Dasol, officially the Municipality of Dasol (; ; ), is a municipality in the province of Pangasinan, Philippines. According to the , it has a population of people.
The town is a popular town for the commercial production of table salt. Seawater is fed into large ponds and water is drawn out through natural evaporation which allows the salt to be harvested. Dasol Bay occupies the whole coastline of Dasol and is where the town gets its saltwater.
Etymology
The town got its name from the medicinal herb "dosol" which abound in the locality during the Spanish period. The leaves of this herbal plant are greenish and oval. It is a relatively low tuber that was commonly used to cure infected wounds, but was found to have the unusual characteristic of disappearing - never to be seen again.
Its name was frequently mispronounced as "Dasol" by the Spaniards, so that when the place was established as municipality in the 19th century, Dasol became its official name.
History Spanish Colonial Era As early as 1878, Dasol was part of municipality of San Isidro de Potot, which also included the present-day municipalities of Mabini (at that time was named as Barrio Balincaguin), and Burgos, in Zambales province. At that time, only a few people lived in Dasol. Balincaguin was the most thickly populated barrio and later became an independent municipality. The people, in their desire for better living conditions, moved to the south-west. They found good fishing grounds and they decided to stay along the coast in the barrio of Uli, Dasol. Dasol was repopulated by the Ilocano settlers from Paoay, Ilocos Norte headed by Don Matias Bustamante in 1830.
Philippine Revolution A revolutionary group was organized in the Central Luzon on January 14, 1898, under General Francisco Macabulos. The Pangasinan sub-group was headed by Vicente del Prado, who together with Daniel Maramba reached an understanding to launch an attack on Spanish situations. On March 7, 1898, a simultaneous attack was suddenly made upon convents in number of towns of western Pangasinan (then as northern Zambales). Areas of San Isidro de Potot, Dasol (proper), and Eguia were among attacked. The Spanish detachments in these towns and around fifty Spanish friars were defeated.
American Colonial Era On October 15, 1903, by virtue of Act No. 945, entitled “An Act Reducing the Twenty-five Municipalities of the Province of Zambales to Fifteen,” while still part of the Province of Zambales, the municipality of San Isidro (Burgos) was consolidated with the municipalities of Balincaguin (Mabini)and Dasol, with the seat of the municipal government at San Isidro (Burgos).
Secession from Zambales and other towns On November 30, 1903, by virtue of Act No. 1004, the municipalities of Bolinao, Alaminos, San Isidro (Burgos), and Infanta were annexed to the Province of Pangasinan.
On December 19, 1903, by virtue of Act No. 1029, Act No. 1004 was amended to include the municipalities of Anda, Bani, and Agno among those annexed to the Province of Pangasinan. Townsfolk cited alleged lack of concern for the towns' interest and welfare by the Zambales provincial government and was encouraged to join Pangasinan province. However, for allegedly the same reason, there was a movement to rejoin Zambales, which clamor was aroused by the incumbency of then President Ramon Magsaysay, a Zambales-born president in the middle of the 1950s. This proposal was defeated when Governor Aguedo Agbayani of Pangasinan became the governor.
On October 26, 1904, the barrio of Eguia, then a part of the municipality of San Isidro (Burgos), was annexed to and consolidated with the municipality of Infanta.
On December 15, 1910, by virtue of Executive Order No. 84, issued by Governor-General William Cameron Forbes, Dasol was separated from San Isidro (Burgos), effective January 1, 1911.
Boundary issues Ever since its creation, the boundaries of Dasol with the municipalities of Burgos, Mabini and Infanta remain vague, for what the leaders of Dasol had claimed to be the boundaries then agreed upon and as allegedly borne out by records, are no longer respected by the respective officials of said adjoining municipalities. Instead, they have encroached into Dasol's domain. During the incumbency of Mayor Liceralde, he made an attempt to settle Dasol's boundary with Mabini, but even after two separate conferences between the officials of the two towns were already had, each group was adamant in its own version. Considering that there was no visible sign of a probability for an amicable settlement of the dispute, the idea was abandoned so as to give way to court battle. He allegedly said that it was time-consuming to gather relevant documentary evