Batac City


To this day the City Batac remains a vital educational powerhouse. Mariano Marcos State University (MMSU) finds its home in this municipality, the hometown of the family whose surname the university bears. Aside from being associated with the Marcoses, Batac is also home to many important historical figures such as Gregorio Aglipay and Artemio Ricarte.

Year established: 1587 as a town
Land Area: 15,810 hectares
No. of Barangays: 43
Market days: Tuesday & Sunday
Fiesta: December 8 to 31
Population: 50,675

SUGGESTED ITINERARY

•    House of the North in Batac. The Balay is the Marcos ancestral house which is now a museum that houses memorabilia of the Marcos family.

•    Right next to Balay is the mausoleum of the late President Marcos. The refrigerated crypt is visited by hundreds of people every week. Cameras are strictly not allowed inside.

•    Across the street from the Balay is another mausoleum complex, that of Bishop Gregorio Aglipay, founder of the Philippine Independent Church. His remains are entombed inside the Philippine Independent Church cathedral.

•    Next to the Aglipay mausoleum complex is a narrow street closed off to vehicular traffic. The street is known to most local tourists as the empanada row. Here, tourists can sample what is arguably the best empanada in all of the Ilocos region.

•    The Ricarte shrine features the memorabilia of the last general to surrender to American troops.

FAMOUS PEOPLE

Servando Castro (b. October 23, 1861 – d. December 6, 1946)

Famous religious leader born in Batac, Ilocos Norte on October 23, 1861.

He took up theology and philosophy at the University of Sto. Tomas but finished said course at Vigan Seminary in 1890. He taught in seminary before he was assigned to the Diocese of Nueva Segovia for 12 years.

He joined the Iglesia Filipina Independiente (IFI) was a signatory to the Doctrina y Reglas Constitutionales. Castro became IFI’s ecclesiastical governor for Laguna, then bishop of the Ilocos Region. Castro was the delegate of Ilocos Norte in the 1934 Constitutional Convention. He was named obispo maximo emeritus and decano de los obispo by the Aglipayan Church. Died December 6, 1946.

Don Mariano Marcos Y Rubio

Isinilang sa Batac, Ilocos Norte, 21 Abril 1897, Kina Fabian Marcos at Cresencia Rubio. Ikinasal kay Josefa Quetulio Edralin, 1916, at naging mga anak sina Ferdinand, Pacifico, Elizabeth at Fortuna.

Punong Guro, 1917; Tenyente, pambansang tanod ng Pilipinas, 1918; pampurok na Superbisor ng Laoag, 1919; at guro, National University, 1921; Nagtapos sa batas bilang Balediktoryan, pamantasan ng Pilipinas, 1925.

Kinatawan sa lehislatura, ikalawang Distrito, Ilocos Norte, 1925. Pangulo, Komite ng Senado sa mga paraparaan, at kagawad, mga komite sa pagtuturong pambayan, serbisyo sibil, lupang pambayan, mga mina at likas na kayamanan. Hinirang na Governador ng Davao ng pangulong Quezon.

Namatay sa La Union noong Marso 1945.

Gregorio Labayan Aglipay (b. May 5, 1860 – d. September 1, 1940)

Known as the founder of the Philippine Independent Church.

Born in Batac, Ilocos Norte on May 5, 1860, as a young boy he worked as a laborer at a tobacco plantation where he was arrested for not meeting the required quota. Said incident caused him resentment against the Spanish authority. He bore deep grievances against the Spanish, stemming from abuses within the agricultural system and the radical ecclesiastical reforms he championed.
Aglipay received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Colegio de San Juan de Letran. He studied law at the University of Sto. Tomas, then in 1883 entered the Vigan Seminary. In 1898 he was ordained priest of the Roman Catholic Church.
He was appointed by Emilio Aguinaldo as the revolution’s military priest in 1898 that caused him to be excommunicated by the Vatican and the Catholic Church. He continued the work begun by Fr. Jose Burgos for the Filipinization of the Catholic Church. Soon after, he called on Filipino clergy to unite against the Spanish colonizers. This paved the way for the birth of the Iglesia Filipina Independiente where he was appointed as the first supreme bishop.
The Philippine Independent Church, later known as the Aglipayan Church, was announced in 1902 and in the next three decades, Aglipay fought for Filipino independence.
He represented Ilocos Norte at the Malolos Congress, convened in Malolos, Bulacan in 1898, before the United States bought the country from Spain and sent forces to reoccupy and colonize the islands. The Philippine-American War promptly began and Aglipay served as a guerrilla leader in the Ilocos Region. He surrendered in Laoag, Ilocos Norte in 1901, as the United States officially declared the ending of hostilities.
Aglipay got wed in 1939 (Iglesia Filipina Independiente allows clergy to get married), but died a year after on September 1, 1940.

Artemio Ricarte y Garcia (October 20, 1866 — July 31, 1945)

Was born in Batac, Ilocos Norte on October 20, 1866. Was a Filipino general during the Philippine Revolution and the Philippine-American War. He is considered by the Armed Forces of the Philippines as the “Father of the Philippine Army.” Ricarte is also notable for never having taken an oath of allegiance to the United States government, which occupied the Philippines from 1898 to 1946. Died on July 31, 1945 at Kalinga, Mountain Province.

You may also like

Pasuquin

Vintar

Solsona