PEACE-MAKER
Last June 20, our hometown Dagupan City marked its 77th founding anniversary, a milestone that invites both celebration and reflection. Dagupan has faced, and overcome, tremendous challenges, emerging each time with a renewed sense of resilience and community spirit.
We were 10 years old when it became a city on June 20, 1947, following the passage of Republic Act No. 170, or the “City Charter Act of Dagupan,” authored by the renowned Pangasinense, Eugenio Perez, who was elected Speaker of the House of Representatives during the first and second congresses of the Philippine Republic. Speaker Perez also co-founded the Liberal Party, with President Manuel Roxas.
Our earliest memory of our town was an area of lowlands amid the swamps nestled by the West Philippine Sea. We still remember catching bangus, crabs, and shrimps in the fishponds with our brothers and cousins before the summer rains came. We all had a sense of adventure, freedom, and independence.
Our childhood home was in Pogo Grande, which is a short walking distance from the Lingayen Gulf, where General Douglas MacArthur landed on Jan. 9, 1945 and, earlier, General Masaharu Homma on Dec. 22, 1941.
We recall that for days leading to General MacArthur’s landing, American planes attacked enemy positions in the Lingayen airfield and the warships shelled us in Dagupan. A good number were killed or wounded perhaps because the U.S. ships offshore did not know that the Japanese troops had already fled to the Mountain Province.
To this day, we vividly remember General MacArthur, smiling and waving at the crowd from the Home Economics building of our wartime school in Dagupan, the now West Central Elementary School, which served as his brief military headquarters. We were then nine years old. We were also ecstatic at that time because we were getting lots of chocolates from American soldiers since we spoke good English and could give them directions or point out certain locations.
We are proud that it was our son, Congressman Christopher, who pushed for the restoration of the now famous “MacArthur House” and its transformation into a tourist destination and a heritage site.
As a five-year-old boy, we also recall that when the Japanese troops invaded Manila and then advanced towards northern Luzon, including Pangasinan, our family joined thousands who hurriedly left Dagupan. Our father, who was then provincial fiscal of La Union, thought that the safest place to escape would be to our family’s farm in Santa Barbara, 15 kilometers west of Dagupan. We left home in a horse-drawn calesa, crammed with a few personal belongings.
In 1990, Dagupan City was a scene of massive devastation and looked condemned to extinction when a powerful earthquake, recorded at 7.7-magnitude, hit the city.
Buildings sank by one meter, a bridge collapsed, roads cracked open and trapped many vehicles inside, electric poles crushed, liquid mud emitted because of liquefaction, and several people killed and injured.
The national government considered condemning the city but we, as then representative of the fourth district of Pangasinan, together with then Dagupan City Mayor Liberato Reyna Sr. and Vice Mayor Alipio Fernandez Jr., pleaded with President Cory Aquino to help us rebuild the city. She did and for which we were most grateful.
Together with the late Camarines Sur Representative Rolando Andaya Sr., we authored the Earthquake Rehabilitation Fund Law which completely rebuilt Dagupan City in two years, as well as paved the way for the rebuilding of Baguio City, Cabanatuan City, and other areas of Pangasinan, La Union, and Tarlac that were destroyed by the earthquake.
As Dagupan City celebrates its 77th founding anniversary, it stands as a testament to the strength and perseverance of the Dagupenos. The city has transformed into an advanced and vibrant urban center, known for its tastiest and juiciest bangus and rich cultural festivals, particularly the Bangus Festival. Modern Dagupan is not just a city that has survived; it is a city that has thrived, turning its challenges into opportunities for growth and renewal.
The city’s history of overcoming adversity serves as an inspiration to all Dagupenos and to those who learn about its journey. As the city continues to grow and evolve, its legacy of resilience will undoubtedly guide it through future challenges, ensuring that the city remains a beacon of hope and strength not just in the region but in the whole country.