Batac is a city in the province of Ilocos Norte, Philippines. It is located in the northwest corner of the island of Luzon, about 11.2 km from the eastern shores of the South China Sea. The municipalities of Banna, Currimao, Paoay, Pinili, Sarrat, Marcos and San Nicolas form its boundaries.
| City of Batac Ciudad ti Batac Lungsod ng Batac |
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| Nickname(s): Home of Great Leaders, City of my Dreams | ||
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 City of Batac
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| Coordinates: 18°03′N 120°34′E / 18.050°N 120.567°ECoordinates: 18°03′N 120°34′E / 18.050°N 120.567°E | ||
| Country |  Philippines |
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| Region | Ilocos Region (Region I) | |
| Province | Ilocos Norte | |
| District | 2nd District | |
| Founded | 1577 | |
| Barangays | 43 | |
| Government | ||
| • Mayor | Jeffrey Jubal C. Nalupta | |
| • Vice Mayor | Ronald Allan M. Nalupta | |
| Area | ||
| • Total | 161.06 km2 (62.19 sq mi) | |
| Population (2010) | ||
| • Total | 53,542 | |
| • Density | 330/km2 (860/sq mi) | |
| Time zone | PHT (UTC+8) | |
| ZIP Code | 2906 | |
| Website | batac.gov.ph | |
| Population Census of Batac | ||
|---|---|---|
| Year | Pop. | ±% p.a. |
| 1995 | 45,534 | — |
| 2000 | 47,682 | 0.93% |
| 2007 | 50,675 | 0.87% |
| 2010 | 53,542 | 1.85% |
Batac is a city in the province of Ilocos Norte, Philippines. It is located in the northwest corner of the island of Luzon, about 11.2 km from the eastern shores of the South China Sea. The municipalities of Banna, Currimao, Paoay, Pinili, Sarrat, Marcos and San Nicolas form its boundaries.
According to the 2010 census, it has a population of 53,542 in 9,882 households.
Batac is known as the "Home of Great Leaders", as it is the hometown of many significant figures in the history of the Philippines. Among them 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 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.
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History[edit]
The town was founded by the Augustinians in 1587 under the patronage of the Immaculate Conception. It is the second oldest town established by the Augustinians in the province of Ilocos Norte. Hence, in 1987 Batac reached its 4th centennial.
Batac was officially organized into a ministry on January 5, 1586. The first priest assigned to cathecize the natives of tile community was Fr. Esteban Marin, an Augustinian who probably arrived in Batac in 1585. Paoay and Dinglas (Dingras) were then the visitas of Batac.
Folk history states that there were two villages in Batac during the early part of tile foundation of the town, one was an Itneg community which occupied sitio Nangalisan and a Christian community occupying San Jose.
The first site of tile poblacion was in San Jose, which is now called Barangay Palpalicong. It is said that the ethnic minority groups of Bangui and Nueva Era are the pre-Spanish descendants of early inhabitants of Batac.
The Augustinians considered the people of Batac more civilized than tile other tribes, because they were better than the other "Indios" in personal cleanliness.
Cityhood[edit]
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 Batac City, was overwhelmingly ratified by the people in a plebiscite conducted on June 23, 2007.
However, Batac lost its cityhood, along with 15 other cities, after the Supreme Court of the Philippines granted a petition filed by the League of Cities of the Philippines, and declared the cityhood law (RA 9389) which allowed the town to acquire its city status, unconstitutional. The said cities, the court ruled, did not meet the requirements for cityhood, as mandated by Republic Act 9009, which increased the income requirements for prospective cities.
More than a year later, on December 22, 2009, acting on the appeal of the so-called "League of 16 Cities" (of which Batac is a part of), the Supreme Court reversed its earlier ruling as it ruled that "at the end of the day, the passage of the amendatory law (regarding the criteria for cityhood as set by Congress) is no different from the enactment of a law, i.e., the cityhood laws specifically exempting a particular political subdivision from the criteria earlier mentioned. Congress, in enacting the exempting law/s, effectively decreased the already codified indicators."[1] As such, the cityhood status of Batac is effectively restored.
