transfer to Pagalangan (today's Victoria) (Galende 1965:35-79; de
Huerta 1855:137-139; Gomez Platero 1880:17, 25; Plasencia in Blair and
Robertson 7:173-185; de la Llave 1644; Tormo Sanz 1971:25, 125).2
Plasencia and Oropesa raised the reducciones of Laguna and Tayabas
into mission-parishes between 1580 and 1583. The Pila parish, called "San
Antonio de Pila," was most probably inaugurated on the feast of its chosen
titular, St. Anthony of Padua, on 13 June 1581. At this point, its church,

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128 PHILIPPINE QUARTERLY OF CULTURE & SOCIETY

still made of bamboo, apparently acquired its first bell from the king. The
first parish priest was Oropesa (1581-83). Now, it could be said, the
Pilenos were "bajo la campana" ("under the bell"), or unified in the Catho?
lic Faith which, from then on, has been deeply ingrained in their hearts. It
is quite interesting to note that St. Anthony (1195-1231) had lived in
Europe during the Golden Age of Pila at Pinagbayanan. Little did the
"saint of lost causes and finder of lost things" know at that time that Padua
would form a spiritual link with Pila at the other side of the globe via
Spain and Mexico more than three centuries later (Gomez Platero 1880:17,
25; de la Llave 1644; de Huerta 1855:137; Clasen 1967).3
The Pila encomienda in 1582 counted 1,600 tributes or about 6,400 in?
habitants. By 1591, "Pila la Grande" (Big Pila) had 6,800 persons or 1,700
tributes. The encomienda was so prosperous that it had to be shared by two
officials, Captain Francisco Mercado de Andrade and Ensign Juan de
Penalosa who, unlike other encomenderos, took their responsibilities quite
seriously. For they built not one but two convents for the Franciscans of
Pila indicating the large sums they had collected from the villa (Blair and
Robertson 5:89, 8:96-141). It should be noted that there was another Pila
in Morong on the other side of the lake. To distinguish it from our Pila, it
was called "Pililla" (Small Pila) when it separated from Morong in 1583
(de Huerta 1855).

Maginoo't Timawa

The parishioners petitioned the central government in 1599 for the li?
cense to construct a stone church. This was readily approved and the mag?
nificent project was to occupy the whole town for the next two decades (de
Huerta 1855:137).
Meanwhile, on 13 June 1599, the nobles (maginoo) and freemen (ti?
mawa) of all the towns of Laguna were summoned by the alcalde mayor
(provincial governor) of Laguna to Lumbang in order to formally pledge
allegiance to the Spanish king. Since it was the town fiesta of Pila, its gov?
ernor could not attend and instead he sent the Lieutenant Governor Don
Domingo Labaulon together with the cabezas de barangay, Don Francisco
Maglilo, Don Antonio Tobantahel, Don Joan Lagban and Don Miguel
Bati. They were the earliest named leaders of Pila in the colonial period.
Almost certainly, they all served later as the governors of the town in the

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 THE ROOTS OF PILA 129

early 17th century. Although they had embraced the Catholic Faith whole?
heartedly, this gallant group of Laguna leaders was not about to be
whipped into submission to a foreign monarch. To their minds, Christiani
zation and colonization were two separate issues whereas in the conquista?
dor mentality, it was advantageous to fuse these processes. These early
Filipinos had the audacity to ask for a moratorium of one year in which to
consider such a serious undertaking as rendering homage to an unseen
king who reigned at the other end of the earth (Blair and Robertson
10:282-288).
After eighteen years of the labor of Faith as well as forced labor, the
stone edifices of the church and convent, facing the lake eastward, were fi?
nally inaugurated in 1617. A wooden cross with a concrete base was
erected in front of the right side of the fa?ade serving as a counterpoint to
the tower on the left side. The basic structure was to be described in the
late 18th century as "the most beautiful church in the province" by Don
Jose Pelaez, alcalde mayor of Laguna and father of Padre Pedro Pelaez,
leader of the secularization movement (de Huerta 1855:138).4
Considering the salubrious climate of Pila, the Franciscans also de?
cided to transfer their infirmary from Lumbang to the town in 1618. It re?
mained in Pila until 1673 (whence it moved to Sta. Cruz, Laguna). During
this period, a long list of Franciscan missionaries, around 75, retired and
died there and were buried in the local cemetery. These included Fray
Miguel de Talavera (died 1622), a prolific writer in Tagalog, and Fray Bias
de la Madre de Dios (died 1626), ex-Provincial and author of the earliest
Flora de Filipinas. The most tragic figure to breathe his last at the infir?
mary was also the most prominent of them all. The former chaplain of the
royal palace in Madrid, Archbishop Fernando Montero de Espinosa of Ma?
nila caught a malignant fever on his way to take possession of his see in
1644; he expired at Pila at the height of a storm. His remains lay in state in
the local church until they could be transferred in a slow funeral proces?
sion through the camino real (royal road) to the Manila cathedral (de
Huerta 1855:139; Gomez Platero 1880; Blair and Robertson 35:111, 317
and 37:162).
A delegation consisting of the mayor and selected principales of Pila
accompanied their parish priest, Fray Jose Fonte to Manila for the grand
celebration of the martyrdom of the Franciscan missionaries and Japanese
laymen in the Land of the Rising Sun. On 2 February 1630, "a luminous

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 130 PHILIPPINE QUARTERLY OF CULTURE & SOCIETY

procession" was organized in the Franciscan convent which moved sol?

emnly to the Cathedral. Each Franciscan parish in the suburbs of Manila
and Laguna carried their ceremonial cross and standards as well as a bla?
zon of one of the martyrs. The representatives of Pila, being a Noble Villa,
were accorded the place of honor at the end of the solemn line just before
the Venerable Orden Tercera. Forming the highlight of the secular part of
the festivities was the first bullfight in the Philippines which the chosen
Pilenos witnessed and no doubt associated with Spanish cruelty towards
the natives (de Huerta 1855:15-16).

The Bells and Choirs of Pila

In 1681, most probably in commemoration of the centenary of the

foundation of the parish of Pila, a new bell was cast for the church. It bears
the following inscription: San Antonio de Pila Ano de 1681, above which
is the figure of a cross on top of a pedestal with three steps on each side.
This venerable bell has survived to the present as the third oldest church
bell in the Philippines. The oldest, 1596, is in Calamaniogan, Cagayan,
though it had belonged to Binalatongan, Pangasinan, and the second, 1642,
in Longos (now Kalayaan), Laguna (Jose n.d.).
That Pilenos are great lovers of music, there has never been any doubt.
According to a Franciscan writer, Fray Juan de Jesus (found in Sanchez
1988):

"We cannot deny that music is something that appeals to them. We see that,
even without mentors, the Indios are capable musicians. I witnessed this in Pila
in [June] 1686 when I participated in the vigil of Corpus Christi. During the rites,
five choirs sang and not one of them stumbled on a single note. We also see that
[Filipinos] make musical instruments and they play them exquisitely."

