Bagabag, Nueva Vizcaya

The natives of Bagabag are the Gaddangs whose ancestors originally came from Cagayan and Isabela provinces. At the coming of the Spaniards, the natives were mostly settled along the Magat River where they had small farms of vegetables and root crops as well as rice fields. Most of them, however, depended on fishing and hunting for their livelihood. The Spaniards found the Igorots along the Lanog and Lamut Rivers and in the hills, east of the Magat River, they found the Bugkalots.

The town was formed on October 7, 1741 by a Dominican friar, Antonio del Campo, at sitio "Nagcumventuan" a place now located between Pogonsino, Bagabag, and Bangar, Solano. The present name of the sitio bears proof to the fact that the Spanish priest constructed a church in the original town site.

Frs. Luis Sierra and Alejandro Vidal were among the first priests to settle in 1743. They organized the town in 1754. Due to the continuous erosion and flood from the Magat River and its increasing population, Fr. Vidal later transferred the town site to "Nassa" which is located between Barangays Lantap and Santa Lucia. The "Nassa" location was open and muddy throughout the year. Thus for the third time, Fr. Vidal transferred the town site to its present site where numerous buri palms were then growing. It was from this buri palm plant the name of Bagabag originated, the same being called by the natives as "bagbag". In 1753, the Spanish established a fortress at Bagabag to serve as a base of operations for conquering the Ifugaos and to defend the mountain pass leading to Isabela.^[8] Bagabag when it was once part of Cagayan was also home to 10,808 native families and 25 Spanish-Filipino Mestizo families, before the province was transferred to the region of Nueva Vizcaya.^[9]: 466

During World War II, Bagabag Airport was built for the use of American soldiers.^[10] In 1945, the combined United States and the Philippine Commonwealth troops together with guerrillas attacked the Japanese Imperial forces in the Battle of Bagabag during World War II. Following the Japanese surrender in September 1945, General Tomoyuki Yamashita and his entourage, following their capitulation in Ifugao, were transported by car to Bagabag Airport, where they were transported by plane to La Union on their way to Baguio.^[11]

The Municipality of Bagabag is located in the northeastern part of Nueva Vizcaya with a total land area of 260 square kilometres (26,000 ha). The Magat River, which runs parallel to the Pan-Philippine Highway (AH 26), is situated in the eastern part of the town proper. Located in the northern part of the town is Bagabag Airport, the only airport of Nueva Vizcaya, which serves the province and its surrounding area.

Bagabag is situated 20.07 kilometres (12.47 mi) from the provincial capital Bayombong, and 312.47 kilometres (194.16 mi) from the country's capital city of Manila.

The natives of Bagabag are the Ga'dangs or Gaddangs whose ancestors originally came from the Cagayan and Isabela regions. The Gaddangs predominantly live in the town proper and they speak the Gaddang language. Many Ilocanos and Tagalogs have migrated and live in Bagabag.^[19]

Poverty incidence of Bagabag

Source: Philippine Statistics Authority^{[20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27]}

The Schools Division of Nueva Vizcaya governs the town's public education system. The division office is a field office of the DepEd in Cagayan Valley region.^[30] There are two schools district offices which govern all the public and private elementary and high schools throughout the municipality.^[31]

• Stacey Sevilleja - Member of the Pinoy pop group Bini^[32]