Municipality of Bulakan
—  Municipality  —
Pamahalaang Bayan ng Bulakan, Bulacan
Seal
Nickname(s): Official Seal of Bulakan
Map of Bulakan
Municipality of Bulakan Location in the Philippines
Coordinates: 14°47′35″N 120°52′44″E / 14.79306°N 120.87889°E / 14.79306; 120.87889Coordinates: 14°47′35″N 120°52′44″E / 14.79306°N 120.87889°E / 14.79306; 120.87889
Country	Philippines
Region	Central Luzon (Region III)
Province	Bulacan
District	1st District
Founded	1572
Barangays	14
Government
• Mayor	Hon. Patrick Neil F. Meneses
• Vice-Mayor	Hon. Alberto G. Bituin
Area
• Total	72.90 km2 (28.15 sq mi)
Population (2007)
• Total	72,289
• Density	Bad rounding here990/km2 (Bad rounding here2,600/sq mi)
Time zone	PST (UTC+8)
ZIP code	3017
Income class	1st class
Website	Bulakan,Bulacan

Bulakan is a first class partially urban municipality in the province of Bulacan, Philippines. According to the latest census, it has a population of 72,289 people in 13,577 households. It is 35 kilometres (22 mi) north of Manila. Bulakan, which is one of the oldest towns in the Philippines, became the encomienda or capital of the Provincia de la Pampanga, and later became the first capital of the Province of Bulacan before it was moved to Malolos shortly after the American occupation.

Geographical location [edit]

The municipality of Bulakan lies in the southwestern part of the province of Bulacan and is surrounded by a number of municipalities. It is bounded on the North by the Municipality of Guiguinto, on the South by the Manila Bay, on the East by the Municipality of Bocaue, on the West by the City of Malolos, on the Northeast by the Municipality of Balagtas and on the Southeast by the Municipality of Obando. It is about thirty five kilometers away from the City of Manila. Approximately, 72.90 square kilometers or 2.7284% of the total land area of the entire Province. It ranks tenth (10th) in terms of land area among other municipalities in the province.

History [edit]

The name "Bulakan" is derived from the Tagalog word "bulak", which means "cotton". The Spaniards named the town Bulacan due to the abundance of cotton plants growing in the region. The town is one of the oldest in the country. The Augustinians founded the town in 1572 and dedicated it under the patronage of Nuestra Señora de la Asunción in 1578. According to local, records Father Agustin del Alburqueque, OSA is the first priest and founder of the town of Bulakan.

Prior to the arrival of the Spaniards, Bulakan, as well as the rest of the towns of Bulacan province consisted of small scattered settlements of villages each then called "balangay" or "barangay" a word derived from the name of the boats used by the early seafaring Malays who went to various islands of what now called Philippines. The villages and barangays were headed by a petty chieftain who bore the title of "Gat" or "Lakan". These early settlers lived along the seashores and rivers, thus they were called "taga-ilog", meaning people who dwell near the rivers or other waterways. From this term "taga-ilog" came the word "Tagalog".

By the year 1591 the town of Bulakan had 1,200 tributes or 4,800 persons, one Augustinian convent and one Alcalde mayor (present day Governor)who had jurisdiction over the town of Balagtas formerly "Bigaa" (become separate town in 1596), Guiguinto (become separate town in 1915). In the heart of the town stands the centuries old adobe church of Nuestra Señora de la Asunción in front of it, stand the municipal hall and a park named "Plaza del Pilar" which is dedicated to General Gregorio del Pilar of Brgy. San Jose .

The Parish of Nuestra Señora dela Asuncion, the "oldest Roman Catholic church in the province", has a baptismal book entry as early as 1578, it was precious artifact for almost 400 years it was not destroyed by fire or war. On the first page of the book, written was the name of the barrio of the town of Bulakan, Bagio, Bulakan (Camino Real), Daan Estacion, Matungao, Cupang, Banban, Dapdap, Parian, Balubad, Pitpitan, Maysantor, Acsajo, Paniqui, San Nicolas, Nagdasig, Calungusan, Taliktik and Sta Ana.

