Amadeo, Coffee Capital of the Philippines

Amadeo

Yesterday, the celebration of Pahimis Festival was a success, wherein people from all over the country, gathered together to celebrate the abundance of coffee. Besides from joyful sounds of band's trumpet, One of the events there is a fashion shows featuring the barong tagalog, sarong and other dresses with touch of coffee making it stylist & elegant. The early morning show, Unang Hirit was even there to celebrate. The best of all, the coffee here is over flowing. Can't wait to go there next year.


Geography
An upland and inland town with an elevation of 1,400 feet above sea level, Amadeo is approximately 60 kilometers south of Manila.
Amadeo was formerly called Masilaw, a Tagalog word meaning glaring. It used to be a forest with abundant dapdap trees that bore bright red flowers after shedding of leaves. These flowers that crown the trees produce a dazzling glaring light. The locality was originally a barrio of Silang. It was made a town in 1872, and was called Amadeo in honor of Prince Amadeo Fernando Maria of Savoy. The inauguration of the town (May 30) coincided with the birthday of the said Prince who was born on May 30, 1845 in Turin, Italy, as the second son of the King of Spain and Italy. It was given the Tagalog name Maypag-ibig (With Love) during the Philippine Revolution. Amadeo was recognized as a town for twenty-one years. It was reverted as a district of Silang, however, in 1902. Local leaders including Geronimo Bayot and Primo Villanueva, for the next thirteen years, continued to secure the separation of Amadeo from Silang. It was not until 1915 during the administration of Governor ANtero S. Soriano, that Amadeo regained its independence. In recognition in his presevering efforts in behalf of Amadeo, Geronimo Bayot was made the town's first municipal president under the American regime.

Brief History

The municipality of General Emilio Aguinaldo used to be a Catholic parish in the town of Maragondon. It was founded by virtue of the decree issued on August 28, 1857 by Archibishop Fray Aranguren, OSA, of the Archidiocese of Manila. The decree separated the barrios of Batas and Guyong-guyong from the town of Maragondon, naming the new parish Bailen. It is recounted that a group of citizens from barrio Batas petitioned Spanish Governor General Fernando Norzagaray to convert their barrio into municipality because of its distance from the town proper. Giving due course to the petition, the Spanish Governor approved the request on August 2, 1858. Bailen, the former name of the town, was coined from the Spanish word bailar, meaning to dance. Another claims that it was named after a Spanish town of the same name. The American civil government, from 1899-1901, reduced the number of towns to facilitate the military policy of concentrating the civilian population of the poblaciones. The Philippine Commission approved Act 947 on October 15, 1903, annexing the municipalities of Bailen and Mendez to Alfonso. Bailen, thus, became a barrio of Alfonso. The Philippine Commission, for the second time in 1904, reorganized the entire province of Cavite reducing its 22 municipalities to 9 groups of towns. Bailen was reconverted into a dependent municipality in 1915, with the complete restoration of peace and order in Cavite.
Source: The Phil Index, Millennium Edition Vol.I No.1