San Fernando, La Union

San Fernando
Component city
City of San Fernando
San Fernando Skyline
Flag Seal
Nickname(s):  Prime Capital of Ilocandia Botanical Garden City
Map of La Union with San Fernando highlighted
show OpenStreetMap Wikimedia | © OpenStreetMap
San Fernando Location within the Philippines
Coordinates: 16°37′N 120°19′E / 16.62°N 120.32°E / 16.62; 120.32Coordinates: 16°37′N 120°19′E / 16.62°N 120.32°E / 16.62; 120.32
Country	Philippines
Region	Ilocos Region
Province	La Union
District	1st district
Founded	1850
Cityhood	March 20, 1998
Barangays	59 (see Barangays)
Government  [1]
• Type	Sangguniang Panlungsod
• Mayor	Hermenegildo A. Gualberto
• Vice Mayor	Alfredo Pablo R. Ortega
• Representative	Pablo C. Ortega
• City Council	show Members Maria Rosario Eufrosina P. Nisce Ernesto V. Rafon Jessie R. Miranda Lucia Esperanza O. Valero John H. Orros Ramon C. Ortega Arnel A. Almazan Antonio G. Jucar Rizalde F. Laudencia Janwell E. Pacio Rodolfo M. Abat Quintin L. Balcita Jr.
• Electorate	72,655 voters (2019)
Area [2]
• Total	102.72 km2 (39.66 sq mi)
Elevation	101 m (331 ft)
Highest elevation	1,124 m (3,688 ft)
Lowest elevation	0 m (0 ft)
Population  (2020 census) [3]
• Total	125,640
• Density	1,200/km2 (3,200/sq mi)
• Households	27,912
Economy
• Income class	3rd city income class
• Poverty incidence	3.82% (2015)[4]
• Revenue	PHP 808,972,356.84 million (11.4%) (2018)
• Assets	PHP 1,629,324,939.20 billion (19.8%) (2018)
• Expenditure	PHP 558,905,857.83 million (6.3%) (2018)
Service provider
• Electricity	La Union Electric Company (LUECO)
Time zone	UTC+8 (PST)
ZIP code	2500
PSGC	013314000
IDD : area code	+63 (0)72
Climate type	tropical monsoon climate
Native languages	Ilocano Tagalog
Website	www.sanfernandocity.gov.ph

San Fernando, officially the City of San Fernando (Ilocano: Siudad ti San Fernando, Pangasinan: Siyudad na San Fernando, Tagalog: Lungsod ng San Fernando), is a 3rd class component city in the province of La Union, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 125,640 people. ^[3]

San Fernando is the financial, industrial, and political center of the province, as well as the regional center of the Ilocos Region (Region I) in the Philippines.

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 10,272 hectares (25,380 acres). ^[5]

San Fernando is 269 kilometres (167 mi) from Metro Manila.

Barangays[]

San Fernando is divided into 59 barangays. ^[5]

Climate[]

History[]

Colonial history[]

San Fernando, along with all the southern coastal towns of La Union were 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, Aringay, Santo Tomas and Rosario.

When Juan de Salcedo 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.

There were two smaller settlements in the immediate area of San Fernando: San Vicente de Balanac and San Guillermo de Dalangdang. Due to their proximity to the coast, they were constantly attacked by pirates. In 1759, the Agustinian friar Jose Torres fused these two settlements to form the town of Pindangan (local word for a place to dry fish). He also had the Pindangan church built but a massive earthquake in the 1760’s 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. 

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 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).^[7] The town was liberated in 1945.^[8]

Martial law era[]

Although Ilocanos are perceived to have been largely silent about the authoritarian practices,^[9][10] there were still San Fernando residents willing to express their objections to the Marcos administration.^[11] 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.^[12][13] 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[]

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.^[14]

Demographics[]

Population census of San Fernando

Year	Pop.	±% p.a.
1903	16,095	—
1918	19,881	+1.42%
1939	23,366	+0.77%
1948	28,742	+2.33%
1960	37,836	+2.32%
1970	52,597	+3.34%
1975	61,166	+3.07%
1980	68,410	+2.26%
1990	84,949	+2.19%
1995	91,943	+1.49%
2000	102,082	+2.27%
2007	114,813	+1.63%
2010	114,963	+0.05%
2015	121,812	+1.11%
2020	125,640	+0.61%
Source: Philippine Statistics Authority [15] [16] [17][18]

In the 2020 census, the population of San Fernando, La Union, was 125,640 people, ^[3] with a density of 1,200 inhabitants per square kilometre or 3,100 inhabitants per square mile.

