Description:
Isabela, the best district in the Cagayan Valley Region, is as of now one of the central areas of the north. It has been named as the “Rice Granary of the North,” having been declared as the Most Outstanding Province in Food Security in the Gawad Sapat Ani Awards 2000 driven by the Department of Agriculture. It is in like manner home to the mainstream Northern Sierra Madre Natural Park, a guaranteed seascape and scene of exceptional biodiversity.
Santiago City, the business focal point of Region 2, has been declared a free portion city through a plebiscite on July 3, 1994, under Republic Act 7720.
Cauayan City, the trading center Isabela, is moreover a section city affirmed in a lion’s offer decision on March 30, 2001.
Geography
The domain is divided into three physiographic zones. The eastern district, straddled by the Sierra Madre Mountain Range, is intense and thickly forested. A liberal piece is bizarre, and the unexplored hinterlands are home to a wide collection of greenery while others are government reservations. The western zone is a meandering aimlessly productive valley fixed by the Central Cordillera and is dumbfounded by the incredible Cagayan, Sifu, and Magat Rivers. Its mountains rise to a zenith of around 8,000 feet and are home to one of the world’s greatest remaining low-height rainforests with different cloud endemic kinds of greenery and astounding natural fair assortment. The zone is broadly known as the Northern Sierra Madre Natural Park.
Isabela contains an absolute land area of 10,665 square kilometers, addressing practically 40 percent of the neighborhood space. It is the greatest area in the district and the second-greatest locale in the country to the extent of land area.
Political Subdivision
The zone has 35 districts and 1,055 barangays and is separated into four congressional regions. Santiago is an independent part city, while Cauayan is a section city. Ilagan is the capital town, while Cauayan is the cutting edge center.
Population
Considering the year 2000 identification of masses, the district has a people of 1,287,575 with a people thickness of around 120.73 individuals per square kilometer.
Language/Dialect
The critical vernacular in Isabela is Ilocano, trailed by Ibanag, Yoga, and Gaddang. People, especially in the capital and business centers, talk and get English and Pilipino.
Climate
Generally, the territory has two sorts of air. The eastern and waterfront districts experience moderate precipitation practically passed on reliably while western Isabela has progressively enunciated wet and dry seasons. The typical temperature is recorded at 27.1 degrees Celsius.
Industries
Cultivating is the critical business of the people of Isabela. Developing is significantly mechanized as a huge part of the rustic landscapes are immersed. With the closeness of the Isabela State University, joint undertakings and other outside helped adventures are achievable while the Magat Dam Tourism Complex adds to the high proficiency in agribusiness. Isabela is perceived as the middle purpose of trade and business practices in the region due to its central region in the area. Furniture making using narra and distinctive indigenous woodlands materials/things like Gmelina continue existing. Potential hypotheses are in fisheries and the movement business. The store of the Magat Dam is utilized for fish bind exercises, particularly tilapia age. The movement business is a respectably new industry being made in the region, especially in the sea shorefront regions. Support organizations and settlement workplaces are in like way being made.
History
It is acknowledged that the chronicled scenery of the district returns to over 25,999 years earlier with the Stone Age race of diminishing cleaned, bizarre haired pigmies whose family members, the vagrant Aetas (Negritos), can at present be discovered wandering the mountains and forest of eastern Isabela today. The Indonesians appeared 5,000 years back, trailed by three deluges of Malays between 200 BC and 1500 AD. These rationalist antecedents of the Ibanags, Gaddangs, Yogads, Kalingas, and another one of a kind families of the valley built an advancement subject to corn agribusiness and sifted through around the vital political unit, the barangay.
The Spaniards arrived in the late sixteenth and seventeenth many years and exhibited Christianity, the encomienda (messenger of the locale) system, and the tobacco forcing plan of action. Spanish rule was extremely damaging, so local people ascended on a couple of occasions, most conspicuously in the eighteenth century under the authority of Dabo and Marayag.
