Pampanga edit
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Province of Pampanga
Provincial seal of Pampanga
Provincial seal of Pampanga
Map of the Philippines with Pampanga highlighted
Map of the Philippines with Pampanga highlighted
Region Central Luzon (Region III)
Capital City of San Fernando
Divisions  
 - Highly urbanized cities 1
 - Component cities 1
 - Municipalities 20
 - Barangays 537
 - Congressional districts 4
Population 10th largest
 - Total (2007) 1,882,730
 - Density 863/km² (4th highest)
Area 23rd smallest
 - Total 2,180.7 km²
Founded December 11, 1571
Spoken languages Kapampangan, Tagalog, English
Governor Eduardo Panlilio (Independent)

Pampanga is a province of the Philippines located in the Central Luzon region. Its capital is the City of San Fernando, Pampanga. Pampanga is bordered by the provinces of Bataan and Zambales to the west, Tarlac and Nueva Ecija to the north, and Bulacan to the southeast. Pampanga also lies on the northern shore of Manila Bay. The name "La Pampanga" was given by the Spaniards who found the early natives living near the river banks. It also served as the capital of the archipelago for two years from 1762-1764 during the British invasion of Manila. The word pangpang, from which the province's name originates, means river bank. Its creation in 1571 makes it the oldest among the seven provinces of Central Luzon. The Province of Pampanga enjoys the distinction of being known as the culinary heart of the Philippines.

Pampanga is served by the Diosdado Macapagal International Airport, which is located at Clark Field in Angeles City, some 16 kilometers north of the provincial capital.

Contents

People and culture

Main article: Kapampangan people

The inhabitants of Pampanga are generally referred to as Kapampangans (alternatively spelled Capampañgan), Pampangos, or Pampangueños. A little history of Pampanga shows that the Kapampangans take pride in their province for being one of the eight provinces in the country to revolt against Spain and having produced two presidents, three chief justices, a senate president, the first Filipino cardinal and many outstanding personalities in public service, education, diplomacy, journalism, the arts and sciences, entertainment and business.

Kapampangan cuisine is widely thought to be among the most evolved and refined of Philippine culinary traditions. Some of the dishes that are said to have originated from Pampanga are kare-kare, sisig, and kilawin.

Economy

Farming and fishing are the two main industries of the province. Major products include rice, corn, sugar cane, and tilapia. In addition to farming and fishing, the province also supports thriving cottage industries that specialize in wood carving, furniture-making, guitars, and handicrafts. Every year during the Christmas season, the province of Pampanga becomes the center of a thriving industry centered on handcrafted lighted lanterns called “parols” that displays a kaleidoscope of light and color. Other industries include its casket industry and the manufacturing of all Purpose Vehicles present in the Municipality of Sto. Tomas.

The province is famous for its culinary industry. Kapampangans are well known for their culinary expertise. Well known food products range from the ordinary to the exotic. Pampanga's Best and Mekeni Food are among the better known meat brands of the country producing Kapampangan favorites such as pork and chicken tocinos, beef tapa, hot dogs, and longanizas (Philippines-style sausages and cured meats.)

Speciality foods such as the murcon (ground meat stuffed in fish), embutido (ground pork roll), kare-kare (pork or beef cooked in peanut butter), sisig baboy (a spicy pork dish best served with beer), lechon (roasted pig) and its sarsa (sauce), are popular speciality foods in the region. The more exotic betute tugak (stuffed frog), kamaru (mole crickets) cooked ala adobo, bulanglang (pork cooked in guava juice), lechon kawali, and bringhe (a green sticky rice dish like paella) are a mainstay in Kapampangan feasts. Native sweets and delicacies like pastillas, turonnes de casoy, buro, are the most sought after by Filipinos including a growing number of tourists who enjoy authentic Kapampangan cuisine.

Tourism is a growing industry in the province of Pampanga. Clark Field, in Angeles City, is home to Diosdado Macapagal International Airport, Luzon's second International Airport and designated as the Philippines future premier gateway site. Within the Clark Special Economic Zone are well established hotels and resorts. Popular tourist destinations in the province include: St. Peter Shrine in Apalit, Mt. Arayat National Park in San Juan Bano, Arayat, the Paskuhan Village in the City of San Fernando, and the Casino Filipino in Angeles City. Well known annual events include the Giant Lantern Festival in December, the annual hot air balloon festival in Clarkfield during the month of February, the San Pedro Cutud Lenten Rites celebrated two days before Easter and the Aguman Sanduk in Minalin celebrated on the afternoon of new year's day.

Other developing economies include a semiconductor industry involved in the manufacturing of electronics and computers mostly located within the Clark Special Economic Zone in Angeles City.

Geography

Political

The flag of Pampanga.

