Agno River in Pangasinan

Agno River (view from Urdaneta City, Pangasinan bridge)

History of Urdaneta City, Pangasinan

Urdaneta City is a 1st class city in the province of Pangasinan, Philippines.

Urdaneta City Hall

History

There are many versions on how Urdaneta City officially became "Urdaneta". One theory suggests its original name is "Organita", roughly meaning “little organ or unit.” This is plausible as it was then a composite of portions of barrios of the adjacent towns where they converged to create one composite pueblo. Some of the theorists, the so-called purists, believe this by saying that the Spanish root word is organo; therefore, the right word should be organito. These theorists cite education at that time was centered in the Poblacion and the people in the hinterlands were neglected, thus resulting in bad grammar.

Another contention was that the first “cura parroco” of the town, Fr. Nicolas Alonzo Manrique, during the organization of the publeo in January 8, 1858, named the town “Urdaneta”, in honor of another friar, Fr. Andrés de Urdaneta. Fr. Urdaneta was the spiritual advisor of the expedition led by Miguel Lopez de Legaspi which arrived in Cebu to explore the country on April 27, 1565. However, doubts still exist on after whom the town was named. Was it after Father Andres de Urdanteta or Fr. Miguel de Urdaneta or Fr. Simon de Urdaneta? The archives of the National Library state that it was after Fr. Miguel de Urdaneta. The historian Fr. Jose Ma. Gonzales, in his book “Labor Evangelica y Civilizadora de los Religioso Dominicos en Pangasinan”, was silent on this. Some articles on the town’s history say that it was after Fr. Simon de Urdaneta while others claimed it was after Fr. Andres de Urdaneta.

The first inhabitants of the town were mostly Ilocanos. They established nearby settlements that occupy portions of the barrios of surrounding towns, namely Asingan, Villasis, Malasiqui, Sta. Barbara, Mangaldan. Manaoag and Binalonan. The settlers joined together and petitioned the Spanish government to allow them to form a separate pueblo for greater ties and stronger unity. Their petition was granted and Urdaneta was formally founded on January 8, 1858.

Creation of the City

Urdaneta became a city through Republic Act 8480, otherwise known as "An Act Converting the Municipality of Urdaneta, Province of Pangasinan into a Component City to be known as the City of Urdaneta". This was signed on January 10, 1998 and was voted affirmatively by the people of Urdaneta City on March 21, 1998.