The Parish HISTORY

Bétis may have been an important city state and probably the center of Lŭusòng Guo’s (Luzón: circa 13th century AD – 1572 AD) illicit gold trade with China. If Dóngdu (Tondo) was recorded as the “eastern capital” of Lŭusòng Guo, Bétis might have been its legendary “golden capital” known as Jindu (Guintû). Its discovery in 1571 A.D. came as a total surprise for the Spaniards who just conquered the capital cities of Tondo and Mainílâ (Manila). Bétis turned out to be the most prosperous, the most populated and the most heavily fortified city in the whole of Lŭusòng Guo. It was said to be heavily fortified on all sides by a series of moats and high wooden walls with heavy artillery. Its population at 7000 was still 2000 individuals more than Tondo and Manila combined. It was said to be populated by master craftsmen, especially goldsmiths and woodworkers, who built gilded structures and statues. The Spaniards were not able to breach its defenses until the following year and only through subterfuge. Upon its defeat in 1572 A.D., Governor General Guido de Lavezares plundered Bétis and appropriated it into one of his encomiendas.

The name Bétis, according to eminent history scholars Luciano P.R. Santiago and Marco D. Nepomuceno was derived from the Roman name of the Guadalquivir River in Andalucia, then a hive of activity and a center of trade when Spain was still under the Moors. Seeing that the inhabitants of the Bétis River were Muslims, the Spaniards named it after a similar river in Southern Spain, from which the ancient town got its name. To this date, the region in Andalucia, Spain watered by the Guadalquivir River is still called Bétis.

In his book Pampanga and Its Town, Mariano A. Henson suggested that the name Bétis may have been derived from the name of a species of tree called Bassia betis that once stood where the 16th century baroque Church of Saint James now stand. Legend has it that the tree was so huge its canopy shaded the neighboring settlements of Uáua and Bakúlud from the noonday sun. The Spaniards supposedly cut this icon down and built the wooden structures of the Church from it.

The Church of Saint James the Apostle was erected to commemorate the Spanish victory over the Muslim inhabitants of Bétis in 1572. Known better in Spain as Santiago de Compostela, legend has it that Saint James often appeared in battle to lead Spain’s Christian armies to victory in their fight against the Moors. Santiago de Compostela is also the name of the capital of the autonomous community of Galicia, in the northwest region of Spain. "Santiago" ("Sant Iago") means "St. James", and the city is supposedly the final resting place of the Apostle Saint James the Great, the brother of John. His remains are said to be beneath the altar in the crypt of the cathedral.

The people of Bétis proved themselves worthy of the new faith. In 1640, the second Filipino martyr to die for the Christian Faith in Japan after Lorenzo Ruiz was a Kapampángan from Bétis by the name of Juan de Guerra. According to his book Laying the Foundations: Kapampangan Pioneeers in the Philippine Church, 1592-2001, Dr. Luciano P.R. Santiago wrote that Juan de Guera was a member of the all-layman embassy sent by the Portuguese City of Macao to Japan in its desperate bid to save their flagging diplomatic relations. 60 of the 74 delegates were executed for their faith, including Juan de Guerra.

A popular Kapampángan saying about the people of Bétis goes like this, “Nung é la párî, ciértûng anluágî (If they are not priests, they are sure to be carpenters).” Mariano A. Henson wrote that the people of Bétis had prided themselves in giving more priests to the Catholic ministry than any other Kapampángan town.

In corroboration, Dr. Luciano P.R. Santiago added more illustrious sons of Bétis into his list of “firsts” in Philippine Church History. In 1741, Bachiller Don Eugenio de Santa Cruz y Mercado, a Kapampángan from Bétis was appointed judge provisor and Vicar General of the Diocese of Cebu. He was the first native of the islands to be given such an honor. In 1772, Dr. Don Manuel Francisco Túbil, a descendant of the ancient nobility of Bétis, received his doctorate degree in Sacred Theology at the University of Santo Tomas. He became the first Philippine native to obtain a doctorate degree in any field. Incidentally, his younger brother Don Phelipe Túbil, who was gobernadorcillo of Bétis for the fourth time in 1812, was voted by the Kapampángan principalia as one of their provincial electors of delegates to the Spanish Royal Court of 1813. In 1844, Don Macario Pangilinan of Bétis translated the Via Crucis (Stations of the Cross) into the Kapampángan language, adding his own compositions to every station. He became the first Philippine native to do so. According to Dr. Santiago, before Pangilinan, only Spanish Friars accomplished translations of religious works into any Philippine language.

The increasing urbanization of the town of Guagua in the late 19th century due to the growth of commerce and industry triggered a mass migration from neighboring Bétis. By the turn of the century, the number of taxpayers was so reduced that Bétis can hardly sustain itself as an independent municipality. Bétis was finally absorbed by the municipality of Guagua in January of 1904. Once a rich and powerful city of Lŭusòng Guo, later reduced by the Spaniards into a quiet yet self sufficient convent town, Bétis is now a mere barrio of the municipality of Guagua.