Pangasinan is a province of the Philippines located on the west coast of the island of Luzon off Lingayen Gulf. Its capital is Lingayen and borders La Union and Benguet to the north, Nueva Vizcaya and Nueva Ecija to the east, and Zambales and Tarlac to the south. To the west of Pangasinan is the South China Sea and the province encloses the Lingayen Gulf.
Template:Infobox Philippine province
AREA: The land area of Pangasinan is 3,368.82 sq. km. It is divided into 44 municipalities, 4 cities, 1,364 barangay, and 6 congressional districts.
POPULATION: The population of Pangasinan is 2,434,086 (National Statistics Office, 2000 Census). Pangasinan is the most populated province in the Philippines. The estimated population of the indigenous speakers of the Pangasinan language is 55 percent of the total population of the province of Pangasinan.
Pangasinan is 170 km. north of Manila, 50 km. southwest of Baguio City and 115 km. north of Subic Bay Freeport.
Pangasinan is famous for the Hundred Islands National Park. This is a marine park located off the coast of Alaminos City in the Lingayen Gulf and is composed of some 123 islands, most of which are quite small and uninhabited. Lingayen Beach, Bonuan Blue Beach, and San Fabian White Beach are also popular tourist attractions. Many Christians make a pilgrimage to the shrines of Manaoag and Calasiao.
During the summer months of April and May, several feasts and festivals are celebrated in Pangasinan, including the Pistay Dayat or Sea Feast; the Bangus Festival, a showcase of the various bangus recipes and a bangus-grilling contest; and the Mango-Bamboo Festivals, a promotion of local mango products and bamboo crafts.
Pangasinan is noted as the birthplace of President Fidel V. Ramos and Speaker Jose de Venecia, Jr. It is also the home province of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo's mother, and actor Fernando Poe Jr.'s father.
The Sual Coal-Fired Power Plant, San Roque Multi-Purpose Dam, Coca-Cola Bottlers Philippines and the Northern Cement Corporation are located in Pangasinan. There are proposals to build an international seaport or freeport at Sual Bay, to build a commercial airport in Lingayen, and to establish a high-technology zone in the Dagupan City and San Carlos City area, like the Silicon Valley of California.
Pangasinan occupies a strategic geo-political position in the central plains of Luzon, known as the rice granary of the Philippines. Pangasinan has been described as a gateway to the north of Luzon and as the heartland of the Philippines.
Out of concern for the welfare and progress of Pangasinan, some Pangasinans are demanding full sovereignty or greater autonomy for Pangasinan; some are seeking political recognition for Pangasinan as an autonomous region, to be called Pangasinan Autonomous Region.
The state of crisis of the national government in Manila and the slow pace of development of the Philippine economy is also forcing many Pangasinans to emigrate to wealthier countries, like the United States. But, true Pangasinans do not forget their baley, sweet mangoes, inlubi rice cakes, fresh bangus and, of course, the salted bagoong.
People and culture
The people of Pangasinan are called Pangasinan, Pangasinense or simply taga Pangasinan, which means "from Pangasinan." The population of Pangasinan is 2,434,086 (National Statistics Office, 2000 Census). Pangasinan is the most populated province in the Philippines. The estimated population of the indigenous speakers of the Pangasinan language is 55 percent of the total population of the province of Pangasinan. The rest of the population are mostly indigenous speakers of Ilocano, Bolinao, and Tagalog.
The Pangasinan language is of the Malayo-Polynesian branch of the Austronesian family of languages. It is the primary language of the province of Pangasinan and the dominant language in central Pangasinan. The Pangasinan language is similar to the other Malayo-Polynesian languages of the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia and Madagascar. It is closely related to the Nibaloi or Ibaloy language spoken in the neighboring province of Benguet. The Pangasinan language is an agglutinative language. Linguistics studies show some word correspondences between Pangasinan and the ancient Sumerian language, the first known written language. Sumerian, which was spoken in the ancient land of Sumer in southern Mesopotamia, is an agglutinative language like Pangasinan.
The ethnicity of the people of Pangasinan is predominantly Malay or Malayan, like most of the people of the Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia and Madagascar. The people of Pangasinan are also related to the Polynesians of the Pacific islands, the Formosan of Taiwan, the Cham of central Vietnam and Cambodia, the Malagasy of Madagascar, and probably distantly related to the Ainu of Japan.