As demonstrated by Fr. Ambrocio Manaligod, STD, from 1851, the Spanish conquistadors developed the “Ciudad de Nueva Segovia” in what is called Lallo today. Up to 1839, the entire Cagayan Valley was one colossal area which the Spaniards called “La Provincia del Valle de Cagayan.” Out of this enormous locale, two new domains were made in 1839. One held the old name “Cagayan” which included all towns from Aparri to Tumauini. Its capital moved from Lallo to Tuguegarao. The one bearing the name “Nueva Vizcaya” was made out of all towns from Ilagan to the Caraballo del Sur, including Catalangan and Palanan, with Camarag (by and by Echague) as its capital.
A Royal Decree was made on May 1, 1856, making “Isabela de Luzon” to remember it from other Isabela’s in the Philippines. It contained the town of Carig (by and by Santiago City), Camarag (by and by Echague), Angadanan (by and by Alicia), Cauayan, Calanusian (by and by Reina Mercedes), Gamu, and Ilagan, all isolated from Nueva Vizcaya; while Tumauini and Cabagan were taken from the region of Cagayan. It was put under the domain of a delegate with the capital seat at Ilagan, where it remains at present.
Another inundation of development began in the late nineteenth and twentieth many years with the presence of the Ilocanos who came in enormous numbers. They at present contain the greatest assembling in the district. Other ethnic social occasions followed, and Isabela transformed into the “blend of the north.”
In spite of the way that the locale didn’t expect a critical activity in the dissident against Spain, it was in Palanan where the last pages of the Philippine change were made when the American forces drove by General Frederick Funston got General Emilio Aguinaldo on March 23, 1901.
Isabela Is Famous For…
Agricultural Industry
The district parades tremendous agrarian grounds and quality rice and yields which are being conveyed as most by far of these territories are overflowed and developing is especially mechanized.
Seascape & Landscape
Flawless seascapes and scenes duplicate at the eastern shoreline of the region. The Northern Sierra Madre Natural Park is a haven for pros and outdoors darlings, declared number one in biodiversity in the country, and besides at the world’s best ten biodiversity hotspots. The towns of Divilacan, Maconacon, Dinapigue, and Palanan are proposed for trekking, mountaineering, outside, and examination.
Magat Dam Tourism Complex
Maybe the best dam in Asia, it is incorporated the Power House and related workplaces worked to the detriment of PhP6.5 Billion. The water from the dam makes 360 megawatts of intensity for the Luzon Grid and supplies the water framework redirection essential for 102,000 hectares of agrarian land in Region 2 and CAR.
St. Mathias Church (Tumauini, Isabela)
The gathering brags of a round and empty tower, the only one of its sort in the country.
World’s Biggest Butaka
It is 11 feet 4 inches high, 20 feet 8 crawls long, and 9 feet 7 inches wide. It weighed 2,368 kilos and was worked by 25 workers in 29 days.
Sta. Victoria Caves and Environmental School
Arranged at Fuyo National Park, it is the first of its sort in the district to give environmental care preparing to its sponsors. The region is a most cherished objective for family holding and informative trips.
Our Lady of the Visitation National Shrine
Arranged at Fuyo National Park, it is the first of its sort in the district to give environmental care preparing to its sponsors. The region is a most cherished objective for family holding and informative trips.
Binallay & Other Native Delicacies.
Things to Do and see in Isabela…
Cultural
Magat Dam Tourism Complex (Magat Hydro Electric Power Plant)
Asia’s biggest dam project at the time of its construction. It serves as the primary function of power generation and irrigation. Its reservoir area of 4,450 hectares has a great potential for water-based recreation like fishing, boating, and water skiing, among others. The plant is accessible by passenger jeepney and bus from Santiago City.
Natural
Bonsai Forest (Sumanget, Dinapigue)
The 20,000-hectare area is accessible by land transport from Baler in Aurora Province and by air from Cauayan Airport.
Sta. Victoria Caves and Environmental School at
Fuyo National Park
It features naturally formed lattices and sparkling rock formations. Visitors are given lectures and allowed to plant their own seedlings, and those enrolled at the Environmental School are given certificates. Within the area is the Pinzal Falls conducive for swimming and other recreational facilities like carabao-drawn carts and horseback riding. The park is 15 kilometers from Ilagan town proper.