The ambience of Pila drew some prominent Spanish families of Manila

to settle in the Noble Villa in the second half of the 17th century. These in?
cluded the Thenorios, Caviedeses, Robleses, Sarmientos, de Silvas and del
Rios. They intermarried with the landed gentry and gave rise to a class of
Spanish mestizos who, like that gentry, served as the town executives. In
contrast, only a few Chinese mestizos were able to gain a foothold in the
local society. Hence, Pila never had a separate Gremio de Mestizos de San
gley.

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 THE ROOTS OF PILA 131

Due to their strict vow of poverty, the Franciscans were the only relig?
ious order which renounced the ownership of haciendas. Many of the
landed estates in the provinces they had administered, like Laguna, were
acquired by families of mixed Spanish-Filipino blood (de Rivera 1792).5

18th Century Leaders

Before the turn of the 18th century, Don Antonio Maglilo, a descen?
dant of the aforementioned Cabeza de Barangay Don Francisco Maglilo
(1599), emerged as the first durable leader of Pila. He served for sixteen
years (1696-1712) as the gobernadorcillo (mayor)-the longest tenure dur?
ing the Spanish Regime (de Rivera 1792).5
During the mayorship of Don Juan Carillo in 1721, Mount Banahaw,
the sacred mountain of the Tagalogs, erupted. Looming over the forests of
Pila and the surrounding towns, it wreaked havoc on the countryside. Up
to this day, volcanic rocks of different sizes can still be seen strewn in vari?
ous parts of the town (Gorospe 1992:11).
Another prominent figure who made his appearance in the early 18th
century was Don Juan de Rivera, founder of the Rivera clan, who became
the mayor in 1728. By hard work, inheritance and marriage, he came to
own the hacienda in Barangay Sta. Clara which had belonged to three
spinster sisters of Spanish descent surnamed Thenorio. Don Juan ably
managed the estate for the sisters and later married their niece, Dona
Josepha de Rivera y Thenorio, who was also his paternal cousin. Over?
looking Pagalangan, the hacienda, as we shall see, would figure promi?
nently in the history of Pila at the close of the 18th century (de Rivera
1792).6
The oldest surviving church book of Pila is the Libro de Bautismos
(1729-88). Since the baptismal entries include the names of the child's par?
ents, modern Pilenos can trace their ancestry to at least the beginning of
the 18th century or about ten to twelve generations back. The second old?
est book is the Libro de Casamientos (1752-1834) and the third oldest, the
Libro de Entierros (1755-1833). The last book indicates that the princi
palia of Pila were buried inside the church and the rest in the cemetery in
the patio or near the church in Pagalangan.

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132 PHILIPPINE QUARTERLY OF CULTURE & SOCIETY

The Century of Sorrows

The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse began to terrorize Pila, one af?
ter the other, in the middle of the 18th century. It was probably during this
period that a second patron, San Roque, was invoked for the town in order
to "assist" St. Anthony of Padua in defending the villa and pleading its
cause in the celestial court. San Roque's specialty was curbing epidemics
which usually followed calamities because of the severe stress, disruption
and contamination of food and water supplies, malnutrition and over?
crowding in places of refuge. Various miracles were attributed to him by
the faithful of Pila, some of whom were juridically confirmed by the Fran?
ciscan Order and duly recorded in its official books (de Huerta 1855:138).
For the last time in memory, Mount Banahaw erupted in 1743. It bur?
ied the town of Sariaya in Tayabas to the south but mercifully spared Pila
and its environs to the northeast (Gorospe 1992:11).
A widespread agrarian revolt broke out in 1745 in the friar estates of
Tondo, Cavite, Batangas and Laguna. Pila and its suburbs were left un?
touched because the Franciscans did not own haciendas, as mentioned ear?
lier, and those owned by laymen were not involved in the conflict. But just
north of the town, the Dominicans possessed the vast estates of Calamba
and Binan and the Jesuits, that of San Pedro de Tunasan. For a while, the
unrest in these places threatened to spill over to Pila whose people cer?
tainly sympathized with the victims of Spanish injustices (Roth 1977:100
116).
Halley's comet flashed awesomely through the sky from 1758 to 1759
as predicted by the British astronomer for whom it was named. Despite
their evangelization, the Filipinos-like other peoples of the world-must
have been deeply disturbed by this sign. The subsequent turn of events did
not help alleviate their fears. Three years later, the British invaded the Phil?
ippines and occupied the hapless colony for two years. They caused more
devastation and misery in Laguna than the eruption of Banahaw had done
four decades earlier. After burning Pagsanjan, the capital, to the ground,
they swooped down on Pila. Here they took down the first bell and plun?
dered the sacred ornaments and vessels and most probably the first book
published in the town, San Buenaventura's Vocabulario, as spoils of war
(the latter is now in the British Museum). But the Pilenos were able to hide
their second bell (1681) from the invaders through some ingenious way,

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 THE ROOTS OF PILA 133

perhaps by submerging it in the Laguna de Bay (Zaide 1939:17; Blair and

Robertson 49:220, 249; Jose 1993a:28).
After the British left in 1764, it seemed that the Pilenos' pastor, Fray
Mathias Pico (1764-67), instead of recognizing their gallant deeds during
the war, took his turn to abuse them. When they could not take his "dis
cortesies and maltreatment" any longer, the fearless Pilenos brought formal
charges against him in court. The pastor went on leave for six months
(May to November 1766). When he came back, however, he filed a coun
tersuit against the community as a whole for making up "lies" against him.
The long and short of it was that Fray Pico was transferred to another as?
signment but not before he demanded an apology, in order to save face,
from the parishioners. The latter may have complied just to get rid of him.
A violent typhoon lashed out at Pila and the nearby towns in 1781. It
killed livestock, destroyed crops and toppled and wrecked several houses
both of the poor and the elite. Thus, it remained for a long time in the
mirthless memory of the town (de Rivera 1792).

Time and Tide: The Transfer to Sta. Clara

In its turn, Pagalangan was to follow the fate of Pinagbayanan in a

poignant historical cycle. After four centuries, "a sea of troubles" began to
engulf the town at the turn of the 18th century. The relentless swelling and
surging of Laguna de Bay during the rainy season brought about severe an?
nual high waters, annually submerging the homes and streets and arable
land of the Pilenos for as long as three to four months at a time. The stag?
nant water and consequent putrefaction created an unhealthy atmosphere
which increased the incidence of various diseases such as the common old,
cholera, and tuberculosis. A swarm of crocodiles preyed upon their beasts
of burden and draft animals. Moreover, flooding impeded commerce, their
major source of livelihood, with the neighboring towns. Above all, espe?
cially for those living in the distant barrios, it got in the way of fulfilling
their spiritual obligations such as hearing mass on Sundays and holidays of
obligation (Santiago 1983).

