Bulakan, Bulacan

General Information

Bulakan is a 2nd class urban municipality in the province of Bulacan, Philippines. According to the 2000 census, it has a population of 62,903 people in 13,577 households.

Bulacan is the birthplace of Marcelo H. del Pilar, a Filipino nationalist who published the Filipino propaganda paper La Solidaridad. The town is also the birthplace of his nephew, Gregorio del Pilar, a Filipino revolutionary general, and Soc Rodrigo, a former Philippine senator.

Bulakan is one of the oldest town in the Philippines and the first capital of the Province of Bulacan before it was moved to Malolos shortly after the American occupation.

The Municipality of Bulakan lies in the southwestern part of the province of Bulacan and is surrounded by a number of proximate municipalities. It is bounded on the North by the Municipality of Guiguinto, on the South by the Manila Bay, on the East by the Municipality of Bocaue, on the West by the City of Malolos, on the Northeast by the Municipality of Balagtas and on the Southeast by the Municipality of Obando. It is about thirty five (35) kilometers away from the City of Manila. Approximately, 72.90 square kilometers or 2.7284% of the total land area of the entire Province, which is 2,672.03 square kilometers. It ranks tenth (10th) in terms of land area among other municipalities in the province.

The Parish of Nuestra Señora dela Asuncion, now Sta. Maria Assumpta Parish, has a baptismal book entry as early as 1572, it was precious artifact for almost 400 years it was not destroyed by fire, war, or even putrefaction. On the first page of the book, written was the name of the barrio of the town of Bulakan, Bagio, Bulakan(Camino Real), Daan Estacion, Matungao, Cupang, Banban, Dapdap, Parian, Balubad, Pitpitan, Maysantor, Acsajo, Paniqui, San Nicolas, Nagdasig, Calungusan, and Taliktik.

After 400 long years, changes have been made to the old barrios that consist the town, Bagio become part of Bagumbayan in 1731, Tibig exist in 1735, Dapdap was renamed Sta. Ana in 1741, Nagdasig become part of Tab-Ang in 1744 and now San Francisco, Parian was renamed Sta. Inez in 1765, Bulakan (Camino Real), Daan Estacion, Paniqui and Calungusan was created into one barrio and was named San Jose, Barrio Pitpitan occupied Acsajo, Cupang was joined to Maysantor now Maysantol, Banban became Bangbang and now Bambang, Perez exist as separate Barrio of Taliktik now Taliptip, and with the same old name of Barrio’s San Nicolas, Matungao and Balubad.

The name Bulakan were derived from the word “Bulak” which is cotton in English. When the Spaniards first come to our shores to colonized us, they found cotton among others, growing abundantly in many places in Luzon, particularly in Bulakan.

Prior to the arrival of the Spaniards, Bulakan, as well as the rest of the towns of Bulacan province was consisted of small scattered settlements of villages each then called “balangay” or “barangay” a word derived from the name of the boats used by the early seafaring Malays who went to various islands of what now called Philippines. These predecessors of our ancestors settled in different part of the archipelago, and their villages and barangays swear each headed by a petty chieftain who bore the title of “Gat” as in Gat-Maitan, Gat-Salian, Gat-dula, and “Lakan” as in Lakandula. These early settlers lived along the seashores and rivers, thus they were called “taga-ilog”, meaning people who dwell near the rivers or other waterways. From this term “taga-ilog” came the word “Tagalog”.

The early Tagalog were peaceful, honest, industrious and hardworking and were engaged in farming, fishing and handicrafts, especially weaving.

From the original thriving native settlements or villages called “barangays”, the Augustinians founded most of the town in the Province of Bulacan. Another account of the founding of Bulakan towns point to father Agustin de Alburqueque, OSA, as the first minister and founder of the town of Bulakan.

The town of Bulakan, being the first capital of the province, was the hub of economic activities and the inhabitants enjoyed excellent trade with Manila, primarily due to its proximity to the city and accessibility through its wide and navigable river.

