Municipality of LUISIANA, LAGUNA

         Luisiana
is one of the fifteen towns of the province of Laguna in the Philippines. Luisiana occupies 7,500 hectares comprising of fifteen barrios: De la Paz, San Diego , San Domingo, San Pablo , San Roque, San Antonio , San Isidro , San Juan , San Pedro, San Salvador , San Buenaventura, San Jose , San Luis, San Rafael , and Santo Tomas.

         Luisiana nestles on a small plateau at the southeastern tip of Laguna on a high elevation of 1,400 feet above sea level, barricaded by a massive wall of coconut trees and refreshingly cooled by the gentle breeze coming from the Sierra Madre and Banahaw Mountains. About 108 kilometers away from Manila and 24 kilometers away from the provincial capital, Sta. Cruz, the town of Lu

         Pandan plants and coconut palm trees are grown in Luisiana. They provide the major source of income in the area. Pandan leaves are used to make hats, mats and baskets or "balulang". Coconut palm is one of the most useful trees. Its wood is used to build houses and bridges. The leaves are used to make roofs. The sap of the tree's blossoms is made into a sweet drink called "tuba". This sap is also used to make sugar, vinegar and an alcoholic beverage called "lambanog". The crisp, juicy chunks of fresh young coconut, the fruit are sold as is. Shredded and dried coconut meat are made into candy bars or "bukayo" and other foods. Copra (solid, dried coconut meat) contains valuable oil that is used for cooking and to make margarine and soap. Coconut husks are made into mats, ropes, and brooms.

         Most of Luisianians are farmers. A few are landowners. Those who don't own their land rent their land or pay the owner a share of the crop. Many others work as laborers on coconut plantations. But despite their earnings, they barely have enough money to support their family. So the best way to alleviate their livelihood is to immigrate to foreign countries like Japan, Hongkong, Singapore, Italy, Germany, London, Saudi Arabia and other countries. But the bulk of these immigrants, Lusianians or Filipinos in general are in the United States of America.