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Isabela, officially the Province of Isabela (Ilocano: Probinsia ti Isabela; Ibanag: Provinsia na Isabela; Tagalog: Lalawigan ng Isabela), is the second largest province in the Philippines in land area located in the Cagayan Valley. Its capital and the largest local government unit is the city of Ilagan. It is bordered by the provinces of Cagayan to the north, Kalinga to the northwest, Mountain Province to the central-west, Ifugao and Nueva Vizcaya to the southwest, Quirino, Aurora and the independent city of Santiago to the south, and the Philippine Sea to the east.
This primarily agricultural province is the rice and corn granary of Luzon due to its plain and rolling terrain. In 2012, the province was declared as the country's top producer of corn with 1,209,524 metric tons.[8] Isabela was also declared the second-largest rice producer in the Philippines and the Queen Province of the North.[9][10][11]
Isabela is the 9th richest province in the Philippines as of 2021.[12][13] The province has four trade centers in the cities of Ilagan, Cauayan, Santiago and the municipality of Roxas. Santiago City is considered to have the fastest-growing local economy in the entire Philippines.[14]
Etymology
The province was named after Isabella II, who was queen regnant of Spain from September 29, 1833, until September 30, 1868, when she was deposed in the Glorious Revolution, and her formal abdication two years later.[15]
There have been proposals to change the name to something more indigenous, but these were rejected by the people of Isabela.
History
The province of Isabela used to be a vast rainforest where numerous indigenous ethnolinguistic groups lived. Many of the same ethnic groups still live in the province. Shell midden sites and other archaeological sites throughout the province constitute the material culture of those groups during the classical era.
Spanish colonial period
During the Spanish era, prior to 1856, the Cagayan Valley was divided into only two provinces: Cagayan and Nueva Vizcaya. The Province of Cagayan at that time consisted of all towns from Tumauini to Aparri in the north. All other towns from Ilagan southward to Aritao composed the Province of the old Nueva Vizcaya. In order to facilitate the work of the Catholic missionaries in the evangelization of the Cagayan Valley, a royal decree was issued on May 1, 1856, creating the Province of Isabela consisting of the towns of Gamu, Old Angadanan (now Alicia), Bindang (now Roxas) and Camarag (now Echague), Carig (now Santiago City) and Palanan, all detached from the Province of Nueva Vizcaya; while Cabagan and Tumauini were taken from the Province of Cagayan.
The province was placed under the jurisdiction of a governor (Lieutenant Colonel of Cavalry Francisco Contreras y Urtasun) with Ilagan as the capital, where it remains up to present. It was initially called Isabela de Luzón to differentiate from other places in the Philippines bearing the name of Isabela. The new province was named after Queen Isabella II of Spain.[16] During that time, the Spanish controlled only the areas along the Cagayan River, leaving the Mallig Plants, the Magat River and the Sierra Madre Mountains to Gaddang tribes.
The Atta or Negritos were the first people in valley. They were later moved to the uplands or variably assimilated by the Austronesians, from whom the Ibanags, Itawes, Yogads, Gaddangs, Irayas, Malawegs, and Paranans descended - who actually came from one ethnicity. These are the people found by the Spaniards in the different villages along the rivers all over Cagayan Valley, including present Isabela. The Spaniards rightly judged that these various villagers came from a single racial stock and decided to make the Ibanag language the lingua franca, both civilly and ecclesiastically for the entire people of Cagayan which they called collectively as the Cagayanes which later was transliterated to become Cagayanos.
Various other peoples, mainly the Ilocanos, Pangasinenses, Kapampangans and Tagalogs, as well as Visayans, Moros and even foreigners like the Chinese, Indians, Arabs, Spaniards and others were further infused to the native Cagayanes to become the modern Cagayano, and Isabeliño in the exact province, that we know today.
