MUNICIPALITY (NOW CITY) OF SAN JUAN DEL MONTE, RIZAL, Historical Data of Part 2

All Filipino rebels were repulsed, so they retreated by way of Mariquina Road and encamped at Balara.

A more detailed account of the events of August 29^th and 30^th, 1896, was published by the writer in two exclusive articles in La Opinion issue of August 29, 1927, and the Manila Times issue of August 30, 1949.

The names of the heroes who died in the battle of August 30, 1896 are posted annually in front of the Pinaglabanan Monument during the celebration of the San Juan Katipunan Day. Many sons of San Juan died in other fields of battle during the Spanish revolution; others were banished to Africa, Guam, and the Carolines.

In our struggles for liberty, San Juan del Monte has a right to be proud of its history; she has always occupied the vanguard position in patriotic strife. The first shot which opened hostilities with the Americans was fired in San Juan. Soldiers from San Juan, together with those from Mandaloyon under Lieutenant Severo Tuaño, Capt. P. Corcuera, being absent because of sickness, were the ones who defended San Mateo, inflicting heavy losses on American troops and causing the death of the gallant and valiant General Lawton. Even in our times, a San Juan son, Lieutenant Jose M. Artiaga, died heroically in action at Yultong, Korea, a contribution of his native town to the worldwide struggle against the forces of evil which threaten us.

From September 1896 to February 1897, San Juan was the concentration place for the Spanish expeditionary forces assigned the task of the reconquest of Cavite. At the time, the people of San Juan felt and acted more intimately towards one another. Everyone sympathized with the revolution, and many visited and sent supplies to those in the field. No one would denounce his or her neighbor and, if an unknown person would inquire for a San Juan resident, the reply would invariably be that no such person resided in San Juan.

In January of 1897, two Spanish soldiers quartered in the Old Deposito disappeared and were missed by their officers. The Spanish garrison inspected all houses, all nooks and corners, and many were questioned. The investigators intimated that the soldiers were the victims of foul play by the local people. Someone even broached the possibility of the soldiers having deserted to join the rebels at Balara. The truth of the matter was that the soldiers were robbed of their guns and killed cold-bloodedly at the place then called Tangue, just about half-way on the present road from Bonifacio St. to Santa Lucia. Those who perpetrated the act were cautioned by the local authorities and the people in general that they endangered the lives of all and invited the mass massacre of the inhabitants.

During the last years of the Spanish sovereignty, as per data obtained from the government Bureau of Archives, the municipal officers of San Juan del Monte were:

After Cubao up to the Camias River, the San Juan boundary with Mariquina, there were rich agricultural farms which produced large quantities of rice and sugarcane. Most of the farms were managed by the rich family of Mandaloyon known by the nickname of "Hari."

Since this travel is free, the writer will repeat it, following the route of the present Blumentritt St., from N. Domingo St. toward Mandaloyon. Both sides of the street were vacant rice lands up to the foot of the incline, then steeper, before reaching Calle M. Salvador. There were practically no houses on the left side up to the water pipe bridge. To the right, just at the incline, there was the house of Bernardino Bernardo, followed by the large one owned by ex-gobernadorcillo Mariano Infante, married to Antonia Bernardo, the deceased parents of the deceased ship captain Jose Infante. The wife, Antonia, was a beautiful woman with a beauty which was patent even in her old age. After Infante's, there were quite a few small houses, mostly owned by relatives of Antonia Bernardo, who was a native of San Juan. Captain Mariano was from Manila.

