2. Ilocos Region
• The Ilocos
Region (Ilocano: Rehion/Deppaar ti
Ilocos; Pangasinan: Sagor na Baybay na
Luzon/Rehiyon Uno; Tagalog: Rehiyon ng
Ilocos), designated as Region I, is
an administrative region of the Philippines.
Located in the northwestern section
of Luzon, it is bordered by the Cordillera
Administrative Region to the east,
the Cagayan Valley to the northeast and
southeast, Central Luzon to the south, and
the South China Sea to the west.
3. • The region comprises
four provinces (Ilocos Norte, Ilocos
Sur, La Union, and Pangasinan)
and one independent city
(Dagupan). Its regional center
is San Fernando, La Union,
whereas the largest settlement
is San Carlos, Pangasinan. The
2000 census reported that the
major languages spoken in the
region were Ilocano (64% of the
total population at that
time), Pangasinan (32.5%),
and Tagalog and other languages
(3.21%).
4. History
• Prehistory
• The region was first inhabited
by the aboriginal Negritos,
before they were pushed by
successive waves
of Austronesian immigrants
that penetrated the narrow
coast. Tingguians (Igorot) in
the interior, Ilocanos in the
north, Pangasinenses in the
south, and Zambals in the
southwesternmost areas
settled the region.
5. Early history
• As commercial trading routes became
established in Southeast Asia, the pre-
Hispanic Luyag na Caboloan (present-
day Pangasinan) area in the vicinity of
Lingayen gulf became maritime trading
centers, as gold mined from
the Cordillera Mountain Range came
down along the Aringay-Tonglo-Balatok
gold trail,[7][8] and was also traded in the
neighboring settlement of Agoo, whose
coast at the time was shaped in such a
way that it was a good harbor for
foreign vessels.
6. •Evidence of trade between the
then-Pangasinense port of Agoo
and China has been excavated in
the form of porcelain and pottery
pieces unearthed at the site of the
Catholic church during its
renovation, - which are now kept in
the Museo de Iloko.[9] Japanese
fishermen eventually established
their first settlement in the
Philippines there, passing on their
fishing skills and technologies to
the local populace.
7. Spanish colonial era
• The Spanish arrived in the 16th century and established Christian
missions and governmental institutions to control the native
population and convert them to Catholicism. Present-
day Vigan in Ilocos Sur province became the diocesan seat of Nueva
Segovia. Ilocanos in the northern parts were less easily swayed,
however, and remained an area filled with deep resentments against
Spain. These resentments surfaced at various points in the Ilocos
provinces' history as insurrections, most notably that of Andres
Malong and Palaris of Pangasinan, Diego Silang and his
wife Gabriela Silang in 1764, and the Basi Revolt in the 19th century.
However, it was the Pangasinans in the south who were the last to
stand against the Spaniards.
8. American invasion era
•In 1901, the region came under American colonial
rule, and in 1941, under Japanese occupation.
9. Japanese occupation era
•During 1945, the combined American and
the Philippine Commonwealth troops including with
the Ilocano and Pangasinan guerillas liberated the
Ilocos Region from Japanese forces during
the Second World War.
10. Philippine Independence
• Several presidents of the Republic of the Philippines hailed
from the Region: Elpidio Quirino, Ferdinand Marcos,
and Fidel V. Ramos. The province of Pangasinan was
transferred by Ferdinand Marcos from Region III into
Region I in 1973 and afterwards imposed a migration policy
for Ilokanos into Pangasinan, to the moderate detriment of
the native Pangasinenses. Before the administration
of Ferdinand Marcos, Pangasinan was not a part of the
region.[12] He also included Abra, Mountain Province,
and Benguet in the Ilocos region in a bid to expand Ilokano
influence among the ethnic peoples of the Cordilleras.
11. The Martial Law era
•Various human rights violations were documented in
the Ilocos region during the Marcos martial law era,
despite public perception that the region was
supportive of Marcos' administration.[14] In Ilocos
Norte, various farmers from the towns of Vintar,
Dumalneg, Solsona, Marcos, and Piddig were
documented to have been tortured,[14] and eight
farmers in Bangui and three indigenous community
members in Vintar were "salvaged" in 1984.
12. •Ilocanos who were critical of Marcos' authoritarian
rule included Roman Catholic Archbishop and Agoo,
La Union native Antonio L. Mabutas, who spoke
actively against the torture and killings of church
workers.[15][16] Other La Union natives who fought
the dictatorship were student activists Romulo
and Armando Palabay of San Fernando, La Union,
whose torture and death in a military camp in
Pampanga would lead them to being honored as
martyrs in the fight against the dictatorship in the
Philippines' Bantayog ng mga Bayani memorial.
13. • In Ilocos Norte, one of the prominent victims of the Martial Law era who
came from Laoag was Catholic layperson and social worker Purificacion
Pedro, who volunteered in organizations protesting the Chico River Dam
Project in the nearby Cordillera Central mountains.[18] Wounded while
visiting activist friends in Bataan, she was later killed by Marcos
administration soldiers while recuperating in the hospital.[19][20] Another
prominent opponent of the martial law regime was human rights advocate
and Bombo Radyo Laoag program host David Bueno, who worked with
the Free Legal Assistance Group in Ilocos Norte during the later part of the
Marcos administration and the early part of the succeeding Aquino
administration. He would later be assassinated by motorcycle-riding men
in fatigue uniforms on October 22, 1987 – part of a wave of assassinations
which coincided with the 1986-87 coup d'état which tried to unseat the
democratic government set up after the 1986 People Power
Revolution.[21] Both Bueno and Pedro were later honored among the first
65 people to have their names inscribed on the wall of remembrance of the
Philippines' Bantayog ng mga Bayani, which honors the martyrs and
heroes who fought the dictatorship,[22] and Pedro was listed among Filipino
Catholics nominated to be named Servant of God.
14. Transfer of provinces to the Cordillera
Administrative Region
•When the Cordillera Administrative
Region was established in 1987
under Corazon Aquino, the indigenous
provinces of Abra, Mountain Province,
and Benguet were transferred into the newly
formed region.
15. Geography
• The Ilocos Region is divided into two contrasting geographical features. The
Ilocos provinces occupy the narrow plain between the Cordillera
Central mountain range and the South China Sea,
whereas Pangasinan occupies the northwestern portion of the vast Central
Luzon plain, having Zambales Mountains as its natural western limit.
• Lingayen Gulf is the most notable body of water in Pangasinan and it
contains several islands, including the Hundred Islands National Park. To
the north of Ilocos is Luzon Strait.
• The Agno River runs through Pangasinan from Benguet, flowing into a
broad delta at the vicinities of Lingayen and Dagupan before emptying into
Lingayen Gulf.
