Bacolor, officially the Municipality of Bacolor (; ), is a

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality' ...

in the

province A province is an administrative division within a country or sovereign state, state. The term derives from the ancient Roman , which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire, Roman Empire's territorial possessions ou ...

Pampanga Pampanga, officially the Province of Pampanga (; ; ), is a province in Central Luzon in the Philippines. Lying on the northern shore of Manila Bay, Pampanga is bordered by Tarlac to the north, Nueva Ecija to the northeast, Bulacan to the east, ...

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 48,066 people. Bacolor is the birthplace of Father Anselmo Jorge de Fajardo, considered the "Father of

Kapampangan Kapampangan, Capampañgan or Pampangan may refer to: *Kapampangan people, of the Philippines *Kapampangan language Kapampangan, Capampáñgan, or Pampangan, is an Austronesian language, and one of the eight major languages of the Philippines. ...

literature" for writing the 1831 Kapampangan " kumidya" ''Don Gonzalo de Cordova''.

History

Spanish Colonial Era

Historical records show that Bacolor has been in existence as a proposed settlement as early as 1571, the same year Manila was founded by the Spanish. The original name of the settlement was ''Bakúlud'', which became Hispanicized as "Bacolor" (cf.

Bacolod Bacolod, officially the City of Bacolod (; ; ; ), is a Cities of the Philippines#Legal classification, highly urbanized city in the Negros Island Region in the Philippines. With a total of 600,783 inhabitants as of the 2020 census, it is th ...

and

Bacoor Bacoor (), officially the City of Bacoor (), is a Cities of the Philippines#Legal classification, component city in the Provinces of the Philippines, province of Cavite, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 664,625 ...

). The original name is

for "high level rocky place" or "plateau." Bacolor officially became the capital of Pampanga in 1755. According to Spanish chronicler Fray Gaspar de San Agustin, before 1755, Mexico town “es la corte de Pampanga,” while Bacolor “es la capital” and Guagua “es igualmente.” Historian Dr. Luciano Santiago theorizes that before Bacolor was formally recognized as provincial capital, it was already informally functioning as capital, although other provincial administrative offices were elsewhere in Mexico and Guagua. During the

British occupation of Manila The British occupation of Manila was an episode in the History of the Philippines (1565–1898), colonial history of the Philippines when the Kingdom of Great Britain occupied the Spanish colonial capital of Manila and the nearby Cavite City, ...

, when Manila fell to the British, it became capital of the exiled government of Governor General

Simón de Anda y Salazar Simón de Anda y Salazar (28 October 1709 – 30 October 1776) was the Spanish governor-general of the Philippines from July 1770 to 30 October 1776. He was born in the Basque Country in northern Spain. Oidor at the Royal Audience of Manila an ...

from October 6, 1762, to May 30, 1764. The provincial offices were temporarily moved to Factoría (now San Isidro, Nueva Ecija). Through a decree of the King of Spain on November 9, 1765, Bacolor became ''Villa de Bacólor'', one of the only three villas in the Philippines and was granted a special coat of arms. Simón de Anda organized an army of natives for the defense of Bacolor and with the aim of recapturing Manila.

American invasion era

Bacolor remained the capital of Pampanga until the provincial seat of government was transferred to neighboring San Fernando in 1904. Moves to transfer the provincial capital to San Fernando actually began as early as 1852 with an expediente from the alcalde mayor. The King of Spain granted the request in a real cedula dated September 11, 1881. Despite royal approval, the transfer was not executed until August 15, 1904, by virtue of Act No. 1204. The coming of the American colonizers broke up the military form of government and instead political and economic reforms were introduced. A civil form of government was organized and was inaugurated on February 13, 1901, by Com. William H. Taft which took place in the old Escuela de Artes y Oficios de Bacólor, later known as the Pampanga School of Arts and Trade and now the Don Honorio Ventura State University, the first state university in Pampanga. The first provincial Civil Governor was Don Ceferino Joven and the first Municipal President of Bacolor was Don Estanislao Santos. Pampanga was acknowledged as the first province to have organized civil government in the Philippines by General Grant, the then President of the United States of America.

Japanese occupation era

When the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

broke out, Japanese fighter and bomber planes invaded the municipal town in Bacolor in December 1941 until the town was occupied by the Imperial Japanese forces in 1942. Pampangan guerrillas and

Hukbalahap The Hukbong Bayan Laban sa Hapon (), better known by the acronym Hukbalahap, was a Filipino communist guerrilla movement formed by the farmers of Central Luzon. They were originally formed to fight the Japanese, but extended their fight int ...

