A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | CH | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9
Bataan | |
|---|---|
From left-to-right, top-to-bottom: Bataan Provincial Capitol Building, Mount Samat National Shrine, Bataan Death March Zero-Kilometer Marker, St. Dominic Parish in Abucay, the Freeport Area of Bataan, the Flaming Sword obelisk at Pilar, the Plaza Mayor de Balanga | |
 Flag  Seal | |
 Location in the Philippines | |
OpenStreetMap  | |
| Coordinates: 14°41′N 120°27′E / 14.68°N 120.45°E | |
| Country | Philippines |
| Region | Central Luzon |
| Founded | January 11, 1757 |
| Capital | Balanga |
| Largest LGU | Mariveles |
| Government | |
| • Governor | Jose Enrique S. Garcia III (NUP) |
| • Vice Governor | Ma. Cristina M. Garcia (NUP) |
| • Legislature | Bataan Provincial Board |
| Area | |
| • Total | 1,372.98 km2 (530.11 sq mi) |
| • Rank | 71st out of 81 |
| Highest elevation | 1,398 m (4,587 ft) |
| Population (2020 census)[2] | |
| • Total | 853,373 |
| • Rank | 35th out of 81 |
| • Density | 620/km2 (1,600/sq mi) |
| • Rank | 8th out of 81 |
| Divisions | |
| • Independent cities | 0 |
| • Component cities | 1 |
| • Municipalities | |
| • Barangays | 237 |
| • Districts | Legislative districts of Bataan |
| Demographics | |
| • Ethnic groups |
|
| • Languages | |
| Time zone | UTC+8 (PHT) |
| ZIP Code | 2100–2114 |
| IDD : area code | +63 (0)47 |
| ISO 3166 code | PH-BAN |
| Website | bataan |
Bataan (/bɑːtɑːˈʔɑːn/, /bɑːˈtɑːn/), officially the Province of Bataan (Filipino: Lalawigan ng Bataan IPA: [bɐtɐˈʔan]), is a province in the Central Luzon region of the Philippines. Its capital is the city of Balanga while Mariveles is the largest town in the province. Occupying the entire Bataan Peninsula on Luzon, Bataan is bordered by the provinces of Zambales and Pampanga to the north. The peninsula faces the South China Sea to the west and Subic Bay to the north-west, and encloses Manila Bay to the east.
The Battle of Bataan is known in history as one of the last stands of American and Filipino soldiers before they were overwhelmed by the Japanese forces in World War II. The Bataan Death March was named after the province, where the infamous march started.
History
Aeta peoples
The first inhabitants of the Bataan peninsula are the Ayta Magbeken people. The next group of inhabitants were Kapampangans, who settled east Bataan.
Tagalog migration and states
Later on, Tagalogs from southern Luzon, most specifically Cavite, migrated to parts of Bataan. The Ayta Magbeken migrated towards the mountain areas of Bataan by the end of the 16th century. Kapampangans were displaced to the towns near Pampanga.
Spanish rule
In 1647, Dutch naval forces landed in the country in an attempt to seize the islands from Spain. The Dutch massacred the people of Abucay in Bataan.
Historian Cornelio Bascara documents that the province of Bataan was established on January 11, 1757, by Governor-General Pedro Manuel Arandia out of territories belonging to Pampanga and the corregimiento of Mariveles which, at that time, included Maragondon across Manila Bay.[3][4] By the end of the 1700s, Bataan had 3,082 native families and 619 Spanish Filipino families.[5]: 539 [6]: 31, 54, 113
Japanese invasion
Bataan featured prominently during World War II. Prior to the 1941 Japanese invasion, Bataan was a military reservation for the purpose of defending the fortress island of Corregidor.[7] The US Army stored nearly 1,000,000 US gallons (3,800 m3) of gasoline there, along with various munitions. At the southern tip of the peninsula the U.S. Navy had established a small base at the port of Mariveles.
