San Fernando, La Union Explained

San Fernando
Image Alt:Skyline of San Fernando City, La Union
Flag Size:120x80px
Seal Size:100x80px
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Pushpin Map:Philippines
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Pushpin Map Caption:Location within the
Subdivision Type:Country
Subdivision Name:Philippines
Subdivision Type1:Region
Subdivision Type2:Province
Nickname:Prime Capital of Ilocandia
Botanical Garden City
Subdivision Type3:District
Established Title:Founded
Established Date:May 6, 1786
Established Title1:Cityhood
Established Date1:March 20, 1998
Named For:Ferdinand III of Castile
Parts Type:Barangays
Parts Style:para
P1: (see Barangays)
Leader Name:Hermenegildo A. Gualberto
Leader Title1:Vice Mayor
Leader Name1:Alfredo Pablo R. Ortega
Leader Name2:Francisco Paolo P. Ortega V
Leader Title3:City Council
Leader Title4:Electorate
Leader Name4: voters (electorate_point_in_time}}|)
Elevation Max M:1124
Elevation Min M:0
Population Density Km2:auto
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Timezone:PST
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Demographics1 Info3: (2022)
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Demographics1 Info5: (2022)
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Demographics Type2:Service provider
Demographics2 Title1:Electricity
Demographics2 Title2:Water
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San Fernando, officially the City of San Fernando (Iloko: Siudad ti San Fernando; Filipino; Pilipino: Lungsod ng San Fernando), is a 3rd class component city and capital of the province of La Union, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 125,642 people.

San Fernando serves as a gateway to trade, commerce, culture and heritage of Ilocandia. The city is the financial, industrial, and political center of the province and the regional capital of Region 1 (Ilocos Region), hosting regional offices of national government agencies and some of the region's educational and medical institutions. The city is geographically located at the center of La Union.

History

Colonial History

San Fernando, along with all the southern coastal towns of La Union, was once called Agoo in pre-colonial times. Agoo was the northern part of Caboloan (Pangasinan), covering a large area that encompassed the towns of “Atuley” (San Juan), San Fernando, Bauang, Caba, “Alingay or Alinguey” (Aringay), Santo Tomas and Rosario.

When Juan de Salcedo a Spanish, explored the area in June 1572, he and his men were involved in a skirmish with 3 Japanese ships. He discovered that there was a settlement in the area, occupied by Japanese and Chinese merchants. The incident earned Agoo the name “El Puerto de Japon,” the Japanese Port. Agoo was heavily involved in trade with other neighboring Southeast Asian countries. Agoo's role as an ancient port eventually deteriorated when the Spanish closed the Philippines to foreign trade.[1] [2]

The origins of the capital city of the province of La Union date back to the formal creation of the municipality or Ministerio de San Fernando which coincided with the founding of the Parish of San Fernando, Augustinian friar Jose Torres on May 6, 1786, in honor of King Ferdinand of Spain. San Fernando was formerly called “Pindangan” from the word “pindang” which was a traditional method of drying fish. Pindangan was formed in 1759 from the union of two sitios - “San Vicente de Balanac” and “San Guilermo de Dalangdang” - for mutual protection against marauding pirates from the sea and headhunters from the mountains. Augustinian friar Jose Torres also had the Pindangan church built but a massive earthquake in the 1760s left the church in total ruin - except for the massive buttresses that still stand today, known as the Pindangan Ruins.

Named after Saint Ferdinand III of Castile, San Fernando was founded in 1786. That same year, instead of rebuilding the Pindangan church, the Franciscans decided to build a new one in honor of San Guillermo. This is now the Cathedral of St. William the Hermit situated at the center of San Fernando City.

On October 29, 1849, Governor General Narciso Zaldua Claveria issued a “promovido” combining the eight northern towns of Pangasinan, three southern towns of Ilocos Sur due south of the Amburayan River, and 8 western settlements of Benguet or Eastern Pais del Igorotes in the Cordilleras into the province La Union. On March 2, 1850, Governor General Antonio Maria Blanco signed the “Superior Decreto” of La Union, with San Fernando as the “cabecera,” the capital, and with Captain Toribio Ruiz de la Escalera as the first Gobernador Militar y Politico. Its creation as a province was formally approved by a Royal Decree issued by Queen Isabela II of Spain on April 18, 1854.  Scores of settlers from the Ilocos provinces pushed their way south so that by the end of the 19th century, San Fernando was home to mostly Ilocano and Ilocanized Pangasinenses.

From 1896 until 1898, during the Philippine Revolution, the Spanish garrison of San Fernando was attacked by Filipino revolutionaries under Manuel Tinio y Bundoc and Mauro Ortiz. Spanish administration ceased; a short while later, The Spanish ceded the country to the Americans in the 1890s. The United States acquired control over the country by the Treaty of Paris following the events of the Spanish–American War.

