Why It's Called That
CALABARZON: every name was something else
CALABARZON is made of five province names, and most of them changed. Batangas was Kumintang, then Taal; Quezon was Kalilayan, then Tayabas. Cavite's hook story is told as a tradition.
0:59 · CALABARZON · October 9, 2026
The story
CALABARZON sounds like a code. It is: Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal, Quezon. In 2002, it became a region. But almost every name inside it once meant something else.
They say Cavite comes from kawit, hook, for the hook-shaped land on Bacoor Bay. Laguna is Spanish for lagoon; it was first Laguna de Bay, after its biggest lakeside town. Batangas, the province says, comes from batang, the river's logs. But it was first called Kumintang.
When its capital moved to Taal in 1732, the whole province was called Taal. Then the volcano wrecked the town in 1754, and the capital and the name moved to Batangan. Quezon began in 1591 as Kalilayan, then Tayabas, and took President Quezon's name in 1946.
Batangueños, do your elders still sing the kumintang? Tell us in the comments.
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