Gen. Miguel Malvar and Tanuan Batangas: The Untold History

What is the untold origin of Tanauan, Batangas and General Miguel Malvar?

Miguel Malvar y Carpio (September 27, 1865 - October 13, 1911) was a Filipino commander who served during the Philippine Revolutionand subsequently during the Philippine–American War. He assumed command of the Philippine revolutionary forces during the latter conflict following the capture of Emilio Aguinaldo in 1901. According to some historians, he may have been a president of the Philippines but is currently not recognized as such by the Philippine government.

By the mid-1890s, the Philippine Revolution had broken out, and Malvar found himself leading an army he personally put together, with the leader of the revolution, Emilio Aguinaldo. But faced with superior fire power, the Katipunan revolutionaries found themselves losing most of the battles, and were forced into Biak-na-Bato. Here they signed the Pact of Biak-na-Bato, where the Filipino leaders agreed to cease revolutionary actions, in exchange for 20 million pesos, and exile to Hong Kong in 1897.

After the Spanish-American War broke out in 1898, and Admiral George Dewey requested the aid of Aguinaldo and his revolutionaries to help in the Philippine Campaign, and soon the revolution had started all over again.

With his Batangas Brigade, Malvar successfully liberated Tayabas from the Spaniards on June 15, 1898 after a two-month battle, and soon the Spaniards were defeated and cornered in Manila.

Success against the Spaniards was brief, as the Philippine–American War broke out on February 4, 1899. Malvar was soon fighting a new enemy.

Fighting the Americans, Malvar and his troops had very few instances of success, and were soon dissolved (like the rest of the Philippine Army) into guerrilla units. This change in tactics was not as successful as it had been against the Spaniards, and Aguinaldo was captured in 1901, which led to all the revolutionary forces coming under Malvar's control. With this new authority, Malvar launched an all-out offensive against American-held towns, that stood to testify that the war was far from over.

But this success was also short-lived. American general J. Franklin Bell took command of operations in Batangas and practiced scorched earth tactics that took a heavy toll on both guerrilla fighters and civilians alike. Malvar saw that continuing the war would just harm his people more, and, on April 16, 1902, he and his entire command surrendered to the Americans, ending the battle for Batangas. Malvar was one of the last Philippine generals to surrender to American forces and was respected by his captors.

After the war, he lived a quiet and comfortable life. He died in Manila on October 13, 1911.

On September 18, 2007, Rodolfo Valencia, Representative of Oriental Mindoro filed House Bill 2594, that declares Malvar as the second Philippine President, alleging that history is incorrect in making Manuel L. Quezon as the Second President of the Philippine Republic serving after Emilio Aguinaldo: “General Malvar took over the revolutionary government after General Emilio Aguinaldo, first President of the Republic, was captured on March 23, 1901, and [was] exiled in Hong Kong by the American colonial government—since he was next in command.”^[1] The bill was initially read on September 25, 2007 and referred to the House Committee on Basic Education and Culture, where it remains as of November 2009.^[2]

The City of Tanauan (Filipino: Lungsod ng Tanauan) is a second class city in the province of Batangas, Philippines. According to the latest census, it has a population of 142,537 inhabitants in 21,912 households. It was incorporated as a city under Republic Act No. 9005, signed on February 2, 2001 and ratified on March 10, 2001.

Revolutionary thinker and former Prime Minister Apolinario Mabini and former President José P. Laurel were born in Tanauan.

Recent events include the assassination of its former mayor, Cesar V. Platon, by NPA rebels, as he was running for the governorship of Batangas. This happened days shy of the election.

The city share its borders with Calamba City, Laguna to the north, Tagaytay City, Cavite to the northwest, Talisay, Batangas to the west,Santo Tomas, Batangas to the east, and the towns of Balete and Malvar to the south.

Some people believe that Tanauan derived its name from the Tagalog term “ tanaw ” meaning to look after through the window. This is based on a fortress which had a watchtower built by the Augustian friars and natives. The watchtower allowed them to monitor incoming “champans” or boats entering through the Pansipit river, which were either traders or pirates. From this tower, one can have a clear view (tanaw) of the lake and of the vast plains and rolling hills.

The Town of Tanauan was founded on its present location in 1754, having been transferred from the fringe of Taal Lake where it was originally situated. It is generally believed that Tanauan, together with Sala was originally founded in 1572 by the Augustinian missionaries who built mission at the shore of the Lake known as Bonbon (now Taal). The town, however, was totally destroyed during the most impressive and catastrophic historically recorded eruption of Taal Volcano in 1754. together with the Community of Sala, the residents of Tanauan were relocated to safer places. Tanauan moved to Bañadero, then to its present location. Sala, on the other hand, transferred from its original site to where it is located. Sala subsequently became the barangay of Tanauan.

Tanaueños have displayed characteristics of personal independence of personal independence and nationalism since early history. The town is called the cradle of noble heroes due to its contribution to the revolutionary movement of its sons Apolinario Mabini, the brains of Katipunan, and later by the great statesman Pres. Jose P. Laurel. Also, three Tanaueños served as governors of Batangas, namely: Jose P. Laurel V, Modesto Castillo and Nicolas Gonzales

Here are some of my recent findings, not as a professional historian, but as a curious individual.

These findings are based on commercial and legal documents whose original purposes were for documentation as required by law and contracts.

