Mendez, Cavite

As time went on, the number of houses in Gahitan increased so that the sitio eventually became a barrio and finally a full-fledged town on 1 December 1875, thanks to Governor-General Jose Malcampo y Monje (1874-1877). Malcampo incorporated the three barrios of Gahitan, Palocpoc and Anuling into one independent municipality called Méndez Núñez, after a Spanish naval officer and close friend, Commodore Castro Méndez Núñez. In 1856, when they were still Spanish naval officers, Malcampo and Mendez-Nuñez, established the first Masonic lodge in Kawit under a charter from the Grand Lodge of Portugal. The friendship of these two officers had been tested in many a battle against Muslim pirates in Mindanao.

Pedro Aure was the gobernadorcillo of Mendez during its first year as a municipality in 1876. Cayetano Aure, perhaps a relative of Pedro, was the first and only capitan municipal of Mendez during the First Philippine Republic (1899-1901). Pedro’s son, Marcelino Aure, became a famous general during the Philippine Revolution. His nom de guerre was Alapaap (Cloud).

Mendez continued to be a municipality from 1875 to 15 October 1903 when, under Public Act No. 947 of the Philippine Commission reduced the 22 municipalities of Cavite to nine. Mendez and Bailen (now General Aguinaldo) were incorporated into the municipality of Alfonso.

But 12 years later, on 1 January 1915, Mendez regained its independent status as a municipality of Cavite Province.[5]

Mendez is politically subdivided into 24 barangays. [2]

While it shares a general climate as the rest of the province Mendez' climate, due to its proximity to Tagaytay, is tropical highland, with low temperatures most especially during the early dry season.