Dagupan city

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City Hall in the Philippines

Dagupan,  is an independent component city in the province of Pangasinan on the Lingayen Gulf  island of Luzon, Dagupan is a major commercial and financial center north of Manila. Also, the city is one of the centers of modern medical services, media and communication in Northern Luzon. Dagupan is situated within the fertile Agno River Valley.

The city is among the top producers of milkfish in the province. From 2001-2003, Dagupan's milkfish production totaled to 35,560.1 metric tons (MT), contributing 16.8 percent to the total provincial production. Of its total production in the past three years, 78.5 percent grew in fish pens/cages while the rest grew in brackish water fishpond.

Etymology

The city's name was derived from the local Pangasinense word pandaragupan, meaning "gathering place" as the city has been a regional market center for centuries.

History

Huangdom of Pangasinan
During the 15th century, Pangasinan had been the site of an ancient kingdom called the Huangdom of Pangasinan (Known as Feng-chia-hsi-lan in Chinese records). A succession of local kings starting from Huang Kamayin set the kingdom up as a trade-center exporting silver, horses and Torquise shells to the ports in Japan, Ryukyu and China which in turn, sold silks and samurai swords to the Kingdom of Pangasinan.

Spanish Occupation

The area that is now known as Dagupan was described as marshland thickly covered with mangrove and nipa palm trees.[8] The natives lived along the shoreline and riverbanks of Calmay, Pantal, and Bonuan. But there were also communities in Malued, Lasip, Pogo, and Bacayao. The natives called the area Bacnotan which would later be incorporated into the encomienda of Lingayen that was established in 1583.

The foreign traders would come to the Lingayen coast to trade gold that was brought down to the area by tribes from the Cordillera Mountains. Aside from traders, Filipinos also had experience with pirates from Japan and China. One of the Chinese corsairs was Lim Feng (in Fukienese, Lim A-hong), who would be known in Philippine history as Limahong.

Limahong sailed down the Ilocos coast with 62 ships and attacked Manila on November 30, 1574. The Spanish, however, under Mexico-born Juan de Salcedo repulsed Limahong's two attacks. The Chinese corsair repaired to Pangasinan to establish a colony at Bacnotan, invading and dissolving the local Kingdom of Pangasinan on December 2, 1574. But the Spanish conquistador Juan de Salcedo laid siege to his fortress for eight months by blocking the river outlets. Limahong purportedly broke through the siege by digging a channel from the Agno River through the Bacnotan marshes to Lingayen Gulf. Thereafter, Pangasinan was incorporated to Spain.

In 1661 a big fire hit Bacnotan during the Malong Revolt, led by Andres Malong of Binalatongan, against the forced labor and mandatory sale of local goods imposed by the Spanish colonial government. The fire broke out after Malong sent 3,000 supporters, most of whom were Zambal tribesmen, to Ilocos and Cagayan to fight the Spaniards. The people of Bacnotan, many of whom joined the Spanish forces in repelling the Zambal marauders, rebuilt the town and renamed it Nandaragupan, meaning where once stood the commercial center, indicating its early importance as a trade, commercial and political center in the region. In 1720, Nandaragupan was chartered as a town but its name was simplified to Dagupan. Malong was eventually beheaded in the city's Pantal bridge in 1661 by Spanish authorities.

Dagupan was also the birthplace of a ladino named Caragay, who led another uprising in 1719 against the provincial governor (alcalde mayor, in Spanish), who had him flogged for what appeared to be a false accusation of smuggling. Governor Antonio del Valle had Caragay arrested in the village of Nantagalan, northeast of San Jacinto and Mangaldan and flogged. Vowing vengeance, Caragay organized a band of men who hounded the governor until they were able to kill him. Historians view Caragay as a "model" of the revolts of Palaris and Diego Silang. In 1762, Dagupan would be one of the first towns to join the Palaris Revolt against Spain.

