Region I (Ilocos Region)

The Ilocos Region Major Geographical Features

Region 1 or the Ilocos Region is found in the northwestern part of Luzon in the Philippines, located east of the Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR) and north of Central Luzon. The region is both a coastal and predominantly mountainous region with varying levels of elevation in its topography.

The Ilocos Region is bounded by the South China Sea to the west and the Cordillera Mountain Range to the east.

The Lingayen Gulf is also a notable body of water in the region (in Pangasinan to be exact) which houses the Hundred Islands National Park – a famous tourist destination in the region – while the Luzon Strait is found to the north of the Ilocos Region.

The region contains four provinces namely – Pangasinan, La Union, Ilocos Sur, and Ilocos Norte. It’s regional center is San Fernando City in La Union.

Climatic Patterns in the Ilocos Region

The region experiences two pronounced seasons: dry and rainy. The dry season runs from November to April while the rainy season is from May to October. Cooler temperatures occur during the months of December until February while the hottest months occur during April and May.

Rainfall is brought about by the monsoons. The southwest monsoon (locally named, Habagat) brings abundant rainfall from when it directly reaches the west coast of the region while the northeast monsoon (locally named, Amihan) brings dry weather as it passes through the Cordillera Mountain Range.

 

Source: http://visitmyphilippines.com                         Topographical map by 4UMaps

Topography of the Ilocos Region

From the topographical map we can see that Pangasinan in the south has more lowlands as compared to the other Region 1 provinces to the north. La Union and Ilocos Sur are both relatively hilly and contains some mountains with high elevation due them sharing boundaries with the Cordillera Administrative Region mountain range. Ilocos Norte to the far up north has relatively less mountains, yet terrain still shows some hills.

What are the implications of topography in the case of the Ilocos Region’s economy?

• Economically speaking, the topography of the Ilocos Region somewhat determines the kind of products the region is able to produce. Although it is possible to plant crops in the region, due to the terrain it has, there are more non-arable land than there is arable land. Meaning, crops are harder to grow and maintain in these kinds of terrain, although not impossible. This also leads to rice or palay to not being a major crop in the region.
• Because Pangasinan contains more lowlands compared to the other provinces, it has more arable lands and thus, contains more farmlands and produces more crops than the rest of the provinces.

The Provinces of Region I

Pangasinan

Geography of Pangasinan

 

The crescent shaped province of Pangasinan contains 536,818 hectares of land making it the third biggest province in the whole Philippines constituting almost one-half (48.1%) of the land area of the entire Ilocos Region and 1.8% of the total area of the whole Philippine.

Pangasinan is bounded to the north by the Lingayen Gulf, La Union, and Benguet; to the east by Nueva Ecija and Nueva Vizcaya (north-east); to the south is Tarlac; and Zambales and the South China Sea to the west.

Pangasinan’s Geography intertwined with its Economy

Pangasinan is a province that has both been blessed by the earth and the sea. The province contains a wide stretch of coasts that are conducive for aqua-culture, rearing fish such as the bangus (milkfish), and the malaga, and prawns. Alongside this, these coasts also provide seawater that helps produce salt or asin. The salt produced from the seawater is a historical product of the province by which is gets its name PangASINan or ‘land of salt’.

Pangasinan also contains a lot of land that is conducive for framing, owing to the fact that Pangasinan has more lowlands than the other provinces in the region. From the 536,818 hectares of land Pangasinan has, almost 44 percent is devoted to agriculture. The province produces rice, mangoes, corn, and sugar cane as major crops.

Pangasinan’s Physical Geography and Poliitcs

Being the third biggest province in the country, Pangasinan’s geography plays a part in determining its demographics which then affects politics. According to the Philippine Statistics Authority, the population of the Province was already at 2, 779,862 as of May 1, 2010. The findings also said that about three-fifths of the population are of voting age. That means almost 60 percent of the household populations were voters. This makes Pangasinan a ‘vote-rich’ province. And according to the ABS-CBN Online, the province is the third vote-rich province in the country. This results to Pangasinan being a ‘hotspot’ for political campaigns during election season, with the politicians’ hopes of wooing the Pangasinense into voting.

LA UNION

Geography of La Union:

La Union is located in the south western part of the Ilocos Region. It is a predominantly hilly province with about 149,309 hectares of land.

The province of La Union is bounded by Pangasinan to the south; Ilocos Sur to the north; Benguet to the east; and the South China Sea to the west.

