Dasol, Pangasinan

History

The town got its name from the medicinal herb "dosol" which abound in the locality during the Spanish period. The leaves of this herbal plant are greenish and oval in shape. It is a tuber relatively very low in height. It was commonly used to cure infected wounds, but was found to have the unusual characteristic of miraculously disappearing (abandoning its post) for unknown reason never to be located again. Its name was frequently mispronounced as Dasol by the Spaniards, so that when the place was established as municipality in the 19th Century, Dasol became its official name.

Secession from Zambales and other towns

On November 7, 1903, the northern part of Zambales was annexed to the Province of Pangasinan. The municipalities ceded were Alaminos, Bolinao, Anda, San Isidro de Putot, Bani, Agno, and Infanta. Townsfolk cited alleged lack of concern for the towns' interest and welfare by the Zambales provincial government and was encouraged to join Pangasinan province. However, for allegedly the same reason, there was a movement to rejoin Zambales, which clamor was aroused by the incumbency of then President Ramon Magasaysay, a Zambales born president in the middle of the 1950s. This proposal was wiped out completely when Governor Aguedo Agbayani of Pangasinan became the governor.

As early as 1878, Dasol was not as a municipality as it is now, but was part of San Isidro de Putot municipality which also include the present municipalities of Mabini (at that time was named as Barrio Balincaguin), and Burgos. At that time, there were few people lived in Dasol. Balincaguin was the most thickly populated barrio and later became an independent municipality. The people, in their desire for better living conditions, moved to the south-west. They found good fishing grounds and they decided to stay along the coast in the barrio of Uli, Dasol. In 1911, by virtue of Executive Order No. 25, Dasol seceded from San Isidro de Putot, San Isidro de Putot was renamed as Burgos (in honor of José Apolonio Burgos) and Balincaguin was renamed as Mabini (in honor of Apolinario Mabini).

Boundary issues

Ever since its creation, the boundaries of Dasol with the municipalities of Burgos, Mabini and Infanta remain vague, for what the leaders of Dasol had claimed to be the boundaries then agreed upon and as allegedly borne out by records, are no longer respected by the respective officials of said adjoining municipalities. Instead, they have encroached into Dasol's domain. During the incumbency of Mayor Liceralde, he made an attempt to settle Dasol's boundary with Mabini, but even after two separate conferences between the officials of the two towns were already had, each group was adamant in its own version. Considering that there was no visible sign of a probability for an amicable settlement of the dispute, the idea was abandoned so as to give way to court battle. He allegedly said that it was time-consuming to gather relevant documentary evidence (parol evidence no longer available due to the death of reliable witnesses) that would clinch the case for Dasol. The same appears to be true with respect to the other boundary conflicts.

Philippine Revolution

A revolutionary group was organized in the Central Luzon on January 14, 1898 under General Francisco Macabulos. The Pangasinan sub-group was headed by Vicente del Prado, who together with Daniel Maramba reached an understanding to launch an attack on Spanish situations. On March 7, 1898, a simultaneous attack was suddenly made upon convents in number of towns of western Pangasinan (then as northern Zambales). Areas of San Isidro Potot, Dasol (proper), and Eguia were among attacked. The small Spanish detachments in these towns and around fifty Spanish friars were defeated.

World War II

Dasol bay has been witness to several naval battles in World War II. On August 23, 1944, while searching for new targets, USS Harder and USS Hake were attacked by Kaibokan CD-22 and PB-102 (ex-USS Stewart (DD-224)). Thinking that it was just a Japanese minesweeper and a three-stack Siamese destroyer Phra Ruang, the Japanese vessel operated in consort with the anti-submarine vessel attacked and sank USS Harder thru a technique known as depth charge attack. USS Hake is also attacked but escaped and arrived at Fremantle Harbor, Australia on September 24, 1944.

On November 6, 1944, while guarding convoy Ma-Ta 31, Japanese cruiser Kumano was attacked by a US submarine wolf-pack consisting of the Batfish, Guitarro, Bream, Raton and the Ray. In all, the American submarines launched 23 torpedoes towards the convoy, two of which struck the Kumano. The first hit destroyed the ship's recently replaced bow, and the second damaged its starboard engine room. Kamano escaped and was towed to Dasol Bay by the cargo ship Doryo Maru, and from there the ship was moved to the beach and underwent repairs. On November 25, 1944, Kumano came under aerial attack by aircraft launched by the USS Ticonderoga. Five torpedoes and four 500 pound bombs struck the ship, and rolled over and sank in about 31 m (100 ft) of water.

Political History