In 1780 Pantal, originally named Pantalan (port), became a trading center and docking station for merchant ships. At about the same time, the bangus industry thrived and mangrove swamps were converted into fishponds, starting the land conversions that would later have an impact on flooding and earthquake damage in the province. The opening of the Pantalan dock eased the transportation of goods from Pangasinan to other parts of the country, spurring the cultivation of idle lands in the eastern part and the development of fishponds in the western part of the province. The new dock also eased communications between the colonial government, its soldiers and the missionaries, who were tasked to colonize the natives in the Cordillera Mountains and the Cagayan Valley region and exploit its gold deposits.

In July 1787 the Spaniards began to build a road to connect Pangasinan and the Cagayan Valley, the home of several head-hunting tribesmen who refused to submit to Spanish rule. Although it took several years to complete, the road would play a vital role in the colonization of the Cagayan Valley and the Cordillera Mountains.

The Palaris and Silang revolts, which occurred simultaneously with the British Invasion of the Philippines demonstrated to the Spaniards the importance of ports in Pangasinan and Ilocos to the security of the entire island of Luzon. They thus became centers of Spanish governance and acculturation in the 19th century. When the port of Manila was opened to foreign trade in 1830, tobacco from Pangasinan and Cagayan Valley were shipped to the colonial capital via Dagupan and Lingayen. Foreign trading agents also began to make appearances in the two towns, starting a new era of prosperity, especially for the provincial gentry.

The Filipino scholar Maximo Kalaw found the description of the American writer David Barrows as appropriate:

The Filipino had now become embarked upon a new current of intellectual experience—a course of enlightenment which has been so full of unexpected development. Throughout the islands a class was rapidly growing up to which the new industries had brought wealth. Their means enabled them to build spacious and splendid homes of the fine hardwoods of the Philippines, and to surround themselves with such luxuries as the life of the islands permitted. This class was rapidly gaining education.

This was also true of the Dagupan gentry. Trade enriched many families and allowed them to send their scions to study overseas. These young men returned to the Philippines not only with technical knowledge in their chosen fields but also with the intellectual currents of the time, including constitutional republicanism which swept Spain in 1810.

News from the colonial government in Manila also reached Dagupan at a faster pace with the completion of the Manila-Dagupan Railway in 1891. The railway would play a significant role not only in the economic development of Pangasinan but also in the success of the Philippine Revolution.

Under the First Philippine Republic

Not much is known of Dagupeños involvement in the Katipunan and the first and second parts of the Philippine Revolution. But on March 7, 1898, the Dagupeños began a coordinated attack on Spanish forces that appears to have been planned months in advance. It is now known as the Battle of Dagupan (1898)

The Dagupeño leaders of the attack were Juan Solis Galvan, Teodoro Villamil, Pedro de Venecia, Macario Meneses and Daniel Maramba. They were under the overall command of Francisco Macabulos, who had just liberated the provinces of Pampanga and Tarlac. He was assisted by Ramon Manalang, who was based in Alaminos. Communications between Macabulos and Manalang were coordinated by Macario Meneses of Bonuan.

The Spanish forces were commanded by Federico Caballos, who had troops garrisoned at all the towns of Pangasinan. In Dagupan, he had men at the Colegio de San Alberto Magno, which guarded the western approach to the town; at the foot of Quintos Bridge, which guarded the east; and his main force at the Catholic church.

Although the revolutionary forces were ill-equipped (most of them armed only with bolos and lances), they attacked the Spaniards with an ingenious rolling trench. The "trenches" were made of several banana tree trunks, wrapped in sheets of dried nipa palm leaves. The trenches were seven feet in diameter and the revolutionists would roll them toward Spanish positions so they could fight them in close-quarter combat with their bolos and lances.

Galvan led the back at the Colegio de San Alberto Magno while Villamil and De Venecia swooped down on the enemies at Quintos Bridge. The Tagalog forces from Nueva Ecija, who were better armed, joined the Dagupeños who attacked the Spanish position at the church. The Dagupeños held the Spanish troops at bay in Dagupan while other revolutionists liberated other towns in the province. Maramba later joined the battle after fighting in Santa Barbara and Mangaldan.

