© CNEcija12345 on Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SAHistory
Angeles before the malls: a town remembered
Fifty-centavo jambalaya, PX goods by the railroad and movie tickets at 25 centavos: a columnist's memories of 1960s Angeles.
Angeles
Stories
History in Pampanga
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© Valenzuela400 on Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SAFood
Why Kapampangans cook the way they do
From Spanish friars to a republic's first banquet, how Kapampangan cooking became its own tradition.
Pampanga
© Patrickroque01 on Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SACulture
Aldo ning Kapampangan: the province that began in 1571
Why Pampanga celebrates every December 11, and how a day for the province became a showcase of its towns' festivals.
Pampanga
© Judgefloro on Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SACommunity
The round chapel of Pio
Porac's 1861 circular chapel survived Pinatubo and an earthquake, then a debate over who should repair it and how.
Porac
Culture
Arayat's old houses of Paralaya
Behind the 1753 church, a short street of colonial houses and a chapel tells Arayat's story as an old Pampanga town.
Arayat
History
Bunduk ning Alaya: the mountain that watches over Arayat
Sacred to the old Kapampangans, a getaway for President Quezon and now a protected landscape: the many lives of Mount Arayat.
Arayat
© CNEcija12345 on Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SAHistory
General Maximino Hizon of Mexico
The Mexico-born general who led Kapampangan revolutionaries, refused to swear loyalty to the US and died in exile on Guam.
Mexico
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Mexico, Pampanga's first capital
A town said to be named by Mexican soldiers became Pampanga's first capital, then lost it after the Maniago revolt.
Mexico
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From Sexmoan to Sasmuan: a town takes back its name
How a Spanish spelling turned an old Kapampangan meeting place into a joke, and why the town changed it back.
Sasmuan
© Elmer Centeno Guevarra on Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SAFood
Cang Daba: how buro may have named Candaba
Was Candaba named after a place called Candawe, or after the big jars of fermented fish its people sold? Two stories.
Candaba
© Robert Joshua Busalla on Wikimedia Commons · CC BYCommunity
Under the lahar: Bacolor's sunken church
How lahar from Mount Pinatubo raised the ground around San Guillermo Church, and why Bacolor kept praying inside it.
Bacolor
History
Kamikaze East: Mabalacat's airfield of peace
How a wartime airstrip in Mabalacat became the launch point of the first kamikaze mission, and later a memorial for peace.
Mabalacat
© Ralff Nestor Nacor on Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SAHistory
Caragan and Laureana: the founding legend of Mabalacat
No document records Mabalacat's founding. Its people tell instead of an Aeta chieftain, his wife and a forest of balacat trees.
Mabalacat
© Ralff Nestor Nacor on Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SAHistory
Villa Epifania, the grand old house of Santa Rita
An all-concrete 1930s mansion that sheltered officers, guerrillas and, later, a Lino Brocka film crew.
Santa Rita
History
Minalin, the egg basket of Luzon
A small town that lays a million eggs a day, and how it got its name from a church that moved.
Minalin
© Ramon FVelasquez on Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SACulture
The Minalin mural and the capillas posas
A 1619 painted map, four patio chapels and a hidden carved heart: why Minalin's church is a National Cultural Treasure.
Minalin
Culture
Masantol: a town named for a fruit
How a Spanish friar, a fruit vendor and a pueblo of San Miguel gave Pampanga's southernmost town its name.
Masantol
© JJ Carpio on Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SACulture
Lubao, cradle of Kapampangan civilisation
Why Lubao, low and muddy by name, claims to be Pampanga's oldest town and the cradle of Kapampangan culture.
Lubao
History
The Chinese of Guagua and the paldungan
In 1603, Chinese families fleeing violence in Manila found refuge in Guagua. Their walled quarter shaped the town's trade.
Guagua
Culture
Apalit, the blacksmith capital, and Panday Pira
Why Apalit calls itself the blacksmith capital of Pampanga, and its link to the 16th-century cannon maker Panday Pira.
Apalit
History
Sulipan, the old high society barrio of Apalit
How a riverside barrio of Apalit hosted business, politics and even a Russian grand duke in the late 1800s.
Apalit
History
Baliwag: how Sto. Tomas became Pampanga's youngest town
From the tardy churchgoers of Baliwag to an executive order in 1951: the long road to independence of Sto. Tomas.
Santo Tomas
History
Luis Taruc and the Huks of San Luis
How a San Luis farm boy became Supremo of the Hukbalahap, and the 2023 monument that honours him and 400 fighters.
San Luis
Culture
Cabagsac: the San Luis church that nets its bats
Why San Luis was once called Cabagsac, and how its parish church still shares its roof with fruit bats.
San Luis