Product Code Database
|)
| government_type =
| government_footnotes =
| total_type = City
| elevation_m = 34
| elevation_max_m = 1281
| elevation_min_m = 0
| elevation_max_rank =
| elevation_min_rank =
| elevation_footnotes =
| elevation_max_footnotes =
| elevation_min_footnotes =
| area_rank =
| area_footnotes =
| area_total_km2 =
| area_metro_km2 = 472.16
| population_footnotes =
| population_total =
| population_as_of =
| population_density_km2 = auto
| population_metro = 337811
| population_density_metro_km2 = auto
| population_blank1_title =
| population_blank1 =
| population_blank2_title =
| population_blank2 =
| population_demonym = Olongapeño (masculine)
Olongapeña (Feminine)
Olongapenean
| population_rank =
| population_note =
| postal_code_type = ZIP code
| postal_code = 2200, 2222 (Subic Special Economic and Freeport Zone)
| postal2_code_type =
| postal2_code =
| area_code_type =
| area_code =
| website =
| demographics_type1 = Economy
| demographics1_title1 =
| demographics1_info1 =
| demographics1_title2 = Poverty incidence
| demographics1_info2 = % ()
| demographics1_title3 = Revenue
| demographics1_info3 =
| demographics1_title4 = Revenue rank
| demographics1_info4 =
| demographics1_title5 =
| demographics1_info5 =
| demographics1_title6 = Assets rank
| demographics1_info6 =
| demographics1_title7 = IRA
| demographics1_info7 =
| demographics1_title8 = IRA rank
| demographics1_info8 =
| demographics1_title9 = Expenditure
| demographics1_info9 =
| demographics1_title10 = Liabilities
| demographics1_info10 =
| demographics_type2 = Service provider
| demographics2_title1 = Electricity
| demographics2_info1 =
| demographics2_title2 =
| demographics2_info2 =
| demographics2_title3 =
| demographics2_info3 =
| demographics2_title4 =
| demographics2_info4 =
| demographics2_title5 =
| demographics2_info5 =
| demographics2_title6 =
| demographics2_info6 =
| demographics2_title7 =
| demographics2_info7 =
| demographics2_title8 =
| demographics2_info8 =
| demographics2_title9 =
| demographics2_info9 =
| demographics2_title10 =
| demographics2_info10 =
| blank_name_sec1 =
| blank_info_sec1 =
| blank1_name_sec1 = Native languages
| blank1_info_sec1 =
| blank2_name_sec1 = Crime index
| blank2_info_sec1 =
| blank3_name_sec1 =
| blank3_info_sec1 =
| blank4_name_sec1 =
| blank4_info_sec1 =
| blank5_name_sec1 =
| blank5_info_sec1 =
| blank6_name_sec1 =
| blank6_info_sec1 =
| blank7_name_sec1 =
| blank7_info_sec1 =
| blank1_name_sec2 =
| blank1_info_sec2 =
| blank2_name_sec2 =
| blank2_info_sec2 =
| blank3_name_sec2 =
| blank3_info_sec2 =
| blank4_name_sec2 =
| blank4_info_sec2 =
| blank5_name_sec2 =
| blank5_info_sec2 =
| blank6_name_sec2 =
| blank6_info_sec2 =
| blank7_name_sec2 =
| blank7_info_sec2 =
| short_description =
| footnotes =
Olongapo (), officially the City of Olongapo (; ; ; Kapampangan: Lakanbalen/Ciudad ning Olongapo), is a highly urbanized city situated in the Central Luzon region of the Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 260,317 people.
It is geographically situated and grouped under the province of Zambales by the Philippine Statistics Authority but governed independently and is also its largest city. Portions of the city also form part of the Subic Special Economic and Freeport Zone.
Along with the municipality of Subic, it comprises Metro Olongapo, one of the twelve metropolitan areas in the Philippines.
Spanish King Alfonso XII through a royal decree made Subic Bay (then called Subig) as Spain's stronghold in the Far East in 1884. Vice Admiral Juan Bautista de Antiquiera made Olongapo a settlement for the Spanish Navy.
On March 8, 1885, the Spanish Navy commission authorized the construction of the Arsenal in Olongapo. The Spanish planned to transform their naval station and the village of Olongapo into an island, safeguarding it from potential rebel attacks. The Spanish Navy Yard occupied the entire area east of the Spanish Gate. Employing Filipino labor, they did extensive dredging of the harbor and the inner basin and built a drainage canal. The canal served both to drain the swampy area around the yard and also to form a line of defense.
