Baler's very existence may be traced to the exploits of the early Spanish adventurers for whom the known world was but a stepping stone to strange lands that awaited, not simply conquest, but discovery. Clearly, those early Spaniards were seduced just as much by the romance of exploration as bv the glory of empire-building. And it was their expeditions that gave birth to places of timelessness, such as our own Baler.
In 1572, the conquistador Juan de Salcedo, exploring northwestern Luzon, crossed the
Cordillera ranges and came down Luzon's eastern coast to the edge of the Pacific Ocean. He became the first European to set foot on the virgin region that would eventually become Aurora. Salcedo apparently traveled through the lovely forested regions that would become the towns of Casiguran, Baler and Infanta.
Along the trails now charted came the bearers of the Cross, following the conquerors. The Aurora region was assigned to the Franciscans. The first Franciscan can missionary to arrive, Fray Esteban Ortiz, was recorded to have set foot in Luzon in 1578. He was know to have quickly started proselytizing in the forested areas and the coastal strip facing the Pacific Ocean.
In July 1609, Fray Blas Palomino led six other Franciscans in a tedious crossing of the Sierra Madre to reach a Christian community by the Pacific coast that would eventually be named Baler.
The village was located at the wide open end of a horseshoe bend shaped by a river running down the Caraballo mountain.
The Franciscan friars must have marveled at the physical environment in which they found themselves. On the landward side, the tiny settlement was protected by the Sierra Madre and the Caraballo mountain. On the seaward side stretched the vast Pacific, with its shores extending north and south. A tidal stream surrounded the settlement's huts, some of which were built right on the delta, while others were perched on elevated land. Four waterways bounded the settlement. Agwang, since renamed San Jose River, flowed towards the north, while the Kinalapan River flowed southwards. Duongan flowed eastward to the bay; to the west of the poblacion (town) was
Suklayin Creek.
The site of the settlement was well selected and benefited from its proximity to both mountain and sea. Among the inhabitants were farmers, fishermen, and hunters. Eventually they were joined by Christian families that were resettling from the Central Luzon province of Nueva Ecija.In 1609,a barangay (village) government was established under the guidance of Fray Valeriano so that the settlement became the first official poblacion in all of the coastal territory. Two years later, in 1611, under the leadership of Fray Francisco de San Antonio, the Franciscans built Baler's first church of nipa and wood.
The entire coastal region of Aurora was linked ecclesiastically to the southern town of Infanta in the early years of the Spanish period. Infanta would become the biggest municipality in the main district of what was then called Kalilaya, later to become the province of Quezon. As early as 1591, the Spanish authorities had organized Kalilaya district to include large parts of what now make up the provinces of Laguna and Nueva Ecija. In 1701, Nueva Ecija was separated from Kalilaya Province and given its own local government. Around 1749, the provincial capital was in turn transferred from Kalilaya to the southern town of Tayabas.The whole province then took on the name of Tayabas as well.
Ecclesiastically, the region was turned over to the Augustinians and Recollects in 1658, when the vanguard Friars Minor began to lack missionaries to serve the growing population. But the Franciscans regained the territory in 1703, setting up missions in Dipaculao in 17 19 and in Casiguran in 1753.
In December 1735, a tromba marina, which we have learned to call a tsunami, hit Baler shortly after midnight, engulfing nearly the entire community. Members of the Angara, Bijasa, Bitong, Carrasco, Lumasac, and Poblete families survived the great waves by scrambling to higher ground together with the parish priest of Casiguran, who had been visiting the town. The survivors swam their way up the hill overlooking Point Baja, now known as Ermita Hill.The neighboring villages of Casiguran, Dipaculao, and Dingalan were spared from the catastrophe.
The Baler community rebuilt its village, with some of the survivors bravely returning to the delta area, which they from then on called kinagunasan-devastated. Others resettled in a new site that eventually became the Baler poblacion.
Another tragedy struck Baler in 1798, when Balangingi pirates sailed from Ticao and Burias in Southern Luzon and raided the coastal towns of Tayabas, including Baler. Three Franciscan priests and 450 residents lost their lives.
In 1818, Nueva Ecija annexed the towns of Palanan from the province of Isabela, as well as Baler, Casiguran, Infanta, and Polillo Island fromTayabas. Between 1855 and 18B5,Aurora, then named Pook El Principe, was declared a comandancia politico- militar, with its capital at Baler.
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