 |
| Lingayen Gulf, a rich gulf home to an ancient city (photo by doktordesmo) |
Pangasinan, a prospective state in northern Philippines enclosing the Lingayen Gulf. The name Pangasinan comes from pang-asinan, "land of salt," describing the region where salterns thrive as far back as the pre-colonial era.
People The natives of Pangasinan are the Pangasinan, the Ibaloi, Karao, Iwaak, Kallahan and the Ilongot. The Pangasinan or Pangasinense (Hispanized form) are the lowland natives occupying the area around the Lingayen Gulf. Their hinterland counterparts, the Ibaloi, Iwaak and Kallahan, inhabit the southern mountains of the Cordillera. While not entirely part of the ethnolinguistic family, the Ilongot, a remote tribe living as far as the Sierra Madre, are closest to the aforementioned groups than any others.
 |
Ibaloi schoolgirls
(photo from ???)
|
History From a mayoralty (alcadia mayor) of Pampanga, Pangasinan became a province in 1611. However, 11 of its northern municipalities, including San Juan and present-day San Fernando City, were relinquished for the creation of La Union in 1850, and this was followed by the cession of Paniqui and other southern towns to Tarlac in 1875. Originally part of Central Luzon, the province of Pangasinan was transferred to Ilocos Region in 1972 by a decree of Ferdinand Marcos, who is an Ilocano. This elicited outrage from many Pangasinense, on account that Pangasinan has an ethnic identity quite distinct to that of Ilocos to be counted part of it. Up until today, with a population and an economy bigger than that of all the original Ilocos provinces put together, the Pangasinense are standing their ground. Such terms as ‘Pangasinan Region’ and ‘Pangasinan Autonomous Region’ were not out of lexicon — even more so, now, a ‘Federal State of Pangasinan’.
