Gapan City

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Gapan City
—  City  —
Seal
Map of Nueva Ecija showing the location of Gapan City.
Gapan City Location in the Philippines
Coordinates: 15°17′N 120°58′E / 15.283°N 120.967°E / 15.283; 120.967Coordinates: 15°17′N 120°58′E / 15.283°N 120.967°E / 15.283; 120.967
Country	Philippines
Region	Central Luzon (Region III)
Province	Nueva Ecija
District	4th District
Cityhood	August 25, 2001
Barangays	23
Government
- Mayor	Ernesto Natividad (Bagong Lakas ng Nueva Ecija)
Area
- Total	164.44 km2 (63.5 sq mi)
Population (2007)
- Total	98,795
- Density	600.8/km2 (1,556.1/sq mi)
Time zone	PHT (UTC+8)
ZIP Code	3105
Income class	4th class city
Website	Official Website of Gapan City

Gapan City is a 4th class city in the province of Nueva Ecija, Philippines. Gapan is nicknamed the "Footwear Capital of the North", and it is an inseparable part of the Rice Granary of the Philippines. According to the latest census, it has a population of 98,795 people in 18,200 households. It has a land area of 164.44 km².

Gapan City is located in the southern part of the province. It is bounded to the north by Peñaranda and San Leonardo, to the east by the Gen. Tinio, to the south by San Miguel in neighboring Bulacan province, and to the west by San Isidro.

[edit] Barangays

Gapan City is politically subdivided into 23 barangays.

[edit] History

Old records called the town Ibon. How it came to be known as Gapan is an interesting legend: When the place was still wilderness, Spanish soldiers came there on a mission when they saw natives crawling through the thick bushes. The soldier stopped them and, not knowing the local dialect, asked in Spanish for the name of the place. The natives knew nothing on the Spanish language and, thinking that the Spanish were asking what they were doing, answered in Tagalog, a local dialect "Gumagapang gapang kami". The Spanish took it as a name and henceforth called The Pueblo Gapang. In time, the letter "g" was dropped and the name Gapan sticks to this day. Another legend stated the name came from the climbing and crawling plants that were so numerous in the locality.

Gapan was founded by the Spanish curates and officials who, in their early occupation, exercised great influence over the people and the things they were doing. History places Gapan as one of the first towns of Pampanga founded sometime in the middle part of the sixteenth century. Records of the first Catholic mission to the far east indicated that in 1595, Fathers Contres Tendilla, Caballo and Salazar were responsible for clearing the forest which later became a pueblo. In this pueblo, a church, presedencia and residential houses made of bricks and lime were constructed, now the age-old landmarks of the city.

Its foundation in 1595 makes Gapan the oldest town in Nueva Ecija and one of the oldest in the Philippines. It was likewise a big pueblo embracing an area as far as Cabanatuan City in the north, which was its barrio with the name Cabanatuan before it separated in 1750: the Sierra Madres in the East, San Miguel, Bulacan in the south and Candaba, Pampanga in the West. Gradually as the Spanish power waned and economic progress caught up in the area, the pueblo disintegrated into many pueblos until it remained to comprise only the towns of Peñaranda, General Tinio and San Leonardo (formerly called Manikling) all of Nueva Ecija province. In fact the Patron Saint Divina Pastora had its origin or residence in Barrio Callos, Peñaranda.

In 1942, the occupation by the Japanese forces in Gapan, Nueva Ecija, In 1945, entering by the Philippine Commonwealth forces took Gapan together with the Filipino guerrillas at the end of World War II.

By virtue of Republic Act No. 9022 and its ratification in a plebiscite subsequently held on August 25, 2001, Gapan was converted into a component city of Nueva Ecija. Ernesto L. Natividad became the first city mayor of Gapan.

[edit] Economy

Current major source of income include farming, slipper making, fishponds, poultry and piggery, and commercial establishments.

The city of Gapan held tremendous promise not only in its natural resources but also in its potentials in agri base industries and in footwear industries which help sustain its virtual role in agricultural and industrial production. Commercial and trade activities in the city are further accelerated by the influx of financing lending institution and new businesses.

[edit] Schools in Gapan City

• Divina Pastora College
• Juan R. Liwag Memorial High School
• Gapan North Elementary School
• Gapan South Elementary School
• Gapan North Central School
• Village Montessori School
• Sheperdess Montessori
• The Great Sheperd Montessori

[edit] External links

• Gapan City Official Website
• Pasyalan Nueva Ecija
• Philippine Standard Geographic Code
• 2000 Philippine Census Information