The year 1770 marked the creation of the town of Calamba. Going back a little farther, it was believed that the first group of settlers stayed in Barangay Sucol, about six kilometers from the city proper. With the coming of Spaniards, the whole land was converted into a hacienda. In 1813, Calamba was placed in the hands of “encargados” by the Dominican Brothers.
During the American regime, the haciendas were divided into portions and sold by the Dominican Brothers to the natives in an installment basis. At the time of the Japanese regime, Calamba, already a thriving community underwent a transition of various political leaders. Images below itemizes the name of leaders and their equivalent years of service.
From 1919 to 1941, three well known political leaders have ran the affairs of Calamba. Roman Lazaro served as municipal president for three terms (1919-1922, 1931-1934, 1938-1941), Felipe Belarmino served for three consecutive terms (1923-1925, 1926-1928, 1929-1931) and again in 1943, Don Eduardo A. Barretto from 1935-1937. Among the three, Roman Lazaro had the privilege of having served under four (4) different forms of government: the Civil Government ran by the Americans, the Philippine Commonwealth, the Japanese and the now Republic of the Philippines. Some of his well-remembered accomplishments were the establishment of municipal cemetery located in Barangay Lecheria, the construction of the old municipal building now converted into the City College of Calamba and the erection of the historical Banga in the town plaza.
While Roman Lazaro witnessed 4 government transitions, Taciano Rizal and Mayor Severino J. Lajara served the longest term as mayor, although the latter served uninterruptedly for 10 years. It was during Mayor Lajara’s term when Municipality of Calamba was converted into a component city in 2001.
Political Leaders of Calamba (1901 - Present)
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Mateo Elejorde
1901-1904 |
Isidro Cailles
1904-1907 |
Ramon Santos
1907-1910 |
Rafael Pabalan
1910-1917 |
Roman D. Lazaro
1919-1922 / 1931-1934
1937-1941 / 1945-1946 |
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Felipe Belarmino
1922-1931 |
Eduardo Barreto
1934-1937 |
Enrique Shinyo
1942 |
Artemio Elepaño
1943-1944 |
Exequiel Geneciran
1944-1945 |
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Severino Q. Arambulo
946-1947 / 1956-1959
1968-1971 |
Sisenando V. Rizal, Sr.
1948-1951 / 1952-1954 |
Pantaleon alihan
1954-1955 |
Taciano V. Rizal
1960-1963 / 1964 1967
1972-1975 |
Eduardo T. Yu, Jr. 1975-1980 |
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Salvador E. Delmo 1980-1986 |
Apolonio A. Elazegui 1986-1987 |
Victoriano Chipeco 1987-1988 |
Jesus Miguel Yulo 1987-1994 |
Severino J. Lajara 1994-2004 |
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Joaquin M. chipeco, Jr. 2004-2013 |
Justin Marc SB. Chipeco 2013-Present |