By the year 1591 the town of Bulakan had 1,200 tributes or 4,800 persons, one Augustinian convent and one Alcalde mayor who had jurisdiction over the town of Malolos (Become independent in 1673) Caluya now Balagtas and formerly “BIGAA” (become separate town in 1596), Guiguinto (become separate town in 1915)

Bulakan was also the scene of battle between the Spaniards led by Simon de Anda y Salazar and the British led by Captain Slay on January 18, 1763. The British sent an expedition of 400 British, 300 Malabar Negroes and 2,000 Chinese allies. The Spaniards with the native of Bulakan made a gallant stand but were defeated. Captain Slay command over the town did not last long. A huge group of about 8000 Filipino guerillas led by Spanish Jose Pedro Busto made a nine long days battle in front of the church up to the foot bridge against Captain Slay. They made Captain Slay to retreat to Manila. On this fight Bulakeños have shown for the first time an extraordinary martyrdom. The British dream of conquering the rest of the country was gone astray because of the marvelous fight made by Bulakeños.

The town still enjoys trade and commerce with neighboring towns and Manila with whom she shares a coastline, a place which is replete with historical and glorious past.

Barangays

Bulacan is politically subdivided into 14 barangays.

• Bagumbayan
• Balubad
• Bambang
• Matungao
• Maysantol
• Perez
• Pitpitan
• San Francisco
• San Jose (Pob.)
• San Nicolas
• Santa Ana
• Santa Ines
• Taliptip
• Tibig

History

The name "Bulacan" is derived from the Tagalog word "bulak", which means "cotton". The Spaniards named the town Bulacan due to the abundance of cotton plants growing in the region. The town is one of the oldest in the country. The Augustinians founded the town in 1574 and dedicated it under the patronage of Nuestra Señora de la Asunción. Records tell us that Father Agustin del Alburqueque, OSA is the first priest and founder of the town of Bulakan.

By the year 1591, the town of Bulacan had 1,200 tributer or 4,800 persons, one Augustinian convent and one Alcalde Mayor who had jurisdiction over the town of Malolos. Bulacan was originally the capital of the Bulacan province. The capital was moved to Malolos shortly after the American occupation. In the heart of the town stands the centuries old adobe church of Nuestra Señora de la Asunción in front of it, stand the municipal hall and the park dedicated to Gregorio del Pilar.

In 1846, the town of Bulacan had 1,960 1/2 tributes or 9,805 inhabitants. Bulacan was about 5 leagues from Manila and was connected with that city by beautiful roads. Among the inhabitants of Bulacan, there were many rich mestizos who owned sugar mills and engaged in trade Another part of the population manufactured different cloths such as silk tapis and sayas.

Government

The gov't officials are as follows:

• Mayor: Anacleto R. Meneses
• Vice Mayor: Patrick Meneses

Councilors:

• Alberto Bituin
• Rosalie Lava
• Marian Ramos
• Val Concepcion
• Roberto Morelos
• Leocadio Mendoza
• Jeff Tansinsin
• Nabol Salita

Barangay Officials

• Bagumbayan - to be completed

Captain: Uding Dionisio

• Balubad - to be added
• Bambang - to be added
• Matungao - to be added
• Maysantol - to be added
• Perez - to be added
• Pitpitan - to be added
• San Francisco - to be added
• San Jose (Pob.) - to be added
• San Nicolas - to be added
• Santa Ana - to be added
• Santa Ines

Captain: Marcelo Alcantara

Barangay Kagawad:

• Antonio Rivera
• Epifanio Godoy
• Rolando Baltazar
• Hermimgildo Cruz
• Manny Calimon
• Denny Lim

SK Chair: Jenina Carreon

SK Kagawad: to be completed

• Taliptip
• Tibig

Demography

A. POPULATION SIZE AND GROWTH

The National Statistics Office preliminary report in 2004 shows that the Municipality of Bulakan has a total population of 64,684. Barangay Bambang is the most densely populated with 13,244. It is followed by Barangay Matungao and Barangay Sta. Ana with 8,018 and 7,971 respectively, on the other hand, the least populated barangay are Barangay Maysantol and Barangay Tibig with 2,325 and 2,172 respectively.

Compared with the Municipality’s population in 1995 which is 54,624, it shows an increase of 10,060 persons from 1995 to 2004. An annual growth rate of 1,117 or an average increase of 18.42% in the span of nine (9) years.

The highest percentage changes in population from 1995-2004 was exhibited in Barangay Perez, Pitpitan, Sta. Ines, Tibig, Bagumbayan with an increase of 56.33%, 54.74%, 39.73%, 34.66%, and 33.46% respectively.

On the other hand, barangays that shows the least percentage change in population are Barangay San Francisco, Matungao, and Bambang with only an increase of 0.4%, 2.95% and 7.57% respectively.

B. RURAL

The Municipality of Bulakan is dominantly rural NSO classified Barangay San Jose, Bagumbayan, Bambang and Matungao as urban barangay, the rest are rural. 2002 Census on Population account 57% of the total populae are living in rural area and 43% urban area.