Shortly after the Japanese Army invaded the country in December 1941, the combined US and Filipino forces were being gradually overrun and General Douglas MacArthur moved his troops to the Bataan Peninsula in an attempt to hold out until a relief force could be sent from the US. Japanese forces started a siege of the peninsula on January 7, 1942, and launched an all-out assault on April 3, a few months after the Battle of the Points, Battle of the Pockets, the attack down Trail Number Two, and a half-dozen other brutal battles.[8] The Bataan campaign was the last time a regular cavalry unit of the U.S. Army, the Philippine Scouts 26th Cavalry, was used as a horse mounted fighting unit. On the morning of January 16, 1942, Lt. Edwin Ramsey led the last cavalry charge into the town of Morong, routing the advancing Japanese infantry.[9] As the troops on Bataan were continually reduced in rations, the horses were eventually slaughtered to feed the starving soldiers.[10]
The majority of the American and Filipino forces surrendered on April 9 and were forced to march more than 100 kilometers (62 mi) from Bataan to Capas, Tarlac, which became known as the Bataan Death March.
Postwar era
Postwar reconstruction in the province of Bataan was generally slow, although there were efforts to pursue industrialization projects in the area, most notably the establishment of the NASSCO (National Shipyard and Steel Corporation) in Mariveles which was inaugurated in 1953 during the Quirino administration.[11] It would later be bought by the Bataan Shipping and Engineering Company in 1964.[12]
Marcos dictatorship era
The beginning months of the 1970s marked a period of turmoil and change in the Philippines, as well as in Bataan.[13][14] During his bid to be the first Philippine president to be re-elected for a second term, Ferdinand Marcos launched an unprecedented number of foreign debt-funded public works projects. This caused[15][16] the Philippine economy took a sudden downwards turn known as the 1969 Philippine balance of payments crisis, which in turn led to a period of economic difficulty and a significant rise of social unrest.[17][18][19] [20]: "43"
Just as this was happening, it was revealed that the site of two communities where the workers of NASSCO lived - Barrio NASSCO and Barrio Camaya - would be torn down for converstion into the new Bataan Export Processing Zone in 1969, compelling the relocation of the residents who in turn launched protests until the BEPZ was finally built in 1972.[21]
With only a year left in his last constitutionally allowed term as president, Ferdinand Marcos placed the Philippines under Martial Law in September 1972 and thus retained the position for fourteen more years.[22] This period in Philippine history is remembered for the Marcos administration's record of human rights abuses,[23][24] particularly targeting political opponents, student activists, journalists, religious workers, farmers, and others who fought against the Marcos dictatorship.[25]
By this time, the social unrest of the pre-martial law period and the Marcos' violent responses to the protests of the time led many of the Philippines' youth, who previously held moderate positions calling for political reform, to be radicalized. Some were convinced to joined the newly-formed New People's Army as a last desperate way to resist Marcos' authoritarianism,[26][27] including Catalino Blas, Amado Bugay , and Delia Cortez, who were all idealistic activists killed in encounters with Marcos' forces in various locations in Bataan.[28][29][30] But many noncombatants were killed as well, such as Social Worker and Catholic lay worker Puri Pedro, who had been wounded as part of the collateral damage during one encounter in 1977, but was assassinated in cold blood by a soldier who identified himself as Col. Rolando Abadilla while she was recovering at the Bataan Provincial Hospital.[31][32]
It was also during Martial Law that construction on the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant began in Morong, in 1976.[33] Marcos had announced an intention to build a nuclear power plant in July 1973, not long after the declaration of Martial Law,[33] and a presidential committee was set up to review proposals, of which there were two - one each from General Electric and Westinghouse Electric. The committee preferred the proposal of General Electric's bid although it cost more, because it contained detailed specifications for the plant. But Marcos, in a deal brokered by crony Herminio Disini, overrode then and signed a letter of intent awarding the project to Westinghouse, despite the absence of any specifications on their proposal.