29. DISTRITO POLITICO-MILITAR DE MORONG AND CLAUDIO

DISTRITO POLITICO-MILITAR DE MORONG AND CLAUDIO

Dr. Troy Alexander G. Miano

13 April 2017

Travelling around nowadays is made easy with the help of Waze (formerly FreeMap Israel), a GPS-based geographical navigation application program that was first developed and popularized by the Israeli company Waze Mobile. I always enjoy reviewing maps since my elementary days and always dreamed of visiting all the towns in the country. While going over the map of the metropolis, I asked my dad why Pasig is the capital of Rizal province while in fact it is not within the territory of the province and Region IV (now Region IVA) but within the National Capital Region (NCR). He explained to me that once upon a time, Pasig was part of the 29-LGU Province of Rizal until President Ferdinand Marcos created NCR extracting 15 LGUs including Pasig. The capital remained in Pasig since the capitol building was located within the town’s territory. On March 4, 2009, the capitol building was inaugurated on its new site in Antipolo City bringing back the Capitol inside the provincial territory. The net provided me with the historical development of what was then the Distrito Politico-Militar de Morong.

One of the illustrious sons of Rizal province, particularly from the municipality of Morong, is Tomas Claudio. This name is very familiar to me since this is the name of the street located beside the gasoline station adjacent the Gozum Historic Ancestral House where I reside. The street stretches from the national road in Barangay Centro to the end of Barangay San Andres within the Cabatuan poblasyon. I asked my maternal grandfather (Cabatuan, Isabela’s 1^st elected mayor) who is “T. Claudio Street” and what was his contribution in history for him to be immortalized with a street name. His only answer was: “Claudio was the first Filipino to die in World War I.”

Carlos Quirino’s “Who’s Who in Philippine History” (Manila: Tahanan Books, 1995) gave the following data: Private Tomas Mateo Claudio was born on May 7, 1892 to Gregorio Claudio, a violinist who served as church registrar and secretary to the provincial governor, and Pelagia Mateo, a seamstress. He graduated at the Morong Elementary School and studied at Pasig High School. He transferred at Manila High School but failed to graduate. He worked as a guard at the Bureau of Prisons but was dismissed from the job in 1911 because of dereliction of duty when he slept on the job. He left the country for Hawaii to work in a sugar plantation then to mainland USA in California then to Alaska to work in the salmon canneries. In 1916, Claudio finished commerce at Clark Healds Business College in Reno, Nevada and accepted a clerkship at the City Post Office.

Claudio decided to apply in the U.S. Army when the United States entered the war against the Central Powers (Austria-Hungary, Germany, Bulgaria and the Ottoman Empire) on April 6, 1917. After being denied twice, he was finally enlisted on November 2, 1917. He became a member of the 41st Infantry Division and left for Europe on December 15. His last destination was France, where he served under the Allied powers (Serbia, Russia, France, the United Kingdom, Italy, Belgium and the United States) in the trenches of the Toul Sector and with the reserve division near Paris then to the Montdidier front. Under the leadership of General John Pershing, the Americans held their ground from repeated German attacks. Private Claudio took part in these crucial battles in the Marne Offensive. On June 29, 1918, Claudio was killed by enemy fire in Château-Thierry, France. He was honored by France, America, and the Philippines for his heroism. In 1921, his remains were transported to the Philippines and was given the last rites and buried at the Manila North Cemetery. Additional honors for Claudio includes the construction of the Tomas Claudio Memorial Elementary School in 1921, founding of the Tomas Claudio Colleges in 1950, and naming of  the main road of old Morong town as Tomas Claudio Street plus many other streets in the country.

From the reports of the Encomiendas in 1582-1583, the Encomiendas of Moron (Morong) was under the jurisdiction of La Laguna and, the Encomiendas of Passi (Pasig), Taitay (Taytay) and Tagui (Taguig) belonged to the Province of Tondo. It was recorded that in 1591, the Encomiendas of Moron and Taitay were under the jurisdiction of the Franciscan Order in the Province of La Laguna; and the Encomiendas of Nabotas (Navotas),  Tambobo (Malabon), Tondo, Parañaque,  Longalo (Dongalo), Tagui and Pasig were under the jurisdiction of the Augustinians in the Province of Tondo. In 1853, a new political subdivision was formed and named Distrito Politico-Militar de los Montes de San Mateo. This consisted of the towns of Antipolo (now a city), Boso Boso (now part of Antipolo City), Cainta and Taytay from the Province of Tondo; and the towns of Angono, Baras, Binangonan, Jala Jala, Morong, Pililla and Tanay from the Province of La Laguna with the capital at Morong. In 1857, the district was rechristened to Distrito Politico-Militar de Morong. Aside from Morong town, the other capitals of the province were in Antipolo from 1898 to 1899 and Tanay from 1899 to 1900.

On June 11, 1901, the province of Rizal, named after the country’s national hero – Dr. Jsoe P. Rizal, was officially created by virtue of an Act No. 137 by the First Philippine Commission. The new province was composed of 29 municipalities, 17 from the old Province of Manila: Caloocan, Las Piñas, Mariquina (Marikina), Lumisang-Aguho (now a barangay of Pateros), Montalban (now Rodriguez), Muntinlupa, Navotas, Novaliches, Parañaque, Pasig, Pateros, Pineda (now Pasay), San Felipe Neri (now Mandaluyong), San Juan del Monte (San Juan), San Mateo, San Pedro Macati (Makati), Taguig, Tambobong (now Malabon); and 12 from the Politico-Militar District of Morong: Angono, Antipolo, Baras, Binangonan, Cainta, Cardona, Jala Jala, Morong Pililla, Tanay, Taytay and Teresa. The seat of the provincial government was assigned in Pasig.

On November 7, 1975, by virtue of Presidential Decree 824, the National Capital Region was created extracting the LGUs of Caloocan City, Las Piñas, Makati, Malabon, Mandaluyong, Marikina, Muntinlupa, Navotas, Parañaque, Pasay City, Pasig, Pateros, Quezon City, San Juan, and Taguig from Rizal province. Fourteen towns were left and the capital remained in Pasig. Rizal covers a total area of 1,191.94 square kilometers with a population of 2,884,227 (2015 census) occupying the northern-central section of the Calabarzon region in Luzon. The province is bordered on the north by Bulacan, east by Quezon, southeast by Laguna, south by the Laguna de Bay, and west by Metro Manila.

The LGUs in Rizal province are rich in history, which are very evident with the towering presence of Spanish-period Catholic Churches dotting the coastline of the Laguna de Bay. Outstanding Rizaleños like Licerio I. Geronimo, Juan M. Sumulong, Eulogio “Amang” Rodriguez and national artists Carlos “Botong” Francisco, Vicente “Ka Enteng” S. Manansala, Lucio D. San Pedro including the prehistoric (Neolithic) Angono Petroglyphs artists, the country’s first Filipino to die overseas in the midst of an international conflict – Private Tomas Mateo Claudio and many others add together to form the tagline “Cradle of Philippine Art” with the slogan “Best for Rizal”.