Communist Communism () is a sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology within the socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a socioeconomic order centered on common ownership of the means of production, di ...

groups joined in an insurgency centered around the municipality of Bacolor, supported by local soldiers and military officers of the

Philippine Commonwealth Army The Philippine Army (PA) () is the main, oldest and largest branch of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), responsible for ground warfare. , it had an estimated strength of 143,100 soldiers The service branch was established on December ...

. Their attacks against the Japanese occupation continued until 1945, when Filipino and American forces liberated the municipality of Bacolor.

Philippine independence

In 1956, the sitio of Mesalipit was converted into a barrio. Due to the eruption of Mount Pinatubo on June 15, 1991, the municipality was hit by

lahar A lahar (, from ) is a violent type of mudflow or debris flow composed of a slurry of Pyroclastic rock, pyroclastic material, rocky debris and water. The material flows down from a volcano, typically along a valley, river valley. Lahars are o ...

flows from 1991 to 1995 which buried the town by , killing hundreds of people and destroying livelihood. 18 out of the 21

barangay The barangay (; abbreviated as Brgy. or Bgy.), historically referred to as ''barrio'', is the smallest Administrative divisions of the Philippines, administrative division in the Philippines. Named after the Precolonial barangay, precolonial po ...

s of Bacolor were buried. The lahar from

Mount Pinatubo Mount Pinatubo is an active stratovolcano in the Zambales Mountains in Luzon in the Philippines. Located on the tripoint of Zambales, Tarlac and Pampanga provinces, most people were unaware of its eruptive history before the pre-eruption volc ...

raised the town to its current level of an approximate 37 meters above sea level. Subsidence caused the constant reclaiming of parts of Pampanga by the sea.

Geography

Bacolor is from San Fernando, from Angeles, and from

Manila Manila, officially the City of Manila, is the Capital of the Philippines, capital and second-most populous city of the Philippines after Quezon City, with a population of 1,846,513 people in 2020. Located on the eastern shore of Manila Bay on ...

Barangays

Bacolor is politically subdivided into 21

s, as shown below. Each barangay consists of

purok A ''purok'' () is an informal division within a barangay in the Philippines. While not officially considered a local government unit (LGU), a ''purok'' often serves as a unit for delivering services and administration within a barangay. ''Pur ...

s and some have

sitios A ''sitio'' (Spanish language, Spanish for "site") in the Philippines is a territorial enclave that forms part of a barangay. Typically rural, a ''sitios location is usually far from the center of the barangay itself and could be its own bar ...

. *Balas *Cabalantian *Cabambangan (

Poblacion ''Poblacion'' (from Spanish '' población'', meaning "population"), sometimes abbreviated as Pob., is a term used in the Philippines to refer to the administrative center, downtown, old town, or commercial area of a city or municipality. It ...

) *Cabetican *Calibutbut *Concepcion *Dolores *Duat *Macabacle *Magliman *Maliwalu *Mesalipit *Parulog *Potrero *San Antonio *San Isidro *San Vicente *Santa Barbara *Santa Ines *Talba *Tinajero

Climate

Demographics

In the 2020 census, the population of Bacolor, Pampanga, was 48,066 people, with a density of .

Economy

Government

Local government

Like other towns in the Philippines, Bacolor is governed by a mayor and vice mayor who are elected to three-year terms. The mayor is the executive head and leads the town's departments in executing the ordinances and improving public services. The vice mayor heads a legislative council (

Sangguniang Bayan The Sangguniang Bayan () is the local legislative branch of the municipal governments in the Philippines. It is responsible for passing ordinances and resolutions for the administration of a municipality. Its powers are defined by the Local Go ...

) consisting of councilors from the barangays or barrios.

Town hall

The municipal building is the former site of the Venturas house, one of Bacolor's most prominent families. On July 8, 1953, the new town hall was completed during the tenure of Mayor Manuel de Jesus. Its construction was a project of Senator Pablo Ángeles y David, a native of Bacolor.