The Pros and the Contras

A group of principales led by the tres hermanos Don Felizardo, Don

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 134 PHILIPPINE QUARTERLY OF CULTURE & SOCIETY

Miguel and Don Rafael de Rivera (great-grandsons of Don Juan), sup?

ported by the parish priest, were convinced that the town had become to?
tally uninhabitable. They offered their hacienda in Sta. Clara, notable for
its high location, as the new site of the town. An opposite faction formed
insinuating that the Riveras exaggerated the situation in order to profit
from the transfer of the town to their estate. The town was, therefore, split
into two groups, the "pros" and the "contras" depending, respectively, on
whether they were for or against the move (Santiago 1983).
Although unpopular and outnumbered, the pros appeared to have the
upper hand because they were an influential group. However, their ulti?
mate asset was not influence but the incontrovertible reality of the circum?
stances. With the passing of each year of litigation and inaction by the
contras, it became more and more clear that the days of Old Pila were
numbered, if not by human decree, by the undeflectable deluge from the
lake. Time and tide wait for no one. The contras, on the other hand,
seemed determined to "go against the current." Their strength lay in their
number for they clearly stood for the majority. As a consequence, the colo?
nial government tried to defer to them as much as possible, thus diminish?
ing the advantage of the pros. Also, the sentiment they expressed
conserving an ancient town-easily evoked sympathy in the outsider (Santi?
ago 1983).
The first decree issued by the governor-general on 7 November 1794
favored the pros. It ordered the transfer to Sta. Clara within a period of
three years during which the townspeople were to be exempted from pay?
ment of tributes, forced labor and personal services. The contras, of course,
objected to the decree and instead recommended building a massive dike
along the shores of the lake to prevent inundation. Indeed, this sounded
very logical at the time. The governor-general, therefore, signed another
decree on 2 June 1796 taking up the suggestion of the contras (Santiago
1983).
Instead of opposing the second decree, the pros simply informed the
governor that they had already been faithfully complying with the first de?
cree for the past one year and a half. In fact, they had cast a new bell for a
new church in Sta. Clara. The bewildered governor responded with the
usual delaying tactics: an investigation into the origin of the "new repre?
sentation," that is, by the contras. Incredibly, the case dragged on for the
next seven years (Santiago 1983).

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 THE ROOTS OF PILA 135

Adrift on the Water

In 1798, a group of gobernadorcillos from the surrounding towns of

Sta. Cruz, Liliw, Nagcarlan, Bae and Los Banos complained of the thick
mud on the impassable roads leading into Pila due to the flood waters; this
situation hindered their business transactions. As the 19th century ap?
proached, the fate of Pila was still adrift on the water, literally as well as
symbolically (Santiago 1983).
When the prolonged celebrations welcoming the new century had sub?
sided, the provincial commission decided to make a follow-up ocular in?
spection of Pila; they now found it in a "deplorable situation." Thus, a third
decree was published on 24 May 1800 reordering the removal of the town
to Sta. Clara. In the hope of expediting the process, the governor permitted
for the first time the demolition of the deteriorating church and town hall
so that their materials could be re-used in the new site. The archbishop of
Manila also approved the construction of a temporary wooden church at
Sta. Clara. Again the contras appealed the government decision, rehashing
their old arguments in a paper signed by a long list of both prominent and
humble folks. Still trying to please most of the people all of the time, the
governor agreed to suspend the latest decree (Santiago 1983).8

The Turn of the Tides

It was only in 1802 that the central government decided to make a

comparative assessment of the cost of relocation which the pros had been
doing for the past eight years, as opposed to that of building a dike which
the contras had not even started. They came up with the figures of 40,000
pesos for the former and 68,000 for the latter. Thus, economic considera?
tions ultimately sealed the fate of Pagalangan. On 27 August 1802, the
governor issued the fourth and penultimate decree for the town to transfer
to Sta. Clara. The contras still tried to block the implementation of the or?
der. On 13 July 1803, the exasperated governor signed the fifth and last
decree for the people to move to Sta. Clara before the occurrence of the
next inundation under severe penalty to be imposed by the alcalde. The
latter was ordered to act with the full force of his office. The contras con?
tinued to complain; they were fined with the total cost of the litigation and
sentenced to "perpetual silence" on the case (Santiago 1983).

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 136 PHILIPPINE QUARTERLY OF CULTURE & SOCIETY

The Women ofPila

But on such a heart-rending issue, total silence could not be imposed.

On 20 May 1804, when the transfer seemed to be in full swing, some
prominent as well as ordinary womenfolk (principahas y plebeyas) sent a
moving plea to Manila to suffer them to tarry in their ancestral town. In a
document full of pathos, they spoke of their "bitter confusion and desola?
tion" and the "deprivation of their ancient love." At best it served as a psy?
chological catharsis for them, for their plea went unheeded. But this is
easily the most poignant piece in the whole collection of documents still
well preserved in the National Archives regarding the move, breaking at
last the monotony and repetitiousness of the position papers of the men on
both sides (Santiago 1983).

Don Felizardo de Rivera (1755-1810), Fundador

The pros had recaptured the local offices in the same year (1804). Now
their true leader emerged in the person of Don Felizardo de Rivera, the
eldest of the Rivera brothers. He had been the town executive from 1792 to
1793 but apparently chose to stay in the background during the long litiga?
tion. Instead, he had been quietly drawing up gridiron plans for the new
site; necessity had transformed him into a self-taught town architect. He
had patiently kept these plans against the day when the transfer would be?
come an officially sanctioned reality. To implement them, he again served
as the gobernadorcillo in alternate years, starting in 1805, then in 1807,
and finally in 1809. He died in 1810 and the first of his four sons, Jose de
Rivera, took over the post in 1811. Because of his dynamic leadership dur?
ing the transition and his orderly design, which both evoked and deserved
the ancient name of the town, Don Felizardo is considered the founder of
Nueva Pila (Santiago 1983; de Rivera 1810).9
Since the Riveras had been prominently established in Pagalangan for
at least four generations, it was not an easy matter for them as well to
abandon their ancestral soil. Although they subdivided Sta. Clara, retaining
all the residential lots around the rectangular plaza between the church and
the town hall, they had to donate the rest to the distressed citizens and local
church and state. The clearing and development of a hitherto dormant sec?
tion of Pila contributed to the expansion of its agricultural economy. The

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 THE ROOTS OF PILA 137

Riveras further pledged their spiritual and material support to the church in
perpetuum up to the last of their line (Santiago 1983; de Rivera 1810). The
new town acknowledged its gratitude by christening the principal street
"Rivera," which connects it like a long umbilical cord to Pagalangan. Two
parallel streets were named for their family allies, "Ruiz" and "Oca." As a
consolation for the contras, one street farther east was named "de Castro."
By late 1811, the old church was virtually the only building left lan?
guishing in Pagalangan. The isolated but still pulsating heart and soul of
Pila Antigua, the temple was torn down and transplanted almost stone by
stone to Sta. Clara to infuse new life into the new town. Pila, along with its
archival records, has survived a revolution, two wars and various natural
calamities, all except floods, which never bothered the town again.