August 27, 2010, Batac City in Ilocos Norte is now plain old Batac again. It shares the fate of 15 other cities, after the Supreme Court reinstated a 2008 decision declaring as “unconstitutional" the cityhood laws converting 16 municipalities into cities.[2]
A previous law required towns aspiring to become cities to earn at least P100 million annually, which none of the 16 did.
Voting 7-6, with two justices not taking part, the SC reinstated its Nov. 18, 2008 decision declaring as unconstitutional the Republic Acts (RAs) converting 16 municipalities into cities.
On February 2011, the supreme court upheld the cityhood of Batac and 15 other cities.
Origin of the town's name[edit]
The word "Batac" in a local dialect translates as "pull". More loosely, it refers to "the people's pulling their efforts together."[citation needed]
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 heard the man say "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." but that is only a tale, the true origin of the Batac was named by the Batak tribe who exist five hundred years ago. Before the Spanish colonization. And the ancient tribe of Batak in Ilocos Norte is related to the Batak Tribe of Toba Lake In the province of North Sumatra Indonesia.
Education[edit]
Batac National High School (BNHS) is the most popular high school in the city. It has three campuses: Poblacion, Bungon and Payao.
The Mariano Marcos State University (MMSU) is a comprehensive institution of higher learning in the Ilocos Region. MMSU's root anchored deep, its foundation is strong, and its beginnings all proven historical turning points as far back as the early 1900s.
The city has one Catholic School, The Immaculate Conception Academy. It was named after The Our Lady of Immaculate Conception, the patron saint of the city. It is under the Missionary Sisters Servants of the Holy Spirit (SSpS). It was founded in 1963. It is located beside the Immaculate Conception Parish Church.
Geography[edit]
Batac City 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 the poblacion 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 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.
Tourism[edit]
The Marcos Museum and Mausoleum lies in the heart of the city. The Mausoleum is where the glass-entombed, preserved corpse of Former President Ferdinand E. Marcos is found. The Museum holds the memorabilia of the late President, from his stint in the Armed Forces down to his presidency. Other notable sons of Batac include Gen. Artemio Ricarte, the Father of the Philippine Army and Msgr. Gregorio Aglipay, the founder of the Philippine Independent Church. Monuments and shrines of these heroes had been erected and named after them.
The Batac Riverside Empanadaan is a showcase of the most famous product of Batac and a hallmark of tourism promotion. A home of Batac's array of products, gift shops, food stalls offering mouth watering treats like empanada, miki, longganisa, pusit, barbecue and others. Declared by a feng shui practitioner as a very good location to do business in the area, now serves as a "mini pueblo" or a mini-mall where people converge, eat, dine, shop and while the time away.
When it comes to Empanada, Batac offers the best. With a distinct taste truly its own, it is made of a savory filling of grated green papaya, mongo, chopped Ilocano Sausage (longganisa) and egg. The dough that serves as its thin and crisp wrapper is made of rice flour. Batac Empanada is deep-fried rather than baked.
The city has two festivals, The Farmers Festival and The Empanada Festival, supported by the National Commission for Culture and the Arts.
The Farmers’ Festival, conducted on the first week of May each year is a celebration of bountiful harvest and a tribute to the farmers of the city. It is participated by the rural barangays of the city.
The Empanada Festival is a festivity held on the 23rd of June in celebration of the City's Charter Day. The main feature of the festival is the street dancing which chronicles the process of preparing the delectable Batac Empanada. It was during the celebration of the 1st Tan-ok ni Ilocano Festival of Festivals when the Empanada Festival was named the 1st Ever Grand Champion.
The Batac City Fiesta, a month-long festivity commencing on the 8th of December, is the longest fiesta in the Province of Ilocos Norte. The fiesta is celebrated in honor of the city's patroness, Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception. The fabulous Electric and Lights Parade marks the beginning of the City Fiesta every December 8.