Yet, such documents are a very important source of history.

After all, history is sourced from documents, not the other way around.

Now, let us proceed to the untold history.

Here is what history books do not tell us. This origin is taken from a document. Remember, documents were not written for history. There were encoded and entered as transactions in the ordinary course of business on a day to day basis. Unlike history, documents do not make up angles or perspectives or interpretations.

One document, a certificate of land title, numbered OCT-01-4 which was created formally in 1764 (yes, it's that old), was preserved, and re-constituted, and re-created and re-registered whenever the land registration laws changed over the years, contains certain annotations at the back.

One such annotation is relevant to:

Tanuan, Batangas and Gen. Miguel Malvar.

This annotation was dated Feb 7, 1899 and the annotation was numbered DC-074 S-2-7-1899.

DC-074 S-2-7 1899

Entry No EDC 073-S-2-6 1898, Real Estate Mortgage amounting to U.S. dollar 20,000,000.00 secured by this Land Title OCT No. T-01-4, embracing the area of Hacienda Mabiga, Pampanga, Kuliat and Capaz, Tarlac to Banco Español-Filipino has been cancelled and this released forever of Real Estate Mortgage has been executed by the Bank in favor of the owner with the full payment of said principal loan and an interest US Dollar 2,000,000.00, the payment of which has broken as follows: General Miguel Malvar correspondingly acquired the area of Tanauan, Batangas and had paid the account of US Dollar 3,300,000.00; Don Servillano Aquino acquired the whole area of Bamban and Capaz, Tarlac and correspondingly paid the account the sum of US Dollar 3,300,000.00; General Antonio Luna acquired the whole San Miguel, Tarlac and La Paz, Tarlac and he paid the account of US Dollar 2,000,000.00, the land was given as a gift to his girlfriend, Miss Luisita Cojuangco: Don Mariano Tayag acquired the area of Kuliat and Mabiga 1,500 hectares (Pampanga) correspondingly paid the account, the sum of US Dollar 3,300,000.00; Don Francisco Macabulos acquired the area of Sta. Ignacia, Tarlac and had paid correspondingly the account, the sum of US Dollar 2,400,000.00; Don Juan Ejercito acquired absolutely the San Juan Del Monte Hacienda embracing up to Sitio Mandaluyong consisting an area of 3,154 hectares and had correspondingly paid the account of US Dollar 3,300,000.00 and DonEsteban Benitez Tallano (Tagean) maintained his rights being the owner over the unacquired Estate and had paid the balance of 6,600,000.00 U.S. Dollar. (Sgd) BENITO LEGARDA Ad Interim Land Registrar

February 7, 1899

What does the above transactional annotation document in the land title OCT-01-4 tell us?

It tells us what history books have failed to capture.

1. General Miguel Malvar had US$3.3 million.

2.  We did not know how he obtained such amount.

This annotation is about the redemption of Hacienda Mabiga from Banco Espanol-Filipino with a principal loan amount of $20 million with interest of US$2 million per annum.

Note the names of the people involved in this annotation. General Servillano Aquino, and Francisco Macabulos, General Antonio Luna were revolutionary generals.

Where did these generals get millions of dollars?

And how come these generals were the ones who redeemed the Real Estate Mortgage of Hacienda Mabiga from Banco Espanol-Filipino (now Bank of the Philippine Islands or BPI?)

In an earlier annotation to this title, in fact the immediately preceding annotation, the Tallano mortgaged Hacienda Mabiga to Banco Espano-Filipino (now BPI). (See separate article on this annotation).

Note that Hacienda Mabiga was mortaged by Tallano family with Banco Espanol-Filipino for US$20 million and this amount was the same money used by the US government to the Spain as payment for the Philippines under the Treaty of Paris on December 10, 1898.

Also, note that this annotation was dated Feb 7, 1899. This was after the Treaty of Paris (Dec 10, 1898) for which the United States paid US$20 million to Spain.

In another annotation, you will be able to cross-corroborate that the Tallano family was the source of the US$20 million used by the Americans to pay the Spaniards!

In another notation, you will also be able to cross-correlate the money paid to the Revolutionary Leaders also came from the Tallano Family.

3. General Miguel  purchased land from the  Esteban Benitez Tallano.

4. The total land area covered Tanauan Batangas. Today, the city of Tanauan Batangas is about 1.07 million hectares.

5. The annotation was signed by Benito Legarda, the ad interim Land Registar.

As you have noticed, the annotations and the history accounts dovetail in agreement.

This is what the history books failed to capture, but in reality was documented not by a historian, but by an officer who was doing his work in the ordinary course of business on day to day basis.

And this is a validation, once again, of the existence, the validity, and the authenticity of Torrens Title OCT-01-4 issued in favor of

"Prince Lacan Acuña Tallano Tagean (formerly Tagean Clan), married with Princess Rowena Ma. Elizabeth Overbeck Macleod of Austria, the owner in Fee simple of certain lands, known as HACIENDA FILIPINA" (email me to get a scanned copy of the title issued by the register of deeds) Note: The early transcriptions were in Spanish but the government had its translated into English through the efforts of then Solicitor General Felix Makasiar under Pres. Diosdado Macapagal (who later become Chief Justice under Marcos). Therefore, the government itself has consistently recognized the validity and the authenticity of OCT 01-4. History from original source documents! What a refreshing perspective!