page_title: Baler, Aurora
section_title: Spanish colonial period
hierarchical_section_title: Baler, Aurora / History / Spanish colonial period
caption_attribution_description: Español: Fotografía aparecida en el artículo "El destacamento de Baler", publicado en La Ilustración Artística de Barcelona el 11 de septiembre de 1899. El pie de foto dice: Guerra de Filipinas. Baler. Casa habitada por el tenientecoronel del ejército filipino Sr. Texón y parte de la fuerza á sus órdenes (de fotografía, propiedad de M. Arias y Rodríguez, de Manila).
context_page_description: Baler, officially the Municipality of Baler, is a 3rd class municipality and capital of the province of Aurora, Philippines. According to the 2015 census, it has a population of 39,562 people.
  Baler is located 244 kilometres north-east of Manila via a mountain pass accessible by bus and private vehicle. It is host to spectacular geographic formations and is situated on a vast plain at the south end of Baler Bay, a contiguous segment of the Philippine Sea.
  It became the capital of Aurora on 14 June 1951 under Republic Act No. 648 signed by President Elpidio Quirino. It remained the seat of government of Aurora on 21 November 1978 under Batas Pambansa Blg. 7 signed by President Ferdinand Marcos.
context_section_description: In 1609, seven Franciscan missionaries, led by Fray Blas Palomino, founded the settlement of Baler, which was later converted into a pueblo (town) by the Augustinians and the Recollects in 1658. Due to scarcity of religious missionaries, the Franciscans again took over the administration of the settlement in 1703.
  On 27 December 1735, a great storm came and a huge wave called tromba marina devastated the old town settlement, then located in Barrio Sabang. Among the survivors were the Angaras, Bijasas, Bitongs, Lumasacs, Carrascos, and Pobletes who swam toward the nearby Ermita Hill.‹See TfM› A new community sprang into what is now the Poblacion of Baler, leaving "Kinagunasan," the place of devastation. A mural depicting this wave can be found in the Museo de Baler in town.
  On 27 June 1898, 15 days after the Philippine Declaration of Independence, 54 Spanish soldiers of the Baler garrison, under the command of Captain Enrique de las Morenas y Fossi, made San Luis Obispo de Tolosa Church, named in Spanish for Louis of Toulouse, their barracks. When de las Morenas died on 22 November 1898, Lieutenant Saturnino Martín Cerezo replaced him. On 2 June 1899, the last Spanish garrison in the Philippines surrendered after the Siege of Baler, effectively ending over 300 years of Spanish rule in the country.
caption: Filipino troops of Colonel Tecson in Baler (May 1899)
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