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ABOUT LAOAG

Laoag City is a 2nd class city in the province of Ilocos Norte, Philippines. It is the capital city of Ilocos Norte, and the province's political, commercial, and industrial hub. The municipalities of San Nicolas, Paoay, Sarrat, Vintar, and Bacarra form its boundaries. The foothills of the Cordillera Central mountain range to the east, and the South China Sea to the west are its physical boundaries.

HISTORY

"Laoag" (Ilocano for "light or clarity"), is an old, flourishing settlement known to Chinese and Japanese traders when the Spanish conquistador Juan de Salcedo arrived at the northern banks of Padsan River in 1572. Augustinian missionaries established the Roman Catholic Church in the area in 1580 and designated Saint William, the Hermit as its patron saint.

At the arrival of the Spaniards in the Philippine Islands, they found out that the natives were divided into community groups, each having its own independent government. That there were centers of population as was observed by Captain Juan de Salcedo, Ilocos was extraordinary in size. In Laoag alone, the population reached as high as 6,000. This was the greatest number of inhabitants in a “barangay” or “purok” in the whole country at the advent of the Spaniards. The houses of the natives, made of bamboo and cogon numbered to no less than a thousand. These were built and compactly arranged around a hill known as “Ermita Hill”, located at the Southeastern section of what Laoag is now at the very brim of the northern bank of the Padsan River. The natives must have chosen this spot for the location of their community not only of its proximity to the river which is indispensable to them as the source of their protein, that is, fish, shellfish, and water for drinking and washing. Buzeta, commenting on the practice of the Ilocanos in constructing their houses very close to one another., that no space was left for their orchards contrary to the common practice of the natives in their places of island who constructed their houses isolated in the fields adjacent to their farms. The late Don Luis Montilla, who for several years, was Director of the National Library (now the Rizal Centennial Commission) unquestionable documents in the national Archives which mention 1580 as the real data of the organization of Laoag as a parish under the Patronage of St. William, the Hermit, whose feast is celebrated on the 10th of February every year.

Before the end of the 16th century, the missionaries, in their desire to improve the living conditions of the natives, resettled the big center of the community of Laoag from Ermita Hill to its present location. This center is the present Plaza of the city of Laoag. Following the gridiron pattern of Greco-Roman origin in laying out towns, Laoag was resettled by the Spanish missionaries by first laying out the central rectangle where the location of the plaza, church, convent, tower, “tribunal”, and other important edifices were indicated. These were followed by the laying out of rectangular street blocks. The Laying out of the poblacion done, the indigenous population was prevailed upon to construct their houses in proper places within the reach of the church bells. The poblacion was subsequently divided into different barrios, each named after a patron saint assigned to them.

Tourists Info and Attractions:

• Sand Dunes - located in La Paz, Laoag City
  
• Tabacalera Museum
  
• Tobacco Monopoly Monument
  
• Laoag Museum
  
• Aurora Park - located at the heart of Laoag City
  
• Rizal Amusement Park
  
• Fort Ilocandia
  
• Sinking Belltower - located at the heart of Laoag City
  
• Raquiza Garden - located at the heart of Laoag City