[34] The project was plagued with problems throughout construction, including location, welding, cabling, pipes and valves, permits, and kickbacks, as well as setbacks such as the decline of Marcos's influence due to bad health and PR fallout from the incident at the Three Mile Island nuclear reactor.[35] A subsequent safety inquiry into the plant revealed over 4,000 defects.[33] Another issues raisead regarding it was the proximity of a major geological fault line and of the then-dormant Mount Pinatubo.<[34] By March 1975, Westinghouse's cost estimate ballooned to US$1.2 billion without much explanation. The final cost was $2.2 Billion for a single reactor producing half the power of the original proposal.[34] Many problems identified in earlier stages remained throughout construction, as reported by inspectors though denied by Westinghouse.[35] The power plant would eventually would be responsible to 10% of the country's external debt, despite never actually operating.[36]
Contemporary era
On March 14 2020, Bataan recorded one of the earliest cases of COVID-19 infection outside of Metro Manila, with a male patient from Orani being the 64th recorded case in the Philippines.[37] Bataan later became one of the provinces under the Enhanced community quarantine in Luzon.[38][39]
Geography
Bataan lies in the southwestern part of the Central Luzon region. It is a peninsular province with an area of 1,372.98 square kilometers (530.11 sq mi)[40]. The province is bounded in the west by the South China Sea, in the south by the Corregidor Island, and in the east by Manila Bay - the gateway to the Philippines' political, social and economic center. It is bounded inland by the city of Olongapo in the north and by the provinces of Pampanga and Bulacan in the northeast. Its capital, the City of Balanga, is about 31.3 nautical miles from Manila across Manila Bay.[41]
Topography
Bataan, a peninsula, is composed of 11 municipalities and one city. All except the northern most municipality of Dinalupihan, are coastal areas. The province's coastline is approximately 177 kilometers from Hermosa in the northeastern portion of the province, looping up to Morong in the northwest.
Bataan is divided by two mountain groups of volcanic origins. The northern side is composed of the Mount Natib (elevation 1,253 meters (4,111 ft)), Mount Sta. Rosa and Mount Silangan. The southern group is composed of Mount Mariveles, Mount Samat, and Mount Cuyapo. A narrow pass separates these two mountain groups.[4] The topography of the province is classified generally as hilly and mountainous with a narrow plain on the eastern side. The highest elevation is in the Mariveles mountains at 1,388 meters above sea level.[41]
Bataan has abundant water resources in the form of rivers, streams, creeks, waterfalls and springs. There are more than 100 rivers in the province radiating from the two aforementioned mountain groups. These are important not only for irrigation but also for navigation and fishing as well. The Talisay and Almacen Rivers are the two major rivers in the province. Talisay has its headwater in the Mariveles mountain group extending down to Pilar and Balanga into Manila Bay. Almacen River has its headwater in the Natib mountains extending down to Hermosa and exits through the Orani Channel to Manila Bay. Some of the smaller rivers are Abo-abo River, Bantalan River, Lamao River, Saysayin River, Agloloma River, Mamala River.[41]
Coastline
Muddy tidal flats along the alluvial sandbars characterize the coastline along Manila Bay. Mangrove areas can be observed from Orani to Orion, along with seaweed areas and seagrass patches areas from portions of Balanga and Pilar down to Mariveles. The deeper portions are the coastal areas of Orion to Mariveles where most seaports are operating. Poor coral reef patches, mixed with sandy-rocky bottom can be found in Mariveles area, where the coastline begin to take on a rocky character looping from the mouth of Manila Bay to the western side of the province. The coastline facing the South China Sea is interspersed with pristine beaches with rocky portions and fringes of coral reef in good condition from Bagac to Morong, which is a haven for sea turtles and other marine animals.[41]
Climate
Bataan has distinct dry and wet seasons categorized as Type I in the Philippines' Modified Coronas' Climate Classification (Climate of the Philippines). The dry season begins in November and ends in April, while the rainy season starts in May and ends in October. The most rains come in June to August. Mean average rainfall in August is the heaviest at 633mm. Bataan is often visited by typhoons. Farming systems in the province follow these climatic cycles.[41]
Administrative divisions
Bataan is administratively subdivided into 11 municipalities and one component city.
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