Tourism

The main landmark of the town is the San Guillermo Parish Church known as the 'sunken church', one of the structures that was half-buried by the lava flow from the eruption of

in 1991. The church has since been renovated and is currently operational and may be accessed through what were once the second floor windows, now converted into doorways. The sunken church and town of Bacolor served as the main production location of the 2009–2010

ABS-CBN ABS-CBN is a leading Philippine media and content company. It serves as the flagship media brand of ABS-CBN Corporation, a subsidiary of Lopez Holdings Corporation. Once the country's largest free-to-air television network, ABS-CBN has since ...

and 2013

Jeepney TV Jeepney TV is a Philippine pay television channel owned and operated by Creative Programs, a subsidiary of ABS-CBN Corporation. Its programming features classic television programs produced by ABS-CBN. The channel was named after the jeepne ...

religious-oriented television series '' May Bukas Pa'' from January 15, 2009 to February 5, 2010 (with the show's uncut airing version where a deleted scene of the finale episode was aired from March 11 to December 5, 2013). The municipality also made an appearance in various films such as the 1996 movie ''Istokwa'', 2006 movie '' Summer Heat'' and 2008 movie ''Jay'', and in the music video of the song ''Promise Me'' by J Brothers. The Shrine of Our Lady of Lourdes in Cabetican is also famous for its annual pilgrimage and barrio fiestas. Other notable landmarks in Bacolor include Memorial Kilometer Posts of the

Bataan Death March The Bataan Death March was the Death march, forcible transfer by the Imperial Japanese Army of around 72,000 to 78,000 American and Filipino prisoners of war (POWs) from the municipalities of Bagac and Mariveles on the Bataan Peninsula to Camp ...

along the Old National Road, the oldest trade school in Far East, the

Don Honorio Ventura Technological State University Don Honorio Ventura State University (DHVSU) is a state university in Bacolor, Pampanga, Philippines. It has six satellite campuses in Apalit, Pampanga, Apalit, Candaba, Pampanga, Candaba, Porac, Pampanga, Porac, Mexico, Pampanga, Mexico, Santo ...

; the

monument at the town hall; monument to the

writer and revolutionary leader Juan Crisostomo Soto (1867–1918); and Monument to Felix Galura Y Napao. Bacolor's festivals are the Feast of San Guillermo and Nuestra Senora del Santissimo Rosario (La Naval) which are celebrated every 10th day of February and 3rd Sunday of November, respectively.

The Sunken Shrine

Buried by the devastating

flows of Mount Pinatubo eruption in June 1991, the Archdiocesan Shrine of Our Lady of Lourdes of Cabetican (abbreviated as "Maluca"), now more popularly known as the Sunken Shrine of Our Lady of Lourdes of Cabetican, remains at the center of the Marian Concordia Pilgrimages and Healing in Pampanga. Originally built as an annex to the older, smaller shrine, it is under the care of Fr. Ronnie Cao, Healing Priest and Rector of the Archdiocesan Shrine.

Notable personalities

* Mamerto Natividad, Filipino military leader * Pablo Ángeles y David, was a Filipino magistrate and statesman. During his career, he became a judge, a member of the

Philippine House of Representatives The House of Representatives (; '','' thus commonly referred to as ''Kamara'') is the lower house of Congress, the bicameral legislature of the Philippines, with the Senate of the Philippines as the upper house. The lower house is commonly refe ...

, Governor of Pampanga and a member of the

Senate of the Philippines The Senate of the Philippines () is the upper house of Congress of the Philippines, Congress, the bicameral legislature of the Philippines, with the House of Representatives of the Philippines, House of Representatives as the lower house. The ...

. * Francisco Tongio Liongson, former

Senator of the Philippines The Senate of the Philippines () is the upper house of Congress of the Philippines, Congress, the bicameral legislature of the Philippines, with the House of Representatives of the Philippines, House of Representatives as the lower house. The ...

* Francisco Alonso Liongson, the son of Francisco Tongio Liongson * Pedro Tongio Liongson, Filipino lawyer and member of the

Malolos Congress The Malolos Congress (), also known as the Revolutionary Congress () and formally the National Assembly, was the legislative body of the Revolutionary Government of the Philippines. From 1898 to 1899, prior to the Philippine Declaration of I ...

* Práxedes Fajardo, Filipina revolutionary * Jayson Castro, is a Filipino professional basketball player currently playing in the

Philippine Basketball Association The Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) is a men's professional basketball league in the Philippines, composed of twelve company-branded Franchising, franchise teams. Founded in 1975, it is the first professional basketball league in Asia ...

. * Zoilo Galang, Filipino writer from Pampanga * Jordan Clarkson, Filipino-American professional basketball player

References

External links

Bacolor Profile at PhilAtlas.com
* Philippine Standard Geographic Codebr>Philippine Census InformationLocal Governance Performance Management System
{{Authority control Municipalities of Pampanga Former national capitals Former provincial capitals of the Philippines