About Maria Aurora

Here is an article I read about Maria Aurora, Aurora. It’s interesting to know some facts on how our home town started…and take note, the article put our own balete tree as the town’s scenic spot to visit.

Here is the article…

Geography

Maria Aurora is one of the eight municipalities comprising the province of Aurora. It is the only non-coastal municipality of the province and geographically located between east longitudes 121o 16′ 30″ and 121o 32′ 00″ and north latitudes 15o 55′ 00″ and 15o 39′ 00″. It is bounded by Baler and Dipaculao on the east, San Luis on the south, the province of Nueva Ecija on the west and the Province of Nueva Viscaya on the north-west. The municipality has a total land area of 40,518 hectares based on the BSWM data covering 13.52 percent of the total land of the whole province. However, 42,619 hectares is being applied in the computation of Internal Revenue Allotment by the Department of Budget and Management.   The municipality comprises of 40 barangays, 8 of which are divided into 29 sitios. Barangay Villa Aurora has the largest land area which comprises 1,824 hectares or about 16 percent of the total land area, followed by Bayanihan with 1,116 hectares. Barangy 1 ranks least with smallest land area of 38 hectares.

Town History

San Jose, currently known as Maria Aurora, was originally inhabited by an Ilongot Tribe commonly known as “Bugkalot”. These people were characterized as barbaric, wild and head hunters. They first established their settlement in an area known as “Egabong” (meaning muddy stream) and was considered at the time as “no man’s land” since no Christian dared to enter the place for fear of being beheaded. The arrival of a certain Jose Bitong from Liliw, Laguna, who was considered as the first Christian adventurer/settler, changed the course of event when he married a young Bugkalot lady and later won the admiration and confidence of the Ilongot Tribe and Christians as well. This opened the gate for the Spanish missionaries to settle in the area and converted the settlers into Christians. In 1771, the settlement became a pueblo named San Jose de Casecnan in honor of Jose Bitong and of the Casecnan River which the Spanish believed to be near the settlement. Jose Bitong was then appointed as the “Municipal Kapitan” of the pueblo followed by Mamerto Catipon and many others. The last “Kapitan” was pantaleon Dulay who hailed from the Province of La Union. After the revolutionary period, it became a barrio of Baler – one of the only two towns (the other one is Casiguran) comprising the northern part of Tayabas then. Later on, the barrio became a municipality when the late Elpidio Quirino signed on July 21, 1949 Executive Order No. 246, creating the Municipality of Maria Aurora out of Baler. The new municipality comprised the barrios of San Jose and 14 other adjoining barrios of Baler. The name was changed to Maria Aurora in honor of Maria Aurora Aragon Quezon, a lawyer and daughter of the late President manuel Luis Quezon and Doña Aurora Aragon Quezon. Maria Aurora died with her mother in an ambush sometime in April 1949 in Salabusob, Bongabong, Nueva Ecija while on their way to Baler to inaugurate the now Aurora Provincial Hospital.

Population

33,551

Language

Tagalog & Ilocano

Major Industries

Farming

Places to Visit/Landmarks

Scenic Spots : Balete Park (the largest Balete Tree in Asia); nature parks

Name of Mayor

Hon. Ariel S. Bitong

Address

Ma. Aurora, Aurora

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