La Union, officially the Province of 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 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.
La Union, from Spanish "La Unión" translates to "The Union", was formed in 1850 by merging towns from the neighboring Provinces of Ilocos Sur, Pangasinan, and Benguet. It is a province with rich history that is known for its ancient churches and pilgrimage sites.
During the pre-colonial era, the coastal plains of northwestern La Union and Ilocos Sur stretching from the town of "Tagudan" (Tagudin) in the north to Namacpacan (Luna), Bangar, "Basnutan" (Bacnotan), and "Purao" or "Puraw" (Balaoan) in the south, and along the riverbanks of the Amburayan River – were the early settlement of the “Samtoy” or the "Ilocanos" in La Union.
Thus according to William Henry Scott, “the northern section of La Union was an emporium and renowned for the exchange of Igorot gold and gold mines”, involving merchants often from the Chinese, Japanese, Igorots, and Tagalogs during the early settlement period. Rice, cotton, gold, wax, iron, glass beads, silk (abel), honey, ceramics, and stoneware jars known as burnáy were all traded goods."
Furthermore, the southern coastal section of La Union was identified as “Aroo” or “Agoho” (Agoo). Agoo was the northern section of Caboloan (Pangasinan), and a settlement of people of the "same race as those of Pangasinan, encompassing the settlements of "Atuley" (San Juan)", "San Fernando", "Bauang", "Caba", the settlement of "Alingay or Alinguey" (Aringay), "Santo Tomas", and "Rosario".
These people traded actively trading with their Ilocano and Igorot neighbors and traders from China, Japan and Southeast Asia for a long time before the age of colonization, as evidenced by the porcelain and pottery excavated from the site of the Catholic church during its renovation and now housed in the Museo de Iloko.
Later, Japanese traders and fisher folk arrived in the Philippines and established a settlement. La Union's coast was shaped in such a way at the time that it provided a good harbor for foreign vessels entering Lingayen Gulf.
In the highlands of La Union is home of the Igorot people mainly the Kankaney and Ibaloi.
A year after Adelantado Miguel Lopez de Legazpi made Manila the capital of the Philippines on June 24, 1571, the Spaniards started the colonization in Northern Luzon “to pacify the people in it”
In June, 1572, the conquistadores led by Juan de Salcedo (grandson of Legazpi) sailing the Angalakan River and landed in “Aroo” or “Agoho” present Agoo, then a part of Pangasinan. Juan de Salcedo saw three Japanese ships, he tracked them down until they landed in a Japanese settlement. The Japanese were permitted to stay after paying tribute. As a result of the incident, Agoo was dubbed "El Puerto de Japon" or "Japanese Port”, because enterprising Japanese and Chinese merchants have been trading with the natives through this port. Agoo was highly involved in commerce with other Southeast Asian countries in the region.
In her book "Pangasinan 1572–1800," Rosario Mendoza-Cortes states that La Union specifically Agoo was the region's principal port of call for Japanese and Chinese traders, with Sual, Pangasinan, as the only other contender. This was due to the presence of a Japanese colony. Traders at Agoo, after all, would have access to a larger number of people, and it was closer to China and Japan. The principal export from the region was deer pelts, which were shipped to Japan. When the Spanish closed the Philippines to foreign trade, Agoo's function as an ancient port began to deteriorate. When the port of Agoo was eventually closed, the Japanese would leave, but not before teaching the locals about fish farming, rice cultivation, deerskin tanning, duck breeding, and weapon production.
The Spaniards marched up north without any resistance. They had their first taste of the Ilocanos' bravery and fighting heart during a historic Battle in Purao (literally, "white" and maybe due to the white sands of the beach) now known as Balaoan. The Spaniards befriended the Ilocanos who reluctantly acceded to Spanish rule.
A secret society of insurrectos was organized in the town of Balaoan. Its purpose was to fight and revolt against the Spanish Government in the area. On the eve of the revolution, a traitor told the Spanish of their plan. The Spanish soldiers, without any investigation, arrested seven members of the secret society and executed them the same night. Only one, Fernando Ostrea, escaped with leg wounds. He informed the people about what had happened. In memory of the seven Martyrs, a masonic lodge, Siete Martires Lodge No. 177, was organized.
La Union was formed on March 2, 1850, and became the 34th province of the Philippines from Cebu-1565.
After Cebu became the first provincia in 1565, new provinces have been created by the Spaniards. Three main functions were considered so: political-civil administration, ecclesiastical governance and geographical considerations. For more than two and one-half centuries, the original llocos province remained intact until 1818 when it split into llocos Norte and Ilocos Sur. In 1846, Abra was created by Governor General Narciso Zaldua Claveria.
