As part of our trip around CALABARZON we still decided to present you the few remaining towns left in the province of Laguna that we or you still haven't discovered. Laguna truly is a magnificent province in the country that would never fail to amuse any foreign or local visitors seeking for an adventure or just looking for the perfect place to unwind and relax.
Mabitac is a 5th class municipality situated on the eastern side of Laguna and it is known as the battle ground where Filipino revolutionaries won over the american soldiers during the Philippine-American war.
Coming from Sta. Maria (another town in the province we will feature) our rented tricycle brought us to the neighboring town that is Mabitac.
Mabitac was once known as a great hunting ground for wild games. The town was refered as "Mabitag" from the root word "Bitag" meaning, a place with plenty of traps but since the friars who inhabited the place could not pronounce the letter "G" thus Mabitac came along and the rest as they say is history.
Various history books in the country rarely mentions Filipinos winning battles against Americans or if there were any books about Filipino victories against the Americans they were only concentrated in Manila or other nearby places, but the Battle of Mabitac is an example of Filipinos victory against the colonizers. It was on the fateful day of September 17, 1900 where General Juan Cailles, a Filipino revolutionaryy leader in the area, fought and won the battle against Col. Banjamin F. Cheatham Jr., an American soldier from the 15th and 37th infantry.
Even if the Americans were far superior, the Filipino revolutionaries from this town headed by Cailles didn't succumbed to give up and instead used their mastery of terrain and their Guerilla tactics to bring back glory and freedom to their much beloved town that resulted for the Americans to leave Mabitac.
The town marked the 109th anniversary of the "Labanan sa Mabitac" (Battle of Mabitac) last September 17, 2009 and so unlucky of us because we arrived and explore the town a day prior to their much awaited celebration where the whole town was kept busy preparing a one-day event that includes parades, mass, a play reenactment of the battle, quiz bees and cultural shows that is especially done and prepared by the ever-friendly local officials and staff to pay tribute and commemorate the triumphant victory of Filipinos who never gave up against the much stronger and superior American colonizers.
Aside from it's historical value, we asked the tourism head of the town Mr. Norberto Tubaña on what other attractions do their town offer and he led us to their famous church just beside the municipal office situated on top of the hill that requires 126 steps to get to the church itself (there's another way aside from the stairs), another feature of this church is the relaxing view of Laguna de Bay and the small town, truly a mesmerizing and not the usual environment you will see when attending a mass.
This may sound cliché but we personally like to say that another considered gem of this town are the people whom we personally want to say thank you most especially to the local staff from the Mabitac's municipal hall who warmly welcomed us to their humble office as they entertained all of our questions, gave us a little background of their simple yet historically-rich town with truly amiable people and being invited to their anniversary celebration of the battle that was won by the Filipinos against the much superior American military.
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