American invasion era
Although the province did not play a major role in the revolt against Spain, it is in Palanan that the final pages of the Philippine Revolution were written when United States troops, led by General Frederick Funston, finally captured General Emilio Aguinaldo on March 23, 1901. To commemorate this historical event, in 1962 the town officials constructed a monument by the Palanan City Hall, right on the spot where General Aguinaldo was captured, to memorialize the historic event. The monument was inaugurated on June 12, 1962, Philippine Independence Day, and still stands.
Isabela was re-organized as a province under the American military government through Act No. 210, passed August 24, 1901.[17]
The Americans built schools and other buildings and instituted changes in the overall political system. However, the province's economy remained predominantly agricultural, with rice replacing corn and tobacco as the principal crop.
Japanese occupation era
World War II stagnated the province's economic growth but it recovered dramatically after the war. In 1942, Imperial Japanese forces occupied Isabela. In 1945, the liberation of Isabela commenced with the arrival of the Philippine Commonwealth troops under the 11th Infantry Regiment, Philippine Army, USAFIP-NL and the recognized guerrillas attacked by the Japanese Imperial forces in World War II.[further explanation needed]
A new wave of immigration began in the late 19th and 20th centuries with the arrival of the Ilokano who came in large numbers. They now constitute the largest group in the province, and it was only in this large-scale Ilocano immigration & settlement that made Ilocano language replaced Ibanag as the lingua franca of the province. Other ethnic groups followed that made Isabela the "Melting Pot of the Northern Philippines".[16]
Postwar era
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In the years after the Second World War, Isabela was ruled by the Dy family for 35 years (1969-2004). The dynasty was started by the patriarch of the family, Faustino N. Dy Sr., who served as the mayor of Cauayan from 1965 to 1969 and sat as provincial governor for 22 years (1969–1992), surviving the initial attempts of President Ferdinand Marcos to remove him for being a member of the political opposition during the imposition of Martial Law in 1972 and winning reelection in 1988 after his removal by President Corazon Aquino after he had sided with Marcos in 1986.
During the Marcos dictatorship
By the first term of the first term of the presidency of Ferdinand Marcos, Isabela had become known among students activists for its remoteness and the poverty of its agricultural workers, making it a favorite destination for "dissatisfied, alienated young activists."[18] So when the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) was established in 1968 after splitting from the largely-defeated old Communist Party (Partido Komunista ng Pilipinas-1930), Isabela became one of the first strongholds of its armed wing, the New People's Army. The actual size of the NPA at the time was very small, reportedly with only 60 guerrillas and 35 WWII-era guns as of 1969.[19] But Marcos hyped up its formation,[20]: "43" supposedly because this would help build up political and monetary support from the US.[20]: "43" [21] The Armed Forces had a number of initial successes against the NPA in Isabela at this time, including the discovery of the Taringsing Documents in Cordon outlining plans for a communist takeover; and the failed landing of arms bound for the NPA in Palanan during the MV Karagatan incident in 1972. These incidents were cited as some of the justifications for the declaration of Martial Law by Marcos later that year.