Pampanga is subdivided into 20 municipalities and 2 cities.

City No. of
Barangays
Population
(2000)
Area
(km²)
Pop. density
(per km²)
Angeles City1
33
267,788
66.16
3,989/km²
City of San Fernando2
36
221,857
67.74
3,275/km²
Municipality No. of
Barangays
Population
(2000)
Area
(km²)
Pop. density
(per km²)
Apalit
12
78,295 - 97,296 as of 2007
72
Arayat
30
101,792
Bacolor
21
16,147
Candaba
33
86,066
208.70
Floridablanca
33
85,394
175.48
1,487/km²
Guagua
31
111,259
66.16 km²
3,989/km²
Lubao
44
125,699
155.77
Mabalacat
27
171,045
Macabebe
25
65,346
Magalang
27
77,530
Masantol
26
48,120
Mexico
43
109,481
Minalin
15
40,000
48.27
Porac
29
80,757
343.12
San Luis
17
41,554
San Simon
14
41,253
Santa Ana
14
42,990
Santa Rita
10
32,780
Santo Tomas
8
32,695
Sasmuan
12
23,359

Physical

Terrain

The province has a total land mass of 2,180.68 square kilometers. Its terrain is relatively flat with one distinct mountain, Mount Arayat and the notable Pampanga River. Among its municipalities, Porac has the largest land mass with 343.12 square kilometers; Candaba comes in second with 208.7 square kilometers; followed by Lubao with 155.77 square kilometers.

Climate

The province of Pampanga has two distinct climates, rainy and dry. The rainy or wet season normally begins in May and runs through October, while the rest of the year is the dry season. The warmest period of the year occurs between March and April, while the coolest period is from December through February.

Infrastructure

Telecommunication

Telephone services in the Province are provided by the Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company (PLDT), Digitel, Datelcom, the Evangelista Telephone Company, and the Pampanga Telecom Company. The province has 24 public telegraph offices distributed among its towns while the facilities of PT&T and RCPI were set up to serve the business centers in Angeles City, San Fernando City, and Guagua.3

Several Internet Service Providers and available in the province. These include the Angeles Computer Network Specialist, Information Resources Network System, Inc., Mosaic communications Inc., Net Asia Angeles City, Phil World On Line and Comclark Network and Technology Corp.

United Parcel Services (UPS) and Federal Express (FedEx) provide international courier services for the province and the rest of the country. Their hubs are located within the Clark Special Economic Zone. These international courier are complemented by four local couriers operating as the communication and baggage of the province. There are 3 postal district offices and 35 post office stations distributed in the 20 municipalities and 2 cities of the province.4

Water and power

Potable water supply in the province reaches the populace through three levels namely: Level I (point source system), Level II (communal faucet system), and Level III (individual connections). A well or spring is the pinpointed water source in areas where houses are few as the system is only designed to serve 15 to 25 households. As of 1997, there were 128,571 Level I water system users in the province. The communal faucet system (Level II) serves the rural areas while the Level III system is managed by the Local Water Utilities Administration (LWUA). The system provides individual house connections to all second and first class private subdivisions.

Electric power is distributed to majority of the towns through the distribution centers of the Pampanga Electric Cooperative (PELCO) which include PELCO I, II, III. Small parts of Candaba and Macabebe are also supplied by Manila Electric Company (MERALCO).3

Transportation

The province of Pampanga is strategically located at the crossroads of central Luzon and is highly accessible by both air and land. The province is home to two airstrips: Basa Air Base in Floridablanca, which is utilized by the military, and the Diosdado Macapagal International Airport (formerly Clark International Airport) in Angeles City. Pampanga also has five existing municipal ports which function as fish landing centers. These are situated in the municipalities of Guagua, Macabebe, Masantol, Minalin, and Sasmuan.3

Land travel to the province is made easy by numerous buses that travel the routes of Manila-Pampanga-Bataan, Manila-Pampanga-Zambales, Manila-Pampanga-Tarlac, Manila-Pampanga-Nueva Ecija, and Manila-Bulacan-Pampanga. These buses are serviced by: Philippine Rabbit, Genesis Transport, Philippine Rapid, Panther, Saulog Transit, Victory Liner, Dagupan Bus Lines, San Trans, Fariñas, Dominion, Maria de Leon, Viron, five Star, Arayat Express, Sierra Madre Lines, and the Baliuag Transit.3

The 83.7 - km North Luzon Expressway (NLEX) extends from Balintawak in Metro Manila to Sta. Ines in Pampanga. It passes through the large cities of San Fernando and Angeles through Sta. Ines, which is located near the former U.S. Air Force Base at Clark Field.