The religion of the people of Pangasinan is predominantly Christian, although few are strict believers and continue to practice their indigenous beliefs and rituals, like most of the people of the Philippines. Spanish and American missionaries introduced Christianity to Pangasinan. Prior to the Spanish conquest in 1571, the predominant religion of the people of Pangasinan was similar to the indigenous religion of the highland Igorot or the people of the Cordillera region who mostly retained their indigenous culture and religion. Pangasinan was also influenced by Hinduism, and Buddhism before the introduction of Christianity.
The culture of Pangasinan is a blend of the indigenous Malayo-Polynesian and western Hispanic and American cultures, with some Indian, Arabic, and Chinese influences. Today, Pangasinan is very much westernized.
Some prominent people of Pangasinan heritage include President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo whose mother is from Binalonan, Pangasinan; President Fidel Valdez Ramos, who was born in Lingayen, Pangasinan; Speaker Jose de Venecia, Jr., who was born in Dagupan City, Pangasinan; and the late actor and presidential candidate Fernando Poe, Jr., whose father is from San Carlos City, Pangasinan.
Political
The province of Pangasinan is subdivided into 44 municipalities, 4 cities, 1,364 barangay, which means "village," and 6 congressional districts.
Cities
Municipalities
Physical
History
Prehistory
Humans or Homo sapiens migrated to the Malay archipelago by at least 50,000 years ago. The two widely accepted scientific theories of the origins of modern humans or Homo sapiens are the single-origin hypothesis and the multiregional hypothesis. The single-origin hypothesis proposes that modern humans evolved in Africa and later migrated to other regions of the world, displacing other hominid populations. The multiregional hypothesis proposes that modern humans evolved, at least, from hominid populations in separate regions of the world.
The most widely accepted view is that modern humans originated in the African savanna between 100 to 200 thousand years ago and later migrated to Asia, Europe, Australia by at least 40,000 years ago. The human population is believed to have been severely reduced by a global environmental catastrophe, called the Toba catastrophe theory, the result of a massive volcanic eruption of the Lake Toba volcano in Indonesia around 75 thousand years ago. The massive volcanic eruption is believed to have caused the isolation of human populations and resulted in creating population bottlenecks from which modern humans emerged.
Human societies of hunter-gatherers and nomads, which probably included beach-combers and sea gypsies, migrated to all regions of the world. Evidence from paleoanthropology suggests that Homo sapiens or modern humans existed in Palawan at least 50,000 years ago. These inhabitants are called the Tabon Man, after the name of the Tabon cave in Palawan where human fossil remains were found. Genetics studies of human DNA markers confirm the presence of modern humans in Southeast Asia and Australia at least 55,000 years ago.
Austronesian-speakers settled in Southeast Asia, South China, Philippines, Taiwan, Japan and the Pacific islands perhaps earlier than 5,000 years ago, as commonly accepted. Proto-Austronesians may have been the first Americans and reached the Americas by a coastal route from Southeast Asia, perhaps as early as 15,000 years ago. The remains of the Kennewick Man, which was found near the coast of the State of Washington in the United States, has features that was more South Asian and Polynesian and was dated to be more than 9,000 years old.
The origin or homeland of the Austronesians is probably in Sundaland, a pre-historic landmass in Southeast Asia that was once connected to the continent of Asia, or around the same area of island Southeast Asia where they are now mostly found. Sundaland must have been a biogeographic tropical paradise; some have speculated that the Garden of Eden and the mythical lost land of Mu were located in Sundaland. However, Sundaland was flooded and is now largely under the sea as a result of the rise in sea-level that was probably caused by global warming after the most recent ice age.
The prehistoric Austronesian societies adapted to the flooding of Sundaland and the rise in sea-level; they mastered the seas with their ocean-going sailing ships, and they built houses on stilts that could withstand frequent typhoons and flooding. They also built agricultural terraces in the mountains, like the Banaue Rice Terraces. The Austronesians also had to cope with cataclysmic earthquakes, tsunamis, and volcanic eruptions because they lived in a seismic zone, called the Pacific Ring of Fire.
The Austronesians were part of the prehistoric human migrations that are widely believed to have originated in Africa. The Pangasinan people, like most of the people in the Malay Archipelago, are descended from the Austronesians who settled in Southeast Asia since prehistoric times. The Pangasinan language is one of many languages that belongs to Malayo-Polynesian branch of the very widespread Austronesian family of languages.
