Mabalacat


Mabalacat, officially Mabalacat City, is a component city in the province of Pampanga, Philippines. According to the, it has a population of people.
Mabalacat is in the urban core of Metro Clark, also known as Metro Angeles, an urban area in Pampanga. This area is considered the industrial and residential heartland of Central Luzon. Metro Clark is also identified as a regional center by the national government.

Etymology

Mabalacat's name was derived from indigenous Negrito word mabalacat meaning "forest of balacats", a species of tree that was once prominent in the area.

History

Prior to 1712, Mabalacat was a barrio of Bambang. It became a town in 1792 and was named after the abundant Balacat tree, a fourth-class timber tree with bark that possesses antimicrobial properties. Once a settlement of an Aeta tribe, the area was a virtual forest of balacat trees. "Ma-balacat" in the native Kapampangan language means "full of Balacats." Mabalacat in Maranao is "Mababaapalaqat", which means "maiksing hagdan" in Tagalog.
In 1853, Mabalacat had a population of 2,611 and four barangays, namely, Babangdapu, Duquit, Malabni, and Paglimbunan. By 1903, its population increased to 7,049 across 19 barangays. These were Bical, Bundagul, Dapdap, Dau, Dolores, Iba, Mabiga, Mamatitang, Mangalit, Matas, Mawaque, Paralayunan, Poblacion, Quitangil, San Joaquin, Santa Ines, Santa Maria, Sapang Balen, and Sapang Biabas. In 1948, Mabalacat's barangays increased to 20 with the addition of Fort Stotsenburg.
In 1860, a military command was established by authorities of the Spanish Governor-General due to the lawlessness and depredations perpetrated by the negritos. The Pampanga towns of Bamban, Capas, Concepcion, Victoria, Tarlac, Magalang, Porac, and Floridablanca and Mabalacat were created into what was called a Commandancia Militar. However, in 1873, the Military Command returned Mabalacat together with the towns of Magalang, Floridablanca, and Porac to the parent province, Pampanga.

Cityhood

The former municipality was officially upgraded to a city through Republic Act 10164 authored by Carmelo Lazatin Sr. following a referendum on July 21, 2012, and became the third in Pampanga after Angeles City and San Fernando. It is home to roughly most of the Clark Freeport Zone, the rest in nearby Angeles, where the main gate is located. Clark International Airport, as well as the numerous hotels, casinos, golf courses, and resorts in Clark Freeport, are mostly situated in Mabalacat.

Geography

Mabalacat has a land area of. It is from Manila, from Angeles, and from the provincial capital, San Fernando.
The soil is charcoal black and shiny, a sign of fertility, and is suitable for growing rice, sugarcane and other rootcrops. Like the neighbouring cities of Angeles and San Fernando and the towns/municipalities of Porac, Bacolor, Santa Rita, Mexico, Magalang and Arayat, this city rarely gets inundated by floods from heavy rains and typhoons because it is situated on an elevated, well-drained part of the Central Luzon plains known as the "Upper Pampanga".

Barangays

Mabalacat is politically subdivided into 27 barangays. Each barangay consists of puroks and some have sitios.
  • Atlu-Bola
  • Bical
  • Bundagul
  • Cacutud
  • Calumpang
  • Camachiles
  • Dapdap
  • Dau
  • Dolores
  • Duquit
  • Lakandula
  • Mabiga
  • Macapagal Village
  • Mamatitang
  • Mangalit
  • Marcos Village
  • Mawaque
  • Paralayunan
  • Poblacion
  • San Francisco
  • San Joaquin
  • Santa Ines
  • Santa Maria
  • Santo Rosario
  • Sapang Balen
  • Sapang Biabas
  • Tabun
The largest barangay is Dau, which became a barrio in 1936 by virtue of Presidential Proclamation No. 1. It is now a business center whose commercial output runs parallel to that of downtown. A former terminus of the North Luzon Expressway, it is the most urban and most populous area in Mabalacat, home to roughly 23% of the city's population.
San Francisco, the second largest barangay, along with San Joaquin, Santa Ines, Poblacion, Calumpang and other barangays are categorized as urban in view of their proximity to the city proper. Sapang Balen, with a population of 166 persons, is the smallest barangay.

