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Pantabangan

Pantabangan, officially the Municipality of Pantabangan, is a 1st class municipality in the province of Nueva Ecija, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 31,763 people.

This is the site of the Pantabangan Dam and Lake.

Located in the northern part of Nueva Ecija, Pantabangan is located at the foot of Mt. Mabilog below Mt. Dalimanok which are found between Sierra Madre and Caraballo Mountain ranges. It is home to the Pantabangan–Carranglan Watershed Forest Reserve.

Pantabangan is 51 kilometres (32 mi) from Cabanatuan, 65 kilometres (40 mi) from Palayan, 167 kilometres (104 mi) from Manila, and 139 kilometres (86 mi) from Bayombong.

History

The place was settled on November 30, 1645, by Fr. Juan Alonzo de Abarca, an Augustinian priest with the 29th Spanish mission in the Philippines. The village grew into a settlement and was officially included in the map of the Philippines in 1747. In 1900, Pantabangan formally became a town.

In early 16th to 17th centuries, the “Id-dules” (Aetas or Baluga) and Egongots (Ilongots) tribe inhabited the southern Sierra Madre and Caraballo Mountains. Based on the research study of Elito V. Circa, the Pantabangan (Pantabanganan in early 18th century) may have came from the root Ilongot word "Sabangan or Sabanganan" that means "junction of water streams". It was learned that most of the places in the area were derived from Ilongot words like Caanaoan, Puncan, Cadanglaan (now Carranglan), Kabaritan (Now San Jose City) and others. Bungamong (Bongabon) and Cadanglaan was formerly sitio of Pantabangan and Kabaritan also part of Pantabangan.

When the Second World War broke out, Japanese Imperial forces occupied Pantabangan in 1942. During the Liberation, combined military forces of the Philippine Commonwealth Army, the Philippine Constabulary, the United States Army and the U.S. Army Air Forces recaptured the town and defeated Japanese soldiers in the Battle of Pantabangan.

In 1950, Sitio Lublub was converted into a barrio in the municipality, separated from Barrio Marikit. Lublub became part of the municipality of Alfonso Castañeda in Nueva Vizcaya upon the latter's creation in 1979.

In May 1966, the Philippine Congress passed the Upper Pampanga River Project Act (Republic Act 5499) authorizing the construction of the Pantabangan Dam and its appurtenant structures. The groundbreaking ceremony led by then President Ferdinand Marcos took place on June 11, 1971. The project was finally completed in August 1974.

The construction of the Dam had great economic and social impact on the lives of Pantabangeños. About 8,100 hectares (20,000 acres) of productive farmland and the town center (East and West Poblacion) along with seven outlying barangays (Villarica, Liberty, Cadaclan, San Juan, Napon-Napon, Marikit and Conversion) were submerged under the new lake. Residents were relocated to higher ground overlooking the vast reservoir, which became the new Pantabangan town center. Before the expansion of the dam through the Casecnan Project in the 1990s, the belfry of the 18th century church resurfaced from the dam's summer low water level. During drought in 1983, some areas of the old town emerged.

The Pantabangan Dam is claimed to be the second largest dam in Asia, and supplies the irrigation requirements for about 77,000 hectares (190,000 acres) of agricultural lands in Central Luzon. Its power station generates 112 megawatts of hydroelectric power.

In February 1996, then President Fidel V. Ramos led the ground-breaking ceremony of the Casecnan Transbasin Project, a 27 kilometres (17 mi) tunnel from the Casecnan River in Nueva Vizcaya to a terminal point at the Pantabangan reservoir and was commissioned on December 11, 2001. The project aims to augment the capacity of the dam to irrigate an additional 50,000 hectares (120,000 acres) of agricultural land and generate an additional 140 megawatts of hydroelectric power for the Luzon grid.

The present Pantabangan town has 14 barangays and a total land area of about 41,735 hectares. The succeeding years since its relocation saw its progress from a fifth-class municipality in 1975, then to a fourth-class, then to a second class Municipality in 2006 and finally, in July 2008, pursuant to Section 2 of the Department of Finance Order No. 23-08, Pantabangan was reclassified as First-Class Municipality. It is the only town in the Philippines which boasts of three hydroelectric plants within its territorial jurisdiction.

Geography

Barangays

Pantabangan is politically subdivided into 14 barangays. Each barangay consists of puroks and some have sitios.

Climate

Demographics

Languages

Tagalog is predominantly spoken in Pantabangan followed by Ilocano dialect. People of Pantabangan "Pantabangenian" are also known for their very distinct strong Pantabangan accent, called "Adyu-ari".

Economy

Poverty incidence of Pantabangan

Hotels, restaurants, and leisure

Pantabangan has since saw a rise in numerous accommodation and lodging establishments such as hotels, motels, inns, and resorts near the Pantabangan Lake, making it a popular ecotourism site. Some notable places include Highland Bali Villas Resort and Spa, Lake Farm de La Marre Agri-Tourism Park, and George Point.

Arts and Culture

The Pandawan Festival made its debut in April 2008, showcasing many local talents as well as other entertainments including indigenous art activities like art workshop and rural development thru art awareness programs. It features cooking contests, dance competitions and street dancing, and a parade.

Since the completion of the dam, the site of the old town has become visible during times of extremely low water levels in the reservoir coinciding with the El Niño phenomenon, with recorded instances occurring in 1983, 2014, 2020 and 2024, sparking an influx of visitors to the site, particularly the cross of the Saint Andrew Church constructed in 1825. A modern cross was erected in to replace the old during one of its reappearances. The site, which also contains the ruins of the old public cemetery including headstones, foundations of the old municipal hall with its historical town marker, the town plaza and old tree trunks, has been designated as a cultural heritage zone by the municipal government.