Southeast Asian Maritime Trade Network
The ancient Malayo-Polynesians were expert navigators who had sailing ships capable of crossing the distant seas. The Malagasy sailed from the Malay archipelago to Madagascar, an island across the Indian Ocean. The Polynesians navigated the distant Pacific islands as far away as Hawaii and Easter Island. Macassans, from Makassar in Sulawesi, Indonesia, sailing with their prau, even fished for sea cucumbers and established settlements in the north coast of Australia, which they called Marege. In many Malayo-Polynesian languages, the words for canoe or ship and settlements or villages are often used interchangeably, like prau or parao and barangay, both meaning meaning "ship" or "village."
The Malay prau or parao probably even reached the land of the Pharaohs in Egypt. Malay ships may have been among the ships coming from the overseas lands of Dilmun, Magan and Melluha mentioned in Sumerian and Akkadian literature. It is possible that the original Sumerian names for the Tigris and Euphrates rivers are of Malayo-Polynesian origin. In Pangasinan, the word siglat, which means "swift," "fast" or "rapid," appears similar to the Sumerian name Idigna and Akkadian name Idiglat for the Tigris. In Pangasinan, the word burakan, which means "wave or wavy," appears similar to the Sumerian name Buranun and Akkadian name Pu-rat-tu for the Euphrates. A vast maritime trade network connecting the distant Malayo-Polynesian settlements from the Pacific to the Indian Ocean probably existed in ancient times.
Archaelogical evidence and early Chinese and Indian records show that the early inhabitants of the Philippine archipelago conducted trade with India, China and Southeast Asia as early as the 8th century A.D. Ethnic Chinese merchants traded with the people of the Philippines as early as the 8th century A.D.
Maritime Empires
Agrarian and maritime societies arose in the Malay archipelago in ancient times. Several Malay kingdoms and empires, which were influenced by or converted to Hinduism and Buddhism, flourished and competed for hegemony in the Malay archipelago from the second century C.E. to the fifteenth century C.E., like the Langkasuka kingdom of the Malay Peninsula in Malaysia, the Srivijaya empire in the island of Sumatra in Indonesia, and the Majapahit empire in the island of Java in Indonesia. The Srivijaya and Majapahit empires were maritime empires and influenced much of the Malay archipelago. It appears that the wars and chaos followed by the collapse of the Srivijaya and Majapahit empires contributed to the disruption and decline of the extensive maritime trade network that connected much of the Malay archipelago.
Princess Urduja and Luyag na Caboloan
The extent of the influence of the Srivijaya and Majapahit empires in Pangasinan is not clearly known. However, the legend of Urduja, who was described as a princesa or "princess", suggest that a kingdom, chiefdom or confederation may have flourished in Pangasinan or that Pangasinan may have been part of a larger maritime trade network before the Spanish conquest of 1571. Some historical sources and Pangasinan legends refer to a Luyag na Kaboloan, meaning "Region of Kaboloan", which indicate the possible existence of an old political and economic confederation. Pangasinan appears to have enjoyed full independence before the Spanish conquest.
Spread of Islam
Around the fourteenth century C.E., several powerful Malay kingdoms have converted to Islam. Malay kingdoms ruled by Muslim sultans, like the Sultanate of Malacca and the Sultanate of Johor, succeeded the Srivijaya and Majapahit empires and began to spread the Islamic faith throughout the Malay archipelago. The Sultanate of Maguindanao in Cotabato in the island of Mindanao was founded around the twelfth century C.E. The Sultanate of Sulu in the islands of Sulu was founded around the fourteenth century C.E. Muslim settlements were already established in Manila when the Spanish conquistadors arrived.
Spanish Conquest and Spread of Christianity
The Portuguese navigator Ferdinand Magellan sailed by the Atlantic and the Pacific oceans, with a fleet of ships under the Spanish flag, and reached the Philippine islands in 1521. In 1511, before the arrival of Magellan in the Philippines, the Portuguese invaded the Sultanate of Malacca in Malaysia. Magellan had been in the nearby Spice Islands before and probably was already aware of the location of the Philippines. He was also accompanied by a Malay native from the nearby Moluccas during the voyage. Magellan was killed in the Battle of Mactan in 1521, but his voyage proved to others that the earth can be circumnavigated. One of the Spanish ships returned to Spain by the Indian and Atlantic oceans with news of a new route to the Spice Islands, the Orient, and the islands that came to be called the Philippines.
