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Angeles City

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Angeles City

Angeles (locally [ˈaŋhɛlɛs]), officially the City of Angeles (Kapampangan: Ciudad ning Angeles; Filipino: Lungsod ng Angeles), is a highly urbanized city in the Central Luzon region of the Philippines. According to the 2024 census, it has a population of 483,452 people.

Angeles is the largest city of Pampanga. While politically independent from the province, it is usually grouped by the Philippine Statistics Authority therewith for statistical purposes.

Angeles City is the urban core of Metro Clark, an urban area in Pampanga. This area, also known as Metro Angeles, is considered the industrial and residential heartland of Central Luzon. Metro Clark-Angeles is also identified as a regional center by the national government.

In 1796, the gobernadorcillo or town head of San Fernando, Don Ángel Pantaleón de Miranda, and his wife, Doña Rosalía de Jesús, along with some followers, staked out a new settlement, which they named Culiát because of the abundance of vines (Gnetum indicum) of that name in the area. The new settlers cleared the woodland and cultivated the area for rice and sugar farming. Don Ángel built his first house with light materials at the northwest corner of the intersection of Sapang Balen and the road going towards the town of Porac. It was later donated to the Catholic Church and became a cemetery called "Campo Santong Matua" (today the site of Nepomuceno Coliseum).

On May 12, 1812, the new settlers tried to make Culiat a self-governing town but the friars resisted the move, led by Fray José Pometa. Ten years later, on February 11, 1822, Don Ángel filed a petition for the township of Culiat to secede from San Fernando, but it was denied. This was followed by another petition within the same year, jointly signed by Don Ángel, his son-in-law, Mariano Henson, and the latter's father, Severino Henson. He donated 35 hectares (86 acres) for the construction of the first Catholic church, a convent and a primary school while Doña Agustina Henson de Nepomuceno, the niece of who would become the first gobernadorcillo of Angeles in 1830, Don Ciriaco de Miranda, gave land for the new public market. Don Ángel paid the complete amount required by law just for the secession of Culiat from San Fernando. There were only 160 taxpayers then but the law required that it should have at least 500 taxpayers.

Located some 10 miles (16 km) north of Pampanga's capital, Culiat became a barrio of San Fernando for 33 years and on December 8, 1829, became a separate municipality. The newly-autonomous town was renamed "El Pueblo de los Ángeles" in honor of its patron saints, the Holy Angels, and the name of its founder, Don Ángel, coinciding with the rise of new barrios such as Santo Cristo (as the población or town proper), Cutcut, Pampang and Pulong Anunas. The progressive barrios developed some new industries like a sugar mill and a wine distillery. The transition of Angeles from a jungle clearing to a barrio, to a town and finally to a city took 168 years and in all that time, it survived locusts' infestations, wars, epidemics, volcanic eruptions and typhoons to become one of the fast rising towns in the country. When it received its first official municipal charter, the town contained some 661 people, 151 houses and an area of 38.65 km2.

On May 7, 1899, General Emilio Aguinaldo transferred the seat of the First Philippine Republic to Angeles. It then became the site of celebrations for the first anniversary of Philippine independence, which was proclaimed a year earlier in Kawit, Cavite. Events included a parade, led by the youngest ever Filipino generals, Gregorio del Pilar and Manuel Tinio, with General Aguinaldo viewing the proceedings from the Pamintuan Residence, which was the Presidential Palace from May to July 1899 (and later was the Central Bank of the Philippines office in Central Luzon, before its ownership passed to the National Historical Commission of the Philippines). Aguinaldo's sojourn was short, however, for in July of this same year he transferred his government to the province of Tarlac following Angeles' occupation by the American forces.

On August 10, 1899, U.S. forces began the attack on Angeles confident in capturing it in a few days. However, the Filipino Army defending the town refused to give in so easily and fiercely fought back and for three months, they battled the Americans in and around the town. It was only after the battle on November 5, 1899, that the town finally fell into American hands. The Battle of Angeles was considered to be the longest in the history of the Filipino-American War in Pampanga. This led to the establishment of an American camp in Barrio Talimundoc (in what is now Lourdes Sur), located next to the railroad station, in order to establish control over the central plains of Luzon. In January 1900, General Frederick D. Grant organized the first U.S. Civil Government in Angeles by appointing an alcalde or municipal mayor, beginning American rule over Angeles.

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