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] Two of the major detention centers for political detainees located in Isabela were Camp Melchor F. dela Cruz in Barangay Upi in Gamu, in which officers of the Armed Forces Northern Luzon Command were also stationed;[26]: 43 and the Headquarters of the Isabela Province Philippine Constabulary in Barangay Baligatan, Ilagan.[26]: 132 renamed Camp Lt. Rosauro Toda Jr. in 2020.[27]
The province of Isabela became a particular center of both conflict and protest when Marcos cronies Danding Cojuangco and Antonio Carag managed to block a Spanish-era grant which was supposed to see the return of Hacienda San Antonio and Hacienda Santa Isabel in Ilagan to local farmers. Cojuangco and Carag purchased the two haciendas themselves, displacing tens of thousands of farmers who were supposed to get those lands back a hundred years after the Spanish acquired them.[28]
In its desire to serve its parishioners, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Ilagan hosted a Social Action Center which would help the farmers. In the Social Action Center's newsletter, the "Courier," researcher Sabino Padilla Jr. documented and exposed the ways by which Cojuangco, Carag, the provincial government, and the military harassed the farmers who were supposed to get the land. This all led to a protest march in joined by 12,000 protesters from all over Isabela, and eventually, for 4,000 farmers to finally get the titles to their land. But it also earned the ire of the administration.[28][29]
In 1982, Padilla and 12 others were arrested by the regime and jailed under poor conditions at the Bayombong, Nueva Vizcaya Stockade of the Philippine Constabulary until almost the end of the Marcos regime.[28] In 1983, soldiers went as far as to raid the residence of the Bishop of Ilagan, Miguel Purugganan, in search of alleged rebels and firearms. They found none but continued to keep Bishop Puruggananan and the church workers under him under military surveillance.[29]
It was also during the dictatorship that Marcos began awarding logging concessions to his cronies in the areas of the Sierra Madre region, which heralded the beginning of widescale deforestation and other environmental problems that affect the province since then, despite Marcos creating the Palanan Wilderness Area in 1978 which was later expanded by President Fidel V. Ramos to become the Northern Sierra Madre Natural Park in 1997.
In 1975, construction began on the Magat Dam on the boundary of Ramon, Isabela with neighboring Ifugao Province, becoming a catchbasin for 8 rivers upstream in Ifugao[30] and serving multiple functions, including: irrigating of agricultural lands; flood control; and power generation. The construction was protested by the Ifugao people due to the flooding of their ancestral lands,[31] but the dam was eventually completed in 1982, partially funded through a loan from the World Bank.[32]
After the People Power Revolution in 1986, many of the activists who had joined the underground movement decided to "surface," as the new administration of Corazon Aquino released political prisoners and initiated peace talks.[33] However, anticommunist sentiment in her new cabinet made the peace process difficult, and negotiations eventually collapsed, and the insurgency in Isabela persisted.[34][35]
Contemporary
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Following the 1986 People Power Revolution, known as the current Fifth Philippine Republic, under the 1987 Philippine Constitution, various changes have been attempted since then in the province.
Dy Sr. was succeeded by his son, Benjamin G. Dy, in the gubernatorial seat from 1992 to 2001. Another Dy took over the gubernatorial seat in 2001 when Faustino Dy Jr. won the 2001 elections after having served as the district representative of the 2nd Legislative District of the province from 1992 to 2001. It was only in the 2004 elections that the family's control of the gubernatorial seat ended when Grace Padaca, a former journalist, won over Faustino Dy Jr. She was the first woman to serve as the governor of the province. After serving for six years (2004-2010), Padaca was defeated in the 2010 National Elections by Faustino "Bojie" G. Dy III who served as governor of the province for three consecutive terms (2010-2019). He was then succeeded by Rodolfo "Rodito" Albano III, a member of the Albano dynasty that dominates Isabela's 1st congressional district.
In July 1994, the municipality of Santiago was converted into an independent-component city in the province of Isabela.[36] Several attempts were made to revert the status into a component city but did not go through. Santiago is geographically located in Isabela but not under the administration of the province. Its electorates are prohibited to participate in the provincial-level elections except in the 4th legislative district of Isabela where the city belongs for congress representation.