C. POPULATION DENSITY

2004 population density of the Municipality was registered at 8.9 persons per hectare and this will escalate to 11.2 persons per hectare by the year 2010. D. NUMBER OF HOUSEHOLD

The Community Base Monitoring System (CBMS) survey as of January 2005 showed a total of 14,523 household. In comparison with the total number of household of 12,488 in 2002 an increase of 2,035 households from 2002-2005 is realized.

E. SEX AND AGE STRUCTURE

Like the rest of the country, the population in Bulakan exhibits a pyramidal age structure. The population between the age 0-14 accounts for 18,586 or 35% of the total population. On the other hand, 31,963 or 61% belongs to the 15-64 years old age bracket and only 2,103 or 4% are in the age bracket of 65 years old and above.

In terms of sex distribution the female population slightly out numbered the male population by .47% in 2002 Census on Population. There were 31,553 male population as against the 31,702 female population which results to sex ratio of 1 male is to 1.004 female comparatively. F. RELIGION

The Roman Catholic, remained the dominant religion of the populae since its propagation in the town c. 1572. Out of the 64,684 total population in 2004, 56,436 or 87.25% were Roman Catholics. Other Christians faith that have found their way in the town are Iglesia ni Kristo, United Methodist Church, United Church of Christ in the Philippines, and many others.

G. DIALECT

Generally the Town of Bulakan is typically a Tagalog speaking town, about 86.8% speak Tagalog while the rest speak other dialect such as Waray, Bicol, Ilocano and Cebuano.

H. LITERACY RATE

2005 Community Based Monitoring System Survey shows the Population of 10 years old and above at around 38,164 persons and about 37,822 are literate that is 99.10 percent, Data exhibited that around 342 persons from the age bracket populae are functionally illiterate and that is .90 percent.

Education

• Every barangay has its own day-care for pre-elementary pupils and an elementary school. There are also lots of private elementary schools situated in different barangays.

• The municipality has two public national high schools, Taliptip National High School and Doña Candeleria Meneses Duque Memorial National High School, and four private high schools namely Assumpta Academy, Dona Trinidad Mendoza Institute, Bulacan Montessori School and Bulacan Methodist School.

• For higher education, the Bulacan State University has also established a campus in the municipality namely the Meneses Campus in Barangay Matungao.

Economy

• Agriculture is the base economy for the municipality. There are no other major industries in the area. Government revenue is largely dependent on taxes. Business is not very much attractive here and a few have closed down due to high rental rates and tax imposures.

• Jobs are scarce here. Most people here work outside of the town mostly as skilled workers in the neighboring towns of Malolos and Guiguinto. Mostly in factories or establishments. Some are also professionals working in Metro Manila.

Tourism

• Bulakan is famous for its resorts like Jogima Farm and Resort, Bon-Bon Aqua Resort, Cool Waves among others.

• Bulakan has one historical monument built for Marcelo H. Del Pilar in Barangay San Nicolas, one of the propaganda leaders during the Spanish period and the editor-in-chief of La Solidaridad. A museum is also found there.

• Some fishponds are also open for those who would want to go fishing and some are open for rent.

Getting There

• The town is approximately 35 kilometers east of Manila and is accessible only by land.

Issues

• Bulakan is often in the center of controversy during election period. They say that vote buying is very rampant in the municipality with bribes ranging from 500 to as much as 2000 pesos thus tagging the municipality as the "Center of Vote-Buying" in the province of Bulacan. The Meneses clan, which has been ruling the municipality for almost four decades, is often accused by their opponents but they subsequently denies it.

• Although classified as a 2nd class municipality, Bulacan is lagging behind its neighbors like Malolos (which is now a component city), Guiguinto, Balagtas and Obando when it comes to development. There have been a few investments in the past few years but most of them go away. The town's primary source of income is tax from real property, public transportation (e.g. tricycles, jeepneys) and some business establishments.

• Garbage collection has been an issue for almost 5 years since the closure of the open dumpsite in Tawiran, Obando, Bulacan. Up to now, there has been no solution made by the municipal government although a promise last election had been made to address the problem.

External links

• Philippine Standard Geographic Code
• 2000 Philippine Census Information
• Official Website of the Province of Bulacan: Bulacan, Bulacan: General Info
• Commission on Elections

Notes

14.793°N 120.879°E / 14.793; 120.879