Climate

Demographics

Economy

Mabalacat has an average annual income of as of 2011 derived mostly from municipal license fees, land tax, Internal Revenue allotment, roads and bridges fund. In 1997, there were 2,447 business establishments registered in the Mabalacat City, consisting of 79 manufacturers mostly involved in sash factory, iron works, ceramics, bakery and 1,806 trading companies. The financial needs are served by eleven banks, mostly concentrated in Dau.
Public utilities include the Mabalacat Water System, Pampanga Electric Cooperative II, three telephone companies namely, Datelcom Corporation, Smart Communications and Digital Telecommunications Philippines, Incorporated and one cable television network which runs solely for Mabalacat.
The city is also a major transportation hub; a number of major road networks including the North Luzon Expressway, Subic–Clark–Tarlac Expressway, and MacArthur Highway cut across the region. At the southern part of the city is the Dau Bus Terminal, which caters to passengers bound for Metro Manila and provinces in Northern Luzon such as Tarlac, Pangasinan, Ilocos Norte, Ilocos Sur, Nueva Ecija, La Union, Bataan, Baguio, and Zambales.
Ayala Land Logistics Holdings Corp.'s Artico Mabalacat is a cold storage at the Pampanga Technopark equipped with 19 cold rooms capable of housing 4,000 pallet positions.

Local government

Mabalacat City Government is composed of a Mayor as a Chief Executive and Sangguniang Panlungsod headed by the City Vice Mayor and 10 Sangguniang Panlungsod members with 3 ex-officio.
The following are the elected officials of Mabalacat City who assumed office on the noon of June 30, 2025
  • Mayor: Atty. Gerald Guttrie P. Aquino
  • Vice-Mayor: Marcos T. Castro Jr.
  • Sangguniang Panlungsod:
Ex-Officio Members:
  1. ABC President Rey Pineda
  2. SK President Paul Andre Tiongco
  3. Ruvielane S. Margarito

    City Fiesta

According to legend, when the early settlers were clearing the forests, Cabezang Laureana's workers found, hidden among the bushes, a statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary with baby Jesus sitting on her lap. On February 2, the statue was presented by Caragan as a gift to Padre Maximo Manuguid, the priest of the early Mabalacat Church that was made of sawali and cogon grass. From then on, the city fiesta was observed on the second of February.
The old town hall was named Tabnuan: Mabalacat Cultural Center, or museum of arts, cultural displays and exhibits. It opened on February 28, 2024, the city’s Balacat Festival.

Pastorella

The pastorella ceased in Pampanga towns for 40 years after Vatican II.
In Mabalacat, however, at Our Lady of Divine Grace Parish, pastorella lives on: In the 4:30 a.m. mass on Monday, the pastorella repertoire includes the Kyrie, Gloria, Credo, Sanctus and Agnus Dei. The hymns are in Latin, except for Kyrie, which is in Greek.

Parishes

There are 31 educational institutions in Mabalacat: one state college, one private college, one technical training school, two secondary public, two private high schools and 25 public elementary schools divided into two districts, Mabalacat North and Mabalacat South. Technical Education and Skills Development Authority accredited institutions offering vocational-technical skills abound in the area.

State University

The University of the Philippines - Diliman Extension Program in Pampanga is located in a portion of Clark Freeport Zone that is located in Mabalacat City. It offers undergraduate courses such as BA Applied Psychology, BA Business Economics and BS Business Management. It also offers a non-thesis graduate course, Master in Management .

Private schools

Private schools in Mabalacat listed with the Department of Education are Livingstone International School, Athena's Cradle Center, Inc., Brightstone Learning Center, Children of Fatima School, Inc., Christian Vision Academy Madapdap, Dee Hwa Liong College Foundation, Don Bosco Academy Pampanga, Don Teodoro V. Santos Institute, Doña Asuncion Lee Integrated School, Great Shepherd Christian Academy, Immanuel Montessori School, Inc., Clark College of Science and Technology, Jose C. Feliciano College, Mabalacat Christian Academy, Mary Help of Christians School, Inc., Montessori School of St. Nicholas, Nehemiah Christian School, Inc., School of the Infant Jesus the Empowered Zone for Excellence in Education, Inc. Dau, Shield of Victory Christian School, St. Anthony College of Technology, St. Mutien College, and Divine Grace Academy, FDSA Aviation College of Science and Technology Inc.
Listed with and accredited by TESDA is the Asian Institute of Computer Studies, a private technical school offering I.T. courses.