After the Second World War, the northern part of Quezon was declared a sub-province, owing To its distance from the capital at Lucena. Even then, the harsh terrain made travel between Baler and Lucena tortuous and long. Because of their relative isolation, Baler and its surrounding towns were passed over by the development that benefited the central regions of the archipelago during the stable interval between the world wars.

There was much irony in Baler's circumstances during that period, since the president of the Commonwealth was none other than Manuel Luis Quezon, born in Baler on 19August 1878. Despite his intense loyalty to his birthplace, the exemplary leader that was Quezon, "the promoter of social justice, father of the Philippine language, and the paladin of
Philippine freedom," refused to grant any privileges to Baler or his home province. Some said it was his keen sense of delicadeza-sensitivity to allegations of favoritism-that stayed his hand from working for the development of his hometown and region.

Others feel that Quezon resolved to maintain Baler’s isolation for fear that his paradise would attract strangers who have no affinity for it. If he had opened a passage to Baler over land through the Sierra Madre, these people argued, the roads would have brought in carpetbaggers eager to despoil Baler's pristine environment. To this day, Baler people delight in the forests that envelop their hometown.

Not until well after the Second World War, on thee prodding of Quezon's widow, Doña Aurora Aragon, did Baler Mayor Pedro V. Guerrero seek for. creation of a sub-province. As population grew, the number of municipalities required to make up a sub-province was reached; and eventually Baler became the capital of a sub-province named, fittingly enough, in Doña Aurora's honor.

Baler's foremost son, Former Philippine President Manuel L. Quezon (seated right), Former First Lady Aurora Quezon (standing, second from left) pose with their children.

In 1951, by virtue of Republic Act 646, the municipalities of Baler, Casiguran, Dilasag, Dipaculao, Dinalongan, Dingalan, Maria Aurora, and San Luis officially composed the sub-province of Aurora. Dr. Juan C. Angara became the first elected governor of the district. Guerrero himself was appointed initially lieutenant governor of the new district.

It took close to three decades more, however, before Baler people's dream of converting their sub- province into a regular province was realized. Thanks to the efforts of the distinguished Baler lawyer, Luis S. Etcubañez, and by virtue of Batas Pambansa Blg.7, the province of Aurora was founded in August 1979, with Baler as its capital. This legislative act, executed by President Ferdinand E. Marcos, answered the prayers of the people of Baler and Casiguran, who thus became truly self-governing for the first time since the Spanish Occupation.

Etcubañez had the distinction of being the last lieutenant governor of the sub-province of Aurora. He was appointed the first governor of Aurora when it became the 73rd province of the country in August of 1979. His first act was to issue an Executive Order declaring February 19 of each year, the birth date of Quezon well-loved widow, as Aurora Foundation Day. Baler itself was officially declared the seat of provincial government, since it had by then become the center of trade and industry in all of Aurora.

If the word Aurora suggests the dawn of a new Philippine province that, fittingly enough, faces the sunrise from the great ocean to the east, its capital of Baler may in turn be symbolic of the mountain doves of peace that up to now nest in the ranges to the west of town. From its lofty perch, the rara avis has witnessed devastation and new beginnings, tragedies and the resolve to rise above these. It has seen conflict and determination, gallantry, and nobility. It has felt the resolute temper of a people that choose to have the best of both worlds, keeping to heart the proverb that the wise man goes to the mountain, and the free man goes to the sea.

Now, like the dove whose name it has inherited, Baler of the storied coastline and timeline is poised to take wing, confident that in this new millennium it will find strength in what remains behind as much as from what it will face with each bright new day.
Baler has long sealed a pact with timelessness. The superb paradox is that its hour is at hand, as it has always been, and will always be-for merging the splendid past and the envisioned future into a continuum of fulfillment.