San Fernando, officially the City of San Fernando (Kapampangan: Ciudad/Lakanbalen ning San Fernandu; Filipino: Lungsod ng San Fernando), is a component city and capital of the province of Pampanga, Philippines. According to the 2024 census, it has a population of 377,534 people.
The city is named after King Ferdinand VI of Spain and placed under the patronage of Saint Ferdinand III of Castile and León, whose feast is celebrated every May 30. Popularly known as the "Christmas Capital of the Philippines", the city holds the annual Giant Lantern Festival every December where large parol are displayed in competition. CNN has hailed the city as 'Asia's Christmas capital'.
The city is known as the birthplace of José Abad Santos, the 5th chief justice of the Supreme Court of the Philippines and briefly served as the acting president of the Commonwealth of the Philippines during World War II.
It is one of the two provincial capital cities named San Fernando, the other being San Fernando, La Union in Ilocos Region.
History
Spanish Colonial Era
The town of San Fernando was founded in 1754 from the towns of Bacolor and Mexico. The first church was built in 1755 with wooden walls and nipa roofing. The municipal tribunal was erected later in the year in front of the town plaza using durable materials and thatched nipa roofing. Don Vidal de Arrozal served as its first gobernadorcillo that year.
In 1796, after serving as gobernadorcillo the previous year, Don Ángel Pantaleon de Miranda retired to Barrio Saguin, from where he started setting up his hacienda in Barrio Culiat. The barrio was separated from San Fernando on the December 8, 1829 as the new town of Angeles, with the Los Santos Ángeles Custodios as titular patrons.
An expediente requesting the transfer of the provincial capital of Pampanga to San Fernando was signed on the August 6, 1852. Real Cedula 745, approving the transfer of the provincial capital of Pampanga from Bacolor to San Fernando, was signed on September 11, 1881. This transfer did not, in the event, materialize.
In 1878, actions were made to create the town of Calulut. This new town would be composed of Calulut and the neighboring barrios of Bulaun, Malpitic, Sindalan, La Paz, Lara, Saguin, Telabastagan, Balete, Malinao, Pulung Bulu, Panipuan, Macabacle and the caserio of Pau in San Fernando, and Panipuan, Acle, Suclaban and the sitio of Gandus in Mexico. This plan did not materialize, owing to strong opposition from the parish priest of San Fernando.
Governor-General Eulogio Despujol and Manila Archbishop Bernardino Nozaleda inaugurated the San Fernando railroad station, together with the Bagbag-Mabalacat stretch of the Manila-Dagupan Railroad, on February 2, 1892. The station was second only to Manila in revenues that year, and was thus the most important provincial station of the Manila-Dagupan Railroad. On June 27 of the same year, José P. Rizal made a stopover in the town as part of his mission to recruit members to the La Liga Filipina.
On September 1, 1896, the town was declared to be in a state of war despite its peaceful situation. Brigadier General Diego de los Rios arrived on December 2 to calm the revolution that started in Manila on August 30. General Ruiz Serralde took over Rios's post on June 26, 1897, to maintain the peace in San Fernando. The revolution was not yet at its height with occasional exchanges of fire in some places in Pampanga.
On June 26, 1898, representatives from all Pampanga towns, except Macabebe, gathered in San Fernando to swear allegiance to Gen. Maximino Hizon, who was the provincial military governor and representative of the revolutionary president, Emilio Aguinaldo. On October 9, Aguinaldo and his cabinet visited the town, and were welcomed with so much applause and enthusiastic cheering from the public. He proceeded to the convento which was served as the military headquarters at that time.
American Colonial Era
On May 4, 1899, Philippine revolutionary troops led by General Antonio Luna burned the casa municipal, the town church and several houses to render them useless to the approaching American forces. On June 16, due to the strategic location of the town, Aguinaldo himself led Filipino forces in the Battle for San Fernando. The plan to retake the town proved unsuccessful. Calulut fell to the Americans on August 9.
On August 15, 1904, the Pampanga provincial government was finally transferred to San Fernando from Bacolor, by virtue of Act No. 1204 signed on July 22, 1904. This was during the term of Governor Macario Arnedo and Municipal President Juan Sengson. The town of Minalin became part of San Fernando that same year. It would regain its political independence in 1909.
