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CHAPTER 1
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CHAPTER 2
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CHAPTER 3
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CHAPTER 4
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CHAPTER 5
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CHAPTER 6
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CHAPTER 7
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      The first local elections under the newly born Republic of the Philippines were held throughout the Philippines on November 8, 1947. In Pagsanjan the two rival political parties -- Liberal Party and Nacionalista Party -- presented their official candidates for local positions. The LP candidates were Atty. Alberto Crisostomo for municipal mayor, Dr. Casimiro Garcia, vice-mayor; while the NP candidates were Don Manuel Soriano for mayor and Dr. Quintin Cabrera, vice-mayor. The independent-minded citizens, who were disenchanted with both political parties, drafted their own candidates, namely, Mr. Rosalio Abary, a peasant leader, for municipal mayor, and Dr. Gregorio F. Zaide, historian and university professor, for councilor.
      The majority of the candidates elected in Pagsanjan on November 8, 1947 were Nacionalistas. They were Don Manuel Soriano (municipal mayor), Dr. Quintin Cabrera (vice-mayor), and four NP councilors -- Dr. Mariano Z. Macalalag, Mr. Restituto Caballes, Mr. Gerardo Abanilla, and Mr. Zosimo Maceda. The Liberals won only three seats in the Municipal Council -- Dr. Felix G. Yan, Mr. Vicente Llamas, Jr., and Mr. Ricardo Fabella. They obtained the last three places of the eight seats in the Municipal Council. Dr. Gegorio F. Zaide, the only independent candidate to win was elected No. 1 councilor, having garnered the greatest number of votes cast for the councilors.
      In the subsequent times certain changes were made in the Municipal Council due to the resignation or death of some members. In February 1948 Mr. Gerardo Abanilla resigned to accept a teaching job at the University of the East in Manila, and was succeeded by Mr. Guillermo Limlengco. Councilor Vicente Llamas died in January 1950, and was replaced by his widow, Mrs. Cristeta Pacheco Llamas. In July of the same year Mrs. Llamas resigned because she transferred her permanent residence to Quezon City, and was succeeded by Mr. Ramon Lava.

Huk Reign of Terror in Pagsanjan

      During the administration of President Manuel A. Roxas (1946-1948) the communist Hukbalahap (Hukbo ng Bayan Laban sa Hapon), or People's Army Against Japan, loomed as a threat to our Republic. This peasant organization was founded by the Communist Party of the Philippines on March 27, 1942 in the forested area of Sitio Buwit, Barrio San Lorenzo, Cabiao, Province of Nueva Ecija. It was headed by Supremo Luis Taruc of Pampanga.
      Despite the "mailed fist" policy of President Roxas and the vigorous anti-Huk campaign of the armed forces, the Hukbalahap movement proliferated in the provinces of Central Luzon and the Southern Tagalog region. On August 26, 1950, the 54th anniversary of the "Cry of Balintawak," a formidable Huk force, reinforced by Huk fighters from the barrios of Pagsanjan, Santa Cruz, and Pila, attacked Santa Cruz (provincial capital). They routed the PC soldiers and burned the garrison. For several hours, they were in control of the town. After looting the provincial capitol and the homes of the rich families, they left the town because of the coming of the PC reinforcements.
      President Elpidio Quirino, successor of President Roxas, failed also to suppress the Huk Movement. At the height of the Hukbalahap power from 1948-1953, the Huks, who were then supported by the barrio folks, established an invisible government in various towns in Laguna and Quezon Provinces, as well as in Central Luzon. Pagsanjan then agonized under the Huk reign of terror. The town people, including the municipal officials, were compelled to pay taxes to the underground Huk government. Such taxes were in form of cash, rice, and medicines. Accordingly, the town people who also paid taxes to the government of the Republic were doubly taxed. They had no other choice, but to pay to the Huk tax collectors. If they did not pay, the Huks would kidnap or kill them. The government armed forces could not protect them from the Huks.
      A prominent physician Dr. Zosimo Fernandez, defied the Huks and refused to pay anything to them. One day in the middle of 1953, the angry Huks kidnapped his wife and daughter. He was forced to pay a ransom of P40,000 for their release.
      The Huk terror ended in Pagsanjan shortly after the election of Ramon Magsaysay as President of the Philippines in November 1953. With his famous policy of "bullets and reforms," he succeeded in crushing the Hukbalahap Movement, thereby saving democracy in the Philippines. At long last, the dove of peace hovered again over Pagsanjan's skies.