Taga Calamba Ka Kung Association (TCKKA)
Isang Lungsod Isang Puso
We are a worldwide association of persons indigenous to, residing, have resided or considered Calamba City, Laguna, Philippines our homecity.
An old hacienda town
Like San Pedro, Binan, and Sta Rosa, Calamba was an hacienda town. It was a part of Tabuco, the present day Cabuyao and was the source of its prosperity.
According to Rafael Palma’s book the "Pride of the Malay Race" the inhabitants of Calamba did not have a single foot of land. All of Calamba form part of an estate, which belonged to the Dominican Order.
Record showed that in early 18th century, a Don Pedro de Megrete who lived in New Spain (in Mexico) left a last will and testament. The will
provided that n case the college, which he intend to establish in Carranza shall not be founded, the funds that he left for the purpose amounting to125,000 Pesos should be turned-over to the Procurador General of the Society of Jesus in the Philippines. The Jesuits used a part of thiis money to purchase the Calamba property owned by Don Manuel de Jaurie. The Jesuits made this land an hacienda and called it Hacienda San Juan Bautista.
In 1833, after the expulsion of the Jesuits in the Philippines , the king of Spain sold the hacienda to the Dominican friars for 40,000 Pesos.
pCalamba is a home-spun clay pot and stove
stove
Legend says that Calamba got its name from two Spanish soldiers who asked two indigenous women the name of the town. The women, selling home-spun clay pots and stoves thought the soldiers were asking what their wares were, so they replied "Kalan (stove) Banga (Pot)" only the first three syllables stuck in the mind of the soldiers, "Ka-lan-ba." With the Spaniards using the "C" instead of the "K" in spelling the new word and the "n" pronounced like an "m" when it comes before a letter"b," the town was named "CALAMBA."
Hacienda estate controversies
From 1887 to 1892, the hacienda becomes a subject of controversies. Misunderstandings ensued between the administration and the tenants regarding alleged unreasonable land levies, this involved Rizal's father, Don Francisco Mercado, a tenant of the Domoinican friars. landlords of the hacienda. Dr. Jose Rizal, a nataive of Calamba, then in Madrid, advocated the cause of the Filipino farmers in his homeland and fought for their rights in the courts of Spain. Rizal amplified the issues through his propa- ganda activities and his two novels, Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo, which portrayed the social ills that perturbe the Philippines under Spanish rule. These led to the persecution of Rizal's family and friends. The Spanish government later depor- ted Rizal to Dapitan and ultimately executed in Bagumbayan.
Rizal's execution sparked the violent revolution of 1896 led by Andres Bonifacio and Emilio Aguinaldo.
The cityhood of Calamba
Calamba became independent from Tabuco (Now Cabuyao) on August 28, 1742. Two hundred ninety nine years later it became the second component city of Laguna by virtue of Republic Act No. 9024, “An Act Converting the Municipality of Calamba, Province of Laguna into a Component City to be known as the City of Calamba.” R.A. 9024 was signed into law by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo on March 5, 2001, at the Malacañan Palace. The Commission on Elections (COMELEC) then set the plebiscite for Calamba’s cityhood on April 21, 2001 where 15,056 residents participated. 3,413 or 22.67% voted “No” while the remaining 77.33% voted “Yes” to Calamba’s conversion into a component city.