Santa Maria, Laguna
History
From Mabitac was a mountain path pointed northward leading to a village called Cabuoan. On this path near the village gateway gathers people and Chinese merchants selling and buying wares, livestock and other farm produce. Aetas sell their herbs, medicinal rootstocks, and wild honey. Women from Mabitac trade chickens with clay pots, pandan mats, and sabutan hats. It was a market place.
Cabuoan came from the Tagalog word “Kabuhuan,” which means bamboo thicket. “Buho,” is a genus of bamboo, which grows abundantly in the village. Cabuoan is a miracle of nature. Rare orchids and wild flowers decorated its forests. Its falls called “Ambon-ambon” located in one corner of the village looks like a stair of giant rocks going up to heaven. Its Nilubugan River was rich in exquisite white rocks and stones and its crystal-clear water seems to drift to nowhere.
This village used to be a part of the province of Morong. Padre Antonio de la Llave was the first parish priest of Cabuoan. Residents believe that he was the one responsible for making the village a town and in renaming it into San Miguel de Cabuoan in 1602.
A legend tells the story of how San Miguel de Cabuoan became Santa Maria. The story says that a couple going home from the market place after trading their vegetable harvest with their basic needs, found lying on the ground an image of the blessed virgin. At first, they thought it was a porcelain piece dropped by a Chinese merchant. Porcelain was a very expensive commodity during the period as it is today. After careful examination, they recognized the image as that of the Virgin Mary. The couple made an altar in their house and enthroned the image there.
The next morning the couple was astonished. The image was gone. They looked for the image all over, until they decided to look at the place where they found it. They saw a group of women, poking with a long stick something on the ground that looked like a piece of ivory. It was the image of the Virgin. It was back at the very spot where they found it.
In 1613, Padre Geronimo Vasquez built the first church on the spot where the couple found the image of the Virgin. Thus, San Miguel de Cabuoan became Santa Maria De Los Angeles, in short— Sta. Maria.
The Chinese uprising in 1639 destroyed the church. Parishioners rebuilt it in 1669, before the earthquake of 1880 leveled it again to the ground. Padre Leopoldo Arellano raised it once more in 1891.
Municipal Government Officials:
Mayor: Josie Almario Cuento
Vice-Mayor: Mario Tolentino Palicpic
Councilors:
Mark Allan Sazon Real
Corazon Andaya Flores
John Jenbert Roxas De Mesa
Vicente Curioso De Leon
Crisologo Oliveros Montales
Felizardo Arida Villapando
Benito Bruel Razon
Marcelino Cabildo Robles
Santa Maria is politically subdivided into 25 barangays.
Adia
Bagong Pook (Pob.)
Bagumbayan
Bubukal
Cabooan
Calangay
Cambuja
Coralan
Cueva
Inayapan
Jose Laurel, Sr.
Kayhakat (Pob.)
Macasipac
Masinao
Mataling-Ting
Paoo
Parang Ng Buho
Barangay I (Pob.)
Barangay II (Pob.)
Barangay III (Pob.)
Barangay IV (Pob.)
Jose Rizal (Pob.)
Santiago
Talangka
Tungkod
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