From its inception as the capital of La Union up to the Second World War, San Fernando experienced monumental transformations in the socio-cultural and politico-economic aspects. After World War II, rehabilitation and reconstruction were done, eventually propelling the city as the center of commerce and trade and the administrative center of Region I.

World War II

In the Second World War, the last battle of San Fernando was fought during the Japanese occupation at Barangay Bacsil. The Bacsil Ridge Monument was built on the site in the city, the north-eastern portion of the town plaza. The victory enabled the establishment of the United States Army Base, Base M at Poro Point (a buildup area for the Japan invasion) and a US Navy Base.[3] The town was liberated in 1945.[4]

The Battle of Bacsil Ridge

The Battle of Bacsil Ridge which was fought in March 1945 was one of the main battles of the Philippines Campaign of the Second World War between the Filipino soldiers under the 121st Infantry Regiment, Philippine Commonwealth Army, USAFIP-NL, under the command of Russell W. Volckmann, and the Japanese Imperial forces under General Tomoyuki Yamashita.[5]

The Battle of Bacsil Ridge ended the month-long battle for control of San Fernando. The Japanese defenders called the Hayashi Detachment, composed of 3,000 armed troops and 2,000 unarmed support forces, took hold of San Fernando and its surrounding areas and denied entry to the port of the city and a road leading to Baguio. As part of the San Fernando-Bacsil Operations, the 1st Battalion of 121st Infantry were sent to loosen the enemy positions starting late February with the assistance of the Allied Air Force.

The 1st Battalion made a general attack to the ridge on March 16, 1945 and fought the Japanese defenders until the capture of Bacsil on March 19. On the same day, the 3rd battalion captured Reservoir Hill. The Battle of Bacsil Ridge between the Filipino guerrillas and the Japanese Forces resulted in the recapture of the city of San Fernando, La Union. which resulted in the capture of San Fernando, La Union on March 23, 1945, and Bacnotan, La Union and the military offensive throughout the province ended on March 24 after two months of fighting.[6]

Martial law era

See main article: Martial law under Ferdinand Marcos and Human rights abuses of the Marcos dictatorship. Although Ilocanos are perceived to have been largely silent about the authoritarian practices of Ferdinand Marcos' administration,[7] [8] there were still San Fernando residents willing to express their objections its various abuses. This included San Fernando-raised student activists Romulo and Armando Palabay, UP Students and La Union National High School alumni who were imprisoned for their protest activities in San Fernando, tortured at Camp Olivas in Pampanga, and later separately killed before the end of Martial Law.[9] [10] The respective martyrdoms of Romulo (age 22) and Armando (age 21) were later honored when their names were etched on the Wall of Remembrance at the Philippines’ Bantayog ng mga Bayani, which honors the heroes and martyrs who fought the authoritarian regime.[11]

Cityhood

See main article: Cities of the Philippines. San Fernando became a city by virtue of Republic Act No. 8509 signed into law on February 13, 1998, and ratified on March 20, 1998, by a plebiscite.[12]

Geography

The city is bounded by San Juan to the north, Bauang to the south, Bagulin and Naguilian to the east, and the South China Sea to the west. It has a land area of .

San Fernando is from Metro Manila.

Barangays

San Fernando is politically subdivided into 59 barangays. These barangays are headed by elected officials: Barangay Captain, Barangay Council, whose members are called Barangay Councilors. All are elected every three years.

Climate

Demographics

In the 2020 census, the population of San Fernando, La Union, was 125,640 people, with a density of NaNPD/km2NaNPD/km2.

Economy

San Fernando is mainly agricultural (rice, legumes, leafy vegetables, root crops, fruit trees, corn, and tobacco). But residents treat fishing in coastline and seashore areas as secondary means of livelihood. The natives also have inabel hand-woven cloth, baskets, shell crafts, including foods, such as kilawen and papaitan, basi, sukang Iloko and paslubong such as guapples, longganiza, honey and native rice cakes, puto, suman, and bibingka.

Patupat is an Ilocano delicacy native to San Fernando, made from "agdapil" (sugarcane, a tall tropical Southeast Asian grass (Saccharum officinarum)).[13]

Government

Local government

See main article: Sangguniang Panglungsod. San Fernando, belonging to the first congressional district of the province of La Union, is governed by a mayor designated as its local chief executive and by a city council as its legislative body in accordance with the Local Government Code. The mayor, vice mayor, and the councilors are elected directly by the people through an election which is being held every three years.