Within 10 years, the Spaniards had erected walls and markers to fence off the arsenal. They had shops and buildings erected. The Spanish government spent almost fifteen years developing the naval station. From higher naval commands, the order was sent to fortify Grande Island at the mouth of Subic Bay. In the meantime, during the Philippine Revolution, a fleet led by the Cuban-Filipino Admiral Vicente Catalan seized the naval base at Subic-Olongapo from the Spanish for the First Philippine Republic.
Realizing the tremendous importance of Olongapo as a naval facility, the U.S. Navy decided to keep the base in functioning order; US President Theodore Roosevelt, on November 9, 1901, by executive order, reserved the waters of Subic and some of the adjacent lands for naval purposes.
The naval station was widened and with the establishment of the American rule in the Philippines. American defenses in the islands were facilities left by the Spanish Navy which were taken over by the United States.
Olongapo grew in direct proportion to the growth of the naval station. More people came to live in Olongapo since the Navy offered employment. To most Filipinos during that time, it was a welcome change. The promise of a different kind of experience as shop workers and office help induced many young men to leave their farms and fishing boats to work in the Navy Yard. Others finding the lure of the sea irresistible joined the U.S. Navy.
Pre-war Olongapo impressed its visitors as being one of the finest communities in the country, praised for its cleanliness and orderliness.
On December 14, 1941, Japanese bombers attacked the Olongapo/Subic Bay area. Ten days later, the order was given to burn Subic Bay Naval Station and withdraw. Olongapo was set aflame by the Filipinos in anticipation of the Japanese arrival. The USS New York was scuttled in Subic Bay. Subic Bay History – 1940's. Subicbaypi.com (April 8, 1942). Retrieved on July 28, 2013. When the American forces made a last-ditch stand on the Bataan peninsula, the Naval Station was abandoned and most of its facilities were burned before the Japanese came.
In 1945, Olongapo was again bombed, shelled and burned. Joint American and Philippine Commonwealth ground troops aided guerrilla fighters in liberating Olongapo from the Japanese forces. With the exceptions of the Station Chapel (the Olongapo Parish Church before the war) and the Spanish Gate, none of its former landmarks withstood the war. The general headquarters between the United States Army, Philippine Commonwealth Army & Philippine Constabulary were located in Olongapo during and after World War II, and were active until 1946 after operating against the Japanese for the liberation of Central Luzon.
The first few years after the war were difficult for the new town, as everything in the new Olongapo was damaged. There were no electric power and no drainage system. The water supply and sanitation facilities were inadequate, and streets were unpaved. Gradually, Olongapo evolved into a new community: new businesses were established, housing projects were planned and civic facilities were restored.
During the Korean War, the United States spent over to convert the base into the homeport of the Navy's Seventh Fleet, developing the Cubi Naval Air Station as the largest US installation of its kind in Asia. Naval authorities relocated the residence from the area of the former Public Works Center area to the intersection of what is now known as Rizal Avenue and Ramon Magsaysay Drive, and in the Barangays New Asinan and New Kalalake areas. Zoning of Olongapo was patterned after American practice where streets are constructed along straight lines. The magnitude of facilities construction in the Olongapo and Subic Bay area brought growth and prosperity to Olongapo. By 1956, migrants from nearby towns and provinces had swelled the population to 39,180.
On October 23, 1959, Olongapo was placed under martial law when Robert Grant, the American owner of an Olongapo auto parts store was killed and the US Navy declined to identify or try the Naval Supply Depot sentry who shot him.Anderson, Gerald Subic Bay from Magellan to Pinatubo: The History of the U.S. Naval Station Subic Bay Gerald Anderson (2009); pp. 130–138
Olongapo was the last piece of Philippine territory surrendered by the United States to the country in the 1950s. On December 7, 1959, 56,000 acres of land with electrical, telephone and water utilities was relinquished to Philippine Secretary of Foreign Affairs Felixberto Serrano. The first mayor appointed was civic leader Ruben Geronimo. He was later succeeded by business entrepreneur Ildefonso Arriola.
Six years later, through the efforts of Representative Ramon Magsaysay Jr. in Congress and Senator Genaro Magsaysay in the Senate, President Ferdinand Marcos signed R.A. 4645. Olongapo was reconverted to a chartered city on June 1, 1966.
Olongapo was eventually upgraded to the status of a highly urbanized city (HUC) on December 7, 1983.
With only a year left in his last constitutionally allowed term as president, Ferdinand Marcos placed the Philippines under Martial Law in September 1972 and thus retained the position for fourteen more years. This period in Philippine history is remembered for the Marcos administration's record of human rights abuses, (2025). 9780742510234, Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. ISBN 9780742510234 particularly targeting political opponents, student activists, journalists, religious workers, farmers, and others who fought against the Marcos dictatorship.
