History of Divisoria

A brief history of Brgy Divisoria

Long time ago, Barangay Divisoria is only a small sitio of Barangay San Vicente, Mexico, Pampanga. Among the prominent families in the barangay are the following: Magdaleno Lacandola, Lorenzo Colis, Juan Colis, Pelagia M. Reyes, Gregorio Mendoza, Gonzalo Gomez, Arcadio Bonus, Candido Colis Sr., Alejandro C. Bautista, Raymunda Catu, Emilio Jimenez, Juan Colis Sr., Clemente Yumul, Gregorio Macabali, Perfecto Yumul, Crisanto Colis, Ciung Colis.

During elections, the people residing in sitio Divisoria cast their votes in Barangay San Vicente together with the residents of sitio Sebitanan (which was meanwhile part of Barangay Panipuan, and is now known as Barangay Nueva Victoria) due to their little population.

In 1970, when Dr. Tomas Guevarra was elected mayor of the town of Mexico, the people in sitios Divisoria and Sebitanan made a petition requesting that these two sitios be joined together to form a new barangay. The barangay soon was called Nueva Victoria. When it was approved, election booths were placed in sitio Divisoria, although each has its own school and chapel. 

Fast forward to 1990s, primarily due to the growing number of residents and some minor reasons (e.g the bridge that remarkably divide Divisoria and Sebitanan, community conflicts),, these two sitios later on came to be separate barangays. Divisoria retained its name while sitio Sebitanan got Nueva Victoria.

For those who are asking about the etymology, there are no written records as to how the barangay got its name. We will update this and share it as soon as we get information. God bless!

Map of Divisoria

Here it is. For those who asked for the map of barangay Divisoria in Mexico, Pampanga.

(Click to enlarge)

Source: Land Use Data Summary from the Municipal Planning Planning and Development Office (MPDO)

What is a Barangay?

The definition of a barangay

From Wikipedia.org:

"A barangay (Brgy. or Bgy.; Filipino: baranggay, [baɾaŋˈɡaj]), formerly called barrio, is the smallest administrative division in the Philippines and is the native Filipino term for a village, district or ward. In colloquial usage, the term often refers to an inner city neighbourhood, a suburb or a suburban neighborhood. The word barangay originated from balangay, a kind of boat used by a group of Austronesian peoples when they migrated to the Philippines. 

 Local government hierarchy. The dashed lines emanating from the

president means that the President only exercises general supervision on local government.

Municipalities and cities are composed of barangays, and they may be further subdivided into smaller areas called purok (English: zone), and sitio, which is a territorial enclave inside a barangay, especially in rural areas. As of September 30, 2012, there were a total of 42,028 barangays throughout the Philippines."

"The term "barangay" may also colloquially refer to a large group of people. An example is Barangay Ginebra, the name of supporters of the Ginebra San Miguel basketball team. In 1999, the team was renamed Barangay Ginebra Kings in homage to its fans."

In a speech delivered by Rep. Edcel C. Lagman for an oath-taking ceremony, he defined barangay as “the smallest yet greatest political unit”. He also gave a details on the state of becoming of the barangay that we have now.

“As barangay officials, it would be best to understand the history of this unique political unit so as to better recognize its indispensability to effective local and national governance.