The Filipino Pastors

For almost a quarter of a century, from 1812 to 1835, Filipino secular

priests served for the first time as the acting pastors of Pila due to a short?
age of Franciscan priests. These native men of God were: Padres Lorenzo
Samaniego (1812-16); Pedro de los Santos (1816-19); Pedro Alcantara
(1819-26); and Rudecindo Aquino (1826-35).10 They worked in almost
perfect harmony with their parishioners except for "two or three" contras
who tried to obstruct their efforts to finish the construction of the stone
church. The work was apparently accomplished during the term of Padre
Alcantara. A Chinese mestizo priest, he was the baptismal godfather of Pa?
dre Pedro Pelaez when he was still the coadjutor of Pagsanjan. In his 1819
report, Alcantara mentioned the interesting fact that it took two hours by
horseback from Pila to reach the provincial capital of Sta. Cruz. This is
hard to imagine in this fast age of motor travel.

The Pastor Who Served the Longest

Since his Filipino predecessors had already completed the stone

church, Fray Benito del Quintanar OFM, who served for the longest term
as the pastor of Pila during the Spanish era (1839-52), concentrated on
building the stone convent. Towards the later part of the project, it had to
be suspended in 1846 when the cholera epidemic struck at Pila. Fray Be?
nito reported that from the twelfth to the eighteenth day alone, 36 (28 men

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 138 PHILIPPINE QUARTERLY OF CULTURE & SOCIETY

and 8 women) were laid low by the disease, 15 of whom died (11 men and
4 women). The cult of San Roque must have been very busy at this time
with prayers, penitence and processions at all times of the day. The re?
sourceful pastor also thought he had found an effective purgative against
the infection consisting of olive oil, manzanilla and cognac, for 21 patients
(13 men and 8 women) survived the epidemic after availing themselves of
this novel concoction (Gomez Platero 1880:673, de Huerta 1855:130).H
After nine years of supervising the labor of the townspeople, Fray Be?
nito finally finished the great undertaking in 1849. In behalf of the faithful,
he had the following prayer-poem in Latin inscribed in a rectangular stone
tablet over the main gate of the convent:

"Fave, Protege, Custod., / Bened. Que S.c Antoni: / Domui Istam Novam /
Quam Tibi Dedicavi."

"St. Anthony, may you look with favor on, protect, guard and bless this new
house which is dedicated to you."

It seems that St. Anthony has answered Pila's fervent prayer. The stone
church and convent have survived to the present and the latter now houses
the parish college, Liceo de Pila.
To promote public worship, the energetic Fray Benito had also started
the Archicofradia del Nuestro Senor Padre San Francisco most probably
at the beginning of his term. This archconfraternity was next in rank to the
Venerable Orden Tercera (VO.T.) of the Franciscan order which was situ?
ated in Manila. Compared to an ordinary confraternity, the archconfrater?
nity had been granted by the pope the power to affiliate with other groups
of the same character. The earliest surviving record of the archicofradia of
Pila dates to 1848 when the hermano and hermana mayor were Don Nar
ciso de San Gabriel and Dona Magdalena de la Rosa. Their deputies were
Don Tomas de Rivera and Dona Isabel Abella de Rivera who were later
elected to succeed them. The group became inactive in 1858. However, it
was resumed after the monstrous earthquake of 1863 shook the town mer?

cilesslyofand
houses theapparently
faithful. 2 caused some damage to the church, convent and

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 THE ROOTS OF PILA 139

New Surnames

Governor-General Don Narciso Claveria, Count of Manila, issued a de?

cree on 21 November, 1849 ordering the systematization of Filipino sur?
names. Some Pila families at that time still carried saint's names as
patronymics. This was discouraged by the decree because the civil rolls
sounded more like a conventual list of monks and nuns. Thus, the family
name San Gabriel became Alava; Sto. Tomas was changed to Agra; and
San Antonio was transformed to Relova. A Chinese mestizo family which
had migrated from Pasig, the Relovas soon emerged as another illustrious
clan of Pila when the principalia selected Don Regino Relova de San An?
tonio as the mayor in 1855-56. Henceforth, the Relovas became the
friendly political rivals of the Riveras with whom they intermarried as with
the other old families (Claveria y Zaldua 1973:vii-xvi; Ruiz 1969).13
Economic prosperity in terms of increased productivity in the coconut,
rice and sugar industries of the town was registered in the last quarter of
the 19th century until it was interrupted by the Revolution and the Fili?
pino-American War. Several roads and bridges were built in strategic parts
of the municipality during this boom period. The first rice mill was set up
in 1881-82 by Don Lorenzo and Don Luis N. Rivera, Don Juan Madrigal
and Don Benedicto Carillo. Five sugar mills were also started later by Don
Luis N. Rivera, Don Juan Madrigal, Don Mariano Dimaculangan (whose
family had migrated from Lumbang, Laguna), and Don Feliciano and Don
Ruperto Relova (Paterno 1907).14

The First Flores de Mayo

In the religious realm, the rites of Flores de Mayo, for which Pila is
now well known, were introduced in 1888 by the parish priest, Fray Benito
de los Infantes OFM (1885-88) with the cooperation of the Gobernador
cillo Don Antonio Agra Natoza (1887-88). This has become an annual
thanksgiving to the Mother of God for the blessings she has showered on
the town through her intercession. The first hermana and hermano mayor
were Sita. Josefa Dimaculangan, the first maestra of Pila who had gradu?
ated from the Colegio-Beaterio de Sta. Catalina, and Don Ruperto Relova,
a cebeza de barangay (Gomez Platero 1880).15

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140 PHILIPPINE QUARTERLY OF CULTURE & SOCIETY

