History of Pangasinan

Pangasinan was among the earliest political and administrative units in the
Philippines. It was officially conquered and colonized by D. Martin de Goiti in
1571. On April 5, 1572, Pangasinan was made an encomienda by the Spanish royal
crown to receive instruction on the Catholic Faith, which means that Pangasinan
was organized under one leadership and has identity before the Spanish royal
court. Eight years later, in 1580, Pangasinan was organized into a political unit
under an alkalde mayor who at that time has authority as head of the province or
provincial government with judicial function indicating that Pangasinan has
become a province. To commemorate the day when Pangasinan became an
encomienda and the year it became a province, Pangasinan celebrates April 5,
1580 as the official founding day of the Province of Pangasinan. At that time, its
territorial jurisdiction included the Province of Zambales and parts of La Union
and Tarlac. By the middle of the 19th century however, the northern towns of
Agoo to Bacnotan were separated from the province and became parts of La
Union. The provincial territory was further diminished in 1875 with the annexation
of Paniqui and other towns south of it to Tarlac.

Pangasinan, derived its name from the word “panag asinan”, which means “where
salt is made”, owing to the rich and fine salt beds which were the prior source of
livelihood of the province’s coastal towns.

SIGNIFICANT PERIODS
Pre-Spanish period – Ancient Malayo-Polynesians of the Austronesian stock arrive
by boat and establish settlements along the Lingayen Gulf. They are proficient in
salt-making so they call their new home Pangasinan which means “the place where
salt is made.” This refers to the coastal area only while the inner areas are
collectively called “Caboloan” because the small bamboo species called “bolo”
abound there. The inhabitants of Pangasinan traded with India, China and Japan as
early as the 8th century A.D.

1572 – Juan de Salcedo, upon the orders of his grandfather Governor General
Miguel Lopez de Legazpi to explore and pacify northern Luzon, reaches
Pangasinan. A Spanish priest-historian, Fray Juan Ferrando, calls Salcedo the “first
discoverer” of Pangasinan. The province is now under the jurisdiction of Spain as
an encomienda since April 5.

1574-1575– The Chinese corsair Limahong, after being repulsed by the Spaniards
in his bid to found a colony in Manila, goes to Pangasinan and establishes his little
kingdom within a fort in Lingayen. His party is composed of men, women and
children. He forces the natives to cooperate with him by supplying him provisions
and serving him and his people. Juan de Salcedo pursues him and after months of
blockade Limahong and his forces escape in August 1575 through a channel that
they dug out into the China sea. Many of his men with their families choose to stay
behind in Lingayen.

1580 – Pangasinan is organized as an alcaldia mayor , a politico-civil

administrative unit or province, by Governor General Gonzalo Ronquillo de
Peñalosa and receives its first alcalde mayor in the person of Don Pedro Manrique.

1611 – The province of Pangasinan’s territorial limits are set by the superior
government, thus completing the requisites for a viable political subdivision: a
defined territory, a set of administrators, and law-abiding subjects. The province,
as constituted, now include all the coastal villages called “Pangasinan” and the
inner areas called “Caboloan.” The boundaries are from San Juan (now in La
Union) in the north, to the foothills of the Cordillera and Caraballo mountains in
the northeast and east, to Paniqui in the south, to the present area of Sual town in
the west plus that area that is the present-day Zambales.

1660 –Malong Revolt. Andres Malong of Binalatongan leads the revolt of the
Filipinos against the Spaniards. They were encouraged by the short takeover of
Manila by the Dutch. He declares himself as “Ari” but their declaration of
independence is short-lived as they are subdued by the Spaniards in less than a
month.

1762 – Palaris Revolt – Juan dela Cruz Palaris, also of Binalatongan, leads his
people to complain to the Spaniards about paying tributes. Encouraged by the
defeat of the Spanish army and capture of Manila by the British, they go on to
make more demands and drive away all the Spaniards from the capital town of
Lingayen. For two years the rebels and their supporters in the province taste
freedom and power over the Spanish government but the capture of Palaris ends
the rebellion. To forget this sad episode the Spanish officials give the town
“Binalatongan” its new name “San Carlos” in honor of Spain’s reigning monarch
Charles III.

1840 – The Casa Real (Royal House) is constructed in Lingayen. This 1,700 sqm
building of stone masonry and bricks is the provincial seat of government where
the Alcalde Mayor resides and holds office. It would be the venue of many historic
events in Pangasinan and was used as the “Juzgado” later on.
1855 – The Spanish government opens Sual as an official port of foreign trade.
Rice is exported to China and Macao from this port. It is also one of the country’s
centers for shipbuilding, together with Labrador, Lingayen and Dagupan.

December 27, 1897 – General Emilio Aguinaldo, accompanied by Spanish

Governor General Primo de Rivera and others, takes the train to the Dagupan
terminal and travels on to Sual to board the S.S. Uranus that is to bring him to exile
in Hongkong to comply with the Pact of Biak-na-Bato.

