A Historical Evaluation of the Emergence of Nueva Ecija As the Rice Granary of the Philippines

Presented at the DLSU Research Congress 2015 De La Salle University, Manila, Philippines March 2-4, 2015 A Historical Evaluation of The Emergence of Nueva Ecija as the Rice Granary of the Philippines Fernando A. Santiago, Jr., Ph.D. Department of History De La Salle University [email protected] Abstract: The recognition of Nueva Ecija’s potential as a seedbed for rice in the latter half of the nineteenth century led to the massive conversion of public land and the establishment of agricultural estates in the province. The emergence of these estates signalled the arrival of wide scale commercial agriculture that revolved around wet- rice cultivation. By the 1920s, Nueva Ecija had become the “Rice Granary of the Philippines,” which has been the identity of the province ever since. This study is an assessment of the emergence of Nueva Ecija as the leading rice producer of the country. It also tackles various facets of the rice industry, the profitability of the crop and some issues that arose from rice being a controlled commodity. While circumstances might suggest that the rice producers would have enjoyed tremendous prosperity, it was not the case for the rice trade was in the hands of middlemen and regulated by the government. The government policy which favored the urban consumers over rice producers brought meager profits, which led to disappointment to all classes and ultimately caused social tension in the province. The study therefore also explains the conditions that made Nueva Ecija the hotbed of unrest prior to the Second World War. Historical methodology was applied in the conduct of the study. Archival documents, periodicals and secondary sources from local and foreign libraries were utilized. Key Words: Rice Production; Nueva Ecija; Social Unrest Nueva Ecija is recognized as the “Rice the province during the early twentieth century, Granary” of the Philippines because it led the narrate its emergence as the primary producer of rice production of the nation’s food staple during the in the Philippines, describe the rise of landholdings twentieth century. The province had not always there, identify the big landowners and discuss other been devoted to rice production and was in fact facets of the rice industry that affected the province. considered a frontier area throughout most of its history. It was only during the mid-nineteenth PROVINCIAL FACTS AND FIGURES century when its vast alluvial plains drew Throughout most of the Spanish period, immigrants from the Ilocos and Tagalog regions that Nueva Ecija was geographically and politically part cleared the woodlands that were later transformed of Pampanga. Originally referred to as “Upper into rice fields. (McLennan, 1955, p. 375) This was Pampanga,” it was named Nueva Ecija when it was just the beginning, for in the decades that followed organized as a comandancia (military district) in the province witnessed the emergence of landed 1705. It became a regular province in 1848. estates devoted to planting the nation’s staple crop. (McLennan, 1980, p. 176) The present study is a survey of the rise of From the time of its founding in 1705 up to Nueva Ecija as the foremost rice producing province. the turn of the twentieth century, the territorial The objective is to provide a general description of borders of Nueva Ecija underwent a series of TPHS-II-017 1 Proceedings of the DLSU Research Congress Vol. 3 2015 Presented at the DLSU Research Congress 2015 De La Salle University, Manila, Philippines March 2-4, 2015 revisions. By 1899, the province was described as flooding during the rainy season. (Gleeck, 1981, p. follows, 26) Antonio G. Corpuz (1999) also explained that the Situated to the north of Manila, it transfer of provincial capitals from the traditional is bounded on the north by Nueva Vizcaya, administrative centers to towns that were more on the south by Bulacan, on the east by the “strategically-placed” along the railroad was a Pacific Ocean, and on the west by consequence of the pattern of economic growth in Pampanga and Pangasinan. The area is areas located along its lines. (p. 197) Such was the 3,462 square miles, and the population case of Cabanatuan where the primary train station 155,000. This province corresponds to the in the province was located. Cabanatuan served as bishopric of Nueva Segovia . The the provincial capital until 1965 when it was province is divided into 22 pueblos, 87 transferred to Palayan City. barrios and visitas, and many Rancherìas In 1903, the population of the province was of infieles (infidels), who for the most part 134,147. It was estimated that of this number, 48 neither pay tribute nor have any relations percent were Ilocano, 45 percent Tagalog, 6 percent with the Christian pueblos, so that their Pampango and 1 percent Pangasinense, while number is unknown. Igorotes and Negritos were represented by a very The capital is San Isidro, with a small