The Revolution

The placid life of Pila was rent asunder from 1896, when the Revolu?
tion against the Spanish colonizers broke out, until 1902 when the Ameri?
cans, the new colonizers, reorganized the municipal government under
their rule (Gotiangco 1980:101-175, Gleeck 1981:1-13).
On 15 November 1896, General Severino Taino of Pagsanjan fought
fiercely against the Spaniards at the Battle of Sta. Cruz. The colonialists
rushed two commands of soldiers from Manila to help their embattled col?
leagues. The Filipino rebels had to retreat to the surrounding towns, in?
cluding Pila, where a good number of them came from. In retaliation, the
Spaniards assaulted the remaining pockets of resistence in the next few
days. When they reached Pila, they expected the municipal authorities to
demonstrate their loyalty by giving them assistance as in the other towns.
But the following officials were nowhere to be found: Capit?n Municipal
(Mayor) Don Feliciano Relova; Juez de Paz (vice-Mayor) and ex-Gober
nadorcillo Don Luis N. Rivera; the Filipino coadjutor, Padre Jose Gon?
zaga; Don Regino Relova, the mayor's son; and their assistants, Fabian
Puso and Maximo Cacha. They were branded personas sospechosas; a cer?
tain Quisumbing of Los Banos denounced them as supporters of the Ka
tipunan (Gotiangco 1980:101-175, Gleeck 1981:1-13, Ruiz 1969).16
The missing officials reappeared in Sta. Cruz on 23 November to deny
the charges. Nonetheless, they were summarily arrested, their elbows were
tied behind their backs and they were thrown into the provincial jail which
was already packed with captured rebels. They languished in prison for
nine days. They were only released at the behest of the mayors of Luisiana,
Majayjay and Lucban who claimed that the suspects were passing through
their towns at the time in question in order to report to the alcalde mayor
of Tayabas since Sta. Cruz was then in disarray. However, the mayor of
Luisiana and his secretary, who had vouched for them, were themselves
eventually arrested as traitors, imprisoned and executed by a firing squad
(Gotiangco 1980:101-175; Gleeck 1981:1-13).
In the second phase of the Revolution in 1898, the people of Pila took
arms again under General Paciano Rizal, the national hero's brother, who
was the commanding general of Laguna. Aguinaldo appointed Telesforo
Franco of Barrio San Roque as the mayor of Pila who, together with Cap?
tain Simplicio de la Cruz, formed a unit of Pileno soldiers. Beleaguered

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 THE ROOTS OF PILA 141

and defeated, the Spanish officials finally withdrew from the province
(Gotiangco 1989:133-138).

The Holocaust of 1899

In the Filipino-American War, General Juan Cailles succeeded Rizal's

brother as the commanding general of Laguna. He divided the province
into six military zones and commissioned Colonel Regino Relova as the
commander of the district comprising Pila (his hometown), Calauan, Bae,
and Los Banos. Apparently on the orders of Cailles, the Filipino soldiers
caught the Spanish and now American sympathizer Quisumbing and exe?
cuted him in Sta. Cruz (Gotiangco 1980:139-175, Gleeck 1981:1-13).
The ruthless American invaders under General Lawton captured the
provincial capital on 10 April 1899 and trooped to Pila the next day. For
vehemently opposing the new colonizers, the town was put to the torch by
the Americans. At the end of the grimmest day in the town's history only
the church, convent and school building across the street were left standing
amidst the fire and smoke of battle. Before returning to Manila, the Yan
quis turned these buildings into garrisons where they entrenched them?
selves against their angry victims. The casa real (municipal hall) as well as
almost all the stone houses (bahay na bato) of the elite and the nipa huts of
the poor in the town center and the adjacent barrios had been razed to the
ground. The people felt as though the earth had been pulled out from under
their feet. Proud of their heritage, most families were able to save their le
gajos (bundles) of ancestral documents dating from as early as the 18th
century (Gotiangco 1980:139-175, Gleeck 198L1-13).17
Despite the recent holocaust, the Pilenos pulled themselves together
and held their heads up high to greet the 20th century with fervent hope
and prayers.

The New Dispensation

When General Cailles surrendered to the Americans on 20 June 1900,

the "pacification" of Laguna was deemed complete. The Americans tried
to make amends to the Pilenos by offering the local offices back to the
elite as in the Spanish period. The military government installed a promi?
nent musician and composer, Don Ignacio Alava as the mayor of Pila

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 142 PHILIPPINE QUARTERLY OF CULTURE & SOCIETY

(1900-1902). With the establishment of civil rule, Don Juan Bartolome

(originally of Pasig) was chosen to replace Alava (1902-1904) (Gotiangco
1980:139-175, Gleeck 1981:1-13).17
To help revive the spirit of Pila after the tragedy of war, its youth or?
ganized a socio-civic group, the Capisanan ng Pag-asa (Hope Associa?
tion) in 1905. The first officers were: Sita. Encarnacion Francia y Rivera,
president; Sr. Mesiton Rivera y Rivera, vice president; Sr. Gregorio Agra
mon, secretary; and Srta. Consuelo Rivera, treasurer. Their parents and
older relatives had just reconstructed the rice and sugar mills a year or two
earlier to give employment to the people and impetus to the town econ?
omy. From the ashes had risen again their homes made of strong wood and
thatched with nipa-a far cry from their imposing homes before the holo?
caust (Paterno 1902:95).18

The Thomasites

A new public school system was introduced in 1901 by the

"Thomasites" (so-called because they had arrived aboard the ship Thomas).
Miss Buretta Hoyles was the first to be assigned to Pila to teach the pri?
mary course. Although he held office in Sta. Cruz, the superintendent for
Laguna, Mr. Roderick McCloud, was quite active in the town. For the
school, they used the venerable stone edifice of the school which had been
built under the Spaniards and which still stands today as the town museum.
(Elementary education or primera ensenanza had been started in Pila with
the establishment of the parish in the 16th century.) The Thomasites were
astonished to find a lady teacher in the town who could speak English
Srta. Dona Mercedes Lina Rivera (1879-1932). A maestra superior in the
Spanish system, Miss Rivera had learned English at the newly opened
Colegio de la Consolacion (1901) of the Filipino Augustinian sisters in
Manila. One of the nuns, Sor Catalina de Jesus, had had the foresight to
study English in Hong Kong in anticipation of the impending changes un?
der American rule. An accomplished pianist and composer, Miss Rivera's
musical ear had helped her learn the new language easily albeit with a Brit?
ish accent. Here the Thomasites were supposed to "civilize" an isolated
town, which had turned out to have already developed a high degree of
culture as represented by this trilingual lady educator. (In contrast, Mr.
McCloud and Miss Hoyles could speak only their native tongue.) After

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 THE ROOTS OF PILA 143

about a month of "retraining," Miss Rivera was made an assistant in teach?

ing the American language (Gleeck 1981:44-50; Ruiz 1964:6, 10; Santiago
1992:14-25).19