Northern Sierra Madre Natural Park (Palanan Rainforest)
The largest protected area in the country with more than 300,000 hectares of rainforest, and the lowest at 800 feet above sea level. Declared number one in biodiversity and also one of the top 10 biodiversities “hotspots” in the world. Research showed the existence of unknown and unnamed species of flora and fauna. A confirmed habitat of the Philippine Eagle and the Cloud Rat. Its coastal areas host whales and dolphins and other cetaceans. Ideal for scuba diving and other water sports, and a mountaineering/trekking challenge.
Accessible by light aircraft from Cauayan Airport (Cyclone Airways), pump boat from Sta. Ana in Cagayan and Baler in Aurora Province, and trekking from San Mariano, Cauayan and Ilagan in Isabela. Also accessible by air transport from Tuguegarao City Domestic Airport through CHEMTRAD.
Religious
Shrine of Our Lady of the Visitation (Guibang, Gamu) Guibang Church, which houses the Miraculous Lady of the Visitacion, is located along the national highway of Gamu, Isabela and frequented by travelers passing along Maharlika Highway. It is now as famous as the Shrine of Piat Basilica Minore as it comes alive in July every year when religious pilgrims come to offer prayers of thanks and to ask for another year of good fortune. The image of the miraculous Lady was canonically crowned on May 26, 1973, and acknowledged as a National Shrine on January 24-26.
Parish Church of St. Mathias (Tumauini)
Built-in 1753 under Dominican Supervision and completed in 1805, it is an ultra-baroque church unique for its extensive use of baked clay both for wall finishing and ornamentation. Clay bricks come to life in concentric circles on the façade, spiral curves on the serpentine finial reliefs, and many finely molded details – flowers, foliage, surfaces, cherubs, and saints. Its architecture bears Chinese ancestry. This church of stone features a unique cylindrical bell tower that is the only one of its kind in the Philippines. It was declared a National Historic Landmark on February 24, 1989.
Our Lady of Atocha Church (Alicia)
Passing by Angadanan town on February 12, 1805, Fr. Manuel Mora, OP, wrote that “Angadanan has a convent of bricks, though not totally finished. Its church is timber, wood, and bamboo. The number of inhabitants is 791.” The church and convent, as seen today in the town of Alicia, beautiful and reliable, was built by Fr. Tomas Calderon, OP and inaugurated in 1849, with Fr. Francisco Gainza, OP, then vicar of Carig (now Santiago City). Famous for their antique Spanish architectural designs, these churches are found along the national highway and are accessible by land transport.
San Pablo Church
Built in 1624, it is said to be the oldest in the province. Its lofty bell tower of six layers, including the circular apex made of adobe, is the tallest in the Cagayan Valley. San Pablo, the oldest town of Isabela, was founded by Padre de Sto. Tomas, 210 years before Isabela, was made a province.
St. Rose de Lima Church (Gamu, Isabela)
Built-in 1726, it is famous for its Spanish architectural design. The feast of the patronal saint of Gamu is celebrated every August 23.
Man-Made
Isabela Museum and Library
The repository and custodian of the rich historical and cultural heritage of the Isabelinos. Features a gallery exhibit & collection of antiques such as artifacts, fossils, ethnographic items, heirloom pieces, visual arts (photographs, paintings, sculpture, graphic arts); historical and cultural dioramas, miniature models of provincial landmarks, among others. It was inaugurated on May 11, 1999, and is housed at the old capitol building in Ilagan. Open from Mondays to Saturdays from 8:00 am to 5:00 pm.
World’s Biggest Butaka
It is 11 feet 4 inches high, 20 feet 8 inches long, and 9 feet 7 inches wide. It weighed 2,368 kilos and was constructed by 25 workers in 29 days.
Festivals
Day (May 1-11)
Bambanti (Scarecrow) Festival (May 10)
Celebrates the bountiful harvest of rice and corn and other agricultural products with street dances and a float parade.
Feast of Our Lady of the Visitacion of Guibang (July 2)
Share Wander Gala to your friends and let’s go to Isabela Province!
