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By Go Bon Juan
(Editor’s note: The Sixth Dr. Jose P.
Rizal Awards for Excellence awarding ceremony will be held at 7
p.m., June 14, at the Kaisa-Angelo King Heritage Center on Anda and
Cabildo streets, Intramuros, Manila.)
When people go to Pagsanjan in
Laguna, it is always the falls that attract their attention knowing
that the town is also historically significant not only to the
province but also to the Chinese there. The importance of Pagsanjan
in the history of the Chinese in Laguna is highlighted in the
coffee-table book, The Yan Clan of Pagsanjan, 1719-2005.
The book says: “According to
both history and legend, Pagsanjan [also pronounced Pag-sanghang]
was a Hispanic name which the early Spanish colonizers derived from
Tagalog word ‘Pinagsangahan.’ It literally means ‘a branching
. . .’ due to the ‘strategic location’ of Pagsanjan ‘at the
juncture’ of two rivers, Balanac and Bumbungan.
“The town first loomed in
history as a barrio of Lumban, a town founded 1578 by the famous
Fray Juan de la Plasencia.
“Pagsanjan became the thriving
trade center of Eastern Laguna. On December 12, 1668,
Governor-General Juan Manuel de la Peña Bonifaz issued a
gubernatorial decree creating the barrio of Pagsanjan as a town. The
center of population in Laguna at that time was Bay. It was also the
capital. In 1668, Pagsanjan became the second capital.”
That is the early history of
Pagsanjan and its significance to the history of Laguna province,
with regards to the Chinese history of Pagsanjan.
“According to Roque ‘Ooque’
Fernandez Yan Roque Clan, [1879 to 1960], Pagsanjan was once a dense
forest. From information passed on to each generation orally, he was
told that the early settlers included five Chinese traders, from . .
. which the Yan family is descended.
“Historical records tell us a
similar account: Pagsanjan’s first settlers were eight Christian
Chinese and Japanese traders who were highly impressed by the
strategic location of the barrio at the juncture of the two rivers,
Balanac and Bumbungan. Their adopted Filipino names were Diego
Changco, Alfonso Changco, Mateo Caco, Jose Jegote, Juan Juco, Diego
Suico, Marcus Suico and Eugenio Vinco.”
There are more stories about the
Chinese in Laguna in this coffee-table book.
“Since the first settlers had
no wives, they married the daughters of the native families. Out of
these interracial marriages sprang the beginnings of what became two
societal classes. The descendants of the early original settlers and
daughters of the native families were called Sangely mestizos and
mestizas of Pagsanjan and the natives were called indios.
“In time, lured by the
burgeoning prosperity of the settlement, many native families from
the surrounding communities [Lumban, Cavinti, Santa Cruz and Pila]
migrated to the barrio. More Chinese immigrants arrived in search of
greener pastures and married native Filipino women. The Chinese
population grew strong in Pagsanjan. Laguna became a bloody
battleground when the Chinese rose in revolt against Spain: first in
the mountain of San Pablo, and second in 1639, when they fortified
themselves in the highlands of Cavinti and Lumban, surrendering in
Pagsanjan a year later. Pagsanjan’s historic church was mostly
built by Chinese workers in 1960.”
It is exciting to know that the
Chinese played a big role in the history of a small town like
Pagsanjan. The town’s history vividly shows how close-knit the
Chinese are in Philippine life historically.
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