Dingras

The municipality is said to be have been named after a romantic folk legend.^[6][7]

The Legend of Dingras

Legend has it that in the early times, there were two prosperous Barangay in the present site of the town, each ruled by a powerful chief or datu. They were bitter and mortal enemies. Naslag was the powerful chief of the barangay north of the river, while Allawigan was the chief of the barangay to the south of the river.

One day, Allawigan and his warriors went out to go hunting. Ras, his son, was the bravest among them. During the hunt, Ras followed a deer that went north across the river. As he was chasing the deer, he saw a beautiful damsel gathering wildflowers on the opposite side of the riverbank. She was Ding, the daughter of Naslag. To help the lady, Ras gathered the most beautiful flowers near him, attached them to an arrowhead, and shot it over the river to land by the lady's feet. Ding looked at the other side of the river and waved her hands. Ras went home happily.

Ras begged his father for permission to win Ding for his wife; but because the fathers of Ding and Ras were bitter enemies, the only way he could win her was in an open battle fought fiercely between the two tribes.

Ras led his father's warriors. They fought valiantly and came out victorious in the end. Ras asked for Ding's hand as a prize, but Naslag refused. This angered him and hurled a challenge to the bravest warrior of Naslag in single combat with Ding as prize. The challenge was accepted. The combat was fought and again, Ras was victorious. He brought Ding triumphantly to Allawigan, his father. Thereafter, the people named the two barangays Dingras, after Ras, their valiant warrior ruler, and Ding, his wife.

On January 27, 2000, Mayor Robert Castro was forcibly removed from his office by the police due to defying orders from the regional trial court issued nine days prior to step down after losing an electoral contest to Oswaldo Parado, who was found to have won the 1998 mayoral race by over 370 votes.^[8][9]

Through Presidential Proclamation 680, September 20, 2024 was declared a special non-working day as tribute to Josefa Llanes Escoda, a World War II heroine and the Girl Scouts of the Philippines founder.^[10]

The Municipality of Dingras has a total area of 17,962 hectares, ranking 8th in size among the 23 municipalities and cities in the province. It accounts for practically 5.2% of the total land area of Ilocos Norte and corresponding percentage to the municipal area composed of 31 barangays. Six are on the Poblacion and 25 in the rural area. Out of the total area 6,305 hectares is devoted to rice and corn production. Other non-productive areas are devoted to livestock production, swine production and other livelihood projects. Most of the population are engaged in farming as the primary source of income.^{[needs update]}

Dingras is situated 18.07 kilometres (11.23 mi) from the provincial capital Laoag, and 487.99 kilometres (303.22 mi) from the country's capital city of Manila.

In the 2024 census, the population of Dingras was 40,176 people,^[18] with a density of 420 inhabitants per square kilometre or 1,100 inhabitants per square mile.

Poverty incidence of Dingras

Source: Philippine Statistics Authority^{[19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26]}

On October 9, 2007, Dingras, Ilocos Norte, Philippines sought a Guinness World Record certification after baking a kilometer-long "cassava bibingka" (native cake) made from 1,000 kilos of cassava and eaten by 1,000 residents.^[27]

There are two schools district offices which govern all public and private schools within the municipality. These are Dingras I Schools District, and Dingras II Schools District.^[30]