Lingayen, Pangasinan

Posted by Ian Galliguez in Out and About | 0 comments

Tales from the land of salt – Lingayen, Pangasinan

Sleepy towns are a staple in any country or society. It’s where most settings for horror movies start or end. (Long dark roads and then the ominous hitch hiker that you know shouldn’t be picked up but they still do, you know the drill) I grew up in a sleepy town. The only funny thing about this is that the old sleepy town is actually the state capital.

Lingayen comes from the word “lingawen” which in the local dialect means “to look back”. Legends say that there used to be a giant tree in the middle of the town and everyone who passed it just had to look back. The big tree is nowhere to be found as the gods have uprooted it. For whatever reason, I have no idea.

Lingayen is also the locale of the Limahong channel – a huge man made channel that they say, the pirate Limahong dug with his hands to escape the Spaniards. Contrary to popular belief, Limahong wasn’t a pirate. Limahong actually came to migrate from China, bringing with him his five sons – Bengson, Limson, Ungson, Sison and Tuason. If you notice, most of the families that live in Pangasinan have those last names.  But I prefer the story that my ancestor is a pirate – makes me look more badass so I’m sticking to that story.

The local government is finally realizing that there’s a lot to be said about our town. We are part of Philippine history – from the Spanish times to the Martial Law era.  Back in World War 2, Lingayen Gulf was used for mass landings by the defenders. That’s why we have a war museum there with the planes and tanks on display. The Lingayen airstrip was built by the Americans during the liberation of Luzon back in 1945. It has rarely been used since – well, it was used by some members of the Lopez and Osmena family to escape Marcos’ Martial law persecutions. There were talks about fixing it up so that it can be used by commercial and personal flights but that hasn’t come to fruition yet.

The Capitol building (also known as the Urduja building) has recently received a makeover and has opened its doors to the public for viewing. We recommend that you take the entire tour and even ask to go to the roof deck. The view is spectacular! On one side you see the beach, on the other, you can see a panoramic view of the town and on the other side you see the airport.

Don’t forget to buy the local delicacies to take home – like fresh taba ng talangka (good on freshly cooked rice), tupig, bocayo and our very famous bagoong.  You can also get freshly harvested sea salt (purely organic) by the kilo – great for those spa treatments and of course, cooking.

How to get there:

By car, you can take the new SCTEX and take the roads through Luisita and on to Pangasinan. If you prefer to take either the 5 Star bus co or Dagupan bus or Victory Liner all the way to Dagupan or Lingayen.