Baliwag, officially the City of Baliwag (, ; ), is a component city in the province of Bulacan, Philippines. According to the , it has a population of people.
The name Baliwag is derived from an old Kapampangan word meaning "untouched".Crossing a river, their 'itlog' turns to 'ebun' on Philstar.com The Kapampangan and Hispanicized spellings are used differently by locals: Baliwag refers to the entire city and is used in official documents, while Baliuag refers specifically to the downtown or población (commonly called Baliuag Bayan or Baliuag Loób). The settlement was founded in 1732 by Augustinian friars and was incorporated by Governor-General of the Philippines Fernándo Valdés Tamón on May 26, 1733. It was carved out of the town of Quingua (now Plaridel).
During the Spanish colonial period, Baliuag was predominantly agricultural, with rice farming serving as the principal source of livelihood. Orchards and tumanas produced fruits and vegetables that were sold in the public market. Commerce and industry also contributed significantly to the local economy. Baliuag became known for buntal hat weaving, silk weaving, the manufacture of cigar cases, piña fiber products, petates (mats), and sillas de bejuco (cane chairs), many of which were exported. The local market also expanded, and by the early 19th century, Baliuag was considered one of the most progressive and prosperous towns in Bulacan. The growth of the public market significantly transformed the town's economy.
Baliwag is the major commercial, transportation, entertainment, and educational center of northern Bulacan.
On July 22, 2022, Republic Act No. 11929 lapsed into law, converting the municipality into a component city and standardizing its name as the City of Baliwag. A plebiscite was held on December 17, 2022, in which 17,814 residents voted in favor of cityhood, while 5,702 voted against.
History Fr. Joaquín Martínez de Zúñiga, OSA, in his 1803 Historia de las Islas Filipinas wrote that the convento or parochial house of San Agustín in Baliuag is the best in the whole archipelago and no edifice in Manila can be compared to it in symmetry and beauty amid its towering belfry, having been a viewing point for the town's panorama. The friar further stated that the convento was a repository of priceless parish records that dated to the founding of Baliuag as a pueblo or parroquia by the Augustinians in 1733; the first convento was built in Barangay Santa Barbara before the main church was formally erected to form the nucleus of the modern población.
Fr. Joaquín Martínez de Zúñiga arrived in the Philippines on August 3, 1786, and visited Baliuag on February 17, 1802, with Ignacio María de Álava y Sáenz de Navarrete. Their host was Baliuag's Parish Priest, Fray Esteban Díez Hidalgo. Díez served as the longest cura párroco of Baliuag from 1789, having built the church and convento from 1790 to 1801.
The Apuntes históricos de la provincia augustiniana del Santísimo Nombre de Jesús de Filipinas reveal that Fr. Juan de Albarran, OSA was assigned parish priest of Baliuag in 1733. The first baptism in Baliuag Church was ordered by Fr. Lector and Fr. Feliz Trillo, Provincial of the Province on June 7, 1733, while Baliuag was founded and began its de jure existence on May 26, 1733. The pueblo or town was created in the provincial Chapter on May 15, 1734, with the appointment of Fr. Manuel Bazeta/Baseta as first cura párroco.
In 1769–1774, Baliuag Church was built by Father Gregorio Giner. The present structure (the third such structure after damage during the 1880 Luzon earthquakes) was later rebuilt by Father Esteban Díez using mortar and stone. The 1866 Belfry was also completed by Father Matías Novoa but the July 19, 1880, quake damaged the same which was later repaired by Father Tomás Gresa.
The earthquake of June 3, 1863, one of the strongest to ever hit Manila, destroyed the Palacio del Gobernador in Intramuros, necessitating the Governor-General moving to Malacañang Palace, which remains the residence of the Philippine head of state. The massive quake also damaged Baliuag Church.Malacañang Palace#Etymology In 1870, the reconstruction began when a temporary house of worship, the provincial along Año 1733 Street, became a narrow and simple edifice which was later used by the Religious of the Virgin Mary as a classroom for their Colegio de la Sagrada Familia (now St. Mary's College of Baliuag). Antonio de Mesa, “Maestrong Tonio" fabricated the parts to have finished the Spanish-era Baliuag Church.
Baliwag was the tenth town founded by the Augustinians in the province of Bulacan.
First Municipio Baliuag had 30 curates from 1733 to the end of Spanish rule in 1898: Fr. Esteban Díez Hidalgo and Fr. Fausto López served 40 and 24 years, respectively. Against his vow of celibacy, Fr. López fathered six children with a certain native named Mariquita, which include José (the eldest known by the matronymic “Pepeng Mariquita"), Dr. Joaquín Gonzalez, Francisco, the former Assemblyman Ricardo Lloret w (Legislative districts of Bulacan, 5th Philippine Legislature). Spanish cura párroco Fr. Ysidoro Prada served in Baliuag during the last decade of the Spaniard regime.