July 22, 1898 – Pangasinan is liberated from Spanish rule. The local board of
Katipunan that was organized by General Francisco Makabulos of Central Luzon
four months earlier and led by Don Daniel Maramba of Sta. Barbara, Vicente del
Prado of San Jacinto, Juan Quesada and Eliseo Arzadon of Dagupan, defeat the
Spanish forces making a last stand in Dagupan. Thereupon, they reenact the
proclamation of independence done at Kawit 40 days earlier.

February 5, 1899 – A day after the start of hostilities of the Philippine-American

War, President Aguinaldo directs Pangasinan Governor Quesada to transfer the
provincial capital to San Carlos to protect the province from the threat of a coastal
invasion by the Americans, as Lingayen is located right by the Gulf. San Carlos
thus served as the capital of the province from this day until the fall of the
Republican forces in Pangasinan in November of the same year.

August 1899 – In a barrio in Bayambang, Jose Palma, a staff member of the

revolutionary government’s newspaper La Independencia, writes a poem that
becomes the lyrics for the melody of the “La Marcha Nacional Filipina” composed
by Julian Felipe. This poem is translated later to Pilipino and given the title
“Lupang Hinirang” which is now the Philippine National Anthem. It was written in
the house of Doña Romana G. vda de Favis. This house served as the
“Malacañang” of the Aguinaldo Republic momentarily in November 1899. (The
said barrio is now part of Baustista.)

Early November 1899 – the Philippine American War reaches Pangasinan. General
Emilio Aguinaldo, the president of the first Philippine Republic, transfers the seat
of his government to Bayambang and it momentarily becomes the capital of the
republic. The Council of Government also convenes for the last time in
Bayambang, in which meeting it was finally decided to disband the army and
resort instead to guerilla warfare. The formal workings of the central government
of the first Philippine Republic thus ended in Bayambang.
November 20, 1899 –General MacArthur and General Lawton’s columns
successfully link up with General Wheaton’s in Dagupan, marking the end of overt
warfare in Pangasinan and completing the American conquest of the province.
Shortly, military administrators are installed.

February 16, 1901 – The Taft Commission organizes Pangasinan as a civil

province in a general assembly in Dagupan. Don Perfecto Sison of Lingayen is
appointed Governor and Lingayen is chosen over Dagupan to remain as the capital
because the Casa Real is located there. Judge Taft and his commissioners were
given a grand reception at the Casa Real.

September 1902 – The first public secondary school in Pangasinan is opened in

Lingayen with some of the US “Thomasites” as educators. The Pangasinan
Academic High School is the sole public secondary school in Pangasinan until
1946. Now named the Pangasinan National High School, it has produced many of
the most successful personages in the province.

February 10-19, 1919 – Governor Daniel Maramba leads the inaugural festivities
for the new Capitol. The revelry features an agricultural and industrial fair, a
carnival, parades and a grand coronation ball with a a queen and her court.
American Ralph Doane, designed this neo-classical building.

December 22, 1941 – World War II comes to Pangasinan. Bitter fighting between
the USAFFE (United States Armed Forces in the Far East) and the Japanese army
rages around the towns of Pozorrubio, Binalonan, and Tayug. In due course, the
USAFFE forces retreat to Bataan and the Japanese military takes control of
Pangasinan and the two-year Japanese invasion starts. This brought enormous
hardship to the people.

January 20, 1942 – It being necessary to cooperate with the occupation forces
through the Japanese Military Administration, Dr. Santiago Estrada, who earlier
evacuated the provincial office to Tayug, reassumes the governorship and
reorganizes the provincial government in order to help in the restoration of peace
and order and to work for the welfare of the people. Dagupan is chosen as the
provincial capital of the new Japanese-sponsored national government.

January 9-13, 1945 – The Allied Forces with the United States Sixth Army under
General Walter Krueger lands unopposed on the beaches of Lingayen, Binmaley,
Dagupan, Mangaldan, and San Fabian, effecting the start of the liberation of
Pangasinan. Four days later Gen. Douglas MacArthur came ashore right behind the
ruined Capitol building. He also landed in Dagupan and set up his Luzon
headquarters there.

February 1945 – The Americans through the Philippine Civil Affairs Unit (PCAU)
reestablish the provincial government and install Sofronio Quimson as Governor,
while retaining the wartime capital of Dagupan as such.

June 1945 – The provincial capital is moved back to Lingayen.

1946– Through the Philippine Rehabilation Act, the US government assists the
provincial government under Governor Enrique Braganza in reconstructing
damaged buildings including the Capitol building.

1953 – Governor Juan de Guzman Rodriguez undertakes the construction of the

governor’s official residence and guest house. It is named “Princess Urduja
Palace” after the legendary 14th century amazon leader in pre-colonial Pangasinan.
(Note: Sometime in the 1990s a national conference of scholars and academicians
concluded that the kingdom where Urduja was supposed to rule was not in
Pangasinan or anywhere in the Philippines but somewhere in Indochina.)

