Lal-lo

Etymology

Lal-lo means "twisting two strands to make a rope", or may also refer to the strong river current as it is located along Cagayan River, the longest and largest river in the Philippines.

In Fr. Jose Bugarin's Ibanag dictionary "Lallo-c, a town in this province which existed as the ancient capital until 1839 [also] Lallo-c, to twist two strands, making a string or rope."

History

Pre-Hispanic History

In the classical era, Lal-lo was the home of hunter-gatherers who were specialized in hunting mollusks. These hunter-gatherers stockpiled their leftover mollusk shells in numerous sites in Lal-lo and neighboring Gattaran. Eventually, the shells formed the largest stock of shell-midden sites in the entire Philippines.

Spanish Colonial Era

The first European to set foot on what is now the town of Lal-lo was Juan de Salcedo, a Spanish conquistador and grandson of Miguel Lopez de Legazpi, in 1572. Don Juan Pablo Carrión established it as a pueblo (municipality) in 1581 and named it Nueva Segovia. The reason is currently unknown, as the hometown of Carrión was Carrión de los Condes (Palencia, Spain), as suggested by his last name. This is mentioned by Juan Miguel Aguilera and Ángel Miranda in their book Espadas del Fin del Mundo (2016). A founding population of 200 Spanish citizens from Europe accompanied by 100 Spanish soldiers set up settlements across Cagayan Valley, headed by the city of Nueva Segovia (Old Lal-lo). These people were in turn supplemented by 155 Latin American soldiers recruited from Mexico.

In 1595, Pope Clement VIII created the Diocese of Nueva Segovia. In 1596, the Dominicans accepted it as an ecclesiastical mission. Nueva Segovia had three churches: the cathedral that was under the secular clergy, and the parishes of Centro and Tocolona under the supervision of the Dominicans. Because of its distance from Manila and the constant threat of the Cagayan River's rampaging waters, however, the Diocese of Nueva Segovia was transferred to Vigan in Ilocos Sur province in 1758. The diocese's name went along with the transfer to Vigan and to avoid confusion, Bishop Miguel Garcia requested that Nueva Segovia and its suburbs renamed back to Lal-lo. The seat of the Diocese of Nueva Segovia remains in Vigan, where it was elevated to being an archdiocese.

The transfer affected the closure of the cathedral and the merging of the three churches into the single parish of Centro. The two other churches were abandoned and eventually destroyed because of neglect while the church of Centro, dedicated to Santo Domingo de Guzman (Saint Dominic), became what is now Lal-lo Church. The remains of three bishops are interred in the church: Bishop Miguel de Benavides who was Nueva Segovia's first bishop and later of Manila where he founded the University of Santo Tomas, Bishop Diego de Soria who was the second bishop of the diocese, and Bishop Diego Aduarte who was the sixth.

Lal-lo remained the capital of Cagayan province until 1839 when the provincial seat of power was relocated to Tuguegarao; its transformation into the most important town in Cagayan led to the decline of Lal-lo. It was accepted as an ecclesiastical mission by the Dominicans in 1604, 23 years after the foundation of Lal-lo. In the 1818 Spanish census, Lal-lo had a large Spanish to native ratio with native families amounting to only 975 whereas Spanish-Filipino families tallied to 513 in number.

Contemporary

In 2006, the shell-midden sites of Lal-lo and Gattaran were included in the UNESCO Tentative List for World Heritage Site inclusion, a step closer to becoming a world heritage site. The shell-midden sites are currently being conserved by the local government from looting to preserve its outstanding universal value. In 2023, the government identified Lal-lo airport as a venue for American military forces as part of the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA).

In 2018, the provincial government of Cagayan through the leadership of Governor Manuel Mamba planned to make Lal-lo the provincial capital of Cagayan again.

Geography

Lal-lo is situated 84.56 kilometres (52.54 mi) from the provincial capital Tuguegarao, and 569.71 kilometres (354.00 mi) from the country's capital city of Manila.

Barangays

Lal-lo is politically subdivided into 35 barangays. Each barangay consists of puroks while some have sitios.

Demographics

In the 2024 census, the population of Lal-lo was 48,404 people, with a density of 69 inhabitants per square kilometre or 180 inhabitants per square mile.

Economy

Poverty incidence of Lal-lo

Source: Philippine Statistics Authority

Government

Local government

Lal-lo is part of the first legislative district of the province of Cagayan. It is governed by a mayor, designated as its local chief executive, and by a municipal council as its legislative body in accordance with the Local Government Code. The mayor, vice mayor, and the municipal councilors are elected directly by the people through an election held every three years.

Infrastructure

The Northern Cagayan International Airport in southern Lal-lo was constructed to support both the Cagayan Special Economic Zone in northern Cagayan and to serve seaborne traffic through Port Irene. The airport project involved the construction of a 2,200 metres (7,200 ft) runway with a width of 45 miles (72 km), following the standards of the International Civil Aviation Organization. The international airport accommodates large aircraft such as the Airbus A319-100 and Boeing regional jets of comparable size. Royal Air Philippines offers service twice weekly using BAe146 aircraft.

Education

The Schools Division of Cagayan governs the town's public education system. The division office is a field office of the DepEd in Cagayan Valley region. There are two schools district offices that govern all the public and private elementary and high schools throughout the municipality. These are Lal-lo North District and Lal-lo South District.

Higher educational institution

Cagayan State University - Lal-lo

Media

Radio

DWRL 95.1 - Community radio

CPIO Teleradyo 100.9 - Provincial Government of Cagayan

Cable TV providers

RBS Powerlink Cable TV

Reliant Cable Community Network Services (Branches in Lal-lo, Lasam and Santo Niño)