Pangasinan
Pangasinan, officially the Province of Pangasinan, is a coastal province in the Philippines located in the Ilocos Region of Luzon. Its capital is Lingayen while San Carlos City is the most populous. Pangasinan is in the western area of Luzon along Lingayen Gulf and the South China Sea. It has a total land area of. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 3,188,540. The official number of registered voters in Pangasinan is 2,156,306. The western portion of the province is part of the homeland of the Sambal people, while the central and eastern portions are the homeland of the Pangasinan people. Due to ethnic migration, the Ilocano people settled in the province.
Pangasinan is the name of the province, the people and the spoken language. Indigenous Pangasinan speakers are estimated to number at least 2 million. The Pangasinan language, which is official in the province, is one of the officially recognized regional languages in the Philippines. Several ethnic groups enrich the cultural fabric of the province. Almost all of the people are Pangasinans and the rest are descendants of the Bolinao and Ilocano who settled the eastern and western parts of the province. Pangasinan is spoken as a second language by many ethnic minorities in Pangasinan. The minority ethnic groups are the Bolinao-speaking Zambals, and Ilocanos.
Popular tourist attractions in Pangasinan include the Hundred Islands National Park in Alaminos the white-sand beaches of Bolinao and Dasol. Dagupan is known for its Bangus Festival. Pangasinan is also known for its mangoes and ceramic oven-baked Puto Calasiao. Pangasinan occupies a strategic geo-political position in the central plain of Luzon. Pangasinan has been described as the gateway to northern Luzon.
Etymology
The name Pangasinan means "place of salt" or "place of salt-making"; it is derived from the prefix pang-, meaning "for", the root word asin, meaning "salt", and suffix -an, signifying "location". The Spanish form of the province's name, Pangasinán, remains predominant, albeit without diacritics and so does its pronunciation:. The province is a major producer of salt in the Philippines. Its major products include bagoong and alamang.History
Early history
Pangasinan, like the rest of the Philippines, was settled by Austronesian peoples by sea during the Austronesian expansion. They established settlements along the Lingayen Gulf and was part of the ancient Austronesian trade routes to India, China, and Japan, since at least the 8th century. The primary industry along the coastal areas was salt-making, which is the origin of the name "Pangasinan". The interior lands were called "Caboloan", referring to the abundance of bolo bamboo.Pangasinan is identified with "Feng-jia-shi-lan" which appears in Ming Dynasty Chinese records. They are believed to have sent emissaries to China with symbolic "tributes" from 1403 to 1405, which was required to establish trade relations.
In the 16th century, Pangasinan was called the "Port of Japan" by the Spanish. The locals wore native apparel typical of other maritime Southeast Asian ethnic groups in addition to Japanese and Chinese silks. Even common people were clad in Chinese and Japanese cotton garments. They blackened their teeth and were disgusted by the white teeth of foreigners which were likened to that of animals. They used porcelain jars typical of Japanese and Chinese households. Japanese-style gunpowder weapons were encountered in naval battles in the area. In exchange for these goods, traders from all over Asia would come to trade primarily for gold and slaves, but also deerskins, civet and other local products. Other than a notably more extensive trade network with Japan and China they were culturally similar to other Luzon groups to the south.
Pangasinans were also described as a warlike people who were known for their resistance to Spanish conquest. Bishop Domingo Salazar described Pangasinans as the fiercest and cruelest in the land. They were untouched by Christianity but like Christians they used vintage wine in small quantities for sacramental practices. The church bragged that they, not the Spanish military, won the northern part of the Philippines for Spain. The church was strict with adulterers; the punishment was death for both parties. Pangasinans were known to take defeated Sambal, and Negrito warriors to sell as slaves to Chinese traders.
Spanish colonial era
On April 27, 1565, the Spanish conquistador Miguel López de Legazpi arrived in the Philippine islands with about 500 soldiers and established a Spanish settlement. On May 24, 1570, the Spanish forces defeated Rajah Sulayman and other rulers of Manila and later declared Manila the capital of the Spanish East Indies. After securing Manila, the Spanish forces conquered the rest of the island of Luzon, including Pangasinan.Provincia de Pangasinán
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. Limahong, a Chinese pirate, fled to Pangasinan after his fleet was driven away from Manila in 1574. Limahong failed to establish a colony in Pangasinan, as an army led by de Salcedo chased him out of Pangasinan after a seven-month siege.What is known today as the Province of Pangasinan dates back to an administrative and judicial district as early as 1580. Its capital was Lingayen, but its territorial boundaries were first delineated in 1611. Lingayen has remained the capital of the province except for a brief period during the revolutionary era when San Carlos City served as temporary administrative headquarters and during the slightly longer Japanese occupation, when Dagupan was the capital.