The American Military Government supervised the first municipal elections, having chosen Baliuag as the site of the 1899 Philippine local elections held On May 7, 1899. Francisco Guererro was elected the First Presidente Municipal. The Filipinos gathered at the plaza of the San Agustín Church after Holy Mass, and thereafter the officials were selected based on the qualifications for voters set by the Americans.
The first town Gobernadorcillo (using the 1789 title) of Baliuag was Captain José de Guzmán. He was assisted by the Tribunal's teniente mayor (chief lieutenant), juez de ganadas (judge of the cattle), juez de sementeras (judge of the field) and juez de policía (judge of the police). In the History of the Philippines (1521–1898), the 1893 Maura Law, the title of Gobernadorcillo became capitán municipal and that of each juez to teniente. From Baliuag's independence from Quingua (now Plaridel, Bulacan) until 1898, 49 served as capitán, 13 alcalde and 92 as Gobernadorcillo. Félix de Lara (1782) and Agustín de Castro (1789) were the first alcalde and Gobernadorcillo, respectively. Municipal President Fernando Enrile, in 1908, honored some of these officials, even naming some of Baliuag’s calles for them, but these civil officials were nonetheless subject to the influence of the Augustinian parish priests.
Don Mariano Ponce Mariano Ponce, a native of Baliuag, was among the founders of the Propaganda Movement together with José Rizal and Marcelo del Pilar. Ponce was also former assemblyman of the second district of Bulacan to the Philippine Assembly; and the co-founder of La Solidaridad with fellow co-founder Graciano López-Jaena. His most common names are Naning (hence the name of Plaza Naning); Kalipulako, named after the Cebuano hero Lapulapu; and Tagibalang or Tigbalang (Tikbalang), a supernatural being in Filipino folklore.
American period The local government of Baliuag used as first Municipio under the American regime (History of the Philippines (1898–1946)) the Mariano Yoyongko (Gobernadorcillo in 1885) Principalia in población (now a part of the market site), which it bought from Yoyongko.
On September 15, 1915, Baliuag municipality bought the heritage mansion and a lot of Dr. Joaquín González. The old mansion served as Lumang Municipio (the Old Municipio or Town Hall Building, as the seat of the local government) for 65 years. It is now the Baliuag Museum and Library.
Baliuag produced not less than 30 priests, including three during the Spanish period Dominicans, and two Jesuits in the American regime.
Jeorge Allan R. Tengco and Amy R. Tengco (wife of Lito S. Tengco), philanthropists, owners of Baliwag Transit and other chains of business establishments had been conferred the Papal Orders of Chivalry October 3, 2000 Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice and the 2012 Dame of the Order of St. Gregory the Great awards.
Fifth Republic On June 16, 1995, communist guerrilla Melencio Salamat Jr., a local leader of the New People's Army (NPA) in Bulacan, surrendered to the authorities along with 94 other members of the NPA at the Baliwag municipal building. Prior to the surrender, Salamat's group was responsible for collecting "revolutionary taxes" from residents along the coastal towns of Bulacan, and had chosen to give up arms after NPA officials were killed on April 28 in Barangay Catulinan, Baliwag.
Cityhood
In 2018, the Sangguniang Bayan filed a resolution to request Bulacan 2nd District Representative Gavini Pancho, to file a house bill to convert Baliuag into a city.
Representatives Eric Go Yap (ACT-CIS Partylist) and Paolo Duterte (Davao City–1st) filed House Bill No. 7362, seeking to convert Baliuag into a city. House Bill No. 7362 was filed last August 12, 2020, for the conversion of the municipality of Baliuag into a component city in the province of Bulacan. House Bill No. 10444, filed by the three aforementioned representatives, was concurred by the Senate and submitted to the President for signature on June 29, 2022, a day before the end of the 18th Congress.
The bill lapsed into law without the President's signature on July 30, 2022 as Republic Act No. 11929. The plebiscite was originally set by the Commission on Elections on January 14, 2023, but its date was later moved to December 17, 2022, following the postponement of the December 2022 Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections to October 2023.
Despite having a low voter turnout, majority of participated voters ratified the cityhood, making Baliwag the Bulacan's fourth component city and the country's 148th.
Geography With the continuous expansion of Metro Manila, Baliwag is part of Manila's built-up area which reaches San Ildefonso, Bulacan at its northernmost part.
Baliwag is from Malolos, from Manila, and from Pulilan.
Barangays
Baliwag is politically subdivided into 27 barangays, as shown in the matrix below. Each barangay consists of puroks and some have sitios.
Feast and Patron Saints of each Barangays