About Rosario

Santo Rosario was razed to the ground during the Philippine–American War. In the early American military occupation of Santo Rosario, a cavalry officer, Captain Daniel H. Boughton, came upon the big spring at the foot of Tombol Hill. He decided to relocate the town west of the spring, where Rosario’s population center is now.

Local historians were not unanimous as the exact date of the founding of this town. Certainly it was among those organized by the ecclesiastical authorities after the creation of Batangas as a province in 1581. It is generally believed to have come to the existence in 1687 while still located along the coast of Lobo during the term of Don Nicolas Morales as gobernadorcillo. Originally, Rosario comprised the whole parts of the municipalities of Lobo, Taysan, Ibaan, San Juan de Bolbok and the entire municipality of Padre Garcia.

Rosario, officially the Municipality of Rosario is a 1st class municipality in the province of Batangas, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 128,352 people. Rosario is considered as among the interior municipalities of the Batangas Bay Region comprising eleven municipalities and two cities whose catchment areas drain into the Batangas Bay. The town is also knows as “The Rice Granary of Batangas.

Accounts show that the origin of Rosario was a Christian settlement along the coast of Lobo. The settlement became prey to the pirate raids during the Moro wars of the 18th century.

The Moro or pirate raids forced the inhabitants of the settlement to the safety of the ravine and forest on the north-west bank of Kansahayan River (now the Municipality of Taysan). Here the settlement was relocated. However, at the height of the Moro Wars in the second half of the 18th century, the vicious Moro raids reached Kansahayan. In one of their forays the Parish Priest is said to be among those slain.

           BARANGAY’s

                  Alupay                       Maalas‑As                   Namuco                            Salao

                  Antipolo                    Mabato                       Namunga                          San Carlos

                  Bagong Pook            Mabunga                    Natu                                  San Ignacio

                  Balibago                    Macalamcam A         Nasi                                   San Isidro

                  Bayawang                 Macalamcam B          Palakpak                          San Jose

                  Baybayin                   Malaya                        Pinagsibaan                     San Roque

                  Bulihan                      Maligaya                    Barangay A  (Poblacion) Santa Cruz

                  Cahigam                   Marilag                        Barangay C (Poblacion)  Timbugan

                  Calantas                   Masaya                      Barangay D (Poblacion)    Tiquiwan

                  Colongan                 Matamis                     Barangay E (Poblacion)    Leviste (Tubahan)

                  Itlugan                     Mavalor                       Putingkahoy

                  Lumbanga              Mayuro                        Quilib                                   Tulos

The inhabitants decided to leave Kansahayan. They headed farther north holding a novena and praying the rosary in the process of their flight. On the 9th night of the novena, the fleeing inhabitants reached the river bank of Tubig ng Bayan (a river originating from Lipa) in now the town of Padre Garcia. Here they finally settled. Living in peace and prosperity, the grateful town’s people erected a stone church south of the river bank in honor of their benefactress, the Lady of the Most Holy Rosary Parish. The town was named Santo Rosario.