Gapan | ||
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Component city | ||
Gapan, 2015
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Nickname(s): Tsinelas capital of the Philippines | ||
Map of Nueva Ecija showing the location of Gapan City |
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Location within the Philippines | ||
Coordinates: 15°17′N 120°58′E / 15.283°N 120.967°ECoordinates: 15°17′N 120°58′E / 15.283°N 120.967°E | ||
Country | Philippines | |
Region | Central Luzon (Region III) | |
Province | Nueva Ecija | |
District | 4th District | |
Founded | 1732 | |
Cityhood | August 25, 2001 | |
Barangays | 23 | |
Government | ||
• Mayor | Emerson Pascual | |
• Vice Mayor | Inocencio Bautista Jr. | |
• Representative | Megan Antonino Nadres (NUP) | |
Area | ||
• Total | 164.44 km2 (63.49 sq mi) | |
Population (2015) | ||
• Total | 110,303 | |
• Density | 670/km2 (1,700/sq mi) | |
Demonym(s) | Gapeño/Gapeña | |
Time zone | PHT (UTC+8) | |
ZIP code | 3105 | |
IDD : area code | +63 (0)44 | |
Income class | 4th class city | |
Website | www |
Gapan known as Tsinelas capital of the Philippines is a fourth class city in the province of Nueva Ecija, Philippines. Gapan is nicknamed the "Footwear Capital of the North", and it is an inseparable part of the Rice Granary of the Philippines. According to the 2015 census, it has a population of 110,303 people. It has a land area of 164.44 km².
Gapan is located in the southern part of the province. It is bounded to the north by Peñaranda and San Leonardo, to the east by the Gen. Tinio, to the south by San Miguel in neighboring Bulacan province, and to the west by San Isidro.
Gapan is politically subdivided into 23 barangays.
Old records called the town Ibon. Gapan was founded by the Spanish curates and officials who, in their early occupation, exercised great influence over the people and the things they were doing. History places Gapan as one of the first towns of Pampanga founded sometime in the middle part of the sixteenth century. Records of the first Catholic mission to the far east indicated that in 1595, Fathers Contres Tendilla, Caballo and Salazar were responsible for clearing the forest which later became a pueblo. In this pueblo, a church, presedencia and residential houses made of bricks and lime were constructed, now the age-old landmarks of the city.
Its foundation in 1595 makes Gapan the oldest town in Nueva Ecija and one of the oldest in the Philippines. It was likewise a big pueblo embracing an area as far as Cabanatuan City in the north, which was its barrio with the name Cabanatuan before it separated in 1750: the Sierra Madres in the East, San Miguel, Bulacan in the south and Candaba, Pampanga in the West. Gradually as the Spanish power waned and economic progress caught up in the area, the pueblo disintegrated into many pueblos until it remained to comprise only the towns of Peñaranda, General Tinio and San Leonardo (formerly called Manikling) all of Nueva Ecija province. In fact the Patron Saint Divina Pastora had its origin or residence in Barrio Callos, Peñaranda.