La Union


La Union is a province in the Philippines located in the Ilocos Region in the island of Luzon. Its capital is the city of San Fernando, which also serves as the regional center of the whole Ilocos Region.
The province is bordered by Ilocos Sur to the north, Benguet to the east, Pangasinan to the south and to the west by the shores of the South China Sea.

History

Formation

La Unión, "The Union" in English, was formed in 1850 when the Spanish colonial government of Governor-General Antonio Maria Blanco merged the three southern towns of Ilocos Sur province, the nine northern towns of Pangasinan, and the western towns of Benguet to the east. Pangasinans were the majority in the new province because most towns had been in the province of Pangasinan.
On October 29, 1849, Governor General Claveria issued a promovido to fuse the Pangasinan-Ilocos-Cordillera areas into La Union. On March 2, 1850, Governor General Antonio Maria Blanco signed the Superior Decreto of La Union , with Captain Toribio Ruiz de la Escalera as the first Gobernador Military y Politico. Isabella II of Spain decreed the province's creation on April 18, 1854. In 1661, Andres Malong failed to recover La Union from the Spaniards after the Battle of Agoo.

1896 Philippine revolution

In 1896, the people of La Union began a revolt against the Spaniards, who had called La Union "Una Provincia Modelo", led by Manuel Tinio Y Bondoc under Emilio Aguinaldo. The Americans collaborated with the Filipinos to end the Spanish.

American colonial era

Dr. Lucino Almeida became the Presidente Provincial of the American regime, followed by the appointment of La Union's first civil governor in 1901, Don Joaquin Joaquino Ortega.

World War II

La Union had great strategic significance both for allied and Japanese forces.
On December 22, 1941, the Japanese 4th Tank Regiment and the 47th Infantry Regiment under the command of Col Isamu Yanagi supported by a massive flotilla of navy ships tried to land in Agoo to make it one of three major beachheads for the Japanese Invasion of Lingayen Gulf, although weather dispersed their forces and made them deploy on a wide stretch of beach that ranged from Agoo to as far south as Damortis. These forces later met the commonwealth defence forces - consisting of the 26th Cavalry Regiment, the Philippine 21st Division, the Philippine 11th Division, and the newly formed Philippine 71st Division - in what would later be called the Battle of Rosario.
On January 4, 1945, La Union was liberated by the Battle of San Fernando and Bacsil Ridge.

Martial Law

Although economically affected by the rapid peso devaluation brought about by unbridled election spending heading into the 1969 presidential elections, political life in La Union was not significantly impacted by Ferdinand Marcos’ declaration of Martial Law in 1972.
The powerful family factions which had dominated La Union politics since before the American colonial era largely remained in place, although the family of Congressman Jose D. Aspiras became much more prominent after he became Marcos’ Tourism Minister. The main political change was the increased power of regional and provincial offices of national agencies, whose directors were answerable directly to Marcos.
This technique used by Marcos to consolidate political power did not get much resistance in the Ilocos Region, including La Union, which had strong ethnic associations with the Marcos family. The Marcos administration’s use of violent methods for stifling dissent thus mostly took place in other, non-Ilocano provinces, such as nearby Abra, Kalinga, and Mountain Province.
But there were still La Union natives who were willing to object to the authoritarian practices and abuses of the Marcos administration, despite personal risk. 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, tortured at Camp Olivas in Pampanga, and later separately killed before the end of Martial Law. The martyrdom of Romulo and Armando was 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.
Agoo, La Union native Antonio L. Mabutas had become Archbishop of Davao by the time of Martial Law, and spoke actively against the Human rights abuses of that time, particulaly the torture and killings of church workers. The pastoral letter he wrote against Martial law, “Reign of Terror in the Countryside,” is notable for having been the first pastoral to be written against Marcos' martial law administration.

Geography

La Union covers a total area of occupying the centralsouthern section of the Ilocos Region in Luzon. The province is bordered by Ilocos Sur to the north, Benguet to the east, Pangasinan to the south, and to the west by the South China Sea.
La Union is north of Metro Manila and northwest of Baguio. The land area of the province is.
Like most of the Ilocos Region, the province is squeezed in by the Cordillera mountain range to the east and the South China Sea to the west. Yet, unlike other portions of Luzon and the Philippines' two other island groupings, the Visayas and Mindanao, La Union experiences a rather arid and prolonged dry season with little precipitation to be expected between the months of November and May.

