What is Batangas?

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Batangas is a province of the Philippines located on the southwestern part of Luzon in the CALABARZON region. Its capital is Batangas City and it is bordered by the provinces of Cavite and Laguna to the north and Quezon to the east. Across the Verde Island Passages to the south is the island of Mindoro and to the west lies the South China Sea.



Region: CALABARZON (Region IV-A)

Capital: Batangas City

Divisions:

- Highly urbanized cities: 0

- Component cities: 3

- Municipalities: 31

- Barangays: 1,078

- Congressional districts: 4

Population 9th largest:

- Total (2000) 1,905,348

- Density 602/km² (7th highest)

Area 41st largest: Total 3,165.8 km²

Founded: March 10, 1917

Spoken languages: Tagalog, Spanish, English

Governor: Vilma Santos-Recto (Lakas-CMD)



Batangas is one of the most popular tourist destinations near Metro Manila. The province has many beaches and famous for excellent diving spots only a few hours away from Manila. Some of the more notable ones are Anilao in the Municipality of Mabini, Matabungkay and Punta Fuego in the Municipality of Nasugbu, the Municipality of Calatagan and Laiya in the Municipality of San Juan.
Found in the province is world-known Anilao (Mabini) and its many dive sites that are ideal for observing marine life, and outstanding for macro photography. Located only 110 kilometers south of Metropolitan Manila, it is very accessible by land or by sea.



Batangas is also where Taal Volcano, one of the Decade Volcanoes is located. The volcano has a water-filled crater and sits on an island in the center of Taal Lake, which geologists believe is an ancient caldera.



The town of Taal is famous for its hand embroideries, knives, and sausages; and it reigns as one of the two most culturally preserved sites of the Spanish colonial era in the Philippines.



Batangas is also generally accepted by linguists as the 'Heart of the Tagalog Language'. Poetically, Batangas is often referred to by its ancient name Kumintang.





Name

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The first recorded name of the Province was Kumintang, after the Datu who inherited the dominion from Datu Balensusa. Its centre, the present day Balayan (from balay, the old Tagalog term for houses), was the most progressive town of the Province and the traditional centre of governance. Later, as the eruption of the Taal Volcano destroyed a significant portion of the town, the provincial centre was transferred to Taal, which was then called Bonbon (meaning a group of anything that is tied or piled together) and the name of the province was changed after that of the town.



The term batangan means a raft, the people used so that they could fish in the nearby Taal Lake. It also meant the numerous logs found in the Calumpang River, the body of water that runs through the northeastern portion of the town and assumes the shape of a tuning fork.




People

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Batangas is the 'Heart of the Tagalog Language' as the dialect of Tagalog spoken here closely resembles the Tagalog spoken before the arrival of the Spanish. Therefore, a strong presence of the Tagalog Culture is clearly visible until now.



Linguistically Batangueños are also known for their unique affectation of often placing the particles eh or ga (equivalent of particle ba Filipino), usually as a marker of stress on the sentence, at the end of their spoken sentences or speech; for example: "Ay, oo, eh!" ("Aye, yes, indeed!"). Some even prolong the particle 'eh' into 'ala eh', though it really has no meaning in itself.



In the recent years, waves of migration from the Visayas had brought significant number of Visayans to the province. There are also a few who can speak Spanish, since Batangas was an important centre during the colonial period.



The province of Batangas also has one of the highest literacy rates in the country at 96.5%, wherein the males have a little higher literacy rate at 97.1% than females with 95.9%.





Language

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There is no better way to describe a Batangueño than the language he or she speaks. Batangueños, being mainly descendants of the ancient Tagalogs, speak a dialect of the language with a very strong accent. Indeed, one can easily recognize a Batangueño the moment he opens his mouth.



The vocabulary of the Batangan Dialect is more closely related to the ancient Tagalog. Rarely do Batangueños use Taglish, as is the custom in Manila. In fact, when you ask someone from the Komisyon sa Wikang Filipino to describe the Tagalog spoken in Batangas , it will easily be labelled 'makaluma' (old style.)



Although much can be said about the way a Batangueño speaks his or her Tagalog, the high literacy of the locals means English is also widely spoken in the province. Spanish is also understood up to some extent. In fact, some towns like Nasugbu, Taal and Lemery still have a significant minority of Spanish speakers. Visayan is also spoken by a significant minority due to the infulx of migration from the Southern Philippines.





Wikipedia