Mount Arayat
Mount Pinatubo Crater
Arayat Church
Betis Church
GuaGua Church
San Fernando
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Pampanga Province
General Info about Pampanga
FAST FACTS:
CAPITAL >> San Fernando
AREA >> 2180 sq km
NO. OF CITIES >> 2 ( Angeles City, San Fernando City)
NO. OF TOWNS >> 20
Pampanga is located in the hearth of Central Luson. It is bounded on the north by Tarlac and Nueva Ecija, on the east by Bulacan, on hte west by Zambales and on the south by Bataan and Manila Bay. Angeles City is a highly urbanized city. It has an area of 60 sq km and a population aorund 250 000.
Pampanga was already the site of thriving settlements along river banks or "Pampang" before the Spaniards came. The inhabitants were reffered to as "Kapampagas" or the people by the river bank". Martin de Goiti explored Pampanga.
The province was established in 1571, comprised of most of what is now Central Luzon.
In 1754, a strip from Dinalupihan to Orion, was ceded to Bataan. In 1848, the province lost five towns to Nueva Ecija, and San Miguel to Bulacan.
By 1860, its northern district was made into a seperate comandancia. The district was made a part of Pangasinan in 1874, and the towns of Mabalacat, Magalang, Porac and Floridablanca were returned to Pampanga.
Since the early 20th century, the province has been a hotbed of agrarian troubles, mainly because of its many eastates under powerful landlords.
During World War II, Pampanga was the base for a guerilla unit known as the "Hukbalahap" which resisted the Japanese.
Thu Huks later formed the nucleus of local communist insurgency after the war, but it was suppressed in the early 1950s. It resurfaced as the New People΄s Army in the 1960s.
Pampanga was the home province of Diosdado Macapagal, ninth president of the Republic.
Farming and fishing are the main industries. Rice and Sugarcane are the major crops. Others are banana, mango and eggplant. The rivers and fishponds produce fish, shrimps and crabs.
The province manufactures garments, furniture, gift items and toys for export. IT is famous for its woodcarvings and giant Christmas lanterns.
Pampanga is populated by resourceful hardy folk, who are justifiably proud of their famous Kapampangan cuisine, regarded by many as the best regional food in the Philippines. The capital, San Fernando, is world famous for the annual lenten reenactment of the Lenten Crucifixion.It is also renowned for the famous Pampangan Christmas lanterns. Angeles City, on the other hand, is a booming nightlife center and tourist destination, while the adjoining Clark Special Economic Zone is the site of world-class resorts, casinos, duty-free shops and golf courses. Pampanga has many remnants of a long and colorful history, including roofs of the old Spanish houses and church of Bacolor, the Betis Church of Guagua and the St. Peter's shrine at Apalit, with its life-size image of the saint. The Death March Marker at the San Fernando railroad station commemorates the heroics of the prisoners who took part in the infamous World War II Death March. Natural attractions of the province include, among others, the Mt. Arayat National Park and the Wild Duck Sanctuary in Candaba.
GETTING THERE
Many buses is leaving from Manila every 10 minuts to 30 minuts for San Fernando, only 66 km away.
Busses who is going westward to Olangapo and Bataan and northward to Ilocos and Baguio is goin throug the province
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