By July 21, after four months and 16 days, Macabulos unleashed a concerted attack. Spanish and Filipino troops exchanged fire for two nights and a day before Caballos surrendered on July 23, 1898, six weeks after the Declaration of Philippine Independence on June 12, 1898.

After the town returned to normal, President Emilio Aguinaldo named Galvan president of the municipal council. Galvan was a ranking officer of the Katipunan. Galvan Street along which the public market was built was named after him.

Japanese Occupation

The Japanese planes bombed in Dagupan on December 1941 and through the occupying the Japanese forces on 1942. [9]The established of the military garrisons of the Imperial Japanese armed forces stationed in Dagupan. The general headquarters of the Philippine Commonwealth Army from 1942 to 1946 and Philippine Constabulary under the 2nd Infantry Regiment from 1944 to 1946 was active and stationed in Dagupan during the Japanese Occupation. Pangasinese freedom resistance was invaded on Dagupan from 1942 to 1945 and supporting local soldiers under the Philippine Commonwealth Army units and attacking Japanese and aftermath the three year conflicts by the guerrillas were retreating Japanese troops. Before the liberating American troops under the US Sixth Army was landed and invading Japanese troops at Lingayen Gulf on January 9, 1945. Stated the Battle of Pangasinan on 1945 between the Imperial Japanese and the combined United States-Philippine Commonwealth troops.

Allied liberation

On January 8–January 9, 1945, U.S. General Douglas MacArthur landed his amphibious liberation force in the city's "Blue Beach" section along the Lingayen Gulf. From his beachhead in Dagupan, along with those in neighboring towns Lingayen, Binmaley and San Fabian, MacArthur's forces under General Walter Krueger together with the Philippine Commonwealth troops under the Philippine Army and Philippine Constabulary units were able to penetrate Japanese defenses in Luzon island and liberate Filipino and allied prisoners of war near Cabanatuan in the province of Nueva Ecija, and in Manila's University of Sto. Tomas, among others.

Population/Language/Area

Dagupan City has a total population of 163,676. The average annual growth rate of the city is 0.69% and having a population density of 2,931person/square kilometer.
The digitized cadastral maps reveal that the sum of the lands within Dagupan’s boundaries is 4,446 hectares, bounded by the Lingayen Gulf in the north, San Fabian in the northeast, Mangaldan in the east, Calasiao in the south and Binmaley in the west. Land use is primarily for Agriculture with 35.98% of the total land area, fishpond, cropland, residential with 22.88%; others are for commercial, industrial, institutional, government private, parks, and roads.
The city is bounded by the Lingayen Gulf in the north, San Fabian in the northeast, Mangaldan in the east, Calasiao in the south and Binmaley in the west.

Products and Services

Dagupan City’s economic investment comes from cropland or agriculture production such as rice, and livestock/Poultry of swine, cattle, carabao, and goat. Poultry population produces 15,000 heads. There is also the Fishery and Aquatic Resources with the production of Bangus – 2,440 metric tons yearly, Tilapia and Sugpo (prawns).
Dagupan City specializes in the production of sugarcane, corn, rice, copra, salt, and alcoholic liquor produced from the nipa palm. The city is also famous for all sorts of Bangus specialty such as boneless marinated, boneless plain and regular bangus. The City also sells bagoong alamang (composed of salted small shrimp), terong (composed of salted bonnet mouth), Siganids (malaga) and Ipon (goby).

Tourist spots

Remnants of Franklin Bridge – this bridge connects the Downtown area and Calmay and later on sank in Calmay River with San Alberto Magno College during the biggest flood in 1935.
Dagupe Restaurant – this is the oldest establishment in the city located at Angel B. Fernandez Avenue.

Festivals and Celebrations

Bangus Festival – this is celebrated every month of April. This is the city’s way of featuring their bangus products with its unique taste. During the festival there are dancers and performers parading the city streets, all wearing or handling a bangus image with them.
Pigar-Pigar Festival – this festival promotes the city’s tasteful pigar-pigar made from local meat.