What now comprises the City of San Fernando was carved out of the towns of Mexico and Bacolor. With its poblacion in barrio of Santo Rosario, San Fernando became a pueblo or town in 1754, during the reign of Fernando VI, king of Spain. Although legend has it that the town was named San Fernando because it was founded by a certain Capitan Fernando, it most probably was named San Fernando in honor of the king. As such, its titular patron is San Fernando III, King of Castille and Leon, which is now part of modern day Spain. Vidal de Arrozal was its first gobernadorcillo in 1755.
San Fernando is considered the birthplace of the labor movement in the Philippines. The first organized strike was said to have been staged in 1872 by a gremio of printers from government press located in the town, in protest against the abuses of the plant foreman. The first labor union was also established in San Fernando in the printing plant of La Independencia, edited by General Antonio Luna. It was known as the Union de Lithografos y Impresores de Filipinas (ULIF), organized and headed by Hermenegildo Cruz. The socialist movement would later find its roots in the town during the early part of the 20th century under the leadership of Pedro Abad Santos.
On February 23, 1892, the San Fernando Train Station was opened as part of the Bagbag-Mabalacat stretch of the Manila-Dagupan Railway system. This event signaled the beginning of the exponential growth of the town brought about by the sugar boom in the province of Pampnaga. On June 27 of the same year, national hero, Dr. Jose P. Rizal, visited the town as part of his mission to recruit members into his La Liga Filipina.
After the outbreak of the Philippine Revolution, the town was declared in a state of war on September 1, 1896. Antonio Consunji was presidente municipal under the Republika Filipina, 1898-1899. On October 9, 1898, President Emilio F. Aguinaldo and his cabinet visited the town. The Red Cross established a hospital for wounded revolutionaries on February 10, 1899. Some accounts say that the town became a temporary seat of the Philippine Revolutionary Government from April 1 to May 4, 1899 when, on orders of General Antonio Luna, the Philippine Revolutionary army burned the poblacion, including the church and casa municipal.
On August 15, 1904, the provincial capital of Pampanga was transferred from Bacolor to San Fernando by virtue of Act. No. 1204 signed on July 22, 1904. In
1921, the sugar central of the Pampanga Sugar Development Company (PASUDECO) began its operations
Vivencio B. Cuyugan was its first mayor under the Philippine Commonwealth. In 1941, the town was occupied by the Japanese Imperial Army and, due to its strategic location, was used as their base of operations in their assault of Bataan. In 1942, it also served as the transit point for the participants of the Bataan Death March, as Filipino and American prisoners-of-war, after the long walk from Bataan, were carted from the San Fernando Train Station to Capas, Tarlac.
In 1995, San Fernando was heavily damaged as a result of floods and mudflows form Mount Pinatubo. It became the 99th city of the Republic of the Philippines by virtue of the ratification of Republic Act 8990 on February 4, 2001
The City of San Fernando prides itself as the home of numerous personages in Philippine history, among whom include socialist leader and assemblyman Pedro Abad Santos, war hero and former chief justice Jose Abad Santos, revolutionary heroine Nicolasa P. Dayrit, poet and legislator Zoilo S. Hilario, senator and father of the concrete pavement Sotero J. Baluyut, revolutionary governor Tiburcio T. Hilario, and celebrated pre-war journalist Amando G. Dayrit
PROFILE
The City of San Fernando, Pampanga, home of the world-renowned giant lanterns, is one of only two cities in the Province of Pampanga, and serves as the provincial capital and regional seat of government of Central Luzon (Region III). Located 67 kilometers north of Manila, 16 kilometers south of the Clark Special Economic Zone, and 50 kilometers east of Subic Bay, San Fernando is strategically positioned at the crossroads of Central Luzon. So travelers and commuters coming from and going to Clark, Subic, Metro Manila, Cabanatuan City and Baguio City traverse it.
Bounded by the municipalities of Bacolor on the southwest, Mexico on the northeast and Sto.Tomas on the southeast, and by Angeles City on the northwest, the City of San Fernando is composed of 35 barangays with a land area of 6,774 hectares, and a projected population of 221,857.
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