The First Professionals

Not content with just being an assistant, Miss Rivera enrolled at the
Philippine Normal School in 1902, a year after it was established. As one
of its early graduates, she subsequently taught English and literature in her
Alma Mater. When the Pila Intermediate School was set up in 1914, Mr.
McCloud invited her to become its first principal. (A trusted assistant of
Miss Rivera in the school was a mild-mannered Pileno, Mr. Fructuoso Vi
dal (1893-1994) who was to become the father of Cardinal Vidal of Cebu.)
Miss Rivera was promoted in 1917 as the assistant dean of the Philippine
Normal Hall in Manila. In 1919, she and six other Filipina educators
founded the Philippine Women's College which became a university in
1932. It was the first private educational institution for women in the Phil?
ippines to adopt English as the medium of instruction as well as the first
university for women in Asia. Because of her accomplishments in the field
of education, Miss Rivera was regarded as "The Pride of Pila" (Gleeck
1881:44-50, Ruiz 1964, Santiago 1992; Department of Public Instruction
1905:27-28, Philippine Women's University 195:6).
Like Miss Rivera, her townmates began to branch out into other pro?
fessions in the early 20th century instead of confining themselves to super?
vising their family farms. As a pensionado (government scholar) to the
United States, Dr. Manuel Rivera y Rivera graduated in 1913 as a Doctor
of Pharmacy from Milton University in Baltimore, Maryland. In the same
year, the first lawyer of the town, Atty. Jose D. Relova, received the Ll.B.
degree from the University of Sto. Tomas; so did the first dentist, Gregorio
N. Agramon, earn a licentiate in his field at the UST in 1913 (University of
Santo Tomas Alumni Association 1972:6-D and 8-D). The first physician,
Dr. Teodoro Alava y Rivera obtained his M.D. degree from the same insti
tution in 1915.zu

A Season of Grace

In the meantime, the Flores de Mayo, interrupted by the Revolution

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 144 PHILIPPINE QUARTERLY OF CULTURE & SOCIETY

and the War, was revived in 1912 to honor again the Blessed Virgin Mary
every year. The first hermana and hermano mayor were Sita. Soledad
Agra y Dimaculangan (daughter of Josefa Dimaculangan and who later
married Dr. Teodoro Alava) and Atty. Jose Relova (who married Dr.
Manuel Rivera). In the province of Laguna, the first monument to the Sa?
cred Heart of Jesus was inaugurated at the Pila Plaza during the town fiesta
in 1922. It was donated by the pious president of the Apostolado de la
Oracion, Dona Conception Diaz, widow of Don Feliciano Relova
(Anonymous 1977:651).
There was indeed a great deal to be thankful for because Pila was en?
joying another economic boom similar to the one in the last quarter of the
previous century. Thus, it was from 1915 to 1931 when most of the modest
houses of Pila were pulled down to give way to the present great houses
which, together with the old church and convent they surround, impart a
distinctive ambience to the town. The last building to be completed just be?
fore the nadir of the Great Depression was the Municipal Hall in June of
1931. It was erected during the second term of Don Arcadio Relova who
worked for the longest duration as the mayor during the American Period
(1919-26, 1929-34 and 1938-39). The location of the edifice was trans?
ferred from the northwest corner of the rectangular plaza to across the west
end of the plaza directly facing the church at the east end. The old site was
exchanged with the new one owned by Dona Corazon Rivera de del
Mundo, daughter of Don Luis Rivera (Ruiz 1969).22 The present Pila is
the picture of a Philippine town frozen in the prosperous twenties-to the
delight of period film makers.
Pila contributed a "Miss Laguna," the statuesque Miss Loreto Relova,
to the Philippine Carnival of 1926. The first two lady dentists of the town,
Doctoras Raquel Francia and Aurora Guysayco y Agra finished in 1928 at
the Centro Escolar de Senoritas and the University of the Philippines, re?
spectively. Two more scions of Pila acquired their medical degrees in the
United States in the late twenties: Dr. Juanito Bartolome y Rivera (Univer?

sity of Chicago) and Dr. Petronio Alava, a neurosurgeon (Universitj^of

Delaware). Dr. Alava was a private scholar of Miss Mercedes Rivera.2 '23

The Great Depression

The economic bubble burst in the thirties when the coconut industry in

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 THE ROOTS OF PILA 145

Laguna collapsed. The price of copra and coconut oil had begun to plunge
sharply in 1929 and continued on its downward trend up to 1936. Pila was
crestfallen. The crisis, however, witnessed the development of religious
vocation among the young Pilenos. The town's first nun, Sister Assumpta
(the former Magdalena Alava y Bartolome) joined the "Pink Sisters" of the
Perpetual Adoration in 1932. Sor Consuelo (the former Milagros Relova y
Rivera) professed her vows as a Benedictine nun in 1932. The first priest,
Fr. Felix Codera was ordained in 1938 (Gleeck 198L93-98)24
Once again, the importance of having a profession in times of crisis
was brought to the fore. The first two graduates from Pila of the prestig?
ious College of Medicine of the University of the Philippines finished at
this time: Drs. Rogelio Relova (1931) and Jaime O. Rivera (1935) (Uni?
versity of the Philippines College of Medicine 1982:182-187). So did the
young lawyers, Attorneys Luis O. Rivera and Benjamin R. Relova (U.P.
1936) and Lorenzo R. Relova (Ateneo de Manila, 1934-40), son of the first
lawyer, Atty. Jose Relova. The first mechanical engineer, Mr. Regino Re
lova, Jr. graduated in 1940 from the Mapua Institute of Technology.
In the midst of widespread poverty, the Sakdal Movement among the
farmers gained momentum and exploded into a brief uprising in 1935. It
was anti-American, anti-Commonwealth and anti-big haciendas. It found
support even from some of the elite like Fernando Alava of Pila. Reminis?
cent of the Agrarian Revolt of 1745, the unrest centered in Cabuyao,
Laguna and did not reach Pila. It was crushed within a day by the Philip?
pine constabulary led by Governor Calles of Revolutionary fame. In the
subsequent elections, the Sakdalistas were rejected by the people of
Laguna who, even though they sympathized with their cause, did not ap?
prove of their violent means (Zaide 1979, Gleeck 1981:106-113).