The province of Pangasinan was formerly classified as an alcaldía mayor de término or first-class civil province during the Spanish regime. Its territorial jurisdiction once included most of the province of Zambales and portions of what are now the Provinces of Tarlac and La Union.
By the end of the 1700s, Pangasinan had 19,836 native families and 719 Spanish Filipino families.
Rebellion against the Spanish rule
Malong liberation
Andres Malong, a native chief of the town of Binalatongan, liberated the province from Spanish rule in December 1660. The people of Pangasinan proclaimed Andres Malong Ari na 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. In February 1661, the newly independent Kingdom of Pangasinan fell to the Captaincy General of the Philippines.Palaris Liberation
On November 3, 1762, the people of Pangasinan proclaimed independence from Spain after a rebellion led by Juan de la Cruz Palaris. The Pangasinan Revolt was sparked by news that Manila had fallen to the British on October 6, 1762. The Traité de Paris ended the Seven Years' War among Britain, France, and Spain on March 1, 1763. On January 16, 1765, Juan de la Cruz Palaris was captured and Pangasinan was again subjugated by the Spanish.Philippine Revolution
The Katipunan, a nationalist secret society, was founded on July 7, 1892, with the aim of uniting the peoples of the Philippines in the fight for independence and religious freedom. The Philippine Revolution began on August 23, 1896, and was led by the Supremo, Andrés Bonifacio. On November 18, 1897, a Katipunan council was formed in Western Pangasinan with Presidente Generalisimo Roman Manalang and General Mauro Ortiz.General Emilio Aguinaldo proclaimed Philippine independence on June 12, 1898. Dagupan, the major commercial center of Pangasinan, was surrounded by Katipunan forces on July 18, 1898. The Battle of Dagupan lasted from July 18 to 23 of that year with the surrender of 1,500 Spanish soldiers under Commander Federico J. Ceballos and Governor Joaquin de Orengochea. It was fought by local Katipuneros under the command of General Francisco Makabulos and the last remnants of the once mighty Spanish Army under General Ceballos. Three local heroes fought in the five-day battle, Don Daniel Maramba of Santa Barbara, Don Vicente Prado of San Jacinto and Don Juan Quezada of Dagupan. Their armies amassed in Dagupan making a last stand at the brick-walled Catholic Church.
Maramba led the liberation of the town of Santa Barbara on March 7, 1898, following a signal for simultaneous attack from Makabulos. Hearing that Santa Barbara fell to rebel forces, the Spanish in Dagupan attempted to retake the town but were repelled by Maramba's forces. After the setback, the Spanish decided to concentrate their forces in Lingayen in order to protect the provincial capital. This allowed Maramba to expand his operations to include Malasiqui, Urdaneta and Mapandan which he defeated in succession. He then defeated the town of Mangaldan before proceeding to the last Spanish garrison in Dagupan. On March 7, 1898, rebels under the command of Prado and Quesada attacked convents in the province of Zambales which now constitute western Pangasinan.
Attacked and brought under Filipino control were Alaminos, Agno, Anda, Alos, Bani, Balincaguin, Bolinao, Dasol, Eguia and Potot. The revolt then spread to Labrador, Sual, Salasa and many other towns in the west. The towns of Sual, Labrador, Lingayen, Salasa and Bayambang were occupied first by the forces of Prado and Quesada before they attacked Dagupan.
On April 17, 1898, General Makabulos appointed Prado as Politico-Military Governor of Pangasinan, with Quesada as his second-in-command. In May 1898, General Emilio Aguinaldo returned from his exile in Hong Kong following the signing of the Pact of Biac-na-Bato in December 1897. Aguinaldo's return renewed the flames of the revolution. On June 3, 1898, General Makabulos entered Tarlac.
So successful were the Katipunan in their many pitched battles against Spanish forces that on June 30, 1898, Spanish authorities decided to evacuate all forces to Dagupan for a last stand against the rebels. All civilian and military personnel, including volunteers from towns not yet in rebel hands, were ordered to go to Dagupan. Those who heeded this order were the volunteer forces of Mangaldan, San Jacinto, Pozorrubio, Manaoag, and Villasis. Among the items brought to Dagupan was the image of the Most Holy Rosary of the Virgin of Manaoag, the patroness of Pangasinan.
The siege began when the forces of Maramba and Prado converged in Dagupan on July 18, 1898. The arrival of General Makabulos strengthened the rebel forces until the Spanish, holed up inside the Catholic Church, surrendered five days later. The poorly armed Filipino rebels were no match for the Spanish and loyal Filipino soldiers holed inside the Church. The tempo of battle changed when the attackers under the command of Don Vicente Prado devised a crude means of protection to shield them from Spanish fire while advancing. They used trunks of bananas bundled up in sawali which enabled them to move towards the Church.