Education

The province is home to 40 colleges/universities. They include:

Tourist attractions

Festivals


  • Angeles City — Second Sunday of October
  • Apalit — June 28,29,30
  • Arayat — " November 24-25"
  • Bacolor — 18th of November, La Naval
  • Candaba — Nov.30 Saint Andrews day
  • Floridablanca — May.01 Saint Joseph the Worker day
  • Guagua — December 08
  • Lubao — " September 10" (Date of birth of St. Nicholas)
  • Mabalacat — February 2
  • Macabebe — "September 10"
  • Magalang —August 24
  • Masantol — May 8
  • Mexico — May 4
  • Minalin — 2nd Sunday of May
  • Porac — November 25
  • City of San Fernando — May 30
  • Santa Monica,San Luis — May 4
  • San Simon — "October 11"
  • Santa Ana — "July 26"
  • Santa Rita — May 22
  • Santo Tomas — December 21
  • Sasmuan — December 13"


In addition to the town fiesta many barangays within each municipality celebrates a local fiesta also honoring a particular patron saint.

Heritage churches and shrines

Recreational facilities and leisure parks

Historical landmarks

Natural parks

History

Pampanga was the first province and the richest spoil carved out of the Luzon Empire (traditional Chinese: ; pinyin: Lǚsòng Guó)5 by the Spaniards in 1571. It was named after the Indung Kapampangan River, the largest river in the former empire.

Pampanga, one of the richest provinces in the Philippines, was re-organized as a province by the Spaniards on December 11, 1571. For governmental control and taxation purposes, the Spanish authorities subdivided Pampanga into towns (pueblos), which were further subdivided into districts (barrios) and in some cases into royal and private estates (encomiendas).

Due to excessive abuses committed by some grantees of private estates, the King of Spain prohibited in 1574 the awarding of private estates (encomiendas). However, the royal decree was not fully enforced until the year 1620. In a report of Philippine encomiendas on June 20, 1591, Spanish Governor Gomez Perez Dasmarinas reported to the King of Spain that La Pampanga's encomiendas were Bataan, Betis y Lubao, Macabebe, Candava, Apalit, Calumpit, Malolos, Binto, Guiguinto, Caluya, Bulacan and Mecabayan. The encomiendas of La Pampanga at that time had eighteen thousand six hundred and eighty whole tributes.

Ancient Pampanga's territorial area used to include portions of the provinces of Bataan, Bulacan, Nueva Ecija, Pangasinan, Tarlac and Zambales in the big Island of Luzon of the Philippine Archipelago.

Pampanga which is about 850 square miles in area and presently inhabited by more than 1.5 million people, had its present borders drawn in 1873. During the Spanish regime it was one of the richest Philippine provinces. Manila and its surrounding region were then primarily dependent on Pampangan agricultural, fishery, and forestry products as well as on the supply of skilled workers. As other Luzon provinces were created due to increases in population, some well-established Pampanga towns were lost to new emerging provinces in Central Luzon.

The historic province of Bataan which was founded in 1754 under the administration of Spanish Governor General Pedro Manuel Arandia, absorbed from the province of Pampanga the municipalities of Abucay, Balanga, Dinalupihan, Llana Hermosa, Orani, Orion, Pilar, and Samal.

The old Pampanga towns of Aliaga, Cabiao, Gapan, San Antonio and San Isidro were ceded to the province of Nueva Ecija in 1848 during the term of Spanish Governor-General Narciso Claveria y Zaldua.

The municipality of San Miguel de Mayumo of Pampanga was yielded to the province of Bulacan in the same provincial boundary configuration in 1848.

In 1860, the northern towns of Bamban, Capas, Concepcion, Victoria, Tarlac, Mabalacat, Magalang, Porac and Floridablanca were separated from Pampanga and were placed under the jurisdiction of a military command called Comandancia Militar de Tarlac. However, in 1873, the four latter towns were returned to Pampanga and the other five towns became municipalities of the newly created Province of Tarlac.

A large number of people have been displaced and whole towns and villages have been submerged in lahar in the aftermath of the Mount Pinatubo eruptions.