After 400 long years, changes have been made to the old barrios that consist the town, Bagio become part of Bagumbayan in 1731, Tibig exist in 1735, Dapdap was renamed Sta. Ana in 1741, Nagdasig become part of Tab-Ang in 1744 and now San Francisco, Parian was renamed Sta. Inez in 1765, Bulakan (Camino Real), Daan Estacion, Paniqui and Calungusan was created into one barrio and was named San Jose, Barrio Pitpitan occupied Acsajo, Cupang was joined to Maysantor now Maysantol, Banban became Bangbang and now Bambang, Perez exist as separate Barrio of Taliktik now Taliptip, and with the same old name of Barrio's San Nicolas, Matungao and Balubad.

The early Bulakenyos were engaged in farming, fishing and handicrafts, especially weaving.

The town of Bulacan, being the first capital of the province, was the hub of economic activities and the inhabitants enjoyed excellent trade with Manila, primarily due to its proximity to the city and accessibility through its wide and navigable river.

Bulakan was also the scene of battle between the Spaniards led by Simón de Anda y Salazar and the British led by Captain Slay on during the short British occupation of Manila. The British sent an expedition of 400 British, 300 Malabar Negroes and 2,000 Chinese allies. The Spaniards with the native of Bulakan made a gallant stand but were defeated. Captain Slay eventually took over the town but did not last long. A huge group of about 8000 Filipino guerillas led by Spanish Jose Pedro Busto made a nine long days battle in front of the church up to the foot bridge against Captain Slay. They made Captain Slay to retreat to Manila. On this fight Bulakeños have shown for the first time an extraordinary martyrdom. The British attempt of conquering the rest of the country was gone astray because of the marvelous fight made by Bulakeños.

The town still enjoys trade and commerce with the neighboring towns and Manila with whom she shares a coastline, a place that is replete with historical and glorious past.

Barangays [edit]

Bulacan is politically subdivided into 14 barangays.

• Bagumbayan
• Balubad
• Bambang
• Matungao
• Maysantol
• Perez
• Pitpitan
• San Francisco
• San Jose (Poblacion)
• San Nicolas
• Santa Ana
• Santa Ines
• Taliptip
• Tibig

Population size and growth [edit]

The National Statistics Office preliminary report in 2004 shows that the Municipality of Bulakan has a total population of 64,684. Barangay Bambang is the most densely populated with 13,244. It is followed by Barangay Matungao and Barangay Sta. Ana with 8,018 and 7,971 respectively, on the other hand, the least populated barangay are Barangay Maysantol and Barangay Tibig with 2,325 and 2,172 respectively.

Compared with the Municipality's population in 1995 which is 54,624, it shows an increase of 10,060 persons from 1995 to 2004. An annual growth rate of 1,117 or an average increase of 18.42% in the span of nine (9) years.

The highest percentage changes in population from 1995-2004 was exhibited in Barangay Perez, Pitpitan, Sta. Ines, Tibig, Bagumbayan with an increase of 56.33%, 54.74%, 39.73%, 34.66%, and 33.46% respectively.

On the other hand, barangays that shows the least percentage change in population are Barangay San Francisco, Matungao, and Bambang with only an increase of 0.4%, 2.95% and 7.57% respectively.

Rural [edit]

The Municipality of Bulakan is dominantly rural NSO classified Barangay San Jose and Bagumbayan as urban barangay, the rest are rural. 2002 Census on Population account 57% of the total populae are living in rural area and 43% urban area.

Population density [edit]

In 2004, the population density of the municipality was registered at 8.9 persons per hectare and this will escalate to 11.2 persons per hectare by the year 2010.

Number of households [edit]

The Community Base Monitoring System (CBMS) survey as of January 2005 showed a total of 14,523 household. In comparison with the total number of household of 12,488 in 2002 an increase of 2,035 households from 2002-2005 is realized.

Sex and age structure [edit]

Like the rest of the country, the population in Bulakan exhibits a pyramidal age structure. The population between the age 0-14 accounts for 18,586 or 35% of the total population. On the other hand, 31,963 or 61% belongs to the 15–64 years old age bracket and only 2,103 or 4% are in the age bracket of 65 years old and above.

