Balagtas, Bulacan

downtown Balagtas

Balagtas before sunset

after Balagtas bridge

Balagtas is a first class urban municipality in the province of Bulacan, Philippines.  It has an area of 28.66 km², and according to the 2010 census, it has a population of 65,440 inhabitants, with a density of 2300/km².

It is a part of Manila's built up area which reaches as far as San Ildefonso in its northernmost part, with the continuous expansion of Metro Manila

Thirty kilometers North of Manila, Balagtas (formerly known as Bigaa), renamed in honor of Filipino poet Francisco Balagtas, has nine barangays. The municipality is bounded by several towns; on the South by Bocaue, on the north tip by Plaridel, on the East by Pandi and portion of Sta. Maria, on the West by the towns of Bulacan and Guiguinto.

Two main roads, the McArthur Highway and the North Luzon expressway (NLEX) bisects the municipality as this national roads cut northward to the Ilocos region. Recently, a new Balagtas/Plaridel By-pass Road was built exiting the NLEX to ease tranffic in Mc Arthur Hi-way. 

At the southern approach of the town, a first class concrete bridge that crosses the Balagtas River is under rehabilitation and construction as of this writing (8/26/14). The river, which provides Balagtas with fresh water food, is navigable by banca and motor boats, empties into Manila bay after snaking from the Balagtas-Pandi boundary, through the town of Bulacan to the West 

At the foot of the bridge, along the highway towards the North, is the town hall. In front of the town hall is an open park where the monument of its hero, Francisco Balagtas is located. The town hall is surrounded by Spanish colonial type houses, including the known "Bahay na Tisa".

Not far from the municipal center is the barrio of Panginay, the birthplace of Francisco "Balagtas" Baltazar, for whom "Balagtasan", a form of debate in versified Tagalog, was also named. In reverence to the hero's deeds, the official name of Bigaa was changed to Balagtas through the legislative act sponsored by the late Congressman, Teodulo Natividad.

In 1946 the Historical Society of the Philippines placed a marker at the birthplace of Balagtas in Barrio Panginay, Bigaa, Bulacan.

Originally known as Encomienda Caluya as per history records regarding the early years of Bulacan Province, Caluya was mentioned as one of the Six Encomiendas of the Province together with Calumpit, Bulacan, Meycauayan, Malolos and Binto (Quingua) later known as Plaridel. It was erected by the Augustinian Missionaries in 1592 under the jurisdiction of the Alcalde Mayor of Bulacan. In 1602, Caluya was formally organized into a town with its own Gobernadorcillo and renamed to Bigaa.

Balagtas also played a vital role in the fight for Philippine independence during the Philippine Revolution.  It is one of the towns where Dr. Jose Rizal stopped and stayed during his trips in the north. The historical  Real de Kakarong de Sili, which was once part of Bigaa (Balagtas), was the site of the bloodiest revolution in Bulacan, where more than 3,000 Katipuneros died. The first Philippine revolutionary republic known as the 'Republic of Real de Kakarong de Sili' was established here on 1896, headed by Brig. Gen. Eusebio Roque, known as "Maestrong Sebio or Dimabungo, together with about 6,000 Katipuneros from various towns of Bulacan. 

When the Americans established civil government in 1902, Bigaa and nearby Bocaue were combined to form a town with the latter as the seat of government. In 1911, however, Bigaa was separated from Bocaue, and to it was added the town of Pandi, which became one of Bigaa's barrios. In 1946, shortly after the Philippines gained political freedom from the United States, Pandi by virtue of a legislative fiat was given a municipal charter of its own, and apart from Bigaa.

Balagtas, Bulacan