Bulacan turns 431, but local historians doubt founding year

MALOLOS CITY, Philippines – Bulacan celebrated its 431st founding anniversary last Friday amid calls by local historians for a conference to finally resolve its real founding year.

This, after the Center for Bulacan Studies (CBS), in an article in its recent publication, said Bulacan was not yet a province between 1571 and 1755.

The CBS is the same institution that spearheaded a research in 2006 that found that Bulacan had been recognized as a province as early as 1578, which the provincial government acknowledged, leading to the revision of its administrative code.

Jaime Corpuz, CBS founding director, and Isagani Giron of the Samahang Pangkasaysayan ng Bulacan (Sampaka) said a conference clarifying issues on the founding of Bulacan should be held.

As far as Corpuz is concerned, Bulacan was founded as early as 1578 based on research conducted by Reynaldo Naguit, former CBS director, and Dr. Jaime Veneracion, a noted Bulakenyo historian who teaches at the University of the Philippines.

Giron echoed this, saying that based on Veneracion’s research, the founding of Bulacan was on Aug. 15, 1578.

He said Veneracion extrapolated that based on a Spanish tradition that the founding day of towns and provinces usually coincided and celebrated on the feast of their respective patron saints.

In the case of Bulacan, the feast of Nuestra Señora de la Asuncion, the patron saint of Bulakan town, the former capital town of the province, is followed.

For his part, Alex Balagtas, curator of the Gat Marcelo H. del Pilar National Shrine in Bulakan town, said Bulakan became a separate town in 1572 and a parish in 1578.

The local historians’ concern about the founding of Bulacan stemmed from the CBS article and a speech of provincial administrator Pearly Mendoza.

In the CBS article, Dr. Agnes Crisostomo, the center’s current director, wrote that Bulacan was part of Pampanga from 1571 to 1755.

Mendoza also referred to Pampanga as the “mother” of Bulacan in a speech she delivered last May.

Mendoza said that when Pampanga was founded on Dec. 11, 1571, Bulacan was part of it and even became its capital for a time, until it became a province itself in 1755.