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Angeles (locally [ˈaŋhɛlɛs]), officially the City of Angeles (Kapampangan: Ciudad ning Angeles; Filipino: Lungsod ng Angeles), is a highly urbanized city in the Central Luzon region of the Philippines. It has a population of 483,452 people.
Angeles is the largest city of Pampanga. While politically independent from the province, it is usually grouped by the Philippine Statistics Authority therewith for statistical purposes.
Angeles City is the urban core of Metro Clark, an urban area in Pampanga. This area, also known as Metro Angeles, is considered the industrial and residential heartland of Central Luzon. Metro Clark-Angeles is also identified as a regional center by the national government.
In 1796, the gobernadorcillo or town head of San Fernando, Don Ángel Pantaleón de Miranda, and his wife, Doña Rosalía de Jesús, along with some followers, staked out a new settlement, which they named Culiát because of the abundance of vines (Gnetum indicum) of that name in the area. The new settlers cleared the woodland and cultivated the area for rice and sugar farming. Don Ángel built his first house with light materials at the northwest corner of the intersection of Sapang Balen and the road going towards the town of Porac. It was later donated to the Catholic Church and became a cemetery called "Campo Santong Matua" (today the site of Nepomuceno Coliseum).
On May 12, 1812, the new settlers tried to make Culiat a self-governing town but the friars resisted the move, led by Fray José Pometa. Ten years later, on February 11, 1822, Don Ángel filed a petition for the township of Culiat to secede from San Fernando, but it was denied. This was followed by another petition within the same year, jointly signed by Don Ángel, his son-in-law, Mariano Henson, and the latter's father, Severino Henson. He donated 35 hectares (86 acres) for the construction of the first Catholic church, a convent and a primary school while Doña Agustina Henson de Nepomuceno, the niece of who would become the first gobernadorcillo of Angeles in 1830, Don Ciriaco de Miranda, gave land for the new public market. Don Ángel paid the complete amount required by law just for the secession of Culiat from San Fernando. There were only 160 taxpayers then but the law required that it should have at least 500 taxpayers.
Located some 10 miles (16 km) north of Pampanga's capital, Culiat became a barrio of San Fernando for 33 years and on December 8, 1829, became a separate municipality. The newly autonomous town was renamed "El Pueblo de los Ángeles" in honor of its patron saints, the Holy Angels, and the name of its founder, Don Ángel, coinciding with the rise of new barrios such as Santo Cristo (as the población or town proper), Cutcut, Pampang, and Pulong Anunas. The progressive barrios developed some new industries such as a sugar mill and a wine distillery. The transition of Angeles from a jungle clearing to a barrio, to a town and finally to a city took 168 years and in all that time, it survived locusts' infestations, wars, epidemics, volcanic eruptions and typhoons to become one of the fast rising towns in the country. When it received its first official municipal charter, the town contained some 661 people, 151 houses and an area of 38.65 km2.
On May 7, 1899, General Emilio Aguinaldo transferred the seat of the First Philippine Republic to Angeles. It then became the site of celebrations for the first anniversary of Philippine independence, which was proclaimed a year earlier in Kawit, Cavite. Events included a parade, led by the youngest ever Filipino generals, Gregorio del Pilar and Manuel Tinio, with General Aguinaldo viewing the proceedings from the Pamintuan Residence, which was the Presidential Palace from May to July 1899 (and later was the Central Bank of the Philippines office in Central Luzon, before its ownership passed to the National Historical Commission of the Philippines). Aguinaldo's sojourn was short, however, for in July of this same year he transferred his government to the province of Tarlac following Angeles' occupation by the American forces.
On August 10, 1899, U.S. forces began the attack on Angeles confident in capturing it in a few days. However, the Filipino Army defending the town refused to give in so easily and fiercely fought back and for three months, they battled the Americans in and around the town. It was only after the battle on November 5, 1899, that the town finally fell into American hands. The Battle of Angeles was considered to be the longest in the history of the Filipino-American War in Pampanga. This led to the establishment of an American camp in Barrio Talimundoc (in what is now Lourdes Sur), located next to the railroad station, in order to establish control over the central plains of Luzon. In January 1900, General Frederick D. Grant organized the first U.S. Civil Government in Angeles by appointing an alcalde or municipal mayor, beginning American rule over Angeles.
In 1902, the United States Army studied relocating their post from Barrio Talimundoc to a fertile plain in Barrio Sapang Bato, which supposedly had better grass for their horses. A year after that, U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt signed an executive order on September 1, establishing 7,700 acres (31 km2) of land in Sapang Bato as Fort Stotsenburg (which later would expand to 156,204 acres (632.14 km2) in 1908 to become Clark Air Base). It was centered on what would in later years become Clark Air Base's parade ground.
The Americans quickly commandeered Holy Rosary Parish Church and converted it into an army hospital, with the choir loft served as a dental clinic. The convento, which now houses Holy Family Academy, was the barracks for medical officers and enlisted men. The sacristy was the only portion where Angeleños could hear Mass. When the Americans finally vacated the church in 1904 and relocated to Fort Stotsenburg, parish priest Rev. Vicente Lapus listed a total of US$638 for portions of the church destroyed, looted church items and treasures, and arrears on rentals.
