Tubao

Tubao, officially the Municipality of Tubao ( ilo, Ili ti Tubao; fil, Bayan ng Tubao), is a 4th class municipality in the province of La Union, Philippines. According to the 2015 census, it has a population of 28,729 people.

Formerly known as the "Home of the Native Tobacco", Tubao was famous for its tobacco leaf and cigars. It had a tobacco trade for decades where its town center was littered by huge tobacco warehouses and trading posts for tobacco. Today, corn is its prime agricultural output where Chichacorn is among its by-products.

The town has an average annual income of PHP 42,803,624 pesos.

Etymology

"Legend states that Tubao got its name when the Spaniards led by one Father Luis Gonzaga y Espinosa, in their desire to spread Christianity, headed towards the eastern parts of Agoo. At that time, these parts of Agoo were hinterlands and heavily forested. While the Spaniards were resting under the full-grown trees, they distributed manuscripts of the ''cartilla'' and ''catecismo'' to the natives. Suddenly, they heard a loud chorus of sound "TUAO, TUAO", emanating from the top of the trees. These sounds made by the birds locally known as ''kalaw'', (the rufous hornbill, ''Buceros hydrocorax'') attracted and bewildered the Spaniards. Even as the Spaniards went further east, the sound persisted. When Father Espinosa returned from their journey, he reported an area called "TUAO." However, due to inadvertent recordings made by the Spanish authorities, the word "TUAO" was written as "TUBAO", hence, the name of the place."

History

Founding

Tubao is an interior town in the southern part of the province of La Union that surfaced in the mid-1880s. It was a barrio in the eastern boundaries of Agoo and Aringay. The place was a former ''visita'' of the parish of Agoo. During the Spanish period, a ''visita'' was a settlement with a church but was visited periodically by a non-resident clergy whose headquarters was at the mother town. The early settlers of the barrio called it San Isidro de Tubao in honor of its patron saint whose feast is celebrated every May 14 and 15 of the year.Ereccion de pueblos, La Union: 13th bundle. This contains the "Expediente sobre la provincia de La Union, 1885," por El Señor Gobernador politico militar Federico Francia

On March 28, 1873, residents of this huge settlement composed of nine barrios from Agoo (Macoton, Amboot, Caoigue, Pideg, Damosil, Masalip, Linapew, Anduyan and Ambañgonan) together with six other barrios from Aringay] (Santa Theresa, Copang, Calopaan, Bugarin, Guinitaban and San Pascual) petitioned for the creation of a new municipality.

Pugo, La Union, Pugo, then part of Tubao was called Rancheria Tulosa. It was in 1883 that quail (locally known as ''pugo'') hunters who frequented the place changed the name into Rancheria Pugo after the birds.

However, it was not until July 20, 1885, when a ''superior decreto'' embodied in the ''expediente'' of August 28, 1885 created the new town of Tubao. On August 21, 1885, La Union Spanish Military Governor Federico Francia proposed a review of the petition to redefine the border limits of Aringay.

On November 10, 1885, ''real orden'' No. 901 affirmed the July 20th ''superior decreto''. On November 16, 1885, Francia acknowledged the existence of the ''"nuevo pueblo de Tubao"'' from the barrios that were yielded by Agoo and Aringay. Hence, Tubao became the 14th town of La Union. Four months later, on March 8, 1886, Governor Federico Francia inaugurated the town.

2012 assassination attempt

Tubao Mayor Dante Garcia survived an assassination attack when he escaped unscathed from an ambush early on September 9, 2012, along the Aspiras National Highway in Barangay Lloren, Tubao. But Attorney Lazaro Gayo, a former vice mayor of the town and an aspiring candidate for Sangguniang Panlalawigan was murdered.

The Civil Society Group (CSG) and the La Union police therefore held a rally at Freedom Park in Agoo to protest the series of unsolved extrajudicial killings in Tubao and Agoo. The public indignation was led by Reverend Mariano C. Apilado of Peace Builders La Union, Melvin Macusi of Amnesty International, Danilo Balino from the Commission on Human Rights and Fr. Leo Nedic of TIGNAY-PPCRV, other human rights Groups, Kanlungan, Bannuar and leaders of the Catholic and Protestant Churches.