World War II

Ironically, just when Pila's economy was beginning to take off with the
rehabilitation of the coconut industry and the increase in rice production,
the Second World War was declared between Japan and the United States
(1941-45). Pila resumed its role as the rice granary of Laguna during the
war. The people vigorously supported the guerilla movement which many
young Pilenos joined. The town became the center of guerilla activities in
the province. The underground units included the 45th Regiment Hunters

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146 PHILIPPINE QUARTERLY OF CULTURE & SOCIETY

ROTC, Marking's, Fil-American, Hukbalahap (Hukbong Bayang Laban

sa Hapon), USAFFE, Quezon's, and Chinese Guerillas. Fr. Codera of Pila
volunteered as their chaplain. Joining him were two other priests, Frs.
Baez and Atienza. The Hunter's ROTC guerillas included Lt. Perfecto
Rivera (Bn. S-l and later, Bn. Executive Officer); Lt. Jose "Jobo" Fernan?
dez (Asst. Bn. S-l); Capt. Jose Relova (Bn. S-4) and Lt. Jose Madrigal
(Asst. Bn. S-4) (Zaide 1979, Gleeck 1981:106-113, Mojica 1965:570
607).26
Under the circumstances, the Japanese soldiers stationed in the town
seemed at times to be careful enough not to provoke unnecessary escala?
tion of the conflict which they might not be able to handle. However, as in
other towns and other times, there were not lacking those Filipinos who in?
formed and collaborated with the Japanese. They were called Makapili
(Makabayang Katipunan ng mga Filipino), and were mostly former Sak
dalistas. The incumbent mayor, Segundo Agra (1940-42) and Delfm Re?
lova, suspected collaborators, were killed by the guerillas. In retaliation,
the next mayor, Santiago Fernandez (1943-45) was later assassinated by
the Makapili. Another Ex-Mayor, Don Mesiton Rivera (1926-28) survived
an attempt on his life also by the Makapili (Zaide 1979, Gleeck 1981, Mo?
jica 1905).26
The rhythm of life in Pila, both secular and religious, was allowed to
go on by the invaders but not without considerable tension being felt on
both sides. Pilenos shared their abundant crops with starving people in the
surrounding towns and from as far as Manila and its suburbs. The latter
paid in kind, when they could, mostly with their furniture which, if they
had kept, would have surely perished in the final skirmishes between the
Japanese and the Americans (Zaide 1979, Gleeck 1981, Mojica 1965).27
As expected, Pila was the first town in Laguna to be liberated in Janu?
ary, 1945 by the grateful guerillas under the over-all leadership of Lt. Col.
Honorio Guerrero of the 45th Regiment. The Japanese soldiers and their
Filipino collaborators were easily routed without any casualty on the side
of the liberators. Unlike in the Filipino-American War of unpleasant mem?
ory half a century earlier, the town was almost completely spared from de?
struction except for minor to moderate damages to some of the houses. The
Pilenos now opened their homes and extended a helping hand to countless
relatives, friends and strangers who were evacuating from embattled places
including Manila (Zaide 1979, Gleeck 1981, Mojica 1965) 27

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 THE ROOTS OF PILA 147

A Time of Peace

Pilenos ascribed their unique blessings in the last war to the interces?
sion of their protector, St. Anthony of Padua. To their great joy and as
though to confirm their belief, Pope Pius XII declared the saint a Doctor of
the Universal Church with the title Doctor Evangelicus on 16 January
1946, only a year after the liberation of Pila from Japanese hegemony
(Clasen 1967). Henceforth, Pila adopted the honorific Bayang Pinagpala
(the Blessed Town).
A group of grateful residents established a college, St. Anthony Acad?
emy (now Liceo de Pila) on 5 October 1947. Its founders were Fr. Fran?
cisco Radovan, Atty. & Mrs. Castro Maceda, Dona Maria Ordoveza vda.
de Rivera, Atty. Luis O. Rivera and Dona Vicenta Salamanca. The Riveras
later donated their shares in the academy to the parish (St. Anthony Junior
College 1972).
The first woman doctor of Pila, Dra. Carmencita Rivera y Relova
graduated from the University of the Philippines College of Medicine in
1948. She is the daughter of Dr. Manuel Rivera and she married her
schoolmate, Dr. Jose Valenzuela, who had finished the previous year (Uni?
versity of the Philippines College of Medicine 1982:201-203).
The venerable barrio of Pagalangan together with those of San Roque
and Nanhaya declared independence from the town of Pila in 1949. The
new municipality chose the name Victoria in honor of the daughter of
President Elpidio Quirino, Miss Victoria "Vicky" Quirino who was then
acting as the First Lady to her widower father.28

Recent Outstanding Pilenos

The most distinguished resident of Pila is Retired Associate Justice of

the Supreme Court, Lorenzo Relova y Rivera (b. 1916). Bearing the two
most prominent surnames of Pila, he was born and grew up in the town
(Sevilla 1985:177-1788).
In banking and finance, the late Jose "Jobo" Fernandez, Jr. (1923
1994) excelled, serving as the Central Bank governor in both the Marcos
and Aquino administrations. Although his father, Jose Sr., was from Mabi
tac, his mother, Gerundina Bartolome y Rivera was from Pila and he grew
up in Pila. As cited earlier, he was a member of the first battalion of the

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 148 PHILIPPINE QUARTERLY OF CULTURE & SOCIETY

45th Regiment of Hunters ROTC Guerillas in the town during the last war
(Philansa 1974, Mojica 1965:571) 29
In the spiritual domain should be cited the late Fr. Hernando Maceda
SJ (1918-1994) who devoted his life quietly counseling and comforting the
poor, the sick and those who mourned, especially among his townmates.
He was born and reared in Pila after his parents, Atty. and Mrs. Castro
Maceda, originally of Sta. Cruz and Nagcarlan, decided to settle in the
town (Bernad 1974:7, 12).30
The other illustrious figure in the religious field is His Eminence, Ri?
cardo J. Cardinal Vidal, Archbishop of Cebu (b. 1931). His father, as cited
earlier, is a Pileno while his mother, the former Natividad Jamin was from
Mogpog, Marinduque where the Cardinal was born. His father was ap?
pointed municipal treasurer of Mogpog by Governor Pedro del Mundo
who had married Corazon Rivera of Pila (younger sister of Mercedes
Rivera). It was the first Pileno priest, Fr. Codera, who encouraged Vidal in
his vocation especially at a time when the young seminarian had developed
a lung ailment. Of a humble family, the cardinal rose from the priestly
ranks to become a "Prince of the Church," which reminds us that the
Catholic Church is the genuine "equalizer" of peoples in the modern
world. The examples of Cardinal Vidal and Fr. Maceda show the depth
and breadth reached by the roots of the Catholic Faith in the town since the
Spanish missionaries implanted it in the "soil" (the ancient meaning of
Pila) more than four centuries ago (see Bernad: 1974:7, 12; Perard 1987;
Darang 1993a, 1994b).30
Dr. Antonio A. Rivera (b. 1943; M.D. 1967 U.P.), son of Dr. Jaime O.
Rivera, is one of the country's luminaries in orthopedic surgery and sports
medicine.
The most recent maker of local history in the field of politics is the in?
cumbent mayor, Mr. Querubin Relova y Agra (b. 1939), who has been
serving from 1977 to 1986 and from 1987 to the present. In the latest elec?
tion in 1995, he ran again for mayor unchallenged-the first time this ever
happened in the town. Having served for more than 17 years and thus far
the longest serving mayor in the history of Pila, Relova has broken the en?
viable record of Don Antonio Maglilo in the 17th to the 18th century who
worked as the town executive for 16 years (1696-1712).