La Union’s Geographic Location and Economy

La Union is mostly known as, ‘the gateway to Ilocandia’, and its strategic location rightfully justifies this. Being strategically located between Pangasinan and Ilocos Sur, La Union is regarded as a commercial, business, and education center of the region – making San Fernando City the regional center. It is because it is the province people pass through when they travel to either Ilocos Sur or Ilocos Norte – both having major tourist attractions – and La Union makes use of its strategic location to further advance its economy.

La Union’s History shaped by Geography

Why is the province called ‘La Union’? How did this province come to be?

La Union was both politically and geographically non-existent even after the Spanish arrived in the country. It was not until a certain Spanish official by the name of Governor-General Claveria decided that changes had to be made in the Ilocos Region.

During that time Lingayen and Vigan were already established capitals, yet these two major cities were too distant from each other. Claveria, as a political officer, recognized the difficulty of having to manage two capital cities that are too far from each other and a huge expanse of land was found in between them. He also recognized the agricultural and commercial growth potentials of this area, along with more opportunities to spread the Christian faith in the area.

So Claveria headed the movement to create a new province. This sought to create a better political-civil and ecclesiastical governance in the region. The new province was to be made up of the union of 9 towns from Pangasinan, 3 from Ilocos Sur, and some villages from Benguet. The decree to unify these places was signed by Queen Isabela of Spain on April 18, 1854. And thus, ‘La Union’ was born.

ILOCOS SUR

Geography of Ilocos Sur

The province of Ilocos Sur is located along North Luzon’s western coast. To the north it is bounded by Ilocos Norte, Abra to the northeast, Mt. Province to the east, and the South China Sea to the west. With an area of 257,958 hectares, Ilocos Sur occupies about 20.11% of the total land area of Region 1.

Ilocos Sur is relatively uneven in its features in which the relief changes from hilly to mountainous in many areas. Its topography is undulating to rolling with elevations ranging from 10 to 1,700 meters (33 to 5,600 ft.) above sea level.

According to PAGASA, the climate of Ilocos Sur is generally arid wherein there are more dry months than there are wet months. (Ilocos Sur Government Website, 2013)

Economic Activity of Ilocos Sur

In 2012, the area devoted to palay was 47,414 hectares (which is 18.38% of the total land area of Ilocos Sur) with a total production of 209,977 metric tons. This production was good for 116 days or 4 months of supply.

Major crop production had the following shares: rice (54%), corn (19.9%), vegetables (19.7), and fruits (5.4%).

Fishery is another major source of economic activity in the province. Ilocos Sur has a coastline totaling 141.67 km in length. Fishing is a major industry since 18 out of the 34 municipalities of the province are found along the coast. The number of fish farmers in the province is estimated to be at 8,557.

Although the vast marine waters are a migratory path of tuna and other pelagic fish species which makes Ilocos Sur a potential resource for marine production, the province is still deficient in fish supply. One reason for this, from my analysis, could be the location of Ilocos Sur being a pathway for the southwest monsoon during the wet months – bringing in bad weather- causes fishing activities to decline, thus fish are in short supply during these times.

Ilocos Sur’s Vigan as a Heritage Site

Vigan was hailed in 2014 as one of the ‘New Seven Wonder Cities of the World’ and it should rightfully be so.

Vigan is the capital and the sea of the provincial government. The city is located at the western coast of Luzon, facing the South China Sea. It is a ‘World Heritage Site’ in that it is the most intact example of a Spanish colonial town in Asia.

Local and foreign visitors describe Vigan as a ‘place like no other’ due to the unique historical townscape. It is well-known for its cobblestone streets, preserved antique Spanish buildings and the fusion of Asian and Spanish architecture all add to the romantic allure of Vigan. Clearly, Vigan is an example of how people continue to value remnants of the past and how it can still be relevant to the people of today.

For more information regarding Vigan we suggest visiting: http://itsmorefuninthephilippines.com/vigan/

ILOCOS NORTE

Geography of Ilocos Norte

Ilocos Norte is found in the north-westernmost part of Luzon covering a land area of 366,200 hectares. It is bordered by the Babuyan Channel to the north; Ilocos Sur to the south; Abra to the southeast; Cagayan to the east; and the South China Sea to the west.

It is composed of 22 municipalities with Laoag City as the province’s capital and Batac City as another major city in the province.

Just like the rest of the Ilocos Region, Ilocos Norte experiences both dry and wet seasons. The dry season starts from November until April, while the wet season from May to October – wherein rainfall is brought about by the southwest monsoon or Habagat. The avergare temperature experienced by Ilocos Norte is 26.8*C.

