BASIC SOCIO-ECONOMIC AND DEMOGRAPHIC DATA

MAP OF MALOLOS

a. HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

            It is believed that its name, Malolos came from Tagalog word “Paluslos” meaning downwards. The Spanish missionaries while searching for inhabited places came across some natives in a riverside barrio (now Canalate) and asked for the name of the place. Not knowing the Spanish tongue, these natives answered that the flow of the river in that part was downstream “Paluslos”, which was corrupted to Malolos by the Spaniards for euphony.

            Malolos was founded in 1580 by the Augustinians under the direction of Fray Diego Ordoñez de Vivar.

            As early as 1643, revolts were held against the Spanish government like the one initiated by Pedro Ladia.

            The official separation did take place on August 31, 1859, dividing the town into three districts with respective capitanes municipales and parish priests. These towns were again reunited into a single municipality in 1903.

            Prompted by Marcelo H. del Pilar, Jose Rizal (while in Europe on February 22, 1889) wrote to the 21 young women of Malolos praising them for their courage, initiative and nationalism when they longed for education as a tool against Spanish colonizers. Though promptly turned down by parish priest Fray Garcia, these women asked Gov. Gen. Valeriano Weyler to allow them to open a night school to be able to learn Spanish language.

            The opening of Ferrocaril Manila- Dagupan Railways in April 1892 started the major development of the town.

            Balangay Apuy, chapter or “balangay” of Katipunan in Bulacan province was organized in March 1896. Malolos Congress convened on September 15, 1898 at Barasoain Church. On the 18th, Aguinaldo proclaimed Malolos as the capital of the Philippines. The first important act of the Congress was the ratification on September 29, 1898 of the independence proclamation of June 12, 1898 at Kawit, Cavite. On October 19, 1898, by virtue of an act of Congress, the Universidad Literaria de Filipinas was established. It was in Malolos on December 20, 1898 when Gen. Emilio Aguinaldo declared December 30 of every year as a day of national mourning. The greatest achievement and for which the Malolos Congress was known was the framing of the Constitution, prepared by a committee headed by Felipe Calderon, was approved by the congress after amendments have been made on January 20, 1899, sanctioned by Aguinaldo the next day and promulgated on January 22. The last congressional act of the Malolos Congress was the inauguration of the Philippine Republic with Aguinaldo as the President on January 23, 1899, amidst the people’s jubilation. American forces captured Malolos on March 31, 1899.

            By virtue of Public Law No. 88 of the Philippine Commission, Malolos became the capital of the province on February 27, 1901.

            A plebiscite was conducted on December 18, 1999 for the ratification of the conversion of this municipality into a component city (Republic Act 8754). However, the conversion was rejected by the majority votes cast. As a result, a protest was filed impugning the results. Said protest was granted by the Second Division of COMELEC per Resolution No. EPC 99-2 which was promulgated on October 08, 2001 and became final and executory on November 08, 2001.

b. GEOGRAPHY

            The City of Malolos is one of the 24 municipalities and cities comprising the province of Bulacan. It is bounded on the North by municipalities of Calumpit and Plaridel, Guiguinto on the East, Paombong on the West and Bulacan and Manila Bay on the Southeast and South respectively. In terms of its relative geographic location, Malolos lies 14 degrees 45 minutes and 14 degrees and 51 minutes north latitude and 120 degrees 47 minutes and 120 degrees 51 minutes east longitude.

            Malolos is situated about 42 kilometers northeast of Manila and is easily accessible to all types of vehicle using the two major transportation arteries, namely, North Luzon Expressway and Mac Arthur Highway.

c. TOPOGRAPHY

            The wide-ranging topography of Malolos is relatively flat of about 0.81% to a gently sloping of 2.17%. The slope of the land descends towards west, southwest to southern direction. The highest land elevation is at about 6.0 meters above sea level while the lowest is only half a meter below sea level. A network of natural waterways and rivers of various sizes and importance is traversing through the landscape of the town down south to Manila Bay.

d. CLIMATE

            Malolos belongs to Type 1 category of the Philippine Climate Corona Classification, which has two (2) pronounced seasons, i.e., wet and dry seasons. Wet during the months of June to November and dry from December to May.

            The northwest monsoon prevails over the area from October to January bringing in moderate and light rains, the last trade winds predominate from February to April but the high Sierra Madre Mountains interfere with the free circulation of making the area dry with almost no rains during the period, while from May to September the southwest monsoon prevail with strong winds and abundant rainfall, and generally associated with strong typhoon.

e. LAND RESOURCES

            Malolos has an aggregate land area of 6,725 hectares.

            There are three soil types from the major type of Malolos, the soils of the alluvial landscape and these are the Quingua Series, San Manuel Series and the Tagulod Series. Other soil types comprising the soil map of Malolos are the Matimbo Series and Masantol Series, which belong to the soils of the coastal landscape, Loamy Tidal Swamp and Mucky Tidal Swamp from the miscellaneous soil types.

f. DEMOGRAPHIC PROFILE

            In the 2007 Census of Population conducted by the National Statistics Office (NSO), Malolos registered 225,244 that is 7.98 % of the Bulacan Province total population of 2,822,216. During the 2000-2007 periods, Malolos recorded an increase of 49,953 or 28.50 %. Annual population grew by 3.58% that is a bit higher than to what the town had during the period 1995-2000 that is 3.46 %. The continued growth in the city’s population in the past 7 years may not only be attributed to natural increase but also in the influx of migrants from various points of origin.