Lal-lo, officially the Municipality of Lal-Lo (; ; ), 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 ...

Cagayan Cagayan ( ), officially the Province of Cagayan (; ; ; isnag language, Isnag: ''Provinsia nga Cagayan''; ivatan language, Ivatan: ''Provinsiya nu Cagayan''; ; ), is a Provinces of the Philippines, province in the Philippines located in the Cag ...

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 had a population of 48,733 people. During the Spanish colonial period, Lal-lo was known as Municipio de Nueva Segovia and was the seat of the Diocese of Nueva Segovia before it was moved to

Vigan Vigan, officially the City of Vigan (; ), is a Cities of the Philippines#Legal classification, component city and capital of the Provinces of the Philippines, province of Ilocos Sur, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a populatio ...

Ilocos Sur Ilocos Sur (), officially the Province of Ilocos Sur (; ), is a Provinces of the Philippines, province in the Philippines located in the Ilocos Region in Luzon. Located on the mouth of the Mestizo River is the capital of Vigan, while Candon is ...

. It is currently under efforts to regain its Spanish-era city status. Recently, the provincial government of

through the leadership of Governor Manuel Mamba planned to make Lal-lo the provincial capital of Cagayan again. The

Northern Cagayan International Airport Cagayan North International Airport (, ; ), sometimes referred as Lal-lo International Airport, is an airport serving the general area of the Cagayan Special Economic Zone, located in the northern province of Cagayan, Philippines. It is located ...

in southern Lal-lo was constructed to support both the

Cagayan Special Economic Zone The Cagayan Economic Zone Authority (CEZA) is a government-owned and controlled corporation (GOCC) responsible for managing and supervising the development of the Cagayan Special Economic Zone and Freeport (CSEZFP) in the Philippines. Its cre ...

in northern Cagayan and to serve seaborne traffic through Port Irene. The airport project involved the construction of a runway with a width of , following the standards of the

International Civil Aviation Organization The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO ) is a specialized agency of the United Nations that coordinates the principles and techniques of international air navigation, and fosters the planning and development of international sch ...

. The international airport accommodates large aircraft such as the Airbus A319-100 and

Boeing The Boeing Company, or simply Boeing (), is an American multinational corporation that designs, manufactures, and sells airplanes, rotorcraft, rockets, satellites, and missiles worldwide. The company also provides leasing and product support s ...

regional jets of comparable size. Royal Air Philippines offers service twice weekly using BAe146 aircraft. Lal-lo is from

Tuguegarao Tuguegarao ( or ), officially the City of Tuguegarao (; ; ; ), is a 2nd class Cities of the Philippines#Legal classification, component city and capital of the Provinces of the Philippines, province of Cagayan, Philippines. According to the 2020 ...

, 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 ...

, and from Allacapan.

Etymology

Lal-lo means "twisting two strands to make a rope", or may also refer to the strong river current as it is located along

Cagayan River The Cagayan River, also known as the Río Grande de Cagayán, is the longest river and the largest river by discharge volume of water in the Philippines. It has a total length of approximately and a drainage basin covering . It is located in ...

, the longest and largest river in the

. In Fr. Jose Bugarin's Ibanag dictionary "''Lallo-c, a town in this province which existed as the ancient capital until 1839 lsoLallo-c, to twist two strands, making a string or rope''."

History

Pre-Hispanic History

In the classical era, Lal-lo was the home of hunter-gatherers who were specialized in hunting

mollusks Mollusca is a phylum of protostomic invertebrate animals, whose members are known as molluscs or mollusks (). Around 76,000 extant species of molluscs are recognized, making it the second-largest animal phylum after Arthropoda. The num ...

. These hunter-gatherers stockpiled their leftover mollusk shells in numerous sites in Lal-lo and neighboring Gattaran. Eventually, the shells formed the largest stock of shell-midden sites in the entire Philippines.

Spanish Colonial Era

The first European to set foot on what is now the town of Lal-lo was

Juan de Salcedo Juan de Salcedo (; 1549 – 11 March 1576) was a Spanish conquistador. He was the grandson of Spanish general Miguel López de Legazpi. Salcedo was one of the soldiers who accompanied the Spanish conquest to the Philippines in 1565. He joined th ...

