Lal-lo

Lal-lo, officially the Municipality of Lal-Lo (Ibanag: Ili nat Lal-lo; Ilocano: Ili ti Lal-lo; Tagalog: Bayan ng Lal-lo), is a 1st class municipality in the province of Cagayan, Philippines. According to the 2015 census, it has a population of 44, 506 people. During the Spanish colonial period, Lal-lo was known as Ciudad de Nueva Segovia and was the seat of the Diocese of Nueva Segovia before it was moved to Vigan in Ilocos Sur.

The Municipality of Lal-lo is one of the first four cities in the Philippines. Others are Cebu (1565); Manila 1571; and Naga (1575). Lal-lo (formerly named Nueva Segovia) for a time enjoyed the lavish gifts of the Papal Throne. It was named Nueva Segovia by Juan Pablo Carreon in 1581. It was visited by Juan Salcedo in 1572 and Luis Perez Dasmariñas in 1592. Because of its navigable river, it was chosen the capital of Cagayan Valley. It was also the seat of the Diocese created by Pope Clement VIII on August 15, 1595 till the seat was transferred to Vigan, Ilocos Sur in 1755. It was the capital of Cagayan up to 1839 when the Provincial Government was moved to Tuguegarao, Miguel Buenavides, O. P., a very famous personage among the missionaries at that time was elected bishop to the diocesan home in Nueva Segovia. He later found the University of Santo Tomas.

There is a widespread belief that Lal-lo town without peer when it comes to mestizas- that racial mixture of Malay, Spanish, Chinese and American which is the genetic formula for haunting loveliness. It is common place that when you talk about mestizas, you will have a horde of eager listeners. But in Lal-lo, consensus says people will laugh at you. They are so familiar with them that they are taken for granted as household commodities like Kodak and Coca Cola. Like its beautiful women, Lal-lo has a beautiful history.

At first blush, Lal-lo could be easily mistaken for on American mining ghost town. But, tropical growth sparkling in the warm sunshine, seem to vie for the opportunity to tell stories about its happy dead day.

Its early inhabitants were the Ybanags. Most of their women are engaged in weaving clothes. One step in the preparation of the thread before weaving is winding, which was manipulated with the aid of a crude implement. According to Julian Malumbres, O.P. the Spanish historian, the natives subsequently called the town after a piece of thread “hilo”. In Ibanag, the thread is called “il-lo-c”, distorted to Lal-loc. Others, however, said that the name Lal-lo was derived from the big; strong, whirling current of the Cagayan River called in the dialect “mal-lal- lal-lo”, which is found up to this time near the point of a “bato” or stone along the bank of the river.

The early settlers of Lal-lo are the native Ibanags who built their communities along the banks of the Cagayan River. Their main livelihood was fishing and they caught fish in great quantities. The very productive culture of rice was introduced by the migrants who came from the Ilocos provinces. They arrived yearly by big wooden boats called “virays” or “pangco” to sell their native wares composed of clay pots, molasses, salt, onions, garlic and sinamay clothes for barter. Later, finding the rich soil of Lal-lo very productive and satisfying their natural love for agriculture and industry, intermarried with the native Ibanags and begun the opening of wide homesteads which created an exodus of Ilocanoes to the municipality.