Paombong Bulacan Philippines

Paombong Bulacan

The name of Paombong sounds provincial and has often times been the butt of jokes of fun-joking strangers. There had been many stories as to the origin of the word Paombong. It is said that the name could have been derived from the word “ bumbon”, one of the ancient methods of freshwater fishing. “ Bumbon” resembles today’s flourishing fish pens, however, it requires no permanent nets. Instead only bamboo branches (siit) and Nipa stems known locally as “ pinaglalasan” are used as fence for the circular shaped “ bumbon”.

Another creative version concerns about the antiquated tuba container known as Bumbong. Bumbong is a long bamboo tube used for collecting Nipa sap. The fresh Nipa sap known as tuba is drank as a beverage like wine or made into vinegar when stored and fermented in earthen jars. The practice of extracting Nipa sap with bumbongs made the town known as the town with many bumbongs. The local people claimed that the Spaniards who first visited the place were so amused by the predominance of the vessels so that after learning the name from the natives, they named the town after the container.

Strangers may fall into trap of mispronouncing the towns name as Pa-om-bong. For the sake of brevity, the natives pronounce it Paombong with a silent “ a”.

The town’s low elevation and coastal nature makes the daytime warm and cool at nighttime. It is characterized by marshy land lined with a network of rivers and creeks, covered with tall grass, mangroves and Nipa palms. During the pre-Hispanic period, the places was a world of dense forest and uncharted wilderness with eternal rows of mangroves and other tropical shrubs and swamp trees. Its early inhabitants deeply immersed in their pagan modes and customs live along the shores and near the river embankments, sub-existing solely on fish and other aquatic resources.

But during the Spanish era, Paombong and Malolos were sister towns, with Paombong as the younger sister. As the Spanish conquistadors expand their pacification drive in Luzon in the 16th century, they moved from one place to another, and reached a large tract of land in 1578. The newly discovered pueblo was named Malolos. However, the Spanish friars also attended to the spiritual needs of the people living west of Malolos, which is later to be called Paombong. This relationship continued until the early 14th century where the natives manifested their desire to be liberated from the parochial leadership of Malolos. The Spaniards established Paombong as a pueblo in 1619. It was the seventh town in Bulacan founded by the Augustinian orders; the earliest is the town of Calumpit. From 1619 to 1650, a Spanish friar just like any other Augustinian controlled places ruled Paombong. After a lapse of time, civilian rulers took over. However, they were dictated and under the mercy of the prailles.

In the middle of the 17th century, Paombong grew into a modest community from what was once a cogon land inhabited by a handful of Tagalog. Paombong was created a municipal organization on November 28,1650 with Agustin Mananghaya as its first civilian ruler.

During the Philippine Revolution, Paombong has its own share of “ rebolusyonarios”. Among them were Adriano Gatmaitan, Agapito Bautista, Ambrocio Magtira, Tomas Cabigao, Cayetano Dayao and Balbino Dela Cruz. Reportedly, they served under Gen. Gregorio Del Pilar.

After the exit of Spaniards, the natives found themselves serving a new master popularly called “ Kano” (short for Amerikano). The first Filipino-American hostility is a Filipino soldier whose name is J. Galut, was crossing San Juan Bridge was shot by an American sentry named Pvt. Grayson on February 4, 1899. Binakod and Masukol were known encounter sites between Spanish soldiers and Katipuneros. Gen. Gregorio del Pilar also led an attack on the Spaniards in the Paombong Church Convent and its adjoining building on September 7, 1897.

During the American colonial period, before the outbreak of the Second World War, civilians ruled Paombong who rose to the premiere post called “President”. President Don Victorino de Leon headed Paombong from 1897 to 1900. All the municipal presidents were born and raised in Paombong except for De Leon. From 1897 to 1907, the seat of the local government was at the ground floor called silong of the Paombong Church Convent. This is where de Leon, Cabasal and Cajanding held office. During the term of President Delgado the seat of the local civil government was transferred to the house of Numeriano Lindayag located in the town proper called Poblacion. During the term of Valencia, the seat of civil government called Municipio was transferred to a new site in Poblacion. When President Valencia took the post from Dayao, he transferred the “ municipio” to the present site of RHU I. The municipio was initially a mere “bahay-kubo” until Valencia and Suerte Felife converted it into a semi-concrete structure. The succeeding presidents remodeled it into a durable structure.

From 1941 a municipal mayor, briefly interrupted in 1986 to 1988 when heads of local civil governments were called Officer in Charge (OIC), heads the present local civil government.

Today, there are few Nipa palms to make vinegar and most of the mangroves and Nipa palms were converted to rice fields and fishponds over the past decades. Pollution and deterioration of the environment has become a major issue confronting the municipality of Paombong. The current mayor, Donato D. Marcos a development of Paombong without further damaging its natural environment and its resources. Mayor Marcos does not want pollutive industries within the municipality that may further damage the environment.