In terms of sex distribution the female population slightly out numbered the male population by .47% in 2002 Census on Population. There were 31,553 male population as against the 31,702 female population which results to sex ratio of 1 male is to 1.004 female comparatively.

Religion [edit]

The Roman Catholic, remained the dominant religion since its propagation in the town c. 1572. Out of the 64,684 total population in 2004, 56,436 or 87.25% were Roman Catholics. Other Christians faith that have found their way in the town are Iglesia ni Kristo, United Methodist Church, United Church of Christ in the Philippines, and many others.

Language [edit]

Generally the town of Bulakan is a Tagalog speaking town. About 86.8% speak Tagalog while the rest speak other languages such as Waray, Bicol, Ilocano and Cebuano.

Literacy rate [edit]

The 2005 Community Based Monitoring System Survey shows that the Population of 10 years old and above are around 38,164 persons and about 37,822 have a literacy rate of 99.10 percent.

The 2005 Community Based Monitoring System Survey also shows that there are only 219 licensed professionals here, the lowest in the whole province.

Municipal Officers [edit]

• Mayor Patrick Neil F. Meneses
• Vice Mayor Alberto G. Bituin
• Councillors:
  • Rosalie V. Lava
  • Jay-Ryan M. Trinidad
  • Val H. Concepcion
  • Reynaldo G. Ramirez II
  • Reina Rica C. Sanchez
  • Jeff C. Tansinsin
  • Rodolfo G. Sevilla, Jr.
  • Marian S. Ramos

Education [edit]

Every barangay has its own day-care for pre-elementary pupils and an elementary school. There are also many private elementary schools situated in different barangays.

The municipality has two public high schools: Taliptip High School and Doña Candeleria Meneses Duque Memorial High School, and five private high schools: Assumpta Academy, Doña Trinidad Mendoza Institute, Bulacan Montessori School, Bulacan Methodist School San Francisco Xavier High School and Immaculate Conception School of Malolos-San Isidro Labrador.

On tertiary level education, the Bulacan State University - Meneses Campus is a satellite campus of Bulacan State University, situated in Barangay Matungao.

Tourism, heritage and culture [edit]

The town is rich in its past and treasures. Its town hall,churches and old houses reveal the wealth of the town's heritage.

Bulakan Church (1578) [edit]

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Malolos has jurisdiction over the Parish of Nuestra Señora dela Asuncion, one of the oldest Roman Catholic church in the province.

The parish church of the town, Nuestra Senora dela Asuncion (Our Lady of the Assumption) is one of the oldest and largest churches in Bulacan. It is the site where Gregorio Del Pilar distributed the pamphlets made by his uncle, Marcelo H. Del Pilar who is a member of the Propaganda Movement.

Notable people [edit]

Bulakan was the birthplace of the two well known heroes in the Philippine History, Marcelo H. del Pilar and Gregorio del Pilar. Marcelo H. Del Pilar was born in Barangay San Nicolas while his nephew Gregorio del Pilar was born in Barangay San Jose. Marcelo Hilario del Pilar y Gatmaitán was born on Cupang-San Nicolas, Bulakan, Bulacan on August 30, 1850. He was one of the propaganda leaders during the Spanish period and the editor-in-chief of La Solidaridad. A replica of his house and a shrine was built in his birthplace in San Nicolas. The house became a museum and a library.

Gen. Gregorio del Pilar y Sempio was born on November 14, 1875 on San Jose, Bulakan, Bulacan. He was one of the youngest generals in the Philippine Revolutionary Forces during the Philippine Revolution and the Philippine-American War. He is most known for his role and death at the Battle of Tirad Pass. Because of his youth, he was called the "Boy General." A monument was built in his birthplace and a plaza called "Plaza del Pilar" was build in front of the Municipal Building to give honor to the great son of Bulakan. Gen. Del Pilar was the first Governor of Bulacan.

Mausoleum at Marcelo H. del Pilar Shrine

• Beside the Museum (Replica of Marcelo H. del Pilar's House) is the Mausoleum of Marcelo del Pilar's Family.

Fiestas and festivals [edit]

External links [edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Bulacan, Bulacan

• Bulacan Website
• BULAKAN,Bulacan Community Page