Meycauayan, Bulacan
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Meycauayan is a municipality in the province of Bulacan in the Philippines. The town is located about 19 km north of Manila and about 22 km south of Malolos City, the capital city of Bulacan. It is bounded by the town of Marilao to the north, Valenzuela City to the south, Caloocan City to the east, and the town of Obando to the west. Meycauayan is considered the Jewelry Capital of the Philippines.
REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES
Municipality of Meycauayan
2004 census—177,900.
Geography
Meycauayan is generally surrounded with plain land and gently rolling hills. Comfortably above sea level, this terrain is an interweaving of greenery and concrete road network. The slope of the land dips towards a west to north westerly direction. River, natural lake and drainage waterways envelope and criss-cross the area.
Political bounderies
The town is located about 19 km north of Manila and about 22 km south of Malolos City, the capital city of Bulacan. It is bounded by the town of Marilao to the north, Valenzuela City to the south, Caloocan City to the east, and the town of Obando to the west. It encompasses an aggregate area of 32.1 square kilometres, representing 1.17 % of the total land area of the province of Bulacan.
History
The town was named Meycauayan from the Tagalog "may kawayan" ("there is bamboo") in reference to the presence of large groves of bamboo around the town. It was founded in 1578 by the Franciscan friars who arrived there to spread Catholicism. Among them were Fr. Juan de Placencia and Diego Oropeza, who constructed the first church made up of nipa tatch and bamboos which they dedicated to their "Nuestro Padre Senor San Francisco de Asis", in a place which was now called "Bahay Pare" (priest's house). The town was later transferred to Lagolo which is now part of Barangay Banga. But because of the attact of the native Aetas, the town has been transferred to its present site on which the Municipal Hall and the Parish Church of St. Francis of Assisi now stands.
Meycauayan was then one of the largest municipalities in Bulacan. The towns of San Jose Del Monte, Bocaue, Marilao, Valenzuela, Obando, Santa Maria and Pandi were once part of the political jurisdiction of the town. During the Spanish colonization in the Philippines, Meycauayan was famous for its adobe rocks which were used for building stone houses and fortifications. Majority of the adobe rocks that were used in building the walls of Intramuros were from Meycauayan.
In 1949, a big fire razed the town destroying its market center and its centuries old church. It took years to recover from the destruction which was aided by the provincial and national government.
Meycauayan is famous for its jewelry industry, tanneries and people like Lydia de Vega, Asia's Fastest Woman. Meycauayan now faces economic progress through the help of their Municipal Mayor, Eduardo Alarilla.