On January 2, 1905, the town of Santo Tomas was consolidated with San Fernando by virtue of Act 1208.
On August 12, 1904, U.S. Secretary of War William H. Taft visited the town to get first-hand information and gather ideas for the governance of Pampanga. Owing to the short notice, a bamboo pavilion was hastily constructed for his visit, where he was welcomed with a banquet for 200 people. Taft would later be elected President of the United States.
In 1921, the Pampanga Sugar Development Company (PASUDECO) sugar central began its operations. The company was formed in 1918 by large-scale planters such as José de León, Augusto Gonzales, Francisco Tongio Liongson, Tomás Lazatin, Tomás Consunji, Francisco Hizon, José Henson, and Manuel Urquico in the San Fernando residence of Governor Honorio Ventura as part of a plan to construct a locally financed central.
In 1932, the Socialist Party of the Philippines was founded by Pedro Abad Santos. Two years later, he created and headed the Aguman ding Maldang Talapagobra (AMT). The Abad Santos compound in Barangay San Jose became the focal point of the peasant movement.
On February 14, 1939, Philippine president Manuel L. Quezon proclaimed his social justice program before a gathering of farmers in front of the Municipal Government building.
World War II
In 1941, forces of the Imperial Japanese Army occupied the town and placed the municipal government under its supervision. The following year, thousands of Filipino and American prisoners of war walked from Bataan to the San Fernando Train Station in what will be known as the Bataan Death March.
On January 29, 1945, the forces of under General Douglas Mac Arthur retook San Fernando and established the Civil Government. Vivencio Cuyugan was made Municipal Mayor, and he was replaced by Rodolfo Hizon in July, 1946, after the war.
Postwar era
After having been destroyed in a fire in 1939, the Metropolitan Cathedral of San Fernando was restored by Kapampangan architect Fernando H. Ocampo in 1948, at which point it was elevated to Cathedral when it became the seat of the Diocese of San Fernando, canonically created by Pope Pius XII. In 1975, the diocese was elevated by Pope Paul VI, to Archdiocese of San Fernando.
In 1952, the town of Santo Tomas was separated from San Fernando.
Martial law era
Upon the declaration of martial law in September 1972, Camp Olivas in the City of San Fernando was designated as one of the four provincial camps to become a Regional Command for Detainees (RECAD). It was designated RECAD I and it housed detainees from Northern and Central Luzon. Prominent detainees imprisoned there include Edicio de la Torre, Judy Taguiwalo, Tina Pargas, Marie Hilao-Enriquez, and Bernard-Adan Ebuen. Prisoners who were documented to have been tortured include the sisters Joanna and Josefina Cariño, the brothers Romulo and Armando Palabay, and Mariano Giner Jr of Abra. About 50 Kalinga and Bontoc leaders, including Butbut tribe leader Macli-ing Dulag, were also brought to Camp Olivas from their detainment center in Tabuk, Kalinga, arrested for their opposition to the Chico River Dam Project. Seminarian Teresito Sison had campaigned for the rights of teachers, farmers, and of laborers in Clark Air Base, but torture during two stints in Marcos' detention centers caused a decline in his health which led to his death in 1980.
Jose B. Lingad, congressman for Pampanga's 1st congressional district, had been one of the first to be detained upon the declaration of martial law, but was released after three months. He retired to his farm after that, but was later convinced by Benigno Aquino Jr. to run for the governorship of Pampanga in the January 1980 Philippine local elections. Lingad lost the election to the Marcos administration's candidate, but filed a protest, which was still ongoing on December 16, 1980 when he was shot dead while sitting alone in the driver's seat of his car at a gasoline station in barangay San Agustin, San Fernando, Pampanga. His assassin, a former sergeant in the Philippine Constabulary, was himself killed in a mysterious car accident before he could reveal who had ordered the killing.
