BAYAMBANG—Did you know that this town was once the capital of the Philippines?

This fact will be highlighted when Bayambang celebrates its quadricentennial (400 years) anniversary on April 5, 2014.

Dr. Henry Fernandez, chairman of the celebration, said and the yearlong celebration kicked off last April 5, keeping the town busy with various activities preparing for the festivities intended to remind the people of the town’s rich history since its founding in 1614 as a small settlement established by the Spaniards.

A history book as well as a coffee table book written by top historians and scholars of the town will be published, said Fernandez.

Bayambang goes down in Philippine history as the fifth capital of the Philippines during the Filipino-American War when General Emilio Aguinaldo came to the town as he was fleeing to the north with the Americans on his trail.

Fernandez said it was on Nov. 12, 1898 when Aguinaldo and his troops arrived on board a train and camped overnight in what was then Barrio Enerangan.

It was in that brief sojourn by the Aguinaldo Army that a young soldier, Jose Palma, took time out to write the lyrics of the Philippine National Anthem in Barrio Bautista, Bayambang.

Bautista is now a separate town of Pangasinan.

As part of the quadricentennial year, the executive committee will unveil the monument of General Aquinaldo in Barangay Enerangan, Bayambang on Nov. 12, 2013.

A grand medical mission on Feb. 17-20 will be conducted by some 200 Filipino and American medical specialists and surgeons from the United States who vowed to bring 60 crates of medicines and medical equipment

LONGEST BARBECUE

On April 4, the eve of the founding day, the people will attempt to put up the longest barbecue grill to be etched in the Guinness Record in its next edition of the Malangsi Festival.

In the Malangsi Festival, expected to be graced by officials of the London-based Guinness book, the townsfolk will put on the grill freshwater fish like mudfish, catfish, climbing perch and gurami which are produced in big quantity in Bayambang, especially in its Mangabul Lake.

The present world record in barbecue grill at 6.2 kilometers is owned by a city in Turkey.

Special homage will also be dedicated to Saint Vincent Ferrer, the patron saint of Bayambang.

Meanwhile, quadricentennial arches will be installed in all the approaches of the town as visible reminders of the coming grand celebration.

The celebration will be capped with the selection of five outstanding citizens of Bayambang who contributed immensely in various ways to the growth of the town.

Bayambang is a first class municipality in southern Pangasinan with a population of over 95,000 spread over 77 barangays.

Aside from the Mangabul Lake, another landmark in Bayambang is the Pangasinan State University campus, which used to be called Pangasinan Normal School.

Fernandez said the big town of Bayambang used to include the towns of Camiling and Moncada, Tarlac.

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