, a

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...

conquistador Conquistadors (, ) or conquistadores (; ; ) were Spanish Empire, Spanish and Portuguese Empire, Portuguese colonizers who explored, traded with and colonized parts of the Americas, Africa, Oceania and Asia during the Age of Discovery. Sailing ...

and grandson of Miguel Lopez de Legazpi, in 1572. Don Juan Pablo Carrión established it as a ''pueblo'' (

) in 1581 and named it Nueva Segovia. The reason is currently unknown, as the hometown of Carrión was Carrión de los Condes ( Palencia, Spain), as suggested by his last name. This is mentioned by Juan Miguel Aguilera and Ángel Miranda in their book ''

Espadas del Fin del Mundo __NOTOC__ Espada or espadas may refer to: "espada" means "sword" or "blade". Entertainment *''Espadas'', one of the four suits of Spanish playing cards *Espada, a character in Don Quixote (ballet), ''Don Quixote'' (ballet) *Espada (Bleach), a facti ...

'' (2016). A founding population of 200 Spanish citizens from Europe accompanied by 100 Spanish soldiers set up settlements across

Cagayan Valley Cagayan Valley (; ), designated as Region II, is an Regions of the Philippines, administrative region in the Philippines. Located in the northeastern section of Luzon, it is composed of five Provinces of the Philippines, Philippine provinces: ...

, headed by the city of Nueva Segovia (Old Lal-lo). These people were in turn supplemented by 155 Latin American soldiers recruited from Mexico.

Diocese of Nueva Segovia

In 1595,

Pope Clement VIII Pope Clement VIII (; ; 24 February 1536 – 3 March 1605), born Ippolito Aldobrandini, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 30 January 1592 to his death in March 1605. Born in Fano, Papal States to a prominen ...

created the Diocese of Nueva Segovia. In 1596, the

Dominicans Dominicans () also known as Quisqueyans () are an ethnic group, ethno-nationality, national people, a people of shared ancestry and culture, who have ancestral roots in the Dominican Republic. The Dominican ethnic group was born out of a fusio ...

accepted it as an ecclesiastical mission. Nueva Segovia had three churches: the cathedral that was under the secular clergy, and the parishes of Centro and Tocolona under the supervision of the Dominicans. Because of its distance from Manila and the constant threat of the Cagayan River's rampaging waters, however, the Diocese of Nueva Segovia was transferred to

province in 1758. The diocese's name went along with the transfer to Vigan and to avoid confusion, Bishop Miguel Garcia requested that Nueva Segovia and its suburbs renamed back to Lal-lo. The seat of the Diocese of Nueva Segovia remains in Vigan till today where is now elevated as the

Archdiocese of Nueva Segovia The Archdiocese of Nueva Segovia is an archdiocese of the Catholic Church in the Philippines. It covers the province of Ilocos Sur, on the island of Luzon. The see of the archdiocese is the city of Vigan. The archdiocese was erected in 1595 in ...

. The transfer affected the closure of the cathedral and the merging of the three churches into the single parish of Centro. The two other churches were abandoned and eventually destroyed because of neglect while the church of Centro, dedicated to ''Santo Domingo de Guzman'' (

Saint Dominic Saint Dominic, (; 8 August 1170 – 6 August 1221), also known as Dominic de Guzmán (), was a Castilians, Castilian Catholic priest and the founder of the Dominican Order. He is the patron saint of astronomers and natural scientists, and he a ...

), became what is now Lal-lo Church. The remains of three bishops are interred in the church: Bishop Miguel de Benavides who was Nueva Segovia's first bishop and later of Manila where he founded the

University of Santo Tomas The University of Santo Tomas (UST; ), officially the Pontifical and Royal University of Santo Tomas, The Catholic University of the Philippines or colloquially as ''Ustê'' (), is a Private university, private Catholic school, Catholic researc ...

, Bishop Diego de Soria who was the second bishop of the diocese, and Bishop Diego Aduarte who was the sixth.

Provincial capital

Lal-lo remained the capital of Cagayan province until 1839 when the provincial seat of power was relocated to Tuguegarao; its transformation into the most important town in Cagayan led to the decline of Lal-lo. It was accepted as an ecclesiastical mission by the Dominicans in 1604, 23 years after the foundation of Lal-lo.