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 San Fernando's native delicacy, made from "agdapil" (sugarcane, a tall tropical Southeast Asian Grass (Saccharum officinarum).^[25]

San Fernando has many class A hotels and resorts and night clubs such as Thunderbird Resorts and Casinos Poro Point

Local government[]

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[]

Elected officials (June 30, 2019 – 2022):^[26]

• Mayor: Hermenegildo A. Gualberto
• Vice Mayor: Alfred Pablo R. Ortega
• Councilors:
  • Maria Rosario Eufrosina P. Nisce
  • Ernesto V. Rafon
  • Jessie R. Miranda
  • Lucia Esperanza O. Valero
  • John H. Orros
  • Ramon C. Ortega
  • Arnel A. Almazan
  • Antonio G. Jucar
  • Rizalde F. Laudencia
  • Janwell E. Pacio
  • Rodolfo M. Abat
  • 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.^[27][28]

Tourism[]

• Poro Point
  • Poro Point Special Economic and Freeport Zone [1] (formerly American Military Base – Wallace Air Station)
  • Thunderbird Resorts
  • Boardwalk
• The La Union Botanical Garden (8 kilometers from the city) – is a 10 hectare garden (Barangay Cadaclan), the home of various species of rare plants and a sanctuary of wild animals.
• Marker
• Pindangan Ruins (Barangay Parian)
• Hobbitat Forest Park
• Poro Point Baywalk (Barangay Poro)
• Seven Hills
  • Capitol Hill (Barangay II) home of the Provincial Capitol
  • Pagoda Hill also known as Filipino-Chinese Friendship Park or Chinese Pagoda (Barangay II)
  • Heroes’ Hill & Freedom Park Stairway (153 steps) located at the eastern portion of Capitol Hill
  • Bethany Hill (Barangay II)
  • Mirador Hill (Barangay II)
  • Mariner's Hill (Barangay Catbangen)
  • Miracle Hill (Barangay Pagdaraoan)
• Christ the Redeemer (25-foot statue, Reservoir Hill, Barangay I)
• Poro Point Lighthouse
• Moro Watch Tower (Barangay Carlatan)
• La Union Science Centrum & Museum (LUSCM has 5 Galleries: Kadaklan Burial Site and Environmental Gallery, Museum, Dark Room, Main Science Gallery and Portable Planetarium (Barangay Cadaclan)
• Ma-Cho Temple
• Tomb of Unknown Soldier (Barangay Madayegdeg)
• Cathedral of St. William the Hermit (Barangay II, Poblacion)[2]
• Kasay Marine Sanctuary: 30 hectares MPA, featuring the 50 years old Giant clam or Tridacna gigas (Barangay Canaoay)
• Children's Park (Barangay II, City Plaza)
• 10.6 hectares Engineered Sanitary Landfill (Barangay Mameltac)^[29]
• La Union Trade Center (beside the City Hall)

Notable people[]

• Armando Palabay - Human rights activist and martyr honored at the Bantayog ng mga Bayani
• Roger Casugay – Filipino surfer and National Hero.
• Lucrecia Kasilag — Composer, Dean of the Philippine Women's University College of Music and Fine Arts (1953-1977), President of the Cultural Center of the Philippines (1976-1986) Awardee of the Order of National Artists of the Philippines
• Jessica Soho - Multi-awarded broadcaster journalist; narrator and magazine tv host

Sister cities[]

• Ansan, South Korea
• Coatzacoalcos, Mexico
• Naga, Camarines Sur
• Valenzuela City

References[]

External links[]

Wikivoyage has a travel guide for San Fernando, La Union.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to San Fernando, La Union.

Wikisource has the text of a 1905 New International Encyclopedia article about "San Fernando, La Union".

• Official website
• R.A. 8508 – "Charter of the City of San Fernando."
• Philippine Standard Geographic Code
• Philippine Census Information
• Local Governance Performance Management System