HISTORY OF NAIC

Naik is a rarely used but highly cultured Tagalog word meaning "suburbs" or "countryside." It is not archaic as one Filipino scholar contends. For more than a century Naik was a part or suburb of the elder town of Maragondon .

One source claims that Naik was founded in 1971. But another source maintains that it was established earlier – in 1758 – by the Dominican friars. By whichever date Naik was founded, it is evident that Maragondon, its mother town, had been in existense as a regular municipality independent of Silang, one of the oldest towns in Cavite Province, second only to Cavite el Viejo (now Kawit), the first settlement visited by the Spaniards upon their arrival in Luzon. It is said that Spaniards from Maragondon regularly visited Naik, eventually turning it into a thriving suburb.

The research made by public school teachers of Cavite reveals that Dominican friars owned most of the fertile lands of Naik. The administrators of these estates were known as uldogs. It was the uldogs who dealt directly with the inquilinos (leaseholders) and kasamas (tenants). The uldogs were most feared and hated by the masses because of their abuses. It was this feeling of resentment against the uldogs and their friar superiors that united and mobilized the Filipinos against the Spaniards during the Philippine Revolution.

The prominent people who paved the way for the revolution in Naik included former gobernadorcillos and capitanes municipal; namely, Cirilo Arenas, Gregorio (Goyo) Jocson, in whose house General Aguinaldo recuperated from illness, Benito Poblete, and Tobal Bustamante.

Aguinaldo had a soft spot in his heart for the town of Naik fo the following reasons: (1) it was in Naik he formed a "cabinet of reconciliation" as a president of the Revolutionary Government, after Easter Sunday of 1897 (2) Aguinaldo was ready to die with his boots on, i.e., fighting, in the battle of Naik, when suddenly he was saved from certain death by a Taong Agila (Eagle Man) in the person of General Mariano Riego de Dios, and (3) Aguinaldo caught Andres Bonifacio and his followers in the act of adopting the Naik Military Agreement, a treasonous document, calling for the establishment of a separate government and army, the latter to be headed by General Pio del Pilar. Found guilty of sedition and treason, Bonifacio and his brother Procopio were executed on May 10, 1897.

The 30 barrios /barangays compromising Naik are the following: (1) Bukana, (2) Bucana Sasahan, (3) Bagong Kalsada, (4) Balsahan, (5) Bancaan, (6) Calubcob, (7) Capt. Ciriaco Nazareno, (8) Central, (9) Humbac, (10) Gomez-Zamora, (11) Halang, (12) Ibayo Silangan, (13) Ibayo Estacion, (14) Kanluran, (15) Manbulo, (16) Munting Mapino, (17) Mozon, (18) Makina, (19) Malainen bago, (20) Malaine Luma, (21) Molino, (22) Palangue, (23) Latoria, (24) San Roque, (25) Santulan, (26) Sapa, (27) Sabang, (28) Labac, (29) Timalan Concepcion, (30) Timalan Balsahan.

Of these 30 barrios/barangays the following are the most historical:

1. Bancaan – meaning a place where the boats used for crossing the river were moored; (2) Bucana – meaning mouth or entrance of the river; (3) Halang – refering to a bridge built across the street; and Labac – meaning a low place serving as basin of floodwater.

TOWN HEADS OF NAIK

The following is a list of municipal presidents and mayors of Naik from the beginning of the American regime to the present:

1. Marcial Velasquez, (2) Blas Cena, (3) Leoncio Velasco, (4) Cristobal Bustamante, (5) Andres Gonzales, (6) Pedro Valenzuela, (7) Ciriaco Nazareno, (8) Vicente Diosomito, (9) Jose Nazareno, (10) Ciriaco Ramos, (11) Blas Poblete, (12) Mariano Nazareno, (13) Antero Tanega, (14) Fidel Bustamante, (15) Emilio Arenas, (16) Crispulo Miguelino, (17) Saturno Ramirez, (18) Leon D. Nazareno, (19) Macario B. PeÑa, 1955-1976, (20) Clemente I. Mojica, 1976-1980; (21) Elvira Nazareno, December 1980-March 2, 1981; and (22) Clemente I. Mojica, March 3, 1981-1986; (23) Elvira B. Nazareno, 1988


Source: Saulo & de Ocampo - Cavite History