Tubao Parish and the legacy of the Belgian missionaries

During the Spanish period until the 20th century, religion ( Roman Catholicism) played a major role in the life of the people of Tubao. Tubao was a ''visita'' of the Parish of Agoo. A chapel and a convento of light materials were erected in 1884. Ten years later, the parish of Tubao was founded. Its first pastor, Father Juan Garcia arrived only after two years, in the month of March 1896. The cause of the delay was the subsidy to be voted upon in the Cortes Generales of Madrid. The missionary started gathering materials for a new church and a convento but could not carry out his plan as he left already in January 1898; it would take more than 30 years before these projects would materialized.Baltazar, Florencio Sr. (1961) ''A Short History of Tubao Parish'' 12-13.

On March 8, 1900, during the tense period of the Philippine–American War, the people of Tubao petitioned against the return of the friars.

Up to 1912, the condition of the young parish was unstable and precarious. The priests did not stay long and several times, Tubao was without a spiritual father. In 1908, it became again a ''visita'', but of Aringay this time.

Conditions were better in Pugo. Although smaller and never given a pastor in the Spanish time, it had a Dutch-born resident priest since 1909, Rev. Gerard Martens. When Tubao lost its priest once more in 1911, the pious Christians sent a petition to the bishop requesting his excellency to send a missionary of the Congregation of the Immaculate Heart of Mary (Congregatio Immaculati Cordis Mariae) in case no Filipino priest should be available. They had to be patient for a few months. About 20 November 1911, Father Morice Vanoverbergh arrived from Bauko, a CICM sister mission of Bontoc. His stay was short. About 8 February 1912, he learned that Father Jules Sepulchre, one of the founders of the mission in Bontoc and Bauko became ill upon his return to Bauko. Father Vanoverbergh went on horseback to visit him climbing the Santo Tomas mountain and arrived in Bauko on 14 February just in time for the burial. Father Jules Sepulchre died in Bontoc Hospital the day before. Father Vanoverbergh was asked by his superior to take over that mission. After two months, Father Martens was transferred to Tubao and stayed for eighteen years.

During his stint, Father Martens extended the boundaries of the church yard and constructed the main part of the church. He built and rebuilt in 1916 the chapel in barangay Santa Teresa and gave a school chapel to Caoigue in 1917 and an ermita to Anduyan in 1926. He acquired the rectory which was put up in Spanish time. He also started a primary school in Anduyan and Caoigue in 1913. In June 1915, he opened a Grade I class on the ground floor of the rectory or convent to be later named Tubao Catholic School and conducted a parish census. A Belgian missionary from the same congregation (Congregatio Immaculati Cordis Mariae) Rev. Father Charles Beurms, assisted Father Martens and became the first director of the school. Father Martens also founded "The Apostleship of Prayer" (1912) and ''"Los Defensores de la Libertad"'' which later became the ''"Cabsat ni San Isidro."''

In 1922, the first group of Belgian missionary sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary (Immaculati Cordis Mariae) arrived headed by Mother Marie Andrea and followed by Mother Marie Ambroise in 1923. The latter became the first principal for the Tubao Catholic high school with the opening of the First Year class. In 1924, the Second Year class was added.

The lot on which the church building and the convent of the Sisters were built on was bought from Doña Laureana Novicio de Luna, mother of the famous Luna brothers -- Juan Luna and Antonio Luna.

In was in 1923 when the priests acquired the house of Don Urbano Dacanay for P1,000 pesos, west of the plaza, and housed in it the newly founded Tubao Catholic High School. It was named the Msgr. Martens Building. This building was destroyed in World War II during the liberation from the Japanese occupation. In January 1951, Father Albert Van Nuffelen sold the lot back for P1,800 pesos to the relatives of the former owner viz., Mr. Bernardino Madriaga and Milagrina Oller who built their house on it.

From 1930 to 1933, during Father Alois Proost's term, the church sanctuary and sacristies were completed. He donated the big church bells. He organized a scout band, a string band and the first and best girl scout unit in the Philippines. He also added Third and Fourth year classes in the Tubao Catholic High School established by Father Martens before. A primary school was also opened in Pideg (1931) and Amallapay (1933?).

