Batangas City Foundation Day in the Philippines Date in the current year: July 23, 2024

Batangas is a first-class component city and the capital of the province of the same name located in the Calabarzon region of the Philippines on the island of Luzon. Nicknamed the Industrial Port City ­of Calabarzon, it has one of the fastest urbanization rates in the country.

The city owes its name to the numerous huge logs that abounded the Calumpang River. The natives who settled near the river called the logs batang and the settlement Batangan. Following the arrival of the Spaniards, the name Batangan was eventually Hispanicized, becoming Batangas.

The first Spanish missionaries set foot in the area in 1572. Nine years later, they built the first Catholic church and established a pueblo (settlement) near it. The Spanish colonial authorities appointed Don Agustin Casilao as the town’s first gobernadorcillo (municipal governor). Little is known about the subsequent development of Batangas, but by 1870, the city had 18 barangays (barrios).

After the beginning of the Philippine-American War, the Americans set up local civil government in Batangas on July 4, 1901. Jose Villanueva was elected as the first municipal president of Batangas for a two-year term. The Batangas Municipal Hall was inaugurated in 1909. In 1941, the title of municipal president was changed to municipal mayor.

On December 12, 1941, the air forces of the Japanese Imperial Army bombarded the Batangas Airport, destroying it completely and heavily damaging other parts of the town. Batangas was occupied by Japan and remained under occupation until March 1945, when it was liberated by the combined American and Philippine troops with the help from local guerrillas.

In 1965, President Diosdado Macapagal signed a decree converting Batangas from a municipality into a city and renaming it Laurel in honor of José P. Laurel, who served as president of the Japanese-backed Second Philippine Republic during World War II. However, the locals voted against cityhood and renaming in a plebiscite. Four years later, President Ferdinand Marcos succeeded where Macapagal failed. Batangas was officially converted from a municipality into a city on July 23, 1969, retaining its name.

Today, Batangas is the administrative, educational, industrial, and transportation center of Batangas Province. It is home to one of the country’s biggest passenger and container terminals, the Batangas International Port, as well as to one of the largest oil refineries in the Philippines, three natural gas power plants, and several other major industrial enterprises.

The anniversary of the day when Batangas was granted cityhood is an official holiday in the city. It is also the culmination of the two-week long Sublian Festival established in honor of the patron of Batangas, the Holy Cross in Bauan and Agoncillo. The festival’s main highlight is a ceremonial dance in honor of the Holy Cross, called subli, which gave the festival its name.