The primal composition in the southeastern region of Bombon Lake were elements of the dispersed colonial families founded by two datus, namely, Dumangsil and Balkasusa in
Taal, Batangas, between the 10th and 13th century. These pioneer settlers under the leadership of the fleeing Datu Puti, formerly purchased the lowlands from King Marikudo of Panay. It is however subject to conjecture whether the pre-historic
Negritos 12,000 to 15,000 years age or the much later waves of Austronesian seafarers from 5,000 to 300 B.C. were able to settle along the coasts of Batangas into the inner lake region of
Taal which was accessible to navigation through the Pansipit River, thus, the possibility of miscegenetic marriages and cross culture among the
aboriginal inhabitants, the old settlers and the later Dumangsil and Balkasusa clans, or whether violent wars have been waged between the old inhabitants and new colonizers is uncertain as well. Out of this Bornean tribe of the Dumangsil and Balkasusa clans came the ancestry of Lipa and as later on, their descendants who spread out towards
Laguna de Bay and
Bicol Peninsula. The remains excavated from their ancient settlements in Butong,
Taal,
Calatagan and
Balayan attest to the fact of their presence in the said site at least in the latter part of the 13th century down to the coming of Goiti and
Legaspi in Batangas in 1570. The flourishing trade relations between these early Batangueños with a number of
Chinese merchants prior to the
Spanish conquest explained the presence of hundreds of
Chinese wares from potteries to stonewares and vases of
Song dynasty period to the latter part of the 16th century, in the burial grounds at
Calatagan sites of Pulung Bakaw, Kay Tomas, Pinagpatayan I and II at Butong, all in Taal, Batangas. By origin the early Lipeños were
Buddhist in religion and
Indian in civilization. With its not infrequent contact with the Chinese traders, the Batangueños have absorbed and been influenced too by China. With the
Spanish colonization of the Philippines and the Salcedo conquest of
Batangas in 1572, the Lipeños were forced to embrace
Western civilization.
Spanish rule At the coming of the
Spaniards to
Batangas in 1570, the
Malay settlements along the southern shores of
Taal Lake at Tagbakin was inhabited by the warlike descendants of the two datus called the Tagalogs. In 1605, after Marshall Gabriel de Rivera received the encomienda of Bombon, the Augustinian Fathers made Tagbakin the first settlement of the Lipeños and a mission center with the name of San Sebastian, perhaps after the installed Patron Saint, which continued to the present. The settlement was made a regular municipality in 1702 and a regular parish in 1716 with Fray Diego de Alday as the first curate. With the eruption of
Taal Volcano in 1724, the people moved to what is now "Lumang Lipa" (part of present-day
Mataasnakahoy) and, again, in 1754, they moved to
Balete where they settled for two years until 1756 when they moved inland to the present site obviously for more security from volcanic eruptions. When Don Galo de los Reyes was the governadorcillo of Lipa, he introduced the cultivation of
coffee. The seeds of the
Arabica species were said to be of two chupas brought in from
Mexico by an Augustinian missionary. The coffee industry so flourished and made Lipa the richest municipality in the country with an annual income of that on October 21, 1887, the
Queen regent Maria Christina, acting for the young
King Alfonso XIII, signed a decree elevating Lipa to a city known as "Villa de Lipa", and later authorized to use a
coat of arms by the Royal
Overseas Minister Don
Víctor Balaguer. At the celebration of the elevation of Lipa to a city in January 1888,
José Rizal was invited by Dr. Jose Lozada, Catalino Dimayuga and the brothers Celestino and Simeon Luz but Rizal responded only with his Hymno Al Trabajo which he dedicated to the zeal and industry of the Lipeños. The raising of
cacao was introduced in Lipa by an Augustinian priest, Father Ignacio de Mercado, and that was the beginning of its
cultivation throughout the Philippines. The Lipeños also engaged themselves in livestock raising and varied home crafts for men, and small industries, like weaving, embroidery and sewing for women. After