In Olongapo, the continuation of the Vietnam war through this period meant the arrival of a constantly growing number of U.S. Sailors to adjacent U.S. Naval Base Subic Bay, which was headed by Manuel Ardonia. The base was visited by 215 ships per month as the Vietnam War peaked in 1967, and it employed 15,000 Filipino civilians.
However, this also meant the rapid growth of prostitution in the areas around the base.Paz, J. C. Pipe Dream for the Ladies: Constructs of Rights of Prostituted Women among Social Actors in the Sex Industry of Olongapo City, Zambales The policies of the Marcos administration encouraged the growth of the sex industryThanh-Dam Truong, Sex, Money, and Morality: Prostitution and Tourism in South-east Asia (London: Zed Books, 1990) because it increased the flow of higher value currency into the Philippine economy.Santos, P. (2015). Sexuality, Gender, and US Imperialism after Philippine Independence: An Examination of Gender and Sexual Stereotypes of Pilipina Entertainment Workers and US Servicemen.
The economies of Olongapo and the nearby areas of Zambales evolved from a largely agricultural orientation at the end of the 1960s towards one built around sex industry related businesses such as bars by the mid-1970s. The nightclubs along Ramon Magsaysay Drive between the naval base main gate and Rizal Avenue were notoriously popular among the 4,225,000 servicemen visiting the base that year.Tucker, Spencer C. The Encyclopedia of the Vietnam War: A Political, Social, and Military History (2011); pg. 863 Sailors' accounts recall the popularity of musical performances, inexpensive San Miguel beer, attractive teenage prostitutes, erotic dancing floor shows, Jeepney rides back to the naval base and children diving for coins tossed from the bridge over the estuarine drainage channel in front of the naval base main gate.Sherwood, John Afterburner: Naval Aviators and the Vietnam War NYU Press (2004) pp.27–28
On September 16, 1991, the Senate leaders of the Philippines did not grant an extension of the existing RP-US Military Bases Agreement between the Republic of the Philippines and the United States, thus terminating the stay of the United States military in the Philippines.
As the first chartered city and highly urbanized city in its province, Olongapo's reputation among Filipinos rose from being a "sin city" in the 1960s and 1970s into a "model city" in the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s.
A recent racial study showed that Angeles City, Pampanga; alongside Manila; and Olongapo, Zambales; was the locations of several concentrations of 250,000 Amerasians (Mixed American-Asians) who were born as a result of the American colonization of the Philippines and the presence of US bases in the country.
The land area of Olongapo is . The city proper is located on of tidal flatland, with the rugged Zambales Mountains on its three sides, and Bataan and Subic Bay at its base. Because of this peculiar geographic location, development of city land is limited. Also, the territorial borders from nearby towns are not properly marked.
The months of December to April are extremely dry but the wet season persists for the remaining period in a year. In July and August, the monthly rainfall totals reach around .
The city receives an average of rainfall every year. Temperatures range from an average of around degrees in January to around in April.
The city of Olongapo is governed by a city mayor designated as its local chief executive, and by a city council as its legislative body, in accordance with the local government code. Both the mayor and the ten city councilors are elected directly by the people through an election which is being held every three years.
Barangays are also headed by elected officials: barangay captain, and barangay council, whose members are called Barangay Kagawad. The barangays have SK federation which represents the barangay, headed by SK chairperson and whose members are called SK councilors. All officials are also elected every three years.
The city has its own Barangay Fire Services used as a first responder in their respective communities. Another fire and rescue service was from the nearest Subic Bay Freeport Zone under its own fire department controlled by Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority with trained personnel and rescue equipment abandoned by the Americans similar to DRRMO. The Philippines' oldest fire truck made by Americans responded to notable disasters such as the 1991 eruption of Mount Pinatubo, the Fukushima disaster cleanup in 2011 and Typhoon Haiyan search and rescue operations in 2013.
Contrary to traffic enforcement, the city has separate law enforcement which is the Office of the Traffic Management and Public Safety (OTMPS). The office focuses on implementation of color coded transport scheme, security of government-owned establishment, organizing public market, and providing traffic enforcement safety which was mandated parallel and coordinated to Land Transportation Office.
In 2013, through Republic Act No. 10373, the PUD was sold for Php 610 million to Olongapo Electricity Distribution Company (OEDC), an affiliate of Cagayan Electric Power and Light Company (CEPALCO), which was given a 25-year franchise to take over the city's power distributor. The company has since upgraded the city's obsolete and dilapidated distribution network and has made significant improvements to the city's electricity services.
|
|