In 1986, Paterno Guevarra was sworn in as officer-in-charge of the town after the successful People Power Revolution that toppled the Marcos dictatorship that same year. He was later elected municipal mayor. On December 31, 1987, former mayor Armando Biliwang was campaigning in Barangay San Jose to be elected mayor again when communist insurgents from the New People's Army fired gunshots in his direction, narrowly avoiding getting killed while his nephew was fatally wounded.
Later 20th Century
In 1990, Philippine president Corazon Aquino inaugurated the Paskuhan Village, the first Christmas village in Asia and the third of its kind in the world. The following year, Mount Pinatubo erupted after over 600 years of dormancy hurling a layer of ash and volcanic debris on the town.
On October 1, 1995, Typhoon Sibyl (Mameng) struck the town. It unleashed floodwaters and mudflows from Mount Pinatubo into the town. The Barangays of Santo Nino, San Juan, San Pedro Cutud and Magliman were severely damaged by lahar. The citizens of San Fernando rallied to save the town by raising funds to build the St. Ferdinand People's Dike. The Pampanga Megadike was constructed the following year, thus preventing further damage to the town.
Cityhood
On January 6, 1997, Mayor Rey Aquino and Senator Gloria Macapagal Arroyo launched the campaign for cityhood. On April 27 of that same year, Rep. Oscar Rodriguez filed House Bill No. 9267 creating the City of San Fernando.
In 2000, House Speaker Arnulfo Fuentebella and Senate President Aquilino Pimentel Jr. signed the approved city charter of San Fernando on December 4 and 13 respectively.
The town officially became a component city on February 4, 2001, following the ratification of Republic Act 8990 in a plebiscite from the previous day, making it the 99th city in the Philippines. Rey Aquino was the city's first mayor.
On the morning of April 30, 2022, Barangay Alasas chairman and PDP-Laban city council candidate Alvin C. Mendoza was driving through Brgy. Magliman with his family in an SUV heading to his party's headquarters during the 2022 local election when he was shot sixteen times by motorcycle-riding gunmen. After the incident, his wife Rosalie ran in his stead as "Alvin Mendoza" and won the second-highest number of votes among candidates for councilor. In his investigation, Lubao, Pampanga police executive Ceazar Dalay regarded a gun-for-hire group leader with the alias Jason Alvarez as a suspect in the assassination.
Geography
It is the provincial capital of Pampanga and regional center of Central Luzon, and located 66 kilometres (41 mi) north of Manila, 72 kilometres (45 mi) east of Subic in Zambales, 58 kilometres (36 mi) south of Tarlac City in Tarlac, and 17 kilometres (11 mi) south of Clark Air Base in Angeles City. The city is in the urban core of Metro Clark, also known as Metro Angeles, an urban area in Pampanga. This area is considered the industrial and residential heartland of Central Luzon.
Barangays
San Fernando is politically subdivided into 35 barangays, as shown below. Each barangay consists of puroks and some have sitios.
- Alasas
- Baliti
- Bulaon
- Calulut
- Del Carmen
- Del Pilar
- Del Rosario
- Dela Paz Norte
- Dela Paz Sur
- Dolores
- Juliana
- Lara
- Lourdes
- Magliman
- Maimpis
- Malino
- Malpitic
- Pandaras
- Panipuan
- Pulung Bulo
- Quebiawan
- Saguin
- San Agustin
- San Felipe
- San Isidro
- San Jose
- San Nicolas
- San Pedro
- San Juan
- Santa Lucia
- Santa Teresita
- Santo Niño
- Santo Rosario
- Sindalan
- Telabastagan
Demographics
Religions
The Roman Catholicism is the majority religion in the city; 80% of the population profess it. The city is under the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of San Fernando headed by Archbishop Florentino Lavarias since October 27, 2014. Other religion includes Protestantism and Independent Christianity.The Iglesia Ni Cristo is the largest minority with 4-5% adherence. Islam is also evident in the city. The seat of the Archdiocese of San Fernando is located in the city, the Metropolitan Cathedral of San Fernando.
Economy
Poverty incidence of San Fernando (%)
5
10
15
20
2000 15.04
2003 6.55
2006 4.30
2009 4.80
2012 2.49
2015 6.45
2018 3.61
2021 7.23
2023 3.95
Source: Philippine Statistics Authority