On April 27, 1565, the Spanish conquistador Miguel López de Legazpi arrived in Cebu with about 500 soldiers to establish a Spanish settlement and begin the conquest of the Philippine islands. On May 24, 1570, the Spanish forces defeated Rajah Sulayman, the Muslim ruler of Tondo, and the other rulers of Manila. On June 24, 1571, the Spanish declared Manila the new capital of their new colony in the Philippines. After securing Manila, the Spanish forces continued to conquer the rest of the island of Luzon.
Provincia de Pangasinan
In 1571, the Spanish conquest of Pangasinan began with an expedition by the Spanish conquistador Martín de Goiti, who came from the Spanish settlement in Manila through Pampanga. About a year later, another Spanish conquistador, Juan de Salcedo, sailed to Lingayen Gulf and landed at the mouth of the Agno River.
By 1580, Pangasinan was subjugated and made into an Alacadia Mayor by the Spanish Governor of the Philippines. In 1611, Pangasinan became a Spanish colonial province, comprising the territories of Zambales and some areas of La Union and Tarlac. Lingayen was made the capital of the province (and still is to this day). Continued resistance to Spanish rule was forced to go underground or flee to the mountains.
Kingdom of Pangasinan
On December 1660, a rebellion led by Andres Malong, a native chief of the town of Binalatongan, now named San Carlos city, liberated the province from Spanish rule. Andres Malong was proclaimed King of Pangasinan. Pangasinan armies attempted to liberate the neighboring provinces of Pampanga and Ilocos, but were repelled by a Spanish-led coalition of loyalist tribal warriors and mercenaries. On February 1661, the newly independent Kingdom of Pangasinan fell to the Spanish.
Palaris Revolt
On November 3, 1762, a rebellion led by Juan de la Cruz Palaris erupted in Pangasinan, and the people proclaimed the independence of Pangasinan after the fall of Manila to the British on October 6, 1762. However, after the Treaty of Paris on March 1, 1763 ended the the Seven Years War between Britain, France and Spain, the Spanish colonial forces counter-attacked. On January 16, 1765, Juan de la Cruz Palaris was captured and Pangasinan independence was again lost.
The people of Pangasinan widely supported Andres Bonifacio and the Katipunan's fight for independence as a common struggle. General Francisco Macabulos commanded the Katipunan forces in Pangasinan. Don Daniel Maramba of Santa Barbara was one of the revolutionary leaders from Pangasinan.
Lingayen Gulf was one of the strategic places during the Second World War. Japanese forces under Gen. Masaharu Homma landed on Pangasinan in December 1941, a few days after the attack on Pearl Harbor and started the Japanese occupation of the country. In 1945, American troops landed here and started to free Luzon from the Japanese.
Martial Law
The imposition of martial law and the authoritarian rule of President Ferdinand M. Marcos resulted in countlesss human rights violations in Pangasinan.
Pangasinan fell victim to the gerrymandering of the Philippines by President Ferdinand E. Marcos when he made Pangasinan part of the northern Ilocos Region or Region I, although Pangasinan already enjoyed the status of a region because of its size, population and distinct primary language.
People Power Revolution
General Fidel V. Ramos, who was born in Lingayen, Pangasinan, was one of the leaders of a military mutiny and a people power revolt that led to the overthrow of President Ferdinand Marcos. Corazon C. Aquino, the widow of Benigno "Ninoy" Aquino, was elected President of the Philippines.
President Fidel V. Ramos
General Fidel V. Ramos was elected President of the Philippines.
President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo
Vice-President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, whose mother is from Binalonan, Pangasinan, was declared President of the Philippines after President Joseph Estrada was overthrown in another people power revolt.
Congressman Jose de Venecia, Jr., who is from Dagupan City, Pangasinan, was re-elected Speaker of the House of Representatives.
Actor turned politician Fernando Poe, Jr., whose family is from San Carlos, Pangasinan, ran for President against President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. The Pangasinan vote was split.
President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo was elected President for another term. However, she was forced to declare a state of emergency to counter alleged destabilization plots. She immediately lifted the state of emergency, but her presidency is beset by demands for her resignation.
Tourist Attractions
Hundred Islands
The Hundred Islands National Park, off the coast of Brgy. Lucap in Alaminos City is composed of some 123 islands in the Lingayen Gulf. Most of the islands are quite small and appear to be rocky outcrops with lush vegetation on top.
Manaoag Shrine
The Shrine of Our Lady of Manaoag is famous throughout the country for its supposedly miraculous powers. Catholic devotees frequent the shrine especially on the feast days on the first of October and the 18th day after Easter Sunday. The Archbishop is Oscar Cruz, a critic of the current president, Gloria Arroyo.