After passing the water pipe overhead bridge, there were no houses along the street till beyond the present Calle Valenzuela, though there was quite a number in the interior. On the right side, one would notice the house of Segundo Pascual on the high ground more or less the site presently occupied by Doña Gliceria del Rosario. After Valenzuela, the houses were far away from the street fence amidst good-sized ilang-ilang trees. In fact, from the water pipe to almost Calle Tuaño, the lots on both sides were heavily covered by grown ilang-ilang trees which brought a good income to San Juan residents. At about the entrance to Calle F. Roxas (right side), there was the house of Romualdo Pascual (Captain Roman). He occupied a large fenced ground enclosing the highest and the biggest ilang-ilang trees in town. From Calle Tuaño to Calle Gral. San Luis, the ground was bare rock, whereon were erected a number of houses. Just before Calle Pascual were the two houses owned by Felix Valentin and Ambrosio Bernardo. The left side (the northwestern corner of Calle Pascual) was occupied by Simon Pascual and the other corner by the widow, Modesta Castillo. Next to the latter's house were the houses of Lorenzo Tuaño and his sons Hipolito and Severo, and daughter Paula. Opposite that of Lorenzo Tuaño stood the combined house and tienda owned by Andres Soriano and his wife. He was the father of Agripina, Angeles, and Domingo in his first marriage. He had other children in his second marriage, one of them the

The lots were vacant on both sides until R. Fernandez. Then, there was on the right side the house of Mariano Ibañez, up to beyond the lot of Director Dans, where there was an alley. Before the alley stood the house of the former Justice of the Peace, Vicente Perez Tagle, which building was burned in 1897. Next to the alley were the lot and house of Nicomedes Parada. On the left, almost at the spot presently occupied by the Jesus-Maria College main building, there was the house of Mariano Artiaga, married to Gregoria Francisco, the parents of your humble writer. In front of Artiaga's house, looking towards the San Juan church, stood perhaps the best house of the town, that of Raymundo Morales, the grandfather of Vice-Mayor Luis Artiaga. The corner of the Jesus-Maria lot on Bonifacio and Blumentritt Streets was occupied by the school building and house of Ramon del Rosario, the public school teacher for boys. The other two corners of Bonifacio and Blumentritt Streets were occupied by Chinese sari-sari stores. Next to the Chinese store on the southwest corner was the house of ex-gobernadorcillo Rufino Pascual, the permanent clerk of the municipal government. He was one of the few who could write Spanish then and was familiar with the language of official correspondence, a feat in those days. Almost immediately after Pascual's was the low house of Andoy Parada, father of the defunct widow of Severo Tuaño, the best flute player of his time and a distinguished member of the unrivalled and once most famous orchestera in the Philippines, the "Orquestra de San Juan." This string band was owned by "Captain Francisco Domingo," father of the late Juan Domingo and brother of Nicolas Domingo. The latter was a reporter in the Supreme Court, in whose honor Calle N. Domingo was named.

At the corner of Blumentritt and V. Angeles Streets (southwest corner), there was a Chinese sari-sari tienda on the lot occupied by the house of Venancio Pucang Cruz, married to Francisca Sanchez, the parents of Benita and Andres who are still living in the barrio of Santa Lucia. The incline of Blumentritt Street from V. Angeles Street was a very steep slope, not negotiable in those times by horse-driven vehicles. On this street, known then as the "Gitnang Calzada," lived the well-known Fernando Ibañez, who lived up to 100 years, Boras Santos, Pedrong Otay, Asiñas, and Tagayon. At the end of the street lived the parents of the present owner of the house, Benito Suñga.

The road from N. Domingo to El Deposito, the continuation to Santolan and the branch to the Santuario of the Dominican Fathers, was taken care of by the Carriedo Water System and was always in good passable condition.

Continuing along the road in front of the old Deposito toward the southeast, one met a bifurcation, the left leading to Santolan and the right to San Juan proper, or the so-called poblacion. On the southeast corner was a one-story house, a large sari-sari tienda managed by Filomena Angeles, an old respectable widow. She was helped by the then-young girl Angeles, a town beauty, the daughter of the late Andres Soriano. She presently lives in Santa Mesa near the Catholic church. There were no more houses on the left up to near the present Calle Rizal. On the right side, the first building was a barbershop run by Antonio, alias "Toniong Bocawe," followed by the small house of Jose and, at the bend, the house of Aling Awang, the widow of Jose Angeles. One of her daughter, Josefa, still lives in Ermitaño. Then, there was idle rice land until the bend just immediately after the entrance to Calle Rizal. In the corner, there is still a growing bamboo tree; in the olden times, there was another one on the opposite side of the street. The place was then known by the name of "Mag-asawang Cawayan," meaning the site of bamboo spouses.

