Bulacan

History

During the Conquest of Luzon by Adelantado Miguel Legazpi in 1571, Bulacan was reported to be well populated and rich. Initially there were only six encomiendas under the rule of the Alcalde Mayor in Bulacan: Calumpit (then an independent Alcaldia) Bulakan, Malolos, Meycauayan, Binto (present-day Plaridel), Guiguinto, and Caluya (present-day Balagtas). The encomiendas were later organized into Pueblos (towns). The first pueblo established in Bulacan was the town of Calumpit, founded by Agustinian friars in 1575. Calumpit was also the birthplace of Christianity historcal documents told that Calumpit is a different and separated in Bulacan comprising the Provincia de Calonpite y Hagonoy together with Apalit.A time came,in 1578 Alcaldia de Calumpit and it was dissolved and annexed to Provincia de Bulacan. It has been said that in 1578 the Augustinians conquered Bulacan (the town after which the province was named).The province of Bulacan (named Meycauayan it its antiquity), is on the island of Luzon, and is one of the most important “Alcadia de Termino”, Civil and politically it corresponds to the Audiencia y capitanía general de Filipinas, and spiritually belongs to the Archbishop of Manila. The Franciscan friars Juan Plasencia and Fray Diego de Oropesa founded Meycauayan in the same year, and for a time it was the capital; people were able to flourish, and became so rich that the sons are six of the best in the province (Bocaue, Polo, San Jose del Monte, Santa Maria de Pandi, Obando and Marilao). On the other hand Malolos also under Augustinian Order.During Spanish Period already existed as a Chinese settlement bearing the name Li-han,in which those people are rich tagalogs and Chinese who are excellent in commerce and trade was conquered by Spanish conquistador and constituted as Royal Encomienda by Adelantado Miguel Lopez de Legaspi in November 14, 1571 under Jeronimo Tirado and Marcos de Herrera. The oldest document mentioning Malolos as a Civil Town can be found in Augustinian documents when the town of Malolos was accepted by the Augustinians to be its House of Order in June 11, 1580. Augustinians missionaries renamed the village of Lihan as Malolos a Pueblo or Town with its own Gobernadorcillo on 1580.

During the General Visitation of October 5, 1762 by, Sr. Doctor Don Simon de Anda de Salazar, the province was headed by Capitan Don Jose Pasarin, alcade mayor of the province. 1795-96, Don Manuel Piñon was the alcalde mayor. According to the "Guia de 1839", Bulacan province in the island of Luzon, Philippines, is governed by a mayor, consists of 19 pueblos, 36,394 tributes and 181,970 souls. D. Felipe Gobantes, Alcalde of the province of Bulacan erected a stone column in the plaza of Bulacan in Memory of Fr. Manuel Blanco O.S.A. who died on April 1, 1845.

In 1848 when the boundaries of Pampanga were changed, the region, which includes the important town of San Miguel de Mayumo and neighboring places that were formerly part of Pampanga, was adjudicated to Bulacan.

In an earlier period during 1890, Malolos was a hot-spot of Liberal Illustrados, notably the "20 Women of Malolos", who exerted pressure for education under a Filipino professor. However, the first phase of the revolution ceased in 1897 with the signing of the Pact of Biak-na-Bato in San Miguel. Under its terms the leaders were to go to Hong Kong and reside there. Under the illusory peace created by the pact, the end of 1897 saw greater determination om the part of the Filipinos to carry on the revolution. In early 1898, the provinces of Zambales, Ilocos, Pampanga, Bulacan, Laguna, Pangasinan, Nueva Ecija, Tarlac. and Camarines rose again. In Central Luzon, a revolutionary government was organized under General Francisco Makabulos, a Kapampangan revolutionary leader of La Paz, Tarlac.

The U.S. Americans established a local Philippine government in the Philippines when they held the first municipal election in the country in the town of Baliuag, Bulacan on May 6, 1899. At the beginning of the American rule,1899-1900 Malolos became the headquarters of the Military Governor of the Philippines Malolos at Casa Real in Malolos and in February 27, 1901, the Philippine Commission officially transferred the seat of government to Malolos, and the Casa Real de Malolos was the seat of the Provincial Governor from 1900 to 1930 until the completion of the capitol building at the Brgy Guinhawa, Malolos City.

In 1942, at the height of World War II, the Japanese Imperial Army occupied Bulacan and made Casa Real de Malolos its headquarters. In 1945, combined Filipino and American forces and local guerrillas attacked the Japanese Imperial Forces and liberated Bulacan.