Victoria- The President's Lady

Victoria is one of the youngest towns in Laguna. It is a quiet and sleepy community by the lake, once known as Barangay Nanhaya of Pila. Nanhaya’s remote location from the central town of Pila, prompted its religious citizens to put up their own parish. Religious leaders petitioned the diocese for their cause and on May 1944, in the height of the American campaign to recover the Philippines from the Japanese invaders, Monsignor Alfredo Vermosa, D.D. granted their wish.

The separation of the new parish of Nanhaya from the Parish of San Antonio de Padua of Pila, which the Spanish Franciscan missionaries established in 1578, gave Nanhaya residents an idea. Having achieved the possibility of having its own parish, raised the possibility of becoming an independent town. Inspired town leaders made an appeal to higher authorities to detach Nanhaya from Pila and proposed to call it Esperanza, after the name of then President Sergio Osmeña’s wife. The movement however failed.

When the Americans granted independence to the Philippines in 1946, prominent citizens and civic leaders of Nanhaya found new hope. They revived the move to separate from Pila. This time citizens proposed to name the town Trinidad, after the young republic’s First Lady, the wife of then President Manuel Roxas. Strong opposition shelved the proposal once more.

After Roxas death, President Elpidio Quirino took over the presidency. Nanhaya’s residents remained undaunted. They tried once more, intensifying the campaign. Most prominent citizens of the town, Judge Jose Fernandez, Alejandro Fernandez, Andres Franco, Dr. Agrifino Oca, Gregorio Herradura, and Leonardo Rebong stood for the proposal.

On November 15, 1949, Executive Order No. 282 proclaimed Nanhaya a town. Nanhaya became Victoria, named after the daughter of President Elpidio Quirino. (President Elpidio Quirino was a widower. The Japanese massacred the Quirino family during the war. His wife Alicia, son Armando and daughters Norma and Fe were killed. Only President Quirino, his son Tomas and daughter Victoria survived.)

Nine Barrios (Americans changed the designation from Barangay) joined the new Municipality of Victoria: Banca-banca, Daniw, Masapang, Nanhaya (Poblacion), San Benito, Dan Felix, San Francisco, San Roque and Pagalangan.

Paradoxically, Pagalangan, which was once Pila after it moved from Pinagbayanan, before finally settling in Santa Clara became one of the barrios− the town, which Victoria was once a part, turned out to become a part of it.