number. (Bureau of Education, 1898-1945) population of 7,056. It is situated some 69 Aside from internal growth, settlers from miles from Manila. (Otis, 1899, pp. 127- Pampanga, Bulacan, Ilocos and Pangasinan also 129) immigrated during the years that followed which added to the population that reached 227,096 by Back then, the largest town was Gapan, 1918. The Census of the Philippines of 1939 with a population of 20,216 while the smallest was indicated that the total population of the province Puncan (now part of Carranglan), with a population had reached 416,762 by then. (Commission of the of just 501. The other towns were Aliaga, Balungao, Census Commonwealth of the Philippines, 1939) The Bongabon, Cabanatuan, Cabiao, Carranglan, provincial population had therefore grown by almost Cuyapo, Jaen, Lupao, Nampicuan, Peñaranda, 300 percent in the span of just around four decades. Pantabangan, Rosales, San Antonio, San Jose, San Juan de Guimba, San Quintin, Santa Rosa, Santor, BECOMING THE RICE GRANARY Talavera, Umingan and Zaragoza. (Otis, 1899) There were several industries in Nueva In 1901 the municipalities of Umingan, Ecija during the Spanish era. In the southwest Rosales, San Quintin and Balungao were transferred portion of the province, commercial agriculture was to Pangasinan, as part of an American introduced by the government Tobacco Monopoly. administrative reorganization. (McLennan, 1955, p. Tobacco was grown along the banks of the Pampanga 284) The authorized towns of the province that and Peñaranda Rivers until 1881 when the monopoly remained were Aliaga, Bongabon, Cabanatuan, ended. Cabiao, Carranglan, Cuyapo, Gapan, Jaen, Licab, At that point, sugar and maize replaced Lupao, Muñoz, Nampicuan, Pantabangan, tobacco as the favored crop. By 1886, sugar was Peñaranda, Rizal, San Antonio, San Isidro, San Jose, recognized as the “crop in ascendancy” in the San Juan de Guimba, San Leonardo, Santa Rosa, province. It was grown by the local principalia, but Santo Domingo, Talavera and Zaragoza, which gave the bulk of production came from six Spanish-owned the province a total area of 551,789 hectares. haciendas: four in Cabanatuan, one in Jaen and (Bureau of Education, 1898-1945) By then, the another in Cabiao. Although the province shipped borders of the province were defined as they are sugar to Manila, the volume produced never rivalled today. that of Pampanga, Bulacan and Pangasinan. The Through the years, the municipalities of soil of the province eventually proved to be Gabaldon (formerly the Sabani Estate), General incompatible to modern sugar cultivation so that Mamerto Natividad, General Tinio (formerly cane production in the province practically Papaya), Laur, Llanera, Quezon and Talugtog, were disappeared by the end of the first decade of the founded. The municipalities of Cabanatuan, Gapan, twentieth century. San Jose and Muñoz were also later converted into Central and Northern Nueva Ecija were component cities. devoted to livestock. Cattle, Carabao, horses and The provincial capital was San Isidro until it pigs were raised in small ranches by the provincial was moved to Cabanatuan in 1912 because of its principalia, but large scale ranching was practiced in central location and for being less subjected to Spanish owned haciendas, the largest of which was TPHS-II-017 2 Proceedings of the DLSU Research Congress Vol. 3 2015 Presented at the DLSU Research Congress 2015 De La Salle University, Manila, Philippines March 2-4, 2015 the six thousand hectare Sabani Estate. By the history of Nueva Ecija up to that time. (Bureau of second half of the nineteenth century, the province Education, 1914-1945) was the main source of meat for the Manila market. The trend continued that by 1917, Nueva (McLennan, 1980, pp. 67-68) In his report on the Ecija produced 2,267,632 cavans of rice which was province, General Elwell S. Otis (1899) also noted just slightly short of Pangasinan’s 2,585,344. But in that the principal industry of the province was cattle- the same year, while Pangasinan was recognized as raising. (p. 127) However, near the end of the the leading rice producing province and was then century, rinderpest and foot-and-mouth epidemics still regarded the Islands’ “granary,” its 1,486,324 struck and brought an end to large scale ranching in cavans of rice surplus was much lower than Nueva the province. Ecija which had a surplus of 1,922,482 cavans. While Rice production was already a major (Gleeck, 1981, pp. 80-81) industry at the time, it would eventually become the In the years that followed, the inter- main industry of the province. provincial export of Pangasinan continued to With an annual production ranging from decrease which Percy Hill (1925) attributed to the 700,000 to 1,500,000 cavans between 1870 and 1887, rapidly increasing population of Pangasinan, as well the province exported around 500,000 cavans to as the little or lack of additional land to place under Manila in the 1880s.

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