"BRIEF HISTORY OF BATAC CITY ILOCOS NORTE"

Batac City is a city in the province of Ilocos Norte, Philippines. The city is located in the northwest corner of the large island of Luzon, about 11.2 km from the eastern shore of the South China Sea .

According to the 2007 census, it has a population of 50,675.

The motto of Batac City is "Home of Great Leaders", as it is the home town of many significant figures in the history of the Philippines . Among these is the former Philippine president Ferdinand Marcos. It is also the birthplace of Gregorio Aglipay, the founder of the Philippine Independent Church, better known as the Aglipayan Church, and Gen. Artemio Ricarte, the "Father of the Philippine Army".

Batac City is well-known for being the home of the Mariano Marcos State University (MMSU), a high-degree granting university that has several branches throughout the province.

History

Batac is one of the oldest towns in Ilocos Norte. It was founded by the conqiustador Juan de Salcedo in 1577, shortly after he had consolidated Spanish rule in Vigan, Ilocos Sur.

In the early 1867, the first site of the town of Batac was San Josef, now Brgy. Palpalicong. Two separate communities existed at the time. One was a Christian community headed by a chief called Captain Bazar, and the other a non-Christian community called "Itneg", headed by Captain Tagley, at Sitio Nagalisan, now a part of Brgy. Payao.

As Spain pushed further into the hinterlands, the non-Christian converted and assimilated into the growing Christians community. The united communities grew into the town of Batac.

In 1998, Municipality of Batac qualified to become a city. Nine years later, Republic Act 9407, the law that converted the Municipality of Batac into a component city in the Province of Ilocos Norte, to be known as the City of Batac, was overwhelmingly ratified by the people in a plebiscite conducted on June 23, 2007.

Origin of the City's Name

The word "Batac" in a local dialect translates as "pull". More loosely, it refers to "the people's pulling their efforts together."

Batac has an interesting colloquial origin of its name. According to a legend, set in pre-settlement Batac, a man fell into a deep hole while he was digging for the root crop "camangeg". He struggled to get out but could not despite his best efforts. He cried for help but nobody was around. He waited for hours and had given up hope of being saved. Fortunately, two men from the neighboring town of Paoay happened to pass by. They heard the man shouting and traced it to where he was trapped. Upon seeing him, they heared the man said "Bataquennac! Bataquennac!" The two men did not understand until the man explained that he was saying, "Pull me up! Pull me up!" They did just that. When the two men reached their hometown, they told their story to their friends. Since then, the town has been called "Batac," which is derived from the word "bataquennac."

Geography

Batac is located in the mid southwestern portion of the province of Ilocos Norte . It lies approximately within altitude 17º17’ north and longitude 120º28’ east. Its boundaries include the Municipality of San Nicolas on the north; Municipality of Sarrat on the northeast; Municipality of Marcos on the east-northeast; Municipality of Banna on the east; Municipality of Pinili on the southeast; Municipality of Currimao on the southwest; and the Municipality of Paoay on the west. It is about 472 kilometers north of Metro Manila, about 18 km. south of Laoag City, the capital of the province; 275 km. north of San Fernando City, the regional center of Ilocos Region and 11.2 km east of the eastern shore of South China Sea .

Travel time by motor vehicle at this time is very convenient because of well paved roads and is 15 – 20 minutes to Laoag City and 8 – 9 hours to Metro Manila.

Batac City has a total land area of 16, 101 hectares. The terrain of the city ranges from flat to rolling and hilly and to very steep. The broad valleys are mostly located in poblacions with a slope of 0-8%. All the rural barangays except those in the eastern part have a slope of 0 -30%. There are various soil types that are poorly drained due to the heavy texture of most of the subsoil. There are two rivers that cut across the city of Batac , the Quiaoit River (Pagdanuman) and the Garasgas River .

Batac City lies within the tropical rain forest climate zone (Köppenzone Af), and experiences two distinct seasons. From the later part of May to October is the wet season, with an annual average rainfall of 114.07 inches (PAG-ASA, 2000). The dry season lasts from November to April.

Barangays

The City of Batac is politically subdivided into 43 barangays, 14 of which constitute the poblacion.

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