Bacolod

Bacolod, officially the City of Bacolod (; Tagalog: [bɐˈkɔlɔd]; Hiligaynon: Dakbanwa sang Bacolod; Filipino: Lungsod ng Bacolod), is a highly urbanized city in the Negros Island Region in the Philippines. According to the 2024 census, it has a population of 624,787 people, making it the most populous city in the Negros Island Region and the second most populous city in the entire Visayas after Cebu City. It is the largest city and capital of the province of Negros Occidental where it is geographically situated and grouped under the province by the Philippine Statistics Authority, although it operates as an administratively independent city.^[1]

Etymology

Bacólod (English: Bacolod), is derived from bakólod (Old Spelling: bacólod), the Old Hiligaynon (Old Ilonggo) (Old Spelling: Ylongo and Ilongo) word for a "hill, turtle, mound, rise, hillock, down, any small eminence or elevation", since the resettlement was founded on a stony, hilly area, now the barangay of Granada. It was officially called Ciudad de Bacólod (City of Bacolod) when Municipalidad de Bacólod (Municipality of Bacolod) was converted into a city in 1938.^[1]

Spanish colonial period

Historical church accounts provide a glimpse of the early years of Bacolod as a mere small settlement by the riverbank known as Magsungay (translated as "horn-shaped" in English). When the neighboring settlement of Bago was elevated into the status of a small town in 1575, it had several religious dependencies and one of which was the village of Magsungay. The early missionaries placed the village under the care and protection of Saint Sebastian sometime in the middle of the 18th century.^[1]

Revolution and Republic of Negros

The success of the uprising in Bacolod and environs was attributed to the low morale of the local imperial Spanish detachment, due to its defeat in Panay and Luzon and to the psychological warfare waged by Generals Aniceto Lacson and Juan Araneta. In 1897, a battle in Bacolod was fought at Matab-ang River.^[1]

American colonial period

The Cantonal Republic of Negros became a U.S. territory on April 30, 1901. This separated Negros Island once again, reverting Bacolod to its status as the capital of Occidental Negros.^[1]

Japanese occupation and allied liberation

In World War II, Bacolod was occupied by the Japanese forces on May 21, 1942. Lieutenant General Kawano "Kono" Takeshi, the Japanese commanding officer of the 77th Infantry Brigade, 102nd Division, seized the homes of Don Generoso Villanueva, a prominent sugar planter—whose home, the Daku Balay served as the "seat of power" (occupational headquarters for the Japanese Forces in Negros and all of the Central Visayan region of the Philippines) and being the tallest building of Bacolod it served as the city's watchtower—and the home of his brother-in-law, Don Mariano Ramos, the first appointed Municipal President of Bacolod. The home of Don Generoso was lived in by Lt.^[1]

Independent Philippines

When the country finally gained independence from the United States, the city's public markets and slaughterhouses were rebuilt during the administration of then Mayor Vicente Remitió from 1947 to 1949. In 1948, a fire razed a portion of the records section of the old city hall that consumed the rear end of the building and with it, numerous priceless documents of the city.^[1]

Geography

Bacolod is located on the northwestern coast of the large island of Negros. Within the island, it is bounded on the north by the city of Talisay, on the east by the town of Murcia and on the south by the city of Bago. As a coastal city, it is bounded on the west by the Guimaras Strait, serving as a natural border of northwestern Negros Island Region to the neighboring Western Visayas.^[1]

Climate

Bacolod has a tropical monsoon climate (Köppen Am) with two pronounced seasons, wet and dry. The rainy (wet) season starts from May to December with heavy rains occurring during August and September. The dry season starts from January until the last week of April.^[1]

Barangays

Bacolod is politically subdivided into 61 barangays. Each barangay consists of puroks and some have sitios.^[1]