The mayor and other elected officers hold office at the city hall of San Fernando. The city council, the Sangguniang Panlungsod, is housed in the Don Mariano Marcos Building beside the city hall.

Elected officials

Members of the San Fernando City Council
(2019–2022)[14] ! Position! Name
District Representative
(1st Legislative District of the Province of La Union)
Francisco Paolo P. Ortega V
Chief Executive of the City of San FernandoMayor Hermenegildo A. Gualberto
Presiding Officer of the City Council of San FernandoVice Mayor Alfred Pablo R. Ortega
Members of the City CouncilKyle Marie Eufrosito Y. Nisce
Pablo C. Ortega
Lucia Esperanza O. Valero
Jonathan Justo A. Orros
Edwin H. Yumul
Janwell E. Pacio
Rodolfo M. Abat
Arnel A. Almazan
Aldrine R. Jucar
John H. Orros
Mark Anthony A. Ducusin
Quintin L. Balcita Jr.

List of chief executives

Annual community events

The city has a yearly fiesta, celebrated from January 28 to February 15, where a trade fair is opened near the city hall.

Celebrations are also done around March, in celebration of Cityhood.

The following events happen annually: Annual City Fiesta, February 10; Bacsil Ridge Celebration, March 19; Pindangan Festival, March 20; Ma-tzu Festival, September 16.[15] [16]

Tourism

Notable personalities

Sister cities

External links

Notes and References

  1. Book: Mendoza-Cortes, Rosario . Pangasinan, 1572-1800 . University of the Philippines Press . 1974 . Quezon City . Mendoza-Cortes.
  2. Book: Scott . William . The Discovery of the Igorots . 1974 . New Day Publishers . Quezon City . 9711000873 . 58.
  3. Web site: Battle of San Fernando Marker in San Fernando (La Union) . localphilippines.com . https://web.archive.org/web/20140602200236/http://www.localphilippines.com/attractions/1240/battle-of-san-fernando-marker . June 2, 2014 . October 4, 2016.
  4. Web site: History . Official Website of San Fernando, La Union . https://web.archive.org/web/20150127062703/http://www.sanfernandocity.gov.ph/city/history.php . January 27, 2015 . October 4, 2016.
  5. Volckmann, R., 1954, We Remained, New York:W.W.Norton & Company, Inc.,
  6. Web site: Battle of Bacsil Ridge - PVAO. September 29, 2021. en-US.
  7. Web site: From 1987: 'A Damaged Culture' in the Philippines - The Atlantic. https://web.archive.org/web/20161028125710/http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1987/11/a-damaged-culture/505178. dead. October 28, 2016. The Atlantic. January 22, 2020.
  8. Manila Today. Mula Sigwa hanggang Commune hanggang EDSA: mga kabataangmartir at bayani ng UP.2016-01-27 https://manilatoday.net/fqs-martyrs/
  9. Web site: PALABAY, Armando D.  - Bantayog ng mga Bayani. bantayog.org. January 18, 2017. January 22, 2020.
  10. Armando Palabay . https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211212/ydHxxkOBCk4. December 12, 2021 . live. YouTube Video . Commission on Human Rights of the Philippines.
  11. Burgonio, TJ Museum puts a face on little-known martial law martyrs Philippine Daily Inquirer September 21, 2008 https://barangayrp.wordpress.com/2008/09/21/museum-puts-a-face-on-little-known-martial-law-martyrs/
  12. Web site: Republic Act No. 8509 – An Act Converting the Municipality of San Fernando, La Union, Into a Component City To Be Known As the City of San Fernando. Chan Robles Virtual Law Library. October 4, 2016. February 13, 1998.
  13. Web site: "Patopat", A Native Delicacy . Madrid . Myla B. . July 6, 2010 . Official Website of San Fernando, La Union . https://web.archive.org/web/20100811082630/http://www.sanfernandocity.gov.ph/news/news180.php . August 11, 2010 . October 4, 2016.
  14. https://www.sanfernandocity.gov.ph/ San Fernando City Council
  15. Web site: City celebrates feast of St. William the Hermit . Flores . Anne Hazel F. . July 6, 2010 . Official Website of San Fernando, La Union . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20110128033123/http://www.sanfernandocity.gov.ph/news/news185.php . January 28, 2011 . December 11, 2012.
  16. Web site: Pindangan Festival 2010 . Madrid . Myla B. . July 6, 2010 . Official Website of San Fernando, La Union . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20101019025144/http://www.sanfernandocity.gov.ph/news/news187.php . October 19, 2010 . December 11, 2012.
  17. Web site: Tourist Attractions . Official Website of San Fernando, La Union . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20120501083703/http://www.sanfernandocity.gov.ph/services/tourist.php . May 1, 2012 . December 11, 2012.