Masantol, Pampanga - History

History

Originally named San Miguel de Masantol and a part of the town of Macabebe, Pampanga, three of the town's leading patriarchs - Manuel Fajardo, Gregorio Bautista, and Juan Lacap - filed a motion on June 26, 1877 to separate the barrios of Bebe, Bulacus, Caingin and Nigui from Macabebe thereby creating a new Spanish pueblo called San Miguel. This new pueblo was approved by Spanish Governor General Domingo Moriones y Murillo and was inaugurated on May 1, 1878. On November 30, 1893, the Catholic Parish of San Miguel was formally acknowledged through a Royal Decree.

On July 26, 1904, Masantol once more became part of Macabebe. However, in 1907, Masantol was again reinstated as a separate independent municipality and this lasted up to the present.

Although this town is still called Masantol which means abounding in santol trees, there are that not many santol trees growing anymore in this area. Several tropical fruit trees grow in backyards but not in large numbers or in mass production. According to Mr. Manny Fajardo, a descendant of one of the founders of the town and the son of a former mayor of Masantol, that if the town will be renamed today, the appropriate name should be "Masugpo" in Tagalog or "Maparo" in Kapampangan.because of the abundance of shrimps in the fishponds and rivers in this town.

Shrimp raising has become very profitable. Large acreage of rice plantations have been converted into fish ponds producing shrimps and milkfish.. Fishing in rivers and in Manila Bay has been negatively affected by the industrial pollution coming from the factories operating along the sides of the Pampanga River. Rice farming is still the main source of livelihood.

Many resourceful and hardworking Masantolenos have been seeking employment in other parts of the Philippines and in other foreign countries such as the USA, Canada, Europe, the Middle East and in other Asian countries. These enterprising expatriats mostly professionals send home portions of their earnings to their relatives still residing in their hometown. Although not lacking in ambition and skill in politics, no Masantoleno has served yet as a Philippine senator or district representative or even as a provincial governor.

However, Masantol had a director of lands in the sixties in the person of Atty. Alejo Manalang and a Public Service Commissioner, Atty. Zacarias V. Sunga who also served as Special Assistant to President Diosdado P. Macapagal when he was elected president of the Philippine Constitutional Convention in 1972. Masantol had produced generals in the Philippine Army like General Jesus Castro and General Gaudencio Gaddi, both survivors of the Bataan Death March of World War II. Masantol has had a delegate to the Constitutional Convention in the name of Atty. Zozimo Canilao. It has also a career government employee who is the chief of the Public Defender's Office of the Philippines which is considered the largest law office in the Orient employing more than a thousand lawyers and an equivalent number of support staff. He is Atty. Reynold S. Fajardo, son of Atty. Manuel S. Fajardo Sr., mayor of Masantol in 1927-29 and the first lawyer from Masantol to graduate from an American university. In the executive branch of the Philippine government, Dr. Efipanio A. Lacap, is the Undersecretary of Health of the administration of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.

Masantol is also proud of her people who migrated to other countries because many of them became successful businessmen, lawyers, doctors, engineers, nurses and other professionals in their adopted countries.

With a note of sadness but with heads held high, the people of Masantol take pride also of their sons who joined Tarik Sulaiman, a courageous Macabebe warlord in fighting the invading Spaniards in 1571. In World War II, many Masantolenios joined the guerillas led by Colonel Bernardo Poblete known as Jose Banal of the famed Huk Regiment of the USAFFE and aligned themselves with Americans in restoring peace and order. Many Masantolenos who until today are known as "born soldiers" are enlisted in the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the United States of America for the preservation of democracy.