Governor General Claveria was a visionary administrator. He believed that combining three contiguous areas that are far from their respective provincial capitals was a viable solution to the demands of political-civil administration. He also saw the territory's agricultural and commercial growth potentials. And the kicker was the extension of Hispanic civilization and Christianity to the area. Bangar, Namacpacan (Luna) and Balaoan in the southern portion of llocos Sur was quite a distance from the cabezera of Vigan and in almost like manner, Sto. Tomas, Agoo, Aringay, Caba, Bauang, Naguilian, San Fernando, San Juan and Bacnotan were that far from Pangasinan's capital of Lingayen. The 40–45 rancherias in the depths of Central Cordillera of the Benguet (Eastern Pais del Igorotes) district bordered by the three Ilocos Sur towns and the nine of Pangasinan have even worse problems.
Thus on October 29, 1849, Governor General Claveria signed the proposal (promovido) to unite the Pangasinan-Ilocos-Cordillera areas into a new province called La Union (the official name designated by Claveria himself). For 124 days, high and important Spanish colonial officers studied and deliberated on the proposition to create La Union or not. On March 2, 1850, Governor General Antonio Maria Blanco signed the Superior Decreto that founded La Union – the 34th province since the founding of Cebu in 1565. It was classified as a gobierno politico-militar (Political-Military Government). Blanco appointed, on March 4, 1850, Captain Toribio Ruiz de la Escalera (Claveria's former trusted aide de camp) as the first Gobernador Military y Politico. La Union is the union of lands, people, cultures and resources. On April 18, 1854, Queen Isabella II of Spain issued the royal decree (real orden) from Madrid confirming Blanco's Superior Decreto.
By 1860, there was a dramatic progress in commerce and agriculture in the province primarily because of Tobacco. Spanish authorities banked on the prized leaf for further economic development. The industry was so lucrative that a Tobacco Monopoly was established. All Tobacco leaves were strictly monitored and bought exclusively by the government at a fixed price.
By 1896, the people of La Union had enough of the Spanish atrocities. The torture of the native priests, Padres Adriano Garces of Balaoan, Mariano Gaerlan of San Fernando and Mariano Dacanay of Bacnotan; the execution of the Balaoan Siete Martires, a majority of whom are ancestors of former La Union Board Member Joaquin C. Ostrea Jr.; the persecution of Masons, whose membership included the elite natives; and others have all the more agitated the people to unite and fight their masters for three centuries.
On May 22, 1898, a gunshot killed the much-hated Friar Mariano Garcia of Santo Tomas, it was a shot heard in the whole province which eventually ignited the revolution in what the Spaniards used to call, "Una Provincia Modelo".
Led by Manuel Tinio y Bondoc, a boy general under the command of General Emilio Aguinaldo, the Spaniards were finally defeated in La Union, some of whom escaped and sought refuge in Vigan. With the help of the Americans, the Filipinos were finally freed from Spain only to find out later that they will be subjected to a new colonial rule.
A Revolutionary Government was established with Aguinaldo as president. Tinio acted as de facto governor of La Union but was later on replaced by Dr. Lucino Almeida as Presidente Provincial.
During the American occupation, Dr. Almeida was reappointed as provincial chief, only to be convicted and exiled after his revolutionary connections were discovered. In defense of their hard-fought freedom, the people of La Union resisted American power and maintained their allegiance to Aguinaldo. Due however to the superior American military firepower, the whole province and the whole archipelago were finally subdued and pacified.
The Americans prioritized education during their rule. Schools were massively constructed, and public education attracted the Filipinos. Democracy, which was given equal importance, facilitated the election of La Union's first Civil Governor in 1901 in the person of Don Joaquín Joaquino Ortega. Nine other equally able governors followed Don Joaquin before the outbreak of World War II: Joaquín Luna 1904–1907, Sixto Zandueta 1908–1919, Pío Ancheta 1919–1922, Thomas de Guzmán 1922 1923, 1928–1931, Juan Lucero 1923–1929, Mauro Ortiz 1931–1934 , Juan Rivera 1934–1937, Francisco Nisce 1937–1940 and Bernardo Gapuz 1940. Just as when the Filipinos were awaiting independence, as promised by the Americans under the Tydings-Mcduffie Law, World War II exploded.
La Union had great strategic significance for both Allied and Japanese forces. The Filipinos fought side by side with the Americans. Amid the chaos and anarchy, three provincial chieftains rose to the occasion to lead the people of La Union, Gov. Bernardo Gapuz (1940), Gov. Jorge Camacho (1941–1942) and Gov. Bonifacio Tadiar (1942–1944).
