Lal-lo

Lal-lo, officially the Municipality of Lal-Lo, is a municipality in the province of Cagayan, Philippines. According to the, it has a population of people.
The municipality was formerly known as Municipio de Nueva Segovia and was the seat of the Diocese of Nueva Segovia before it was moved to Vigan in Ilocos Sur during the Spanish colonial period. Despite the name, now the ancient "Nueva Segovia" is part of the Archdiocese of Tuguegarao.

Etymology

Lal-lo means "twisting two strands to make a rope", or may also refer to the strong river current as it is located along Cagayan River, the longest and largest river in the Philippines.
In Fr. Jose Bugarin's Ibanag dictionary "Lallo-c, a town in this province which existed as the ancient capital until 1839 Lallo-c, to twist two strands, making a string or rope."

History

Pre-Hispanic History

In the classical era, Lal-lo was the home of hunter-gatherers who were specialized in hunting mollusks. These hunter-gatherers stockpiled their leftover mollusk shells in numerous sites in Lal-lo and neighboring Gattaran. Eventually, the shells formed the largest stock of shell-midden sites in the entire Philippines.

Spanish Colonial Era

The first European to set foot on what is now the town of Lal-lo was Juan de Salcedo, a Spanish conquistador and grandson of Miguel Lopez de Legazpi, in 1572. Don Juan Pablo Carrión established it as a pueblo in 1581 and named it Nueva Segovia. The reason is currently unknown, as the hometown of Carrión was Carrión de los Condes, as suggested by his last name. This is mentioned by Juan Miguel Aguilera and Ángel Miranda in their book Espadas del Fin del Mundo. A founding population of 200 Spanish citizens from Europe accompanied by 100 Spanish soldiers set up settlements across Cagayan Valley, headed by the city of Nueva Segovia. These people were in turn supplemented by 155 Latin American soldiers recruited from Mexico.

Diocese of Nueva Segovia

In 1595, Pope Clement VIII created the Diocese of Nueva Segovia. In 1596, the Dominicans accepted it as an ecclesiastical mission. Nueva Segovia had three churches: the cathedral that was under the secular clergy, and the parishes of Centro and Tocolona under the supervision of the Dominicans. Because of its distance from Manila and the constant threat of the Cagayan River's rampaging waters, however, the Diocese of Nueva Segovia was transferred to Vigan in Ilocos Sur province in 1758. The diocese's name went along with the transfer to Vigan and to avoid confusion, Bishop Miguel Garcia requested that Nueva Segovia and its suburbs renamed back to Lal-lo. The seat of the Diocese of Nueva Segovia remains in Vigan till today where is now elevated as the Archdiocese of Nueva Segovia.
The transfer affected the closure of the cathedral and the merging of the three churches into the single parish of Centro. The two other churches were abandoned and eventually destroyed because of neglect while the church of Centro, dedicated to Santo Domingo de Guzman, became what is now Lal-lo Church. The remains of three bishops are interred in the church: Bishop Miguel de Benavides who was Nueva Segovia's first bishop and later of Manila where he founded the University of Santo Tomas, Bishop Diego de Soria who was the second bishop of the diocese, and Bishop Diego Aduarte who was the sixth.

Provincial capital

Lal-lo remained the capital of Cagayan province until 1839 when the provincial seat of power was relocated to Tuguegarao; its transformation into the most important town in Cagayan led to the decline of Lal-lo. It was accepted as an ecclesiastical mission by the Dominicans in 1604, 23 years after the foundation of Lal-lo.

Restoration of cityhood

The first attempt of the restoration of Lal-lo's city status was made during the first term of Mayor Florante Pascual. The historical document originally signed by King Philip was not found, even after sending a research delegation to Madrid. Pascual determined that the restoration of Lal-lo's cityhood be made through an earlier bill.
There was a move in the Philippine Congress to regain its cityhood as a component city, and also rename the municipality back to its original name, Nueva Segovia.
Renewed attempt of city status restoration was carried out in January 2012. Board member Maria Olivia Pascual said that researchers had found a Spanish document that declared the municipality as a city. According to Pascual, a bill seeking the restoration of the city status of Lal-lo could be filed again through the efforts of First District Representative Juan Ponce Enrile, Jr.
As recently as 2018, vice mayor Oliver Pascual has said that the establishment of Northern Cagayan International Airport in the municipality would be "a great boost" in its bid for the restoration of its city status.

