San Juan started as a small village and eventually gained recognition as a first-class municipality in 2005. While the town is well-known for its coastal gems, ancestral houses, and festivities behind the Lambayok trio, it once faced what could’ve plagued its rich biodiversity.
Ciara Marasigan-Serumgard helped chronicle San Juan’s history and published a book entitled “Barako 77: The Story of Environmental Activism in San Juan, Batangas.” It remains relevant and inspiring now more than ever when the lands we strive to conserve face threats.
The story lives on
The book tells the story of her grandfather, Horacio Marasigan Sr., and the San Juan community opposing the construction of a copper smelter plant in the 1970s, which birthed the grassroots movement Concerned Citizens of San Juan.
“With the book as a reference, we are proud to have successfully lobbied for an ordinance proclaiming every Oct. 22 as Araw ng Pagkakaisa para sa Kalikasan ng Bayan ng San Juan (Day of Unity for Nature in San Juan Town),” said Farrah Rodriguez, executive director of Barako Publishing.
The ordinance marked the occasion when nine out of 10 San Juaneño residents sparked a peaceful environmental movement and withstood the copper smelter and fertilizer complex in a Diocesan poll.
If built five decades ago, the project would’ve jeopardized the Verde Island Passage, later recognized as the “center of the center” of marine shorefish biodiversity — proving that our environment was and still is worth defending.
Women's passion in action
Serumgard involved a village of historians, researchers, writers, and illustrators in creating the book, which was launched under women-driven Barako Publishing on April 22, 2024 during Earth Day.
“We redefine the term ‘barako’ as a man or woman empowered by education. I took over the academic journal and grew it into the legacy history book it is today, and envisioned it for wider readership when I founded women-led Barako Publishing in 2023,” she said.
The book, which took a decade to plan, contains five main chapters, several short essays, and numerous photographs and illustrations highlighting San Juan's history, social realities, and opposition to the copper smelter.
“Barako 77 was written with three audiences in mind: San Juaneños who are unfamiliar with their history and heritage, researchers of economic and environmental history, and the general reader who wishes to know the history of our country,” said Katherine Lacson, co-editor of Barako 77.
People who don’t know history, choose to ignore it, or inadvertently forget it, walk sightlessly on the path in front of them, stumbling over the same hurdles their ancestors faced. But historical materials like Barako 77 serve as our map, allowing us to see the present better through the past.
Reading about history may not be interesting to some, but it interests the very lives of those threatened, including our biodiversity. The story of Barako 77 shows that there is power in collective action, helping prove that women with shared principles can conquer even the biggest threats.