Emerging Commercial Hub[edit]
The Batac City Public Market touted as one of the biggest in the region offers a wide array of goods - freshly picked local vegetables and fruits, handicrafts, tincrafts, pottery, native delicacies, chicharon, longganisa, wet market treats and many others. Bargaining during market days - Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays has always been fun.
The Delicia Center, located adjacent to the City Public Market, contains RTW shops, banks, appliance stores, farm supplies, pharmacies, groceries, a lottery outlet and many more. The Delicia Center and the City Public Market form part of the bustling commercial district of Batac City.
With the presence of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (Central Bank of the Philippines) Cash Unit in the Batac City Government Center, financial institutions continue to spawn - Philippine National Bank, RCBC, Metrobank, Land Bank, BPI, Bank of Commerce, BDO and other local banks. Proof that Batac City is offering a good business climate to investors.
The Plaza Maestro Complex, one of the most modern shopping centers in the province caters to the needs of the new generation, offering two of the country's top fast food chains (Jollibee and Chowking), several boutique shops and a photo shop, among others. A stone's throw away from the commercial complex are bakeshops and a local pizza house.
Health Facilities[edit]
The Mariano Marcos Memorial Hospital and Medical Center, founded 1968, is a 200-bed Tertiary/Teaching Medical Center. MMMH & MC is DOH (Department of Health) designated Eye and Cancer Center for Northwestern Luzon.
There are several health facilities in the city.
Barangays[edit]
Batac is politically subdivided into 43 barangays, 14 of which constitute the poblacion.
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Government[edit]
Batac City houses several national research and training center, among them, The National Tobacco Administration, Cotton Development Administration, Philippine Rice Research Institute, Agricultural Training Institute, Philippine Carabao Center, Ilocos Integrated Agricultural Research Center and the Department of Science and Technology Field Office.
Batac City Officials[edit]
Term of Office: June 30, 2010 - June 30, 2013
Mayor: Jeffrey Jubal C. Nalupta
Vice-Mayor: Ronald Allan M. Nalupta
Sangguniang Panlungsod Members:
- Bismark Angelo A. Quidang
- Eugenia Violeta D. Nalupta
- Medeldorf M. Gaoat
- Bernardo K. Marders
- Florencio P. Laud
- Orlando C. Mangapit
- Mary Coleen Columbia L. Cajigal
- Avelard Ibarra F. Crisostomo
- Elmer D. Pungtilan
- Amable A. Abellon
- James Paul C. Nalupta (ABC President)
- Jarius Mark D. Nalupta (SK President)
Sangguniang Panlungsod Secretary: Gladys R. Lagura
Winning Candidates of the May 13, 2013 National and Local Elections[edit]
Assuming Office: June 30, 2013
Mayor: Jeffrey Jubal C. Nalupta
Vice-Mayor: Ronald Allan M. Nalupta
Sangguniang Panlungsod Members:
- Gwyneth S. Quidang
- Eugenia Violeta D. Nalupta
- Medeldorf M. Gaoat
- MacArthur A. Aguinaldo
- Florencio P. Laud
- Avelard Ibarra F. Crisostomo
- Lucky Rene G. Bunye
- Elmer D. Pungtilan
- Orlando C. Mangapit
- Amable A. Abellon
Notable Filipinos from Batac City[edit]
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Ferdinand Marcos - The 10th President of the Philippines from 1965 to 1986.
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Gregorio Aglipay - The first Filipino Supreme Bishop of the Philippine Independent Church.
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Artemio Ricarte - A Filipino general during the Philippine Revolution and the Philippine-American War. Considered as the "Father of the Philippine Army".
Sister Cities[edit]
| City | Province | Country |
|---|---|---|
| Makati City | -- | Philippines |
| Carcar City | Province of Cebu | Philippines |
| Naga City | Province of Cebu | Philippines |
References[edit]
External links[edit]
- Official Website of Batac
- Official Facebook Page of Batac
- Philippine Standard Geographic Code
- 1995 Philippine Census Information
- 2000 Philippine Census Information
- 2007 Philippine Census Information
- Local Governance Performance Management System
