Lucena City Charter Day in the Philippines Date in the current year: August 20, 2024

Lucena is a first-class highly urbanized city in Quezon Province of the Philippines, governed and administered independently from the province. It is the provincial capital and the largest city of Quezon.

The first Europeans to arrive in the area were Spanish conquistadors led by Captain Juan de Salcedo in the 1570s. In 1578, Franciscan missionaries Juan de Plasencia and Diego de Oropesa founded the town of Tayabas, and what is now Lucena was one of its barrios (neighborhoods). In 1749, Tayabas became the capital of the eponymous province, now known as Quezon Province.

The barangay that would become Lucena had several names throughout its history. In the 16th century, the Spaniards called the area Buenavista (“nice view”) due to its beautiful scenery. This name was later changed to Oroquieta, and than to Cotta. The name Cotta derives from the Tagalog word kuta, which means “fort”. It was a reference to the fort built to protect the city from the raids of Moro pirates. Today, Cotta is the name of one of Lucena’s barangays.

Lucena finally received its current name in 1879. It was renamed after an eponymous Spanish municipality in Andalusia, the hometown of Father Mariano Granja who was responsible for the development of the town. Lucena became a parish in 1881 and an independent municipality in 1882.

During the Philippine Revolution, the residents of Lucena participated in the fight against the Spanish. The town was also involved in the Philippine-American War. In March 1901, the Americans established a civil government in the Philippines and designated Lucena as the provincial capital instead of Tayabas.

In December 1941, Lucena was occupied by the Japanese Imperial Forces. During the Japanese occupation, local resistance groups carried out guerrilla attacks against the occupiers. Lucena was liberated in January 1945 by Filipino forces with the help of the Hunters ROTC guerrilla units, and the rest of Tayabas Province was liberated by the combined American and Philippine forces in April 1945.

Lucena officially became a chartered city on June 17, 1961, but the inauguration ceremony was held two months later, on August 20. The latter date is now celebrated as Lucena City Charter Day. In 1991, Lucena became a highly urbanized city, which means that it is politically independent from the province in term of government and administration.

Today, Lucena is a thriving city with a population of more than 278,000 people. It is known by many flattering nicknames: “The Gateway to the South”, “Cocopalm City of the South”, “Biofuel City”, and “Entertainment Capital of Southern Luzon”. The city is home to coconut plantations and coconut oil mills, factories and warehouses of major companies (Asia Brewery, Inc., Coca-Cola Bottlers Philippines, Inc., Ginebra San Miguel, Inc., Nestlé Philippines, PepsiCo Philippines, Inc., San Miguel Brewery), and car and manufacturing plants.