LINGAYEN – A noted historian in Pangasinan has proposed that the whole town of Lingayen be declared a heritage site not only because it is the seat of the provincial government of Pangasinan but also because of the big role the town played in the history of the province.

Historian Restituto Basa, author of many history books about Pangasinan and its people, said Lingayen played a major role in the history of the province since during the Spanish time when it served as a small Chinese trading post, being nearer than any other place in the Philippines to China.

Saying that the whole of Lingayen could qualify to become a heritage site, Basa went on to suggest the renaming of some landmarks of the province after some of the famous sons and daughters of Pangasinan who played important roles in history from the Spanish era to the present.

He said he will propose to the provincial board to rename the old Kalantiao building at the provincial capitol compound in honor of Don Manuel Facundo de Quintos, great grandfather of the national hero Dr. Jose P. Rizal on his mother side, who served as gobernadorcillo of the sangley community of Lingayen in 1850. De Quintos married Regina Ursua of Cavite and Manila, and had a daughter named Brigida de Quintos who married Don Lorenzo Alberto Alonso of Laguna, parents of Teodora de Quintos Alonso, who married Francisco Mercado y Rizal, parents of the national hero.

Basa said in the 1800s, there were two gobernadorcillos of Lingayen, one for the natural sand the other for the Chinese, Don Facundo was gobernadorcillo for the Chinese, hence Dr. Jose Rizal had a Chinese blood.

In seeking that the Kalantiao building in the capitol be renamed after Rizal’s great grant father, historian Basa and Kalantiao, a lawgiver, was from Iloilo and therefore had lesser impact upon the lives of the people of Pangasinan than Don Facundo.

Besides, he said, the building fronting the present Kalantiao building at the capitol compound was already named a long time ago after Andres Malong, who led a rebellion against Spain in 1600s and came to be known as the master of the camp that included a fairly large territory, from Pampanga in the south to the Ilocos in the north.

Basa said he will also propose to the provincial board the renaming of the newly reconstructed Domalandan bridge as Kabontatala bridge since it spans across the Limahong channel dug by the Chinese corsair Limahong when he was escaping the pursuing army of Captain Juan de Salcedo in 1575 after conducting an unsuccessful siege of Manila.

Kabontatala, daughter of a chieftain of Lingayen at the time of Limahong’s siege of Manila, became a wife of Limahong, Basa said.

Kabontatala and Limahong bore a son name Quimson, who was believed to be the roots of two Pangasinenses who became governors of Pangasinan, Sofronio Quimson and Francisco Quimson Duque, he added.

The Limahong channel used to be only three meters wide, said Basa, but then Mayor Sesenando Jimenez had it widened after Lingayen was devastated by a big flood in 1945.

Basa is also eyeing Urduja House, the official residence of Pangasinan governors since the 50s, for a rechristening after its builder, the late Gov. Juan DG. Rodriguez of Mabini town, who later became secretary of agriculture during the time of President Ramon Magsaysay, or of the late Senator Geronima Pecson, the first woman senator of the Philippines, who was from Lingayen.

He said the name Urduja is a misnomer because as proven by the Muslim traveler Ibn Batuta, when he was relating to a chronicler, the woman warrior queen was not a Filipino but someone who existed somewhere near the sea of Suwalisi – which was possibly Indonesia.

Another important site, he added, that should be preserved is the former Justice Hall beside the Lingayen municipal hall, that served as the seat of the provincial government of Pangasinan under the Spanish rule. The building was spared from destruction when the Allies led by General Doughlas Mac Arthur landed in Lingayen January 9, 1945 to liberate Luzon from the Japanese.