History of Indang

Indang, whose original name was Indan, was established as a municipality in 1655. Indan was derived from the Tagalog word indang or inrang, a tree, which according to the inhabitants of the town, grew there.

During the Philippine Revolution, Indan was known by its Katipunan name "Walang Tinag." It was also during this time that the letter "g" was added to its name; thus it is now called Indang.

The town of Indang played a crucial role in the Philippine Revolution. It was in barrio Limbon, Indang, where Andres Bonifacio, defeated in the Tejeros Convention, arrested and prevented from pursuing his counter-revolutionary plan to set up a separate government and army. He and his follower were brought back to Naik, tried by a military court, finally convicted of sedition and treason against the Revolutionary Government headed by General Emilio Aguinaldo.

What is glossed over in history books being taught in schools and colleges is the fact that the Bonifacio capture in Limbon and his subsequent trial, conviction and execution constituted a blessing in disguise because he died, in the words of General Aguinaldo, " a great apostle and hero of the Filipino race." It goes without saying that had Bonifacio succeeded in setting up a separate government and army. He would have plunged the country into a bloody fratricidal strife, and thus insured the defeat of the revolution against Spain.

A part of Silang for about 70 years, the municipality of Indang was organized in 1655 with a prominent native, Juan Dimabiling, as the first gobernadorcillo. The distance between the barrio of Indang and the poblacion of Silang caused the residents of the former great difficulty in transacting officials business and attending religious services. This led the people of Indang to petition higher authorities for the conversion of the barrio into a separate municipality. The petition was granted, and Indang became full-fledged town in 1655.

The name " Indang " was derived from indang or inrang. A tree, which abounded in that locality in the early days. A description of Indang by two Augustinian friars, Fr. Manuel Buzeta and Fr. Felipe Bravo, OSA, in mid-nineteenth century reads in part.

Town with parish priest and gobernadorcillo province of Cavite, diocese of the archbishopric of Manila; situated on the level land, at the bank of a river, which passes at the east of the town, and not far from another which runs at the west Its climate is temperate and healthful. Have some 2,809 houses notable among them being the casa parroquial and the casa de comunidad There is a primary school where plenty of students concur, endowed from the community funds, and a parish church served by a secular priest Communicates with its neighbors by means of good roads, and receives weekly mail from the capital Population: 16,855 souls.

About the same time that Eduardo Camerino, the peasant leader, was stirring the agrarian reform unrest in Imus and nearby towns, another native stalwart in the person of Santiago Mojica Espineli, described by Spanish writers as a " famous bandit," was keeping the cuadrilleros (native police) of Indang on their toes. In the eyes of the Spaniards Camerino and Espineli were bandoleros.

But from the Filipino point of view, it was these so-called bandits - Luis Parang (1822), Sta. Maria (1837), Santiago Mojica Espineli (1864) and Eduardo Camerino (1872) - who set a long tradition of Caviteno insurgency against Spanish domination, culminating in the Philippine Revolution of 1896.

Indang revolutionary name of Walang Tinag (Immovable) was part of the revolutionists objective to wipe out all vestige of the countrys colonial past.

Although a poor municipality in terms of annual income, Indang compares favorably with many towns in the Philippines in the number of outstanding revolutionary figures who sacrificed so much that the Philippines might enjoy the blessing of freedom and independence.

These distinguished sons of Indang are the following:

1.       Severino de las Alas, member of Aguinaldos revolutionary cabinet, who reported the looting done by Bonifacios men in Indang, prompting Aguinaldo to order their arrest;

2.       Raymundo Jeciel, who was with Aguinaldo during his retreat to Northern Luzon and former governor of Cavite.

3.       General Ambrosio Mojica, politico-military governor of the First Philippine Republic in Samar and Leyte.

4.       Hugo Ilagan, and (5) Jose Coronel, Cavite delegates to the Revolutionary Congress in Tarlac, Tarlac.