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 THE ROOTS OF PILA 149

ENDNOTES

In a list of towns of Laguna and Tayabas which rendered forced labor to the central
government, only Pila was exempted (Tormo Sanz 1971:144-149). The other early Philip?
pine villas included San Miguel (Cebu); Fernandina (Vigan), Ilocos Sur; Bacolor, Pam
panga; and Arevalo, Iloilo, followed later by Tayabas, Tayabas; Libon, Albay and Binan,
Laguna.

Information on this is also found in the Libro de la Provincia del Ssmo. Nombre de
Jesus, Tomo I (1572-1608), folio 18, found in the Archivo de los Padres Agustinos Filipi?
nos at Valladolid. It was de la Llave (ca. 1570-1645), the pastor of Pila from 1635-1637,
who wrote the first Franciscan chronicle in the Philippines.

That 1581 is the probable year of foundation of the parish of Pila is based on the fact
that the town's second bell is dated 1681. This second bell apparently commemorated the
centennial of the parish. Further, although Plasencia and Oropesa started the reduction in
Pila in 1578, they could not have stayed there for very long periods of time in the begin?
ning for they had to carry out the same plan in the other towns of Laguna and Tayabas.
According to Gomez Platero (1880:17, 25), it was from 1580 to 1583 that Plasencia and
Oropesa accomplished the next stage in the conversion process-the formal erection of the
parishes of the different towns. Both de la Llave (1644) and de Huerta (1855:137) state
that it was Oropesa who made Pila his "principal residence," indicating that Oropesa was
the first parish priest of Pila.

4This church is now a ruin at the old site of Pagalangan, now Victoria, Laguna. It was
surveyed by historians (including the author) in 1978 and 1986. More information on this
can be obtained in the National Archives document Errecci?n de los Pueblos de la
Provincia de la Laguna de Bay (1740-1846), Legajo 48 (now Tomos I and IV) passim.

5Other sources of information on this are found in the Archives of the Parish of Pila
as Libros Can?nicos de Bautismos (1729-1788), Casamientos (1752-1834), y Entierros
(1755-1833); a manuscript dated 1953 in the National Library, Manila, entitled Historical
Data of the Province of Laguna, especially "The Town of Pila: List of Mayors"; and
manuscripts in two volumes in the Archivo General de Indias entitled Autos de Testamen
taria Seguidos por la Mesa y diputados de la Sta. Misericordia de Manila sobre los biehes
q. dej? Don Bartholome Thenorio, dated 1699.

information on this was also found in "The Town of Pila: List of Mayors" in the Tes
tamentaria noted in the immediately preceding endnote, and through an interview with
Senora Amelia Bartolome y Rivera in Pila, October, 1971.

7See the following entries in the Erreci?n de los Pueblos de la Provincia de la

Laguna de Bay for 1766-1814, Legajo 48, numero 50 (now Tomo I), in the National Ar?
chives: "Ano de 1766. Queja elevada por los naturales Principales y Cabezas de Baron

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 150 PHILIPPINE QUARTERLY OF CULTURE & SOCIETY

gay de Pila sobre discortesias y malos tratos por el Cur a Fr. Mathias Rico;" and "Ano de
1766. Expediente y diligencias practicadas con pedimento de el MRP Fr. Mathias de Pico
contra el com?n del Pueblo de Pila."

?Also refer to the Libro de Gob. Eclesi?stico (1797-1803) for 14 August 1800, p. 166,
in the Archives of the Archdiocese of Manila.

9See also "Town of Pila," in endnote 5. Further information was obtained through an
interview with A. Bartolome.

10In the Archives of the Parish of Pila, see Libros de Bautismos (1788-1820), (1820
1832) and (1832-1846). In the Archives of the Archdiocese of Manila, see 'Plan General
de Almas del Abpdo. de Manila, 1819" in the Cat?logos del Clero Secular; and "Carta de
los Principales del Pueblo de Pila al Arzobispo de Manila, 28 de Junio de 1819" in the
Expediates de Diferentes Matenas (1800-1832) A.

HIn the Archives of the Parish of Pila, see the Libros de Bautismos (1832-1846) and
(1846-1858). In the National Archives see "Carta de Fray Benito del Quintanar al alcalde
mayor de la Laguna, 19 Mayo 1846," in the Erecci?n de Pueblos de la Provincia de la
Laguna de Bay (1815-1898), Legajo 48.

See the Libro de la Archicofradia del NSP San Francisco del Pueblo de Pila (1848
1868), in the Archives of the Parish of Pila. The first 16 pages are missing, and page 17
starts with the election of officers for 1848.

See "The Town of Pila: List of Mayors," endnote 5, and in the Archives of the Par?
ish of Pila, the Libro de Entierros (1868-1878). In the latter, the burial entry on Don
Regino Relova (21 Julio 1863) states that he was a mestizo de sangley (Chinese mestizo).

14"The Town of Pila: List of Mayors" in the National Library includes the mayors'
accomplishments in industry and public works.

15See the Flores de Mayo 1912-77: 65th Year Commemorative Book, Pila, 1977.

16Another reference is the manuscripts of Don Luis N. Rivera entitled Legajo de

Documentos.

17See Also "The Town of Pila: List of Mayors" in Historical Data of the Province of
Laguna in the National Library.

18A few photographs of the modest houses of Pila in the early 20th century have sur?
vived.

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 THE ROOTS OF PILA 151

Additional information was obtained from Senora Isabel Francia (1905-1995) in

May and June 1993.
20
Data obtained from interviews with Retired Justice Lorenzo R. Relova in May 1995
and from the framed diploma in Latin of Manuel Rivera, Pharm. Dr., hanging on a living
room wall in his house in Pila.

21See the Flores de Mayo (1911-1977) Book Pila, 1977.

22
See also "The Town of Pila: List of Mayors" in the National Library; data also from
interviews with Dr. Jaime O. Rivera (1990-1995).
23
Additional data from interviews with Dr. Raquel Francia done by Ms. Cora Relova
in July 1995.

24Also an interview with Sister Mary of O.L. of Grace RGS (the former Avelina O.
Rivera), 16 July 1994.

Interviews with Retired Justice Lorenzo R. Relova, July 1995.

Also "The Town of Pila: List of Mayors" in the National Library, and interviews
with Mr. Perfecto O. Rivera (1926-) who served with the First Battalion of the 45th Regi?
ment, Hunters ROTC Guerillas in Laguna (1942-1945), May and July 1995.
27
Data also from interviews with Sister Grace, May 1995.

28See "The Town of Pila: List of Mayors" and "The Town of Victoria: List of May?
ors" in the manuscript Historical Data of the Province of Laguna, National Library.

Data also obtained in interviews with P.O. Rivera.

Data also obtained in interviews with Sister Grace and P.O. Rivera.

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