Calauan, Laguna

The fertile soil of Calauan attracted the oattention of Captain Juan de Salcedo, when he passed through Laguna and Tayabas (now Quezon) on his way to Bicol Region in 1570. Ten years later, Spanish authorities established a town government two kilometers from the site of the present Poblacion, in what is now Barrio Mabacan. They called the townsite “Calauan” (Tagalog word for rust). Following in epidemic in 1703, the town was moved to its present site at the fork of three roads---now to the south-west leading to San Pablo City, the other southeastward to Santa Cruz, the provincial capital, and the third going North to Manila.

At the turn of the 18th century, when Bay was designated as the provincial capital of Laguna, Calauan became a sitio of Bay. Merchants going to Southern Luzon passed through Bay and Calauan. One of them, an opulent Spaniard by the name of Iñigo, bought large tracts of land in Calauan in 1812. The landholdings of Iñigo and, later, of his heirs were so vast that many portions were still unsettled. The property was and still is, known as Hacienda Calauan. About a century later, the people of Calauan fought a “guardia civil” during the Philippine Revolution. Basilio Geiroza (better known as Cabesang Basilio) and his men routed a battalion of “guardia civiles” in a five-hour battle in Bario Cupangan (now Lamot I) in December 1897. During the subsequent Philippine-American hostilities, Calauan patriots fought numerically superior forces of General Otis in Barrio San Diego of San Pablo. With the establishment of civilian authority in Calauan in 1902, the Americans assigned Mariano Marfori as first “presidente”. Hacienda Calauan financed the construction of a hospital in 1926, and Mariano O. Marfori Jr. son of the first municipal presidente, as hospital director and the resident physician, respectively.

In 1939, by the request of President Quezon, Doña Margarita Roxas vda. de Soriano, granddaughter of the Spaniard Iñigo, subdivided Hacienda Calauan and sold it to the tenants, part of what remained was converted into a rest house and a swimming pool and it became one of the tourist attractions until 1956.

In 1993, the town became the focus of media attention when Antonio Sanchez, who was serving as mayor at the time, got involved into a rape and double murder case involving two UPLB students. Sanchez and several other men were given a life sentence in March 1995.[6]

In the 2015 census, the population of Calauan, Laguna, was 80,453 people,[4] with a density of 1,200 inhabitants per square kilometre or 3,100 inhabitants per square mile.

Municipal officials (2013-2016):

• Mayor: Buenafrido "George" Berris (UNA)
• Vice Mayor: Allan Jun "Dong" V. Sanchez (UNA)

Municipal Councilors:

• Chesskha J. Caumban (UNA)
• Allan Antonio V. Sanchez II (UNA)
• Bobby Ramilo (UNA)
• Dante Escarez (LP)
• Ma. Jesusa M. Larona (UNA)
• Joselito M. Manalo (UNA)
• Joseph P. Larona (UNA)
• Kraft Kingsly (LP)

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Calauan, Laguna.

• Calauan Profile at PhilAtlas.com
• Philippine Standard Geographic Code
• Philippine Census Information
• Local Governance Performance Management System