BALIK-TANAW:

AN INTRODUCTION
TO THE HISTORY OF
THE CITY OF
MUNTINLUPA
MICHAEL ANJIELO R TABUYAN
Teacher, Humanities and Social Sciences Strand
Senior High School Department
San Beda College Alabang
 SCOPE OF DISCUSSION

• Etymology of Muntinlupa
• Muntinlupa City during the Spanish Colonial Period (1565-1898)
• Muntinlupa City during the American Colonial Period (1898-1946)
• Muntinlupa City during the Japanese Occupation (1942-1945)
• Muntinlupa City during the Post-War Period (1945-1986)
• Muntinlupa City during the Contemporary Period (1986-present)
 WHY MUNTINLUPA?
(MUNTINLUPA CITY WEBSITE 2017; CAMAGAY 2004)

• From “Tierra Pequeña,”

literally “Munting Lupa”
• Card game (“Monte sa
Lupa”)
• Referring to the
mountainous terrain
(Sp. Monte =
“mountain”)
 MUNTINLUPA CITY IN THE SPANISH ERA
(MUNTINLUPA CITY WEBSITE 2017; CAMAGAY 2004)
• Cited on friar accounts in the 1800s (Joaquin de Zuñiga,
Manuel Buzeta and Felipe Bravo)
• A certain Antonio Quijano Bustamante bought the land
comprising the present area of Muntinlupa in 1699 and
assigned the Augustinian community in Guadalupe to
administer it
• Under the Province of Tondo and part of the curate of
Taguig (under the Augustinians) until the 1860s upon the
establishment of the Our Lady of the Abandoned Parish
• Divided into five barrios (Sucat, Cupang, Alabang,
Muntinlupa, Tunasancillo)
 MUNTINLUPA CITY IN THE SPANISH ERA
(MUNTINLUPA CITY WEBSITE 2017; CAMAGAY 2004)

• Agriculture as main source of living

• Friar Estate named “Tunasancillo”
owned by the Recollects
• Joined the 1896 Philippine Revolution
led by Don Tomas Montillano, the
town’s gobernadorcillo (mayor)
• Cited by Katipunan general Mariano
Alvarez in his memoirs as one of those
who helped the Revolutionary efforts
 MUNTINLUPA DURING THE AMERICAN PERIOD
(CAMAGAY 2004)
• Shifting of jurisdiction:
• 1901: Part of the Province of Rizal (then
called Morong) under Act 137
• 1903: Became part of Biñan, Laguna under
Act 1008
• 1905: Part of Taguig, Rizal under Act 1308
• Incorporated as a municipality on December
19, 1917 under Executive Order 108 of
Governor-General Francis Burton Harrison
• Vidal Joaquin was appointed as the first
Municipal Mayor; Melecio Espeleta was the
first elected Mayor in 1919
MUNTINLUPA DURING THE AMERICAN PERIOD
(CAMAGAY 2004)

Agriculture as source of living among Muntinlupeños

 MUNTINLUPA DURING THE AMERICAN PERIOD
(CAMAGAY 2004)

• Became a location of some major private

and public facilities/enterprises:
• Alabang Stock Farm, Bureau of Agriculture
(1906)
• Serum Vaccine Laboratory, Biological
Production Service (1921)
• Madrigal Estate (1927)
• New Bilibid Prison (1941)
 MUNTINLUPA DURING THE AMERICAN PERIOD:
THE MADRIGAL ESTATE/PASONG DIABLO
(CAMAGAY 2004)

Don Vicente Madrigal

MUNTINLUPA DURING THE AMERICAN PERIOD:
THE SERUM VACCINE LABORATORY
(CAMAGAY 2004)

Old Biological Production Service Building, Muntinlupa City

(now part of the Festival Mall Extension)
 MUNTINLUPA DURING THE AMERICAN PERIOD:
THE NEW BILIBID PRISONS
(CAMAGAY 2004)

LCOL Paulino Santos PC

Director of Prisons 1930-1937

MAJ Eriberto Misa PC

Director of Prisons 1939-1949
MUNTINLUPA DURING THE AMERICAN PERIOD:
THE NEW BILIBID PRISONS
(CAMAGAY 2004)

The Director’s Quarters The Jamboree Lake

 MUNTINLUPA CITY IN WORLD WAR II
(CAMAGAY 2004; AGONCILLO 1962)

• Led by Mayor Pedro E. Diaz

• New Bilibid Prisons used as a concentration
camp for prisoners of war
• Hunters ROTC led by Eleuterio “Terry
Magtanggol” Adevoso and Markings’
Guerillas led by Marcos “Marking” Agustin as
guerilla units
• Bilibid Raid of 1944 – a raid conducted by
guerillas to liberate their comrades
 WAR MEMORIALS IN MUNTINLUPA

The Japanese Cemetery

The Memorial Hill
 MUNTINLUPA IN THE POST-WAR AND CONTEMPORARY PERIOD
(CAMAGAY 2004)
• Construction of the South Superhighway
(now the South Luzon Expressway) brought
the City to industrialization and
commercialization
• 1975: PD 824 of President Ferdinand Marcos
transferred Muntinlupa and majority of the
towns under the 1st District of Rizal under
Metropolitan Manila
• March 1, 1995: RA 7926 signed by President
Fidel Ramos elevated Muntinlupa to the
status of highly-urbanized city