Sustainable Development Efforts in Ilocos Norte

One of Ilocos Norte’s features is its thrust towards sustainable development through the use of renewable energy. Thus, the province is home to Southeast Asia’s First Wind Farm. This Wind Farm is located in Currimao, Ilocos Norte and intends to limit dependency on fossil fuels – making Ilocos Norte one of the greenest places in the Philippines, thus increasing its economic potential for investment.

The Ilocos Region’s Culture of Thrift

The Ilokanos are knownt o be very thrifty people to the point of stinginess. This is somewhat of a stereotype attached to these people – but this attitude has geographical roots!

The Ilocos Region, save for Pangasinan, is a hilly and somewhat mountainous region – in short – most of the land is non-arable due to its terrain. If there exists arable land, they are but a few. Ilokano farmers have to make do with the limited space and limited crop yield they produce. Given the uneven terrain and climate pattern of the region – planting crops is not a primary source of food for them – therefore food supply tends to fall short.

This compels the Ilokanos to practice a disciplined storage of food and rationing it to keep them fed until the next planting and harvest season comes. This saving up of food became a habit that transferred to a lot of aspects of the Ilokano life, thus inculcating the value of thriftiness and resourcefulness when it comes to resources.

Also, because agriculture is somewhat problematic for the Ilokanos, they had to resort to alternative modes of production. This where they developed the skill of weaving. The region is also known for its high quality woven products that were developed because of this scarcity in agricultural resources.

For more information regarding the Ilocos Region please feel free to refer to the sources below:

Featured Image: http://hittnthetrail.blogspot.com/2010/12/road-trip-to-northern-luzon-part-3.html

“Region 1: Regional Profile.” Department of Tourism. Web. 09 May 2016. <http://www.visitmyphilippines.com/index.php?title=RegionalProfile>.

“Provincial Govt. of Ilocos Norte.” Ilocos Norte. Web. 11 May 2016. <http://ilocosnorte.gov.ph/>.

“About Pangasinan Province, Philippines.” Island Properties. Web. 10 May 2016. <http://www.islandsproperties.com/places/pangasinan.htm>.

“Region 1: Ilocos Sur.” It’s More Fun in the Philippines. Department of Tourism. Web. 10 May 2016. <http://www.tourism.gov.ph/SitePages/InteractiveSitesPage.aspx?siteID=2>.

“Region 1 – Ilocos.” Its More Fun in the Philippines RSS. Department of Tourism. Web. 09 May 2016. <http://itsmorefuninthephilippines.com/region-1-ilocos/>.

“Ilocos Sur.” Official Website of the Province of Ilocos Sur. Web. 11 May 2016. <http://www.ilocossur.gov.ph/index.php>.

“Ilocos Norte.” Paoay Kumakaway. Web. 11 May 2016. <http://www.tourismilocosnorte.com/pkumakaway/facts.html>.

“Region 1: Ilocos Region.” Philippines “The Beauty Within” 22 July 2011. Web. 10 May 2016. <http://philippinesthebeautywithin.blogspot.com/2011/07/region-1-ilocos-region.html>.

“Philippine Statistics Authority.” Population of Pangasinan Increased by 346 Thousand (Results from the 2010 Census of Population and Housing). Web. 10 May 2016. <https://psa.gov.ph/content/population-pangasinan-increased-346-thousand-results-2010-census-population-and-housing>.

“Philippine Statistics Authority.” Population of Pangasinan Increased by 346 Thousand (Results from the 2010 Census of Population and Housing). Web. 10 May 2016. <https://psa.gov.ph/content/population-pangasinan-increased-346-thousand-results-2010-census-population-and-housing>.

“Vigan Named One of New 7 Wonders Cities.” Rappler. 8 Dec. 2014. Web. 11 May 2016.

http://www.rappler.com/life-and-style/travel/ph-travel/77345-vigan-new-seven-wonders-cities-list-2014

“Province of Pangasinan.” The Official Website of the Province of Pangasinan and Its People | Governor Amado T. Espino Jr. | Provincial Information Office. Web. 11 May 2016. <http://pangasinan.gov.ph/>.

“The Province of Ilocos Sur.” The World Tourist. Web. 11 May 2016. <http://www.worldtourist.us/ilocossur/vigan.html>.

“The Province of Ilocos Norte.” The World Tourist. Web. 11 May 2016. <http://www.worldtourist.us/ilocosnorte/laoag.html>.