"Mag-asawang Cawayan" had the reputation of being a haunted place were, according to a popular version, a large giant's body without a head was seen one dark night standing over the roadway with one foot resting over one bamboo clump and the other over the opposite tree. In the writer's younger days, while he did not subscribe to the version, yet he passed at night the "Mag-asawang Cawayan" invariably with an older companion.

After the site described, on the left side stood a small house of one nicknamed Gaspan, and after Calle Pascual, there were houses on both sides of the road, the most popular of the owners being one Aniceto, called by all as Cetong Goto, who later moved to Barrio Nangca in Mariquina. The wife of Ricardo Parada, son of the late Justa Teodoro living on Calle V. Angeles, is a grandaughter of Aniceto.

The continuation of the road did not follow the present location of Calle Carriedo. Where the road reached low ground, there was only one house on the right side owned by Mang Leon, who owned a number of female carabaos and sold milk in Manila. Near the junction with Bonifacio St., the west corner was occupied by a Chinese sari-sari tienda; to the rear of it was a house owned by Petrona Angeles. On the left side, before the corner and away from the street, there was a large house of the sisters Apolonia and Teodora B. Santos, still living on Block 11 of San Juan. The corner was vacant. It was formerly occupied by one Sabino from Baler, an uncle of hte late President Quezon. In life, according to old San Juan folk, the boy Quezon often spent his vacation in the house of his uncle.

At this juncture, let it be stated that until May 1898, the San Juan town, that is, the so-called "poblacion," was limited to the area confined to and trav-

On V. Angeles St., almost at the place presently occupied by the lot of Vicente Eusebio, married to Victorina Valentin, there was the Municipal Government Building which, though of nipa roof, was a substantially strong edifice with mother-of-pearl windows.

The section of the town occupied by Blumentritt St. from N. Domingo to the water pipe bridge was called "Lamo;" from the bridge to Valenzuela St., "May Balon;" and to Gral. San Luis, "Tibagan." Along the Mariquina Road, the surrounding area from Pinaglabanan Monument to M. Paterno was termed "Bagungbayan;" from the bridge and beyond, up to Cubao, "Ermitaño."

There was, in San Juan, one industry worthy of mention during the Spanish regime. It was a rope factory, the largest in the Islands, situated along the San Juan River. Its the most southern end occupied the lot nowadays owned by ex-Senator Ramon Fernandez and where once he had his summer house. This was the building used by the Japanese Army for storing ammunition during the last war, and was completely blown and annihilated by American bombers. The factory was owned by the old man, Matias Feliciano, and his sons, who at the time were the richest people of Tondo.

There was a small laundry soap factory on Calle Bonifacio on the lot behind the Chinese store mentioned before as located on the northwest corner of Blumentritt and Bonifacio Streets. It was on the right side of the street as one goes towards Riverside from Blumentritt St. The factory belonged to Pacifico Reyes, who worked for the Banco Español-Filipino, the predecessor of the Bank of the Philippine Islands. The Artiaga folk has already forgotten that he was the one who denounced to the Spanish governor the participation of Mariano Artiaga in the revolution, and for which Mariano Artiaga was imprisoned and tortured to near-death.

On May 22, 1898, three days after the landing of Gen. Aguinaldo in Cavite, the reorganized Filipino revolutionary forces occupied Mandaloyon, harassing the Spanish garrison in Sta. Ana and San Juan. The inhabitants of San Juan del Monte, finding themselves between two fires, evacuated the town en masse, only a few remaining in the barrios of Cubao and Malitlit. Many of the evacuees never returned to their old places. For that reason, a group of former people from San Juan can be found in latter years in Pandacan, San Miguel, Sampaloc, and other towns. Those who returned in 1898-1899 saw with their own eyes the complete destruction and wanton desolation everywhere. They hurriedly built lean-to's and small shacks. Because of the abandonment, the impoverishment of the people and the decrease in population, many lots became wilderness, unsanitary conditions prevailed, and a malaria epidemic quickly developed, causing many deaths among the inhabitants.