World War II, citrus production prevailed until 1970 and, after its decline, about 1965, poultry and swine raising began to take roots and to thrive in no small degree until the present. The first newspaper in Batangas, published in
Spanish, was the
Lumubog-Lumutang, printed in Lipa in 1889, and established by the well-known writers Cipriano Kalaw, Gregorio Katigbak, Benito Reyes, Hugo Latorre and Pedro Laygo. Other pioneer Spanish writers were Bernardo Solis, Catalino Dimayuga, and Manuel Luz. During the revolution, Gregorio Aguilera Solis edited a newspaper
Columnas Voluntas de la Federacion Malaya. This paper became the media for notable poems and literary works of Albino Dimayuga, Baldomero Roxas, Luis Lina Kison, Bernardo Solis, Benedicto Solis, Emiliano Manguiat and Petronio Katigbak. Roman Dimayuga wrote plays, while Pedro Laygo published articles on domestic and international politics, and Tomas Umali on
military affairs. Hispanistas during the
American regime included national figures like Teodoro Kalaw, Fidel Reyes, Arsenio Luz, Maximo Bernardo Solis, Enrique Laygo, and
Claro M. Recto. Lipeños also served in the
Revolutionary Republic. These were Gregorio Aguilera who was a delegate to the
Malolos Congress; Ceferino Pantoja, also a member of that congress; Jose Lozada, as envoy to
Washington, D.C., and
Paris, and Cipriano Kalaw, the first vice-president and Treasurer of the Central Committee of
Hong Kong. In the field of education, Father Valerio Malabanan was foremost among Lipeños who established schools. Others were Sebastian Virrey, Jacinto Silva, Candido Lantin and Gregorio Katigbak. In 1894, Brigido Morada established his own school at his house in Mataas na Lupa. Under Father Valerio Malabanan were such well-known figures as
Apolinario Mabini, General
Miguel Malvar and Sotero Laurel. Sebastian Virrey countered with such former students as the brothers Alfonso and
Claro M. Recto; Fidel and Carmelo Reyes; Teodoro and Maximo Kalaw; Pacifico, Jose and Enrique Laygo; and Manuel Luz Roxas, Jose D. Dimayuga, Bernabe Africa, Pablo Borbon, Potenciano Malvar, Leoncio Aranda and Bishop Alfredo Obviar. The later school, perhaps marked for permanence by the enthusiastic patronage of its high standard maintained through the years since its founding in 1922 until the present, is the Mabini Academy established by Dr. Jose Ma. Katigbak, Randall A. Rowley, Tarcila Malabanan-Katigbak and Emilia Malabanan. The fact that Lipeños, even up to the present, are very religious, may be attributed to the fact that Fr. Benito Baras, who was Parish Priest of Lipa for almost three decades (1865–1894), has considered Villa de Lipa as his very own and had shown great paternal love for the Lipeños that he constructed the Parish Church (now Cathedral of the
Archdiocese of Lipa) and a new and bigger cemetery with a chapel. A plaque of dedication to the opening and blessing of the new Campo Santo De Lipa (Cemetery of Lipa) can still be seen at the archway of the entrance, an attestment of Fr. Benito Baras' dedication to the people of Villa de Lipa. Moreover, without aid from the State, he constructed the bridge at Sabang and the road that served as a national highway to Manila and
Laguna.
American occupation The Parish of Lipa, established in 1716, became a diocesan center in 1910, included the provinces of Batangas, Laguna, Tayabas (
Quezon),
Marinduque and
Mindoro, with Msgr. Jose Petrelli as the first bishop. Barrios Luta, Bilukaw, Kalikangan (Caligañgan), Payapa, and San Gallo (San Galo) were excised from Lipa to form the new independent municipality of
Malvar by virtue of an Executive Order issued by acting
Governor-General Charles Yeater on December 16, 1918, with the municipality's inauguration taking effect on January 10, 1919.
Mataasnakahoy, which includes Lumang Lipa, likewise became a separate municipality through Executive Order No. 308 signed by acting
Governor-General of the Philippines George C. Butte on March 27, 1931, taking effect on January 1, 1932.
Cityhood On August 31, 1947, Lipa was inaugurated as a chartered City created under Republic Act No. 162 approved on June 20, 1947. On June 21, 1969, barrios Alangilan, Balete, Calawit, Looc, Magapi, Makina, Malabanan, Palsara, Sampalukan, and Solis, along with sitios Paligawan, Sala, and Wani-Wani, were excised from Lipa to form part of the new independent municipality of
Balete, by virtue of Republic Act No. 5659. ==Geography==