Administrative divisions

La Union comprises 19 municipalities and 1 component city, all of which are organized into two legislative districts.

Barangays

La Union has a total of 576 barangays comprising its 19 municipalities and 1 city.
The most populous barangay in the province is Sevilla in the City of San Fernando with a population of 10,612 in the 2010 census. If cities are excluded, Central East in the municipality of Bauang has the highest number of inhabitants, at 4,249. Caggao in Bangar has the lowest with only 170.

Demographics

The population of La Union in the was people, with a density of.
The province is predominantly Ilocano and Roman Catholic. Communities of Pangasinans thrive mostly in the southwestern portion of the province while Cordillerans live in the Cordillera foothills. In September 2012, the province of La Union passed an ordinance recognizing Ilocano as an official provincial language alongside Filipino and English, as national and official languages of the Philippines, respectively.
According to the Philippine Statistics Authority report in 2012, the province has the longest life expectancy in the country at 78.3 years.

Economy

La Union is known for its softbroom and tourism industry. The economy is diversified with service, manufacturing, and agricultural industries spread throughout the province. The Port of San Fernando operates as an increasingly active shipping point, and the former American airbase Wallace Air Station, having been converted into a business and industrial area, helps to facilitate such commercial activity.
The major products of the province include: hand-woven blankets, softbrooms, baskets, pottery, rice wine, sugarcane wine, sugarcane vinegar, wood craft, bamboo craft, native rice cakes, antique-finish furniture, dried fish, coconuts, sea urchins, malunggay and pebble stones.
Currently, 80% of the income of the province comes from San Juan.

Education

La Union has 333 public elementary schools, 56 private elementary schools, 79 public high schools, 51 private secondary schools, 20 Colleges and 5 State Universities.

Provincial government and politics

Just as the national government, La Union provincial government is divided into three branches: executive, legislative and judiciary. The judicial branch is administered solely by the Supreme Court of the Philippines. The LGUs have control of the executive and legislative branch.
The executive branch is composed of the governor for the provinces, mayor for the cities and municipalities, and the barangay captain for the barangays.
The legislative branch is composed of the Sangguniang Panlalawigan for the provinces, Sangguniang Panlungsod for the cities, Sangguniang Bayan for the municipalities, Sangguniang Barangay, and the Sangguniang Kabataan for the youth sector.
The seat of government is vested upon the mayor and other elected officers who hold office at the City Hall of San Fernando. The Sanguniang Bayan is the center of legislation, stationed in the Speaker Pro-Tempore Francisco I. Ortega Building, the Legislative Building at the back of the Capitol.

Elected officials

La Union is governed by Francisco Emmanuel "Pacoy" R. Ortega III, the chief executive, his vice governor, Mario Ortega, and 13 board members.

Governors

American colonization
The Supreme Court of the Philippines recognizes La Union regional trial courts and metropolitan or municipal trial courts within the province and towns, that have an overall jurisdiction in the populace of the province and towns, respectively.
Batas Pambansa Blg. 129, "The Judiciary Reorganization Act of 1980", as amended, created Regional, Metropolitan, Municipal Trial and Circuit Courts. The Third Judicial Region includes RTCs in La Union xxx Sec. 14. Regional Trial Courts. Fifty-seven Regional Trial Judges shall be commissioned for the First Judicial Region. Nine branches for the province of La Union, Branches XXVI to XXX with seats at San Fernando, Branches XXXI and XXXII at Agoo, Branch XXXIII at Bauang, and Branch XXXIV at Balaoan;
The law also created Metropolitan Trial Courts in each metropolitan area established by law, a Municipal Trial Court in each of the other cities or municipalities, and a Municipal Circuit Trial Court in each circuit comprising such cities and/or municipalities as are grouped together pursuant to law: three branches for Cabanatuan City; in every city which does not form part of a metropolitan area, there is also a Municipal Trial Court with one branch, except as provided: Two branches for San Fernando, La Union;
The courts of law are stationed in Halls of Justices of the Province and towns. In La Union, the Regional Trial Court is stationed at the Bulwagan ng Katarungan or Halls of Justice in San Fernando, La Union and other Regional Trial Courts in Bauang and Agoo, La Union.

Notable people