From 1934 to 1935, Father Morice Van Overbergh installed the tiled floors on the church. He was a scholar and did outstanding work in botany, anthropology and linguistics.

The parish priests expanded the church yard and bought more lots in the 1920s up to the 1950s. In 1927, a land was bought from Baltazar Dulay for P200 pesos, north of the church. A few years later, the sacristy was built on this property. Another lot, west of the sacristy, was bought from Don Francisco Zandueta (La Union Governor from 1910 to 1912) and was partly occupied by a bamboo warehouse for storing tobacco rented by Chan Chin Ko Baltazar, father of Florencio Chan Baltazar who later became municipal mayor. The warehouse was converted into three classrooms for boys of the intermediate class. In 1940, Father Carlos Desmet procured the means to have a new school building within the premises to replace the old bamboo shack. It was the Sancho Building named after Msgr. Sancho, the bishop of Nueva Segovia who helped with the means. Again, this building was razed to the ground during the war. Today the area is an open field of the school.

More lots were acquired from Doña Maxima Zarate in October 1950 by Father Albert Van Nuffelen where the present high school building now stands; Alfredo Milanes, Felix Garcia, Teodoro Ramos, Timoteo Ramos for the lots at the eastern side of the church in 1951. The northern section of the school garden was bought from Valeriano Mapalo by Father Jose de Hayes in 1957.

During the Japanese occupation from 1942 to 1944, classes were suspended. In as much as the bombs destroyed the old Martens and Sancho buildings, primary classes were sought in the house of Benedicto Verceles, southeast of the rectory or convent while intermediate and high school classes were held in the convent.

Father Albert Van Nuffelen, parish priest from 1949 to 1954 constructed two new buildings and named these the new Martens and Sancho buildings, south and north of the present basketball court which he also built.Excerpt from 2005 90th SAMA Foundation Day and Grand Alumni Homecoming Souvenir Program

In 1954, Father Jose de Hayes became parish priest and school director. He proposed the school to have a Christian name. In 1956, Tubao Catholic School was renamed San Alberto Magno Academy (SAMA) in honor of Saint Albert the Great and his predecessor, Father Albert Van Nuffelen.

In 1963, Father Henry Geeroms initiated and sought means to construct another building which was located at the back of the Sancho building to house a library, a laboratory and four classrooms.
Today, that building has been demolished and a new building now has been constructed in its place.

During the Golden Jubilee in 1965, the school populace was 1,393 including the 115 pupils of Caoigue. But enrollment gradually dwindled due to the opening of free public schools in the different barangays. Elementary classes were phased out in 1973 due to financial constraint.

In 1966, Father Jaime Quatannens, organize the credit union/cooperative to find an alternative lending facility other than those provided by unscrupulous moneylenders. On August 13, 1966, with 39 pioneer-members and a starting paid-up capitalization of Three hundred fourteen pesos (P 314.00), the Tubao Credit Union, Inc. as originally named was formally organized and registered with the Cooperative Administration Office (CAO) under RA 2023 and approved on October 26, 1966, under Registration No. 001503.

After 68 years, the Belgian CICM and ICM sisters handed the school administration in 1984 to the Diocese of San Fernando, La Union and the last ICM principal was Sister Cleofe Bacon who left in 1998.

The Sancho building was damaged by the July 16, 1990 earthquake and was renovated. Only the first floor remains of the original building built by Father Van Nuffelen. The Martens building now houses the Saint Isidore School for grade school classes which was revived in the late 1990s.

1896 (Heritage) St. Isidore the Farmer Parish Church

As of 2012, the St. Isidore the Farmer Parish Church of Tubao (canonically erected in 1896), 2509 La Union, celebrates its fiesta every May 15. It is under the jurisdiction of the Roman Catholic Diocese of San Fernando de La Union (Dioecesis Ferdinandopolitana ab Unione, Suffragan of Lingayen – Dagupan, which was created on January 19, 1970, and erected on April 11, 1970, comprising the Civil Province of La Union, under the Titular, St. William the Hermit, February 10). The Church is underf a diocese of the Latin Rite of the Roman Catholic Church in the Philippines from the Archdiocese of Nueva Segovia

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