Hours after the attack on Pearl Harbor, Japan attacked the Philippines, targeting the American military presence, as well as the Philippine Army, and taking over the civilian government. During the Japanese occupation in the country, 57,000 Filipino and American prisoners of war passed the town of Angeles. They were forced to join the Bataan Death March, going to Camp O'Donnell in Capas, Tarlac. Angeleños showed their sympathy by handing them food, milk, boiled eggs, rice cakes, cigarettes, and water. Angeleños followed them up to the train station in Dau railway station in Mabalacat to give moral and spiritual support, and even helped the escapees.
War historians considered the bombing of Fort Stotsenburg on December 8, 1941, at 12:30 p.m. as one of the most destructive air raids in World War II, because almost all the American war planes were wrecked on the ground. In thirty minutes, the air might of the United States in the Far East was completely destroyed.
On the early morning of New Year's Day 1942, the first Japanese troops entered Angeles; they would occupy it until January 1945. During the Japanese invasion, another type of local government was set up on January 22, 1942. During the Japanese occupation, Clark Air Base then became a major center for staging Japanese air operations. Japanese aircraft flying out of Clark participated in the Battle of Leyte Gulf, considered to be the largest naval battle of the Second World War and possibly the largest naval battle in history.
Clark Air Base was recaptured by the Americans in January 1945, after three months of fierce fighting in the Philippines. After three years of atrocities committed by Japanese forces, the town and the rest of the Philippines were finally liberated by the combined United States and Philippine Commonwealth troops in 1945. The building of the general headquarters of the Philippine Commonwealth Army and Philippine Constabulary was situated in Angeles from January 1945 to June 1946, during and after World War II.
In the years after the second world war, Angeles City faced issues with poverty and unequal land ownership, particularly the unequal distribution of agricultural land. This was not limited to Angeles City but was also prevalent throughout Central Luzon. Difficult socioeconomic conditions were experienced by farmers, including land inequality and the challenges they faced in improving their circumstances. These conditions demonstrate that rural poverty was deeply rooted in structural inequalities that required meaningful economic and agricultural reforms. During and after Martial Law, however, land inequality and rural poverty remained persistent problems, as agrarian reform efforts failed to bring about substantial changes in land ownership for many farmers.
After World War II, the Philippines gained independence from the United States on July 4, 1946, but then would be tied to a neo-colonial relationship. The "Treaty of General Relations" signed on independence day itself signified the Americans' withdrawal and surrender of possession, control and sovereignty over the Philippines, except the use of their bases. It was followed by the Philippine-American Military Bases Agreement on March 14, 1947, allowing the U.S. to maintain territorial integrity and sovereignty over Clark Air Base and Subic Naval Base for the next 44 years. Clark occupied 63,103 hectares and served as the tactical operational U.S. air force installation in the entire Southeast Asian region that had the capacity to accommodate the U.S. military transport planes, which served the entire Western Pacific.
In May, 1949, the facilities at Fort Stotsenburg and Clark Field were given to the U.S. Air Force, and the entire base became known as Clark Air Base. Many Americans eventually chose to settle permanently in Angeles, especially in Balibago.
Notably, Angeles City also became a city while living next to a major U.S. air base. The base shaped its economy, its nightlife, and even its security, such as the 1968 curfew. In the 1940s and 50s, only three bars stood outside the main gate. But, by the early 1960s, Fields Avenue was lined with them, and by the 1970s there were over 150 bars and similar establishments.
The base’s role in the wider world grew too. Clark entered the Vietnam War effort in March 1964. In 1966, an exchange of notes between Dean Rusk and Narciso Ramos set the bases agreement to remain in force for 25 years from September 16, 1966, which the Supreme Court later described as shortening the term to a total of 44 years, or until 1991. Two years later, attacks on American servicemen in August 1968 led to a curfew on both Clark and Angeles.
Angeles, despite its proximity to the American camp, did not progress fast and remained fairly small until the end of World War II. It was finally inaugurated on January 1, 1964, as a chartered city under Republic Act No. 3700 and then proceeded to enter a period of tremendous growth that resulted in its present position as the "Premier City in Central Luzon". It was through Mayor Rafael del Rosario's brainchild that Angeles became a city. He gained the distinction of being the last municipal mayor of Angeles. He was assisted in the preparation of the City Chapter by Attorney Enrique Tayag, a prominent resident of the town. Congresswoman Juanita Nepomuceno of the first district of Pampanga sponsored the bill in Congress, which was approved by then President Diosdado Macapagal, the ninth Philippine president and a native of the province of Pampanga.
After the war, the Hukbalahap, or the Huks, a Filipino guerrilla group formed during World War II to fight the Japanese, became the Hukbong Mapagpalaya ng Bayan, or HMB. It later turned into an anti-government communist movement and carried out coordinated raids in 1950, including attacks in Pampanga. The government fought back with an aggressive anti-Huk campaign led by Defense Secretary Ramon Magsaysay, which eventually weakened and split the movement.
Text from the Wikipedia article “Angeles City”, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.