Governors of Pampanga

ALCALDES MAYORES6

  • 1812-1820 Jose Aviles
  • 1821-1824 Francisco Paula de los Santos and Fulgencio Nuñez
  • 1824-1827 Manuel de Olea
  • 1827-1831 Antonio Chacon y Conde
  • 1831-1836 Juan Garrido
  • 1836-1839 Mariano Valero y Soto
  • 1839-1840 Angel Viniegra
  • 1841-1846 Jose Urbina y Daoiz
  • 1846-1847 Mariano Valero y Soto
  • 1848-1849 Juan Lopéz Cordón
  • 1849-1850 Manuel Gastero Serrano
  • 1850-1852 Fernando Cajigas
  • 1852-1854 José Paez y Lopéz
  • 1854-1855 Jose Sanchez Guerrero
  • 1855-1856 Francisco de Paula Rodriguez
  • 1856-1860 Francisco Hidalgo y Caballero
  • 1860-1862 Jose Maria Barrasa
  • 1862-1864 Ramón Barrueta
  • 1864 Mariano de la Cortina y Oñate
  • 1864-1865 Vega
  • 1865-1866 Juan Muñoz y Alvarez
  • 1867 José Bolaños
  • 1867-1869 Mariano de la Cortina y Oñate
  • 1869-1870 Francisco Godínez y Esteban
  • 1870-1871 Romero
  • 1871-1872 Romay
  • 1873 Jose Dias y Oliver
  • 1873-1874 Jose Feced y Temprado
  • 1875 Emilio Martín Bolaños
  • 1875-1877 Miguel Sanz y Urtasun
  • 1877-1879 Jose Feced y Temprado
  • 1879 Antonio Graciano de Oro
  • 1880 Carmona
  • 1880-1881 Rafael Manzanares
  • 1881-1883 Antonio Graciano de Oro
  • 1883-1884 Pampillon
  • 1884 Gaspar Castaño
  • 1885-1886 Emilio Martín Bolaños


GOBERNADORES CIVILES

  • 1886 Garanto
  • 1886-1887 Requiferos
  • 1887 Luis Goza
  • 1887-1888 A. de Águila
  • 1888-1891 Luis de la Torre Villanueva
  • 1891-1892 José Ignacio Chacón
  • 1892-1893 Joaquin Oliver
  • 1893 Bascaran
  • 1893-1895 Tomás Pérez del Pulgar y O’Lawlor
  • 1895-1898 José Canovas y Vallejo
  • 1898 Mota


REPUBLICA FILIPINA7

  • 1898 Mariano Alimurung
  • 1898 Tiburcio T. Hilario
  • 1899 Tomás Mascardo
  • 1900 Francisco Dizon
  • 1900-1901 José M. Alejandrino


U.S. MILITARY GOVERNMENT

  • 1899-1900 Frederick Dent Grant
  • 1900-1901 Arthur MacArthur


CIVIL GOVERNORS

  • 1901-1903 Ceferino Jóven
  • 1904-1911 Macario Arnedo
  • 1911 Mariano Lim
  • 1912-1916 Francisco Liongson
  • 1916-1922 Honorio Ventura
  • 1922-1925 Olimpio Guanzon
  • 1925-1931 Sotero Baluyut
  • 1931 Eligio G. Lagman
  • 1931-1937 Pablo Angeles David

JAPANESE OCCUPATION

  • 1942 Lazaro Yambao
  • 1942-1944 Eligio G. Lagman
  • 1944 Urbano D. Dizon
  • 1944 José Y. David


CIVIL GOVERNORS (cont.)

  • 1945 Gerardo Limlingan
  • 1945 Pablo Angeles David


PROVINCIAL GOVERNORS

  • 1946-1947 Pablo Angeles David
  • 1948-1951 José B. Lingad
  • 1952-1959 Rafael Lazatin
  • 1960-1971 Francisco G. Nepomuceno
  • 1972-1976 Brigido Valencia
  • 1976-1980 Juanita L. Nepomuceno
  • 1980-1986 Estelito P. Mendoza
  • 1986-1995 Bren Z. Guiao
  • 1995-2004 Manuel M. Lapid
  • 2004-2007 Mark T. Lapid
  • 2007-2010 Rev. Fr. Eduardo Panlilio

Notable people from Pampanga

References

  1. ^ Highly urbanized city (independent of province).
  2. ^ Capital city of Pampanga, and regional center of Central Luzon (Region III).
  3. ^ a b c d Province of Pampanga, A Profile of Region III September, 2001.
  4. ^ Official website of the Province of Pampanga
  5. ^ 東西洋考
  6. ^ Henares, Ivan Anthony S. "Filipino Alcaldes Mayores in the Province of Pampanga"
  7. ^ Henares, Ivan Anthony S. "Filipino Alcaldes Mayores in the Province of Pampanga"
  8. ^ Hoy! Pinoy Ako!
  9. ^ wcbstv.com - Kristine Johnson
  10. ^ Ivan About Town: Ninoy and FPJ death masks on display in Pampanga

External links

Provincial Seal of Pampanga
Cities and Municipalities of Pampanga
Cities: Angeles | San Fernando
Municipalities: Apalit | Arayat | Bacolor | Candaba | Floridablanca | Guagua | Lubao | Mabalacat | Macabebe | Magalang | Masantol | Mexico | Minalin | Porac | San Luis | San Simon | Santa Ana | Santa Rita | Santo Tomas | Sasmuan

Coordinates: 15°04′N 120°40′E / 15.067, 120.667