Cuenca, a town located at the heart of Batangas province, is proudly known as the “Home of the Bakers.” For decades, its people have carried on a rich bread-making tradition, with generations of Cuenca bakers establishing themselves in Metro Manila and neighboring provinces and giving rise to the hot pandesal craze of the 1970s and 1980s, cementing the town’s reputation as the cradle of Filipino baking heritage—pandesal, colloquially considered as “national bread”. Among Cuenca’s distinguished sons in the baking industry is Lucito “Chito” Briones Chavez, former executive vice president and spokesperson of the Philippine Federation of Bakers Association Inc. (PFBAI) and the founding president of the Asosasyon ng Panaderong Pilipino (APP). He not only gave community bakers a stronger collective voice but also pioneered innovations by advocating the use of local agricultural products such as malunggay, ube, squash, carrots, cassava, and others in bakery products, creating healthier and more diverse bakery products.Today, Cuenca remains a proud symbol of Filipino baking heritage, where tradition and innovation continue to thrive side by side.