History of Pangasinan, Philippines - The Founding of Urdaneta Town

On this day - 08 January 2021 #InPangasinanHistory, in the near eastern part of Pangasinan, the town of Urdaneta was born. 

The founding of Urdaneta represents a significant departure from the process of erecting new towns. The initiative for building this town came not from the gobernadorcillo and comun de principales of a mother town but from the tenientes and cabezas de barangay of three towns. Urdaneta was carved out of the jurisdictions of the three towns of Asingan, Sta. Barbara, and Mangaldan. The cabezas of the three separate towns banded together and petitioned the Spanish Government to allow them to form an independent political unit. On January 8, 1858, the petition was granted and a decree creating the new municipality named Urdaneta, was declared.

Urdaneta became a city in 1998 by virtue of R.A. 8480. Urdaneta was one of the towns that received a heavy influx of Ilocano migrants. It is the commercial and education center of eastern Pangasinan.  

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Sources: 

Cortes, R.M. (1990). Pangasinan 1801-1900: The Beginnings of Modernization. Quezon City: New Day Publishers. pp 22-23.

Official website of the City of Urdaneta. The History of Urdaneta.

Retrieved from: http://urdaneta-city.gov.ph/about/the-history-of-urdaneta/ 

The Corpus Juris. An Act Converting the Municipality of Urdaneta in the Province of Pangasinan into a Component City to be Known as the City of Urdaneta. 

Retrieved from: https://thecorpusjuris.com/.../republic-acts/ra-no-8480.php

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