Restoration of cityhood

The first attempt of the restoration of Lal-lo's city status was made during the first term of Mayor Florante Pascual. The historical document originally signed by King Philip was not found, even after sending a research delegation to

Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

. Pascual determined that the restoration of Lal-lo's cityhood be made through an earlier bill. There was a move in the Philippine Congress to regain its cityhood as a component city, and also rename the municipality back to its original name, Nueva Segovia. Renewed attempt of city status restoration was carried out in January 2012. Board member Maria Olivia Pascual said that researchers had found a Spanish document that declared the municipality as a city. According to Pascual, a bill seeking the restoration of the city status of Lal-lo (the former Ciudad Nueva Segovia) could be filed again through the efforts of First District Representative Juan Ponce Enrile, Jr. As recently as 2018, vice mayor Oliver Pascual has said that the establishment of

in the municipality would be "a great boost" in its bid for the restoration of its city status.

Contemporary

In 2006, the shell-midden sites of Lal-lo and Gattaran were included in the

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...

Tentative List for

World Heritage Site World Heritage Sites are landmarks and areas with legal protection under an treaty, international treaty administered by UNESCO for having cultural, historical, or scientific significance. The sites are judged to contain "cultural and natural ...

inclusion, a step closer to becoming a world heritage site. The shell-midden sites are currently being conserved by the local government from looting to preserve its outstanding universal value. In 2023, the government identified Lal-lo airport as a venue for American military forces as part of the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA).

Geography

Lal-lo is situated from the provincial capital

, and from the country's capital city of

Barangays

Lal-lo is politically subdivided into 35

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. 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 while 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 ...

. * Abagao * Alaguia * Bagumbayan * Bangag * Bical * Bicud * Binag * Cabayabasan (Capacuan) * Cagoran * Cambong * Catayauan * Catugan * Centro (

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 ...

) * Cullit * Dagupan * Dalaya * Fabrica * Fusina * Jurisdiction * Lalafugan * Logac * Magallungon (Santa Teresa) * Magapit * Malanao * Maxingal * Naguilian * Paranum * Rosario * San Antonio (Lafu) * San Jose * San Juan * San Lorenzo * San Mariano * Santa Maria * Tucalana

Climate

Demographics

In the 2020 census, the population of Lal-lo, Cagayan, was 48,733 people, with a density of .

Economy

Government

Local government

Lal-lo is part of the first legislative district of the province of Cagayan. It is governed by a mayor, designated as its local chief executive, and by a municipal council as its legislative body in accordance with the Local Government Code. The mayor, vice mayor, and the municipal councilors are elected directly by the people through an election held every three years.

Elected officials

Education

The Schools Division of Cagayan governs the town's public education system. The division office is a field office of the DepEd in

region. There are two schools district offices that govern all the public and private elementary and high schools throughout the municipality. These are Lal-lo North District, and Lal-lo South District.

Primary and elementary schools

* Alaguia Elementary School * Bangag Elementary School * Bical Elementary School * Bicud Elementary School * Cabayabasan Adventist Multigrade School * Cabayabasan Elementary School * Catugan Elementary School * Cullit Elementary School * Eduardo B. Batalla Elementary School * Fusina Elementary School * Jurisdiccion Christian Learning Center * Lalafugan Elementary School * Lallo North Central School * Logac Elementary School * Logac Adventist Multigrade Schoo * Magapit Elementary School * Malanao Elementary School * Maxingal Elementary School * Naguilian Elementary School * San Antonio Elementary School * San Juan Elementary School * San Lorenzo Elementary School * Sta. Maria Central School * Tolentino Academy of Lal-lo

Secondary schools

* Lal-lo National High School * Lal-lo National High School - Cabayabasan Annex * Logac National High School * Magapit NHS Magapit * Lyceum of Lal-lo

Higher educational institution

* Cagayan State University

Media

Radio

* DWRL 95.1 - Community radio

Cable TV providers

* RBS Powerlink Cable TV * Reliant Cable Network Services

References

External links

* Philippine Standard Geographic Codebr>Philippine Census Information
{{Authority control Municipalities of Cagayan Populated places on the Rio Grande de Cagayan Former provincial capitals of the Philippines Former cities in the Philippines 1581 establishments in the Philippines