HISTORY

The word “Calatagan” is a derivative of the Tagalog word “latag” and is synonymous to “Kapatagan”. It means a vast portion of land lying between the hills and mountains. Thus, Calatagan means a large expanse of wide plain lands.

Calatagan is the southwesternmost municipality of the province of Batangas. It is approximately 125 kilometers southeast of Manila and 93 kilometers west of Batangas City. On the north it is bounded by the municipalities of Lian and Balayan, on the south by the Verde Island Passage, on the east by the Pagapas Bay and Balayan Bays, and on the west, by the South China Sea.

The land occupied by the municipality of Calatagan was acquired by Don Domingo Roxas from the Spanish Crown in 1829 and was called Hacienda de Calatagan. The successors of Don Pedro Roxas continued to develop it and by the first decade of the century it had progressed sufficiently to become a municipality in 1912, by virtue of Executive Order No. 78 by then GOVERNOR GENERAL WILLIAM CAMERON FORBES, Calatagan became a Municipality independent from its mother municipality, Balayan.

MANILA, 16 de Diciembre de 1911

ORDER EJECUTIVA
NO. 78

For cuanto muchos de los habitantes del anterior municipal de Calatagan han solicitado que este son soparado del municipio de Balayan en la Provincia de Batangas, y que sea reorganizado como un municipio independiente, y han prometido construir un odificio municipal, casas para escuelas y reparar las calles y carreteras del mecionado municipio anterior:

Por tanto, mediante las recomendaciones del Honorable Galicano Apacible, Diputado a la Asemblea Filipina por el primer distrito electoral de la Provincia de Batangas y de la junta provincia de la referida provincia , y de conformidad con las disposiciones de la Ley Numero Mil setecientos cuarenta y ocho, titulada �Ley que autoriza el ajusto de los limitos provinciales y municipales y que autoriza el camblo de las capitlales de las provincias y subprovincias, que son necesario de vez en cuando, para facilitar la conveniencia y el interos publicos�, por la presente se aumentan a viente los diez y nueve municipios de la Provincia de Batangas, segun fueron establecidos per las Leyes Numeros Novecientos cincuenta y ocho, segun quedo reformada, Mil quinientos catorce y Mil quinientos cuarenta y nueve, y por las Ordenes Ejecutivas, Numeros cuarenta y tres de la serie de mil novecientos diez, separado el anterior municipio de Calatagan del actual municipio de Balayan, en le Provincia de Batangas.

El municipio de Balayan se compendra de su termino actual menosol el territorio comprendido en el anterior municipio de Calatagan. Por la presente se organiza de nuevo el municipio de Calatagan, que se compondra del territorio que lo formaba antes de la aprobacion de la Ley Numero Novecientos cincuenta y ocho: Entendiendoso, Que el sueldo del presidente del municipio de Calatagan no excedera de ciento ochenta pesos al ano.

La separacion que se dispone en la presente tendra efectoel primero de enero de mil novecientos dose.

W. CAMERON FORBES
Governador General

The town is the site of the historically and archeologically famous �Calatagan Excavation� whose antique pottery and other utensils contributed important facts about the culture and activities of the Filipinas before the coming of the Spaniards. Archeologists find mostly pottery of Chinese Origin, dug from six large cemeteries and unearthed by archeologists, Prof. Olov; T.R Jones and Prof. Robert B. Fox, as well as the conclusion made by Prof. K. Otley Bayer which points out the existence of a sizeable pre-Spanish population in the town. The same studies suggest that there was direct Chinese trade by water in Calatagan and this trade could have centered at a place called Balong-Bato, where an entrance thru the reef, which surrounds Calatagan, is still presently used by vessels coming from Mindoro and Manila.

The land occupied by the municipality of Calatagan was acquired by Don Domingo Roxas from the Spanish Crown in 1829 and was called Hacienda De Calatagan. The successors Don Pedro P. Roxas and Don Antonio R. Roxas continued to develop it and by the first decade of the century, it has progressed sufficiently.

In 1931, Do�a Carmen Roxas, the last heir of the the Roxas Clan transferred ownership of the Hacienda to the Zobel brothers, Don Jacobo and Don Alfonso. During the time of the Zobels, the hacienda came to be known as �Central Azucarera de Calatagan� or simply �Central Carmen� when referring to the sugar milling complex.

In 1934, the barangays of Baha and Talibayog which were parts of the Municipality of Balayan were annexed to Calatagan since surveys slow that they are part of the land titled to the original owner of Hacienda Calatagan. This added a big area for the municipality

In 1957, a decade after the Philippines gained independence from the Americans, the Land Tenure Administration, upon petition of the people of Calatagan bought the Hacienda Lands from the Zobels. These were apportioned to the inhabitants and sold to them at PhP5.00 per hectare payable in installment within a period of 25 years.