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Joven and the Bacolor townsfolk
could do as the transfer already
had the approval of the Philippine
Commission.
Moves to transfer the provincial
capital to San Fernando
actually began as early as 1852.
On 6 August of that year, the
alcalde mayor (as provincial
governors were then called)
proposed in an expediente to
transfer the capital from
Bacolor to San Fernando. The
King of Spain granted the request
in a real cedula dated 11
September 1881. Despite royal
approval, the transfer was not
executed.
Shortly after his election as
provincial governor in 1904,
Arnedo, a native of Apalit (his
predecessor, Ceferino Joven,
was a native of Bacolor), revived
the proposal. Gov. Arnedo
pointed out that San Fernando
was the biggest and most strategic
town of Pampanga, not to
mention the fact that the Manila-Dagupan
Railroad, which
linked the province with Manila
and the rest of Luzon, passed
through San Fernando. Bacolor,
on the other hand, was bypassed
by the railroad and thus was no
longer a convenient location for
the provincial capital.
John A.Larkin, author of
The Pampangans, sums up the
Several towns volunteered
men, carabaos and carts to
transport furniture and
other articles during the
three-kilometer physical
transfer of the capital
economic considerations
behind the
transfer: “San
Fernando came into
existence only in the
middle of the 18 th century
as a result of a
Spanish administrative
decision. The town
had a few distinguishing
events in the past
and in 1904 was
scarcely larger in
population than
Bacolor. But the Manila-Dagupan
Railroad
passed through San
Fernando connecting it
to both the capital city
and the vast sugar regions
in the northern
part of the province
and in Tarlac. Hence
the town became an
important transportation
center for a population
increasingly
committed to commercial
sugar culture and more desirous
of contact with an urban
marketplace and cosmopolitan
setting.”
Narratives of the transfer
can be seen in annual reports
of Gov. Arnedo to the Philippine
Commission. On 15 July 1904
he wrote: “The Provincial
Board, supporting the recommendation
of
Ex-Pampanga governor Ceferino Joven of
Bacolor (left) pushed for retention of capital in
Bacolor; incumbent governor Macario Arnedo
of Apalit (right) facilitated the transfer of capital
to San Fernando
the municipal
presidents,
reiterated at
least six of
their conventions,earnestly
desires
to use its good
offices with
the honorable
Philippine
Commission in
order that the
capital of
Pampanga
may be transferred
from
Bacolor to San
Fernando as
soon as possible.
There
being many
and weighty
reasons for
this change,
the Provincial
Board trusts
Presidio (Pampanga provincial jail)
Pampanga Provincial Hospital
that this matter be carefully
and favorably received by the
said honorable body.”
Just seven days after Governor
Arnedo sent this report,
the Philippine Commission approved
the transfer by signing
Act No. 1204. In his annual report
the following year, the Governor
narrated: “Thus on 15 August
1904, the capital of
Pampanga was officially transferred
from Bacolor to San
Fernando. In compliance with
Act No. 1204, entitled ‘An Act
amending Act No. 85, extending
the provisions of the provincial
government act of the province
of Pampanga by changing
the capital of that province
from Bacolor to San Fernando.’
This change was received and
considered in the province in
general as a sign of a new era
of greatness and prosperity.”
Also transferred to San
Fernando were the Court of
First Instance, the Provincial
Jail, the Provincial Board of
Health and the headquarters of
the Philippine Constabulary.
These provincial offices joined
the Provincial Normal School
and the Central Post and Telegraph
Office, which had been
established in San Fernando
long before the transfer of the
capital took place.
Pampanga High School
(American Historical Collection)
Gov. Arnedo also reported
that the physical transfer of the
capital—all its dependencies
and offices—to another town
three miles away did not cause
great difficulty and expense to
the province. According to him,
several municipalities had volunteered
to transport articles
and furniture as well as provide
men, carabaos and carts free of
charge.
Because there was no large
building in San Fernando that
could house all the offices, the
provincial government decided
to rent three buildings situated
in the same block. Another
building was also rented out to
the Provincial Board of Health,
which eventually had to be relocated
to make way for the
newly created Internal Revenue
Office under the Office of
the Provincial Treasurer.
In the same year, US Secretary
of War William Howard
Taft and Alice Roosevelt,
daughter of President Theodore
Roosevelt, visited San
Fernando. A charming banquet
hall made of bamboo and nipa
was built in front of the church
to welcome the guests. Taft
later became President of the
United States.
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