In 1995, Republic Act 7891 was passed, legislating that Isabela be divided into two new provinces: Isabela del Norte and Isabela del Sur.[37][38] A referendum was held on the same year with a slight majority voting against partitioning the province.[39]
In 1999, the municipality of Ilagan, also serving as the capital town of the province, sought to become a city. The plebiscite held on March 14, 1999, turned down its first bid for cityhood. The majority of the people voted no in that event. In its second attempt to cityhood, the campaign did not go through due to lack of concurrency in the senate in 2006. Finally, Ilagan became a city, after its third move gained 96% of the votes in a plebiscite conducted on August 11, 2012.[40][41] The night after the plebiscite, Ilagan was declared as a component city in the province.[42]
In 2001, the municipality of Cauayan became a component city in the province of Isabela.[43]
In 2019, the province was reorganized into six districts, thereby increasing the number of legislative districts from four to six. Cities and municipalities were retained and others were reapportioned to the current district assignments.[44]
2020 Ulysses Flood
Cagayan has been heavily impacted by changing weather pattern changes resulting from climate change,[45] with the 2020 Ulysses flood being counted as one of the most severe examples.[46][47]
In November 2020, Typhoon Vamco (locally known in the Philippines as Typhoon Ulysses) crossed the country, dams from all around Luzon neared their spilling points, forcing them to release large amounts of water into their impounds including Magat Dam. The dam opened all of its 7 gates at 24 metres (79 ft), releasing over 5,037 cubic metres (1,331,000 US gal) of water into the Cagayan River flooding numerous riverside towns.[48][49]
Because there was very little media coverage of the flooding in the area in the wake of the COVID-19 lockdown in Luzon and the Shutdown of ABS-CBN broadcasting earlier that year,[50] residents resorted to social media to request the national government for rescue.[51] As a result of the catastrophe, the National Irrigation Administration (NIA) indicated that it would review its protocols regarding the release of water in Magat Dam and improve its watershed.[52]
Geography
Isabela comprises an aggregate land area of 12,414.93 square kilometres (4,793.43 sq mi),[53] representing almost 40 percent of the regional territory. It is the largest province in the island of Luzon and the second largest province in the Philippines by land area. Occupying the central section of the Cagayan Valley region in Luzon, Isabela is bordered by Cagayan to the north, Kalinga to the northwest, Mountain Province to the central-west, Ifugao and Nueva Vizcaya to the southwest, Quirino to the south, and Aurora to the south. To the east lies the Philippine Sea, making Isabela one of the typhoon-prone provinces in the country.[54][55]
The province is divided into three physiographic areas. The eastern area, straddled by the Sierra Madre mountain range, is rugged and thickly forested. A substantial portion is uncharted. These unexplored hinterlands are home to a rich variety of flora and fauna, and some are under government reservations. It is home to one of the world's largest remaining low-altitude rainforests, with numerous unknown endemic species of flora and fauna and biological diversity in the protected area known as the Northern Sierra Madre Natural Park.[56] Isabela has 600,000 hectares (1,500,000 acres) of Cagayan Valley’s 900,000 hectares (2,200,000 acres) of forest cover.[57] [58][59]
The highest point of the province is located near the border with Cagayan. Mount Dos Cuernos peak has an elevation of 1,785 metres (5,856 ft) located in San Pablo near the border with Maconacon. Other notable peaks in the Northern Sierra Madre Natural Park is Mount Cresta in Divilacan with an elevation of 1,672 metres (5,486 ft).[60]
The western area is a fertile valley hemmed by the Central Cordillera. It is crisscrossed by the mighty Cagayan River, Siffu River, and Magat River.
Mallig Plains region
Mallig Plains is a region in the western section of the province. Its name was derived from the rolling terrains or kilometers of plain lands in western part of Isabela. The municipality of Roxas serves as the business center of the region. The Plains encompassing the municipalities of Quezon, Mallig, Quirino, Burgos, Aurora, San Manuel and Roxas.
Administrative divisions
Isabela is politically subdivided into thirty-four (34) municipalities, two component cities and one independent component city. The province is represented in the Philippine House of Representatives with six legislative districts.[53]
The province has ten first class municipalities, two second class cities and one first class independent component city. Ilagan City, which became a city thirteen years after its failed cityhood proposal in 1998, it is now Luzon’s largest and the country’s fourth biggest city after Davao City, Puerto Princesa and Zamboanga City by land area.
- † Provincial capital and component city
- ^ Independent component city
- ∗ Component city
- Municipality