Contemporary

In 2006, the shell-midden sites of Lal-lo and Gattaran were included in the UNESCO Tentative List for World Heritage Site inclusion, a step closer to becoming a world heritage site. The shell-midden sites are currently being conserved by the local government from looting to preserve its outstanding universal value. In 2023, the government identified Lal-lo airport as a venue for American military forces as part of the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement.
In 2018, the provincial government of Cagayan through the leadership of Governor Manuel Mamba planned to make Lal-lo the provincial capital of Cagayan again.

Geography

Lal-lo is situated from the provincial capital Tuguegarao, and from the country's capital city of Manila.

Barangays

Lal-lo is politically subdivided into 35 barangays. Each barangay consists of puroks while some have sitios.

Abagao
Alaguia
Bagumbayan
Bangag
Bical
Bicud
Binag
Cabayabasan
Cagoran
Cambong
Catayauan
Catugan
Centro
Cullit
Dagupan
Dalaya
Fabrica
Fusina
Jurisdiction
Lalafugan
Logac
Magallungon
Magapit
Malanao
Maxingal
Naguilian
Paranum
Rosario
San Antonio
San Jose
San Juan
San Lorenzo
San Mariano
Santa Maria
Tucalana
Climate

Demographics

In the 2024 census, the population of Lal-lo was 48,404 people, with a density of.

Economy

Government

Local government

Lal-lo is part of the first legislative district of the province of Cagayan. It is governed by a mayor, designated as its local chief executive, and by a municipal council as its legislative body in accordance with the Local Government Code. The mayor, vice mayor, and the municipal councilors are elected directly by the people through an election held every three years.

Elected officials

Position	Name
Congressman	Ramon C. Nolasco Jr.
Mayor	Oliver Pascual
Vice-Mayor	Maria Olivia B. Pascual
Councilors	Crystalyn Mae D. Invierno
Councilors	Simeon O. Israel Jr.
Councilors	Rowyn Rowel M. Samonte
Councilors	Monette V. Caliva
Councilors	Gayleen S. Durupa
Councilors	Jimmy P. Balatico
Councilors	Jimmy C. Bacuyag
Councilors	Winston L. Rosales

Infrastructure

The Northern Cagayan International Airport in southern Lal-lo was constructed to support both the Cagayan Special Economic Zone in northern Cagayan and to serve seaborne traffic through Port Irene. The airport project involved the construction of a runway with a width of, following the standards of the International Civil Aviation Organization. The international airport accommodates large aircraft such as the Airbus A319-100 and Boeing regional jets of comparable size. Royal Air Philippines offers service twice weekly using BAe146 aircraft.

Education

The Schools Division of Cagayan governs the town's public education system. The division office is a field office of the DepEd in Cagayan Valley region. There are two schools district offices that govern all the public and private elementary and high schools throughout the municipality. These are Lal-lo North District and Lal-lo South District.

Primary and elementary schools

Alaguia Elementary School
Bangag Elementary School
Bical Elementary School
Bicud Elementary School
Cabayabasan Adventist Multigrade School
Cabayabasan Elementary School
Catugan Elementary School
Cullit Elementary School
Eduardo B. Batalla Elementary School
Fusina Elementary School
Jurisdiccion Christian Learning Center
Lalafugan Elementary School
Lal-lo North Central School
Logac Elementary School
Logac Adventist Multigrade Schoo
Magapit Elementary School
Malanao Elementary School
Maxingal Elementary School
Naguilian Elementary School
San Antonio Elementary School
San Juan Elementary School
San Lorenzo Elementary School
Sta. Maria Central School
Tolentino Academy of Lal-lo
Secondary schools
Bical National High School
Cabayabasan National High School
Magapit National High School
Lal-lo National High School
Logac National High School
Lyceum of Lal-lo
Higher educational institution
Cagayan State University - Lal-lo
Media

Radio

DWRL 95.1 - Community radio
Cable TV providers
RBS Powerlink Cable TV
Reliant Cable Network Services