San Gabriel, La Union

San Gabriel is a 5th class municipality in the province of La Union, Philippines. According to the 2000 census, it has a population of 14,909 people in 2,830 households.

Brief History of the Municipality of San Gabriel

The town of San Gabriel is within the easternmost part of the province of La Union. It was formerly called sitio “Baka-Burnotan,” the name derived from the game of the old folks that means “binnornutan” or tug-of-war. Sitio Baka-Burnotan was the place where people in the nearby sitios gathered daily to graze their cattle while playing binnornutan. The games were played between the Christians and the pagan settlers of the Kankanaey tribe. During the later years, the name baka-burnotan was shortened to burnotan.

Sitio Burnotan became the ideal place to settle because of the wide plain along the river and its fertile soil. Intermarriages between Christians and pagan settlers greatly contributed to the increase in population. In April 19, 1897, the Roman Catholic Church, through the late Fr. Redondo, indoctrinated the pagan settlers with Christian teachings. He established a church and introduced the image of Saint Gabriel to be their patron saint. As a result, many of the pagan inhabitants embraced Christianity and many of them were baptized. The people later decided to change the name of their place to San Gabriel in honor of their patron saint.

San Gabriel was made into a township in 1906 under the sub-province Amburayan, Mountain Province with Don Pablo Waggay as its first “Presidente.”

In 1920, it became a municipal district of Amburayan. It was in 1922, after the settlement of the boundary dispute between La Union and Mountain Province, that San Gabriel became a municipality. Finally in 1947, San Gabriel was converted into a regular municipality by virtue of Executive Order No. 72 issued by President Manuel Roxas through the sponsorship of the former Speaker Pro-Tempore Francisco Ortega in the House of Representatives.

Another noteworthy event in this municipality's history was the introduction of “Sagrada Familia” (Holy Familia), a subsidiary of the Aglipayan Church. Sagrada Familia was founded by Lorenzo Lok-king, a native of Sabangan, Mountain Province. He introduced this when he settled in Barrio Lipay. Lok-king’s virtuous and amiable style of leadership gained approval among his constituents. For this reason, many were attracted to settle in this barrio; most of them came from Mountain Province, as well as other parts of the Cordillera area. Due to old age, he was not able to continue his mission, so he appointed Don Pedro Daoa, Sr. to be his successor.

With the influx of migrant settlers from other provinces, the leadership of Sagrada grouped settlers according to their respective tribes, and distributed them to different villages within their jurisdiction. The immigrants from Sagrada occupied Lon-Oy; the Bauko-Bagnen immigrants settled in Lipay Este; Itneg immigrants occupied Lipay Norte; and the Bago tribes occupied Lipay proper and Balbalayang. The Kankanaey tribe from western Bontoc currently comprises the dominant population of San Gabriel.

In its early days, the people of San Gabriel were engaged mainly in highland farming as their means of livelihood. They produced rice, corn, sweet potatoes and other root crops. As years passed, crop production decreased due to massive soil erosion in the uplands. Nevertheless, the inhabitants decided to improve their farming techniques and started making terraces. The perseverance of the people in constructing rice terraces and irrigation system along the hills and mountains of San Gabriel caused agricultural productivity to rebound.

Bananas and tiger grass are also abundant in San Gabriel, which harvests materials for soft broom production on a weekly basis.

Mayor : Alfredo P. Alew Sr.Vice Mayor : Isagani L. Dumaoang

Barangays

San Gabriel is politically subdivided into 17 barangays.

* Amontoc
* Apayao
* Balbalayang
* Bayabas
* Bucao
* Bumbuneg
* Lacong
* Lipay Este
* Lipay Norte
* Lipay Proper
* Lipay Sur
* Lon-oy
* Poblacion
* Polipol
* Daking
* Sese
* Sasaeg

External links

* [http://www.pasyalan.net/la_union/ Pasyalan La Union]
* [http://www.nscb.gov.ph/activestats/psgc/default.asp Philippine Standard Geographic Code]
* [http://www.t-macs.com/kiso/local/ 2000 Philippine Census Information]