La Union Islands Philippines
La Union History
Thus on October 29, 1849, Governor General Claveria signed the proposal to unite the Pangasinan-Ilokos-Cordillera areas into a new province called La Union. For 124 days, high and important Spanish colonial officers studied and deliberated on the proposition to create La Union or not. On March 2, 1850, Governor General Antonio Maria Blanco signed the Superior Decreto that founded La Union – the 34th province since the founding of Cebu in 1565. It was classified as a political-military government . Blanco appointed on March 4, 1850 Captain Toribio Ruiz de la Escalera as the first Gobernador Military y Politico. La Union is the union of lands, people, cultures and resources. On April 18, 1854, Queen Isabella II of Spain issued the royal decree from Madrid confirming Blanco’s Superior Decreto.
By 1860, there was a dramatic progress in commerce and agriculture in the province primarily because of Tobacco. Spanish authorities banked on the prized leaf for further economic development. The industry was so lucrative that a Tobacco Monopoly was established. All Tobacco leaves were strictly monitored and bought exclusively by the government at a fixed price.
By 1896, the people of La Union had enough of the Spanish atrocities. The torture of the native priests, Padres Adriano Garces of Balaoan, Mariano Gaerlan of San Fernando and Mariano Dacanay of Bacnotan; the execution of Balaoan’s Siete Martires, majority of whom are ancestors of Board Member Joaquin C. Ostrea, Jr.; the persecution of Masons, whose membership included the elite natives; and others have all the more agitated the people to unite and fight their masters for three centuries. On May 22, 1898, a shot from a revolver killed the much-hated Friar Mariano Garcia of Santo Tomas, it was a shot heard in the whole province which eventually ignited the revolution in what the Spaniards used to call, “Una Provincia Modelo.”
Led by Manuel Bondoc Tinio, a boy general under the command of General Emilio Aguinaldo, the Spaniards were finally defeated in La Union, some of whom escaped and sought refuge in Vigan. With the help of the Americans, the Filipinos were finally freed from Spain only to find out later that they will be subjected to a new colonial rule.
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Source : launion.gov.ph
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