Nasunog de Majayjay
was elevated to a parish (visita) in 1832, and was named Visita
de Luisiana. Finally, on April 3, 1854, 29 years later, Visita
de Luisiana was granted ecclesiastical independence by the Governor-General
(The Marques de Novaliches) with the corresponding approval
from the Archbishop of Manila, having Don Marcos Bartolome as
its first interim parish priest. Thus, the town of Luisiana
was born, taking the name which for a long time was already
adopted in honor of the "father of the town," Don
Luis Bernardo and his wife, Doña Ana (Luis y Ana).
Prior Years
During the 1600’s, there was a vast land area in Laguna,
known as Terreno de Nasunog or Lupain ng Nasunog in Tagalog.
In 1678, when the mayor of Laguna was Don Antonio Nieto, Terreno
de Nasunog was divided into three parts: Nasunog de Lucban,
Nasunog de Cavinti, and Nasunog de Majayjay.
The town of Luisiana was formerly a barrio of Majayjay called
"Nasunog de Majayjay". It had been part of Majayjay
for sometime. But because it took from two to four hours to
travel to Majayjay, the people of Nasunog de Majayjay led by
Don Luis Bernardo petitioned that the place should become a
separate town with it's own church, municipality and market.
In 1827, Don Luis Bernardo and his wife Dona Ana Bernardo together
with his brothers Jose and Salvador Bernardo officially requested
the authorities in Manila to declare Nasunog de Majayjay as
an independent town.
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The request was disapproved because
of strong opposition from the parish priests of Majayjay, Cavinti
and Lucban. The people of Nasunog de Majayjay did not give up.
On July 13,1837, another delegation headed by Don Melencio Alcantara
and his in-laws Don Luis and Alejo Concepcion, filed another
official request to the authorities in Manila.
Authorities from Manila instructed the Mayor of Laguna, Don
Prudencio de Santos, to visit Nasunog de Majayjay and also it's
neighboring barrios (Sto. Tomas, Callaat, San Luis, Sta. Barbara,
San Diego, Pananim and Malaguin) to determine if there were
enough tax paying families to constitute a town. The visit was
unsuccessful because there were only 410 tributos (tributes,
tax paying persons) in Nasunog de Majayjay while the basic requirements
were 500 tributos .
The leaders of Nasunog de Majayjay encouraged the settlers
from Nasunog de Lucban with 255 tributos and Nasunog de Cavinti
with 43 tributos to join forces to complete the basic requirement
of the Spanish government. It resulted with the award of a parish
(visita) which was a step towards the declaration as an independent
town.
On October 9, 1837, Governor General Andres Garcia Camba of
the Spanish government issued a decree declaring Nasunog de
Majayjay as a Visita (parish). A parish was entitled to an administrator
with the title of Tenyente Absoluto. The first elected Tenyente
Absoluto was Don Luis Bernardo.
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A church was built in the piece
of land donated by Don Juan de San Jose, followed by the construction
of a school house and an administration office. For the parish
to become a town, it has to comply with Article 83 of an Ordinance
for Good Governance. It required a town plaza and well laid
road network. Compliance with these requirements encouraged
many people to migrate to the town center.
Independence came in April 3, 1854 when both the Governor General
of the Spanish Administration and the Archbishop of Manila issued
an official Decree No. 1827 declaring that Luisiana is absolutely
free of its civil and spiritual obligation from Majayjay.
Luisiana occupies 6,379 hectares comprising fifteen barrios:
De la Paz, San Diego, San Domingo, San Pablo, San Roque, San
Antonio, San Isidro, San Juan, San Pedro, San Salvador, San
Buenaventura, San Jose, San Luis, San Rafael, and Santo Tomas.
In 1903, the towns of Cavinti and Luisiana were combined into
one municipality. Pedro Villanueva of Cavinti was elected mayor
and it was during his term that the Aglipay Church was founded
in April, 1904. However, on November 12, 1907 under the leadership
of Don Blas Oracion and through representations made at the
Civil Commission, the independence of Cavinti and Luisiana from
each town were restored.
A more detailed history in tagalog.
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