The Pila - Jala-jala Story
There are two secondary sources confirming Jala-jala, Rizal was part of Pila, Laguna namely:
Foreman, John. The Philippine Islands. London: S. Low, Marston & co., ltd. 1899.
Dery, Luis Camara. A History of the Inarticulate: Local History, Prostitution and Other Views from the Bottom. Quezon City: New Day Publishers. 2001.
We are still searching for the Pila – Jala-jala primary documents specifically the Pila lawsuits or Jala-jala claims during the 17th and 18th century.
On page 359 to 361 of the The Philippine Islands, Foreman wrote the following story:
LOS BAÑOS (the baths) owes its origin to the hot springs flowing from the volcanic Maquiling Mountain, which have been known to the natives from time immemorial when the place was called Maynit, which signifies “hot.”
At the close of the 16th century these mineral waters attracted the attention of martyr Saint Pedro Bautista, who sent a brother in his Order to establish a hospital for the natives. The brother went there, but shortly returned to Manila and died. So the matter remained in abeyance for years. Subsequently a certain Fray Diego de Santa Maria, an expert in medicine and healing art, was sent there to test the waters. He found they contained properties highly beneficial in curing rheumatism and certain other maladies, so thenceforth many natives and Spaniards went there to seek bodily relief. But there was no convenient abode for the visitors; no arrangements for taking the baths, and the Government did nothing. A Franciscan friar was appointed chaplain to the sick visitors, but his very incommodious residence was inadequate for the lodging of patients, and, for want of funds, the priest abandoned the project of establishing a hospital, and returned to Manila. In 1604, the Governor General, Pedro Bravo de Acuña, gave his attention to this place, and consented to the establishment of a hospital, church, and convent. The hospital was constructed of bamboo and other light material, and dedicated to Our Lady of Holy Waters.
Fray Diego de Santa Maria was appointed to the vicarage and the charge of the hospital. The whole was supported by gifts from the many sick persons who went there, but the greatest difficulty was to procure food. Several natives made donations of lands, with the produce of which the hospital was to be maintained. These gifts, however, proved insufficient. The priests then solicited permission from the villagers of Pila (on the lake shore near Santa Cruz) to pasture cattle on the tongue of land on the opposite coast called Jalajala, which belonged to them. With their consent a cattle-ranche was established there; subsequently, a building was erected, and the place was in time known as the Estancia de Jalajala. Then the permission was asked for and obtained from the Pila natives to plant cocoanut palms, fruit-trees, and vegetables. Later on the Austin and Franciscan friars quarreled about the right of dominion over the place and district called Maynit, but eventually the former gave way and ceded their rights in perpetuity to the Franciscans.
In 1640 Los Baños (formerly a dependency of Bay, under the Austin friars) was constituted a “town.” The Franciscans continued to beg one concession after another, until at length, in 1671, stone buildings were commenced – a church, convent, hospital, bathing-pond, vapour-house, etc., being contructed. Natives and Europeans flocked in numbers to these baths, and it is said that people even came from India to be cured. The property lent and belonging to the establishment, the accumulated funds, and the live-stock had all increased so much in value that the Government appointed an administrator. Thenceforth the place declined; its popularity vanished; the administrator managed matters so particularly for his own benefit that food again become scarce, and the priest was paid only 10 pesos per month as salary. In Jalajala a large house was built; the land was put under regular cultivation; tenants were admitted; but when the property was declared a royal demesne the Pila inhabitants protested, and nominally regained possession of the lent property. But the administrator re-opened and contested the question in the law-courts, and, pending these proceedings, Jalajala was rented from the Government. During the long process of legal entanglements the property had several times been transferred to one and another until the last holder regarded it as his private estate.
At the beginning of last century Jalajala came into the possession of M. Paul de la Gironniere, from whom it passed to another Frenchman, at whose death a third Frenchman, M. Jules Daillard, became owner. On his decease it became the property of an English Bank, from whom it was purchased by the Franciscan friars, in 1897, for the sum of P.50,000, and re-sold by them to a Belgian firm in 1900.
Luis Camara Dery wrote a similar story on page 52 to 53 of his book:
The Franciscan administrators of the hospital did not just rely on external help. They endeavored to supplement their meager resources by cultivating the land, devoting it to agricultural crops and raising of livestock. Thus, the native families residing in sitio Danpalit learned additional skills which enabled them to meet the various colonial requirements. Sometime in 1670, the Franciscan administrator negotiated with the town of Pila, Laguna for some of its vacant lands to server as pasture lands for the excess herds of cattle that the hospital had in sitio Danpalit. The Pila townfolks gave sitio Jalajala, on of their vacant lands. The hospital was allowed to use it as its pastureland but ownership remained with the townfolks of Pila. On 1 September 1673, the Franciscan father provincial petitioned the governor-general to allow his order to build a church and convent at sitio Jalajala for a member of their Order who would be assigned as the religious minister of the said sitio. By this time, sitio Jalajala had become a major transit point for those coming to and from the hospital in sitio Los Baños. It had also become a residence of many bagamundos (“persons without fixed residences”) and converted inhabitants. The petition, according to the Franciscan father provincial, was thus influenced by the need to serve their religious requirements a newly-converted Christians. Moreover, the inhabitants of Pila volunteered to build said church and convent if they would be exempted from the polos y servicios personales by the colonial government for a period of one and one-half years. The governor-general approved all these petitions.
The church and convent at sitio Jalajala was inaugurated on 1 October 1678 and San Pascual Baylon was chosen as the sitio’s patron saint. Fray Lucas Sarro, definidor of the Franciscan Order, celebrated the first mass at sitio Jalajala. The sitio was also made a Visita of the town of Pila. Thus, the early beginnings of Jalajala was also influenced by the hot springs of sitio Los Baños.
