The Ancient City of San Fabian 

By Restituto C. Basa 

Source: People’s Digest Newsweekly  

August 9-15, 2005 

Posted by:  

 

 

DID you know that once upon a time San Fabian was a city? 

  

I came across two versions of the history of San Fabian. One appears in a volume on the Natural Resources (page 920; the other appears in the Pangasinan Folio ‘70 published by the Daniel Maramba Centennial Commission). 

  

In the Pangasinan Resources volume, it was stated that San Fabian was founded on March 23, 1772. 

  

In the Pangasinan Folio ’70, the date cited as its foundation is January 20, 1717. 

  

Which of the two dates is correct? 

  

The town was named San Fabian in honor of Pope Fabian of Rome. The pope led a crusade against Muslims to restore Jerusalem to Christian control. 

  

I am inclined to believe that the correct date is January 20, 1717. January 20 is the feast of St. Fabian, the town’s patron. 

  

According to the 1717 account, it was Don Fernando Manuel de Bustamante who issued the decree to create the town of San Fabian. 

  

The original townsite is now Barangay Angio, about three kilometers of the present poblacion along the San Fabian-San Jacinto roadline. The townsite was moved towards the seacoast (the present site) on order of Gov. Bustamante in order to make it into a port of entry and elevate its status into a city. 

  

In accordance with the Bustamante plan, the town was divided into blocks, as in European cities. 

  

The entry point into the city was the Bued River delta, which happened to be the delta likewise of the Sensodukel river, known at the time as the Ilog na Bahley of San Fabian. 

  

This river flows towards the back of the Roman Catholic Church of the town. 

  

Notice that the convent of San Fabian is very commodious. In those days, this convent served as the stop-over quarters of the Bishop of Nueva Segovia when he was on travel along the seacoast between Vigan and Manila. 

  

There were no overload roads at the time. Travel was by sailboat along the seacoast. San Fabian is situated midway between Manila and Vigan. 

  

A section of the convent was converted into a sanitarium for ailing clergymen of the province. It was chosen for this purpose because of its proximity to the sea. The sea breeze is very invigorating. In addition, there is an abundant supply of fresh fish from the sea, which is very cheap source of protein. 

  

During those days, the San Fabian seacoast was lined up with thick walls complete with watch tower to guard against Moro practical raids. 

  

In the 1830s, Spain opened the Philippines to foreign trade. British traders ‘invaded’ the country. 

  

Among the trader centers that the British invaded was Dagupan. A British trader named Thomas Reynolds, an executive of the British House of Herald, converted the river in downtown Dagupan into a seaport. 

  

Dagupan became a boom town. To the misfortune of San Fabian, its seaport started to decline. Dagupan became the trade center of Pangasinan. 

  

Such is the impact of historical forces upon towns and cities. Some rise while others decline.