June 30, 1992 – A full-blooded Pangasinense, Fidel V. Ramos, becomes President

of the Republic of the Philippines. Among his many achievements that benefits
Pangasinan today was attracting foreign investors to put up the Sual Power Plant to
ease the power crisis before and during his term, and the San Roque Dam.

October 1999 – The Sual Power Plant in Sual started operating. With Pangasinan
as the host province, this is the largest and most effective coal-fired power plant in
the Philippines servicing the Luzon grid with a generating capacity of 1,218 MW.
The company has an Energy Conversion Agreement with the National Power
Corporation with a 25-year build-operate-transfer scheme (BOT).

1998 – The San Roque Multipurpose Project or SRMP in San Manuel and San
Nicolas was built to harness the power of the country’s third largest river, the Agno
River, bringing these benefits to several communities in the heart of Luzon if
operated and maintained properly: flood control, irrigation, electrical power and
improved water quality.

2007– The second half of 2007 marks the commencement of significant changes in
the physical appearance and systematic clustering of provincial government
buildings, parks, hospitals, and satellite offices. The intensive rehabilitation and
repair of the provincial capitol building gained national fame and recognition upon
its completion in 2008, earning for it the title “Best Provincial Capitol in the
Philippines”. Simultaneous to the renovation o f the physical infrastructure of the
province, human resource improvement was implemented through programs which
resulted to the restoration of dignity, self-respect and professionalism of provincial
government employees as working force partners in Pangasinan’s development. It
was during this term of Governor Amado T. Espino, Jr. that the founding day of
Pangasinan was established, celebrating its 430th founding anniversary for the first
time on April 5, 2010. Pangasinan’s Golden age took off from this year which saw
numerous investments flowing into the province, significant development projects
mushrooming in every corner, local, national and international linkages being
established, all for Pangasinan’s progress and advancement, and finally breaking
ground on a period where Pangasinenses proudly claim that their Province is the
best place to invest, live, work and raise a family.

2016 – The Golden Age of Pangasinan developed even more as then Pangasinan
Governor Amado T. Espino, Jr. passed the leadership to his son, Governor Amado
I. Espino III. Propelled by his sensibility to serve the whole Province of
Pangasinan in the same excellent fashion as that of his father, the Former Governor
Amado T. Espino Jr, Governor Amado I. Espino III ran and was elected Governor
of the Province of Pangasinan in the May 9, 2016 elections. He was re-elected as
the provincial executive in the recent May 13, 2019 elections. Truly, quality
leadership is easily discoverable by tangibly achieving the desired goals with
excellence, and by exemplifying the virtues of compassion, humility, integrity and
dedication.

References:
Callejas, Ana Hernández Sevilla, “Nota Informativa, Seccion de Filipinas,” 26 de
agosto de 2005
Callanta, Cesar V. – The Limahong Invasion, Quezon City, Philippines: New Day
Publishers, 1989
Cortez, Rosario Mendoza, “Pangasinan 1572-1800,” Quezon City: New Day
Publishers, 1990
Cortez, Rosario Mendoza, “Pangasinan 1901-1986: A Political, Socioeconomic
and Cultural History,” New Day Publishers, 1990
Cortez, Rosario Mendoza, “Pangasinan 1801- 1900: The Beginnings of
Modernization.,” Quezon City: New Day Publishers, 1990
Quintos, Felipe, “Sipi Awaray Gelew Diad Pilipinas (Revolucion Filipina),”
Lingayen, Pangasinan: Gumawid Press, 1926
Williams, Daniel R., “The Odyssey of the Philippine Commission,” 3, Chicago A.
C. McClurg & Co.-191, Digitized by Google
MUHON: A Journal of Architecture, Landscape Architecture and the Designed
Environment, University of the Philippines College of Architecture, Issue No. 3
Basa, Restituto, “From the Saltbeds,” People’s Digest and Forum, Dagupan City:
August 11, 2006
 PANGASINAN HYMN

I
Sekder ka tan dayew mi,
Pangasinan ya pinabli
Deen mo tan iyaliguas,
Piugagep ko lawas.

II
Diad pusok Pangasinan,
Agka Nalinguwanan
Luyag ko ya niyanakan,
Peteg takan yaman.

Refrain I
Matuwan aliguwas mo natay anengneng la
Pasimbaloy ginmapo la…
San pankakasakey natay nalilikna,
Lapud panamablid sika

Refrain II
Say dayat mon napnoy dakep tan say yaman,
Sekder na kapalandeyan…
Kareenan tan santing mo Pangasinan
Pablien tan lawas bantayan.

Refrain III
Lawas takan intanduro Pangasinan,
Aroen ka tan bayuboan…
Panangampupom ya walan abangonan,
Ikikinon kod siopa man…
Pangasinan luyag mi tan yaman