Zambales: History
=== Spanish colonial era ===
The Spanish first explored the area in 1572, led by Juan de Salcedo. Off Cape Bolinao (now part of Pangasinan), he and his men liberated a Zambal chieftain and his followers from a Chinese pirate ship. This act gained the natives' goodwill. Shortly thereafter, the province was organized. Among the earliest towns founded were Masinloc (1607), Subic (1607), Iba (1611), Santa Cruz (1612), and Botolan (1736). Zambales was originally derived from 2 parts: the southern area from Pampanga and the northern area from Pangasinan.
During the Spanish period, a 1774 map was made, which clearly named Scarborough Shoals as Panacot Shoal, a feature under complete sovereignty of Spanish Philippines, specifically of Zambales. The shoal's current name was chosen by Captain Philip D'Auvergne, whose East India Company East Indiaman Scarborough briefly grounded on one of the rocks on September 12, 1784, before sailing on to China. When the Philippines was granted independence in the 19th century and 20th century, Scarborough Shoal was passed by the colonial governments to the sovereign Republic of the Philippines. By the end of the 1700s, Zambales had 1,136 native families and 73 Spanish Filipino families.
Masinloc became the province's first capital. However, the capital was moved among the last three towns above during its history before finally settling in Iba, due to its strategic location. Seven of the province's original northern towns, which included Bolinao, Infanta, San Isidro, now Burgos, Anda, Bani, Agno and Alaminos were later transferred under the jurisdiction of Pangasinan because of their distance from the capital. The first civil governor of Zambales during the colonial American era was Potenciano Lesaca from 1901 to 1903.
Under a 1947 Military Bases Agreement, the Philippines granted the United States a 99-year lease on several U.S. bases, including U.S. Naval Base Subic Bay. A later amendment in 1966 reduced the original 99-year term of the agreement to 25 years. A renewal of the agreement in 1979 allowed the U.S. to continue operating the bases until November 1991, when the Philippine Senate rejected a bill for the renewal of U.S. bases in the Philippines.
On November 3, 1962, a mass oath-taking was held among nearly 3,000 Nacionalista officials in the province, including Governor Manuel D. Barretto, for their induction into the Liberal Party, aligning themselves with the Macapagal administration. …