马巴拉卡特市 城镇

Mabalacat, officially Mabalacat City, is a component city in the province of Pampanga, Philippines. According to the 2024 census, it has a population of 306,594 people.

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

Etymology

The name was derived from the indigenous Negrito word mabalacat meaning "place of balakat", a type of flowering buckthorn tree which was once abundant in the area.

History

Establishment

Prior to 1712, Mabalacat was a barrio of Bambang (now Bamban, Tarlac). It became a separate town in 1792 and was named after the abundant balakat tree (Ziziphus talanai), a fourth-class timber tree with bark possessesint antimicrobial properties. Originally an Aeta settlement, the area was a virtual forest of the trees, giving its Kapampangan name the meaning "full of balacat." The city’s name is also reminiscent of the Maranao Mababaapalaqat, which means "short ladder".

In 1853, Mabalacat had a population of 2,611 in four barangays: Babangdapu, Duquit, Malabni, and Paglimbunan. By 1903, its population increased to 7,049 across 19 barangays of were Bical, Bundagul, Dapdap, Dau, Dolores, Iba, Mabiga, Mamatitang, Mangalit, Matas, Mawaque, Paralayunan, Poblacion, Quitangil (later renamed San Francisco), San Joaquin, Santa Ines, Santa Maria, Sapang Balen, and Sapang Biabas.

In 1858, the Comandancia Militar of Tarlac was established by Governor-General Fernando Norzagaray y Escudero due to lawlessness and depredation perpetrated by the Aetas (derogatorily called balugas). The Pampanga towns of Bamban, Capas, Concepcion, Victoria, Tarlac, Magalang, Porac, and Floridablanca were grouped in this Comandancia. Mabalacat was excluded from this alongside the Comandancia Político-Militar of Porac established in 1861.

American colonial era

In 1902, US President Theodore Roosevelt, signed an executive order creating Fort Stotsenburg in Barangay Sapang Bato in Angeles. This was all later expanded several times to include land within the territories of Mabalacat. An airfield was constructed from 1917 to 1919 and was named Clark Field. Stotsenburg and Clark Field were merged into what became Clark Air Base upon the signing of the

US-Philippines Military Bases Agreement of 1947.

Geography

Mabalacat has a land area of 83.18 square kilometers (32.12 sq mi). It is 93 kilometers (58 mi) from Manila, 10 kilometers (6.2 mi) from Angeles, and 27 kilometers (17 mi) from the provincial capital, San Fernando.

The soil is charcoal black and shiny, a sign of fertility, and is suitable for growing rice, sugarcane and other rootcrops. Like the neighbouring cities of Angeles and San Fernando and the towns/municipalities of Porac, Bacolor, Santa Rita, Mexico, Magalang and Arayat, this city rarely gets inundated by floods from heavy rains and typhoons because it is situated on an elevated, well-drained part of the Central Luzon plains considered "Upper Pampanga".

Barangays

Mabalacat is politically subdivided into 27 barangays. Each barangay consists of puroks and some have sitios.

The largest barangay is Dau, which became a barrio in 1936 by virtue of Presidential Proclamation No. 1. It is now a business center whose commercial output runs parallel to that of downtown. A former terminus of the North Luzon Expressway, it is the most urban and most populous area in Mabalacat, home to roughly 23% of the city's population.

San Francisco, the second largest barangay, along with San Joaquin, Santa Ines, Poblacion, Calumpang and other barangays are categorized as urban in view of their proximity to the city proper. Sapang Balen, with a population of 166 persons, is the smallest barangay.

Economy

Mabalacat has an average annual income of ₱504,149,053.16 as of 2011 derived mostly from municipal license fees, land tax, Internal Revenue allotment, roads and bridges fund. In 1997, there were 2,447 business establishments registered in Mabalacat, consisting of 79 manufacturers mostly involved in sash factory, iron works, ceramics, bakery and 1,806 trading companies. The financial needs are served by eleven banks, mostly concentrated in Dau.

Public utilities include the Mabalacat Water System, Pampanga Electric Cooperative II (PELCO II), three telephone companies namely, Datelcom Corporation (DATELCOM), Smart Communications (SMART) and Digital Telecommunications Philippines, Incorporated (DIGITEL) and one cable television network (PRO-SAT) which runs solely for Mabalacat.

The city is also a major transportation hub; a number of major road networks including the North Luzon Expressway, Subic–Clark–Tarlac Expressway, and MacArthur Highway cut across the region. At the southern part of the city is the Dau Bus Terminal, which caters to passengers bound for Metro Manila and provinces in Northern Luzon such as Tarlac, Pangasinan, Ilocos Norte, Ilocos Sur, Nueva Ecija, La Union, Bataan, Baguio, and Zambales.

Ayala Land's Artico Mabalacat is a cold storage at the Pampanga Technopark equipped with 19 cold rooms capable of housing 4,000 pallet positions.

Local government

Mabalacat City Government is composed of a mayor as a chief executive, and Sangguniang Panlungsod headed by the city vice mayor and 10 Sangguniang Panlungsod members with three ex-officio.

The following are the elected officials of Mabalacat City who assumed office at noon of June 30, 2025 (except for the ex-officio members).

Mayor: Atty. Gerald Guttrie P. Aquino

Vice-mayor: Marcos T. Castro Jr.

Sangguniang Panlungsod:

Miguel Ignacio M. Morales

Timothy Paul Llanos Dee

City fiesta

According to legend, when the early settlers were clearing the forests, Cabezang Laureana's workers found, hidden among the bushes, a statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary with baby Jesus sitting on her lap. On February 2, the statue was presented by Caragan as a gift to Padre Maximo Manuguid, the priest of the early Mabalacat Church that was made of sawali and cogon grass. From then on, the city fiesta was observed on the second of February.

The old town hall was named Tabnuan: Mabalacat Cultural Center, or museum of arts, cultural displays and exhibits. It opened on February 28, 2024, the city’s Balacat Festival.

Pastorella

The pastorella (Misa de Pastores in honor of the shepherds at the birth of Jesus Christ - a set of Latin hymns of the 9-day Christmas Masses) ceased in Pampanga towns for 40 years after Vatican II.

In Mabalacat, however, at Our Lady of Divine Grace Parish, pastorella lives on: In the 4:30 a.m. mass on Monday, the pastorella repertoire includes the Kyrie (Lord, Have Mercy), Gloria (Glory to God in the Highest), Credo (Nicene Creed), Sanctus (Holy) and Agnus Dei (Lamb of God). The hymns are in Latin, except for Kyrie, which is in Greek.

Parishes

Our Lady of Grace Parish (Poblacion)

Our Lady of Victories Parish (Dau)

San Rafael Arkanghel Parish (Mabiga)

San Lorenzo Ruiz Parish (Dau Access Road)

Parish of the Lord's Resurrection (Madapdap Resettlement, Dapdap)

Parish of Christ the Prince of Peace (Mauaque Resettlement, Sapang Biabas)

Our Lady of Sorrows Parish (Xevera, Tabun)

Education

There are 31 educational institutions in Mabalacat: one state college, one private college, one technical training school, two secondary public, two private high schools and 25 public elementary schools divided into two districts, Mabalacat North and Mabalacat South. Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) accredited institutions offering vocational-technical skills abound in the area.

State university

The University of the Philippines - Diliman Extension Program in Pampanga (Clark) is located in a portion of Clark Freeport Zone that is located in Mabalacat. It offers undergraduate courses such as BA Applied Psychology, BA Business Economics and BS Business Management. It also offers a non-thesis graduate course, Master in Management (MM) (University of the Philippines Diliman - Extension Program in Pampanga, 2020).

Private schools

Private schools in Mabalacat listed with the Department of Education are Livingstone International School, ACLC Collage Of Mabalacat, Athena's Cradle Center, Inc., Brightstone Learning Center, Children of Fatima School, Inc., Christian Vision Academy Madapdap, Dee Hwa Liong College Foundation, Don Bosco Academy Pampanga (originally from Bacolor; moved to Mabalacat after lahar struck the old campus), Don Teodoro V. Santos Institute, Doña Asuncion Lee Integrated School, Great Shepherd Christian Academy, Immanuel Montessori School, Inc., Clark College of Science and Technology, Jose C. Feliciano College, Mabalacat Christian Academy, Mary Help of Christians School, Inc., Montessori School of St. Nicholas, Nehemiah Christian School, Inc., School of the Infant Jesus the Empowered Zone for Excellence in Education, Inc. Dau, Shield of Victory Christian School, St. Anthony College of Technology, St.