or as Wikipedia classifies it as Tanauan City and interchangeably City of Tanauan.  Not sure why it was labeled as a third class city in the Batangas province Philippines but for what I heard lately Tanauan City had undergone to a lot of renovations.

Tanauan Batangas were the birthplace of Apolinario Mabini, one of our National Heroes in the Philippines and also former President Jose P. Laurel.
It has been tagged as the Cradle of Noble Heroes and recently as per Tanauan City's official website, Tanauan City is the Premiere City of Calabarzon.
Here's an excerpt from the Tanauan City site;

The Town of Tanauan was founded on its present location in 1754, having been transferred from the fringe of Taal Lake where it was originally situated. It is generally believed that Tanauan, together with Sala was originally founded in 1572 by the Augustinian missionaries who built mission at the shore of the Lake known as Bonbon (now Taal). The town, however, was totally destroyed during the most impressive and catastrophic historically recorded eruption of Taal Volcano in 1754. together with the Community of Sala, the residents of Tanauan were relocated to safer places. Tanauan moved to Bañadero, then to its present location. Sala, on the other hand, transferred from its original site to where it is located. Sala subsequently became the barangay of Tanauan.

Tanaueños have displayed characteristics of personal independence of personal independence and nationalism since early history. The town is called the cradle of noble heroes due to its contribution to the revolutionary movement of its sons Apolinario Mabini, the brains of Katipunan, and later by the great statesman Pres. Jose P. Laurel. Also, three Tanaueños served as governors of Batangas, namely: Jose P. Laurel V, Modesto Castillo, and Nicolas Gonzales.

The seats of the city government of Tanauan was established in the present site in March 1960. Prior to this time, the municipal offices occupied a concrete building in the eastern end of Mabini Avenue at the Poblacion, fronted by the present Catholic Church and the Modesto Castillo Cultural Center. The old municipal building which destroyed during the world War II was reconstructed and no housed the city library, social hall, and city museum.

What’s in a name? there are two versions of how Tanauan got its name.

In the first version, some people believe that Tanauan derived its name from the Tagalog term “tanaw” meaning to look after through the window. This is based on a fortress which had a watchtower built by the Augustian friars and natives. The watchtower allowed them to monitor incoming “champans” or boats entering through the Pansipit river, which were either traders or pirates. From this tower, one can have a clear view (tanaw) of the lake and of the vast plains and rolling hills.

The other version, supported by a research study of the National Historical Commission, says that the town was named after a shrub called “tanawa” which grew abundantly in the area and on the sides of “Lake Bonbon” during the towns early history.

Personally, I always use the first version when I have to explain the meaning of Tanauan or where the name came from.

Source: Wikipedia/Tanauan website

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