Baler celebrates 397th anniversary

BALER, Aurora — Officials and residents of this historic capital town — the birthplace of the late former Commonwealth President Manuel Quezon — marks its 397th anniversary today.

The Angaras, led by Sen. Edgardo Angara, his sister, Gov. Bellaflor Angara-Castillo, House Deputy Minority Leader Juan Edgardo Angara, and Mayor Arthur Angara, will lead the "Baler Day 2006" rites, which coincide with Quezon’s 128th birth anniversary. Quezon was born here on Aug. 19, 1878.

Sen. Angara, a native of Barangay Reserva here, said this year’s commemorative rites, which carry the theme "Bayang Pinagpala sa Masaganang Kalikasan, Pahalagahan, Pagyamanin, Pangunahing Adhikain (Town Blessed with Abundant Natural Resources, Nurture, Treasure, Our Main Aim)," are significant for a number of reasons.

He said Baler, which was founded in 1609, has a rich cultural heritage, not only as the birthplace of Quezon, the first president of the Philippine Commonwealth and the father of the national language, but also for being the last bastion of Spanish forces during the Spanish Revolution, among other historical reasons.

Angara said Spanish explorer Juan de Salcedo, a nephew of Miguel de Legazpi, founder of the City of Manila, visited the town in 1573, after discovering Quezon and Ilocos Norte, thus becoming the first European to do so.

Baler town is also the center of festivities for the Philippine-Spanish Friendship Day, which is celebrated every June 30.

It was on this day when the late President Emilio Aguinaldo decreed that the Spanish soldiers who surrendered during the "Siege of Baler" in 1899 were not to be treated as prisoners of war but as friends of the new Republic to be granted safe conduct pass to their country.

According to historical accounts, a tsunami wiped out the old town proper, known as Kinagunasan, killing about 500 families, on Dec. 27, 1735. Only five families survived the tsunami, known here as "Tromba Marina," including the Angaras.

The town’s 397th anniversary festivities kicked off last Aug. 14 when the municipal government launched a jobs fair, the search for Ms. Baler and Little Ms. Baler, a boat race and streetdancing competition, among other activities.

Mayor Angara said the town, situated 232 kilometers north of Manila and which stands on the shore of a horseshoe-shaped coastal valley overlooking the Pacific Ocean, has come a long way from being a depressed town to a fourth-class municipality with a public market, a fishport and a sports complex.

Other projects soon to rise in Baler include a P130-million rice processing complex and a P12-million coco fiber mill.

The town was discovered in 1009 by Fray Blas Falomino and six other Franciscans who explored the unchartered jungles of Sierra Madre which they later called Baler after penetrating through the rugged terrain of the eastern part of the Caraballo mountain range.

Several stories account for the origin of the name Baler. According to one legend, it came from the name of Lakan Balid, the chieftain of a prosperous and thriving village which the Spanish soldiers stumbled upon while they were exploring the eastern coast of Luzon. The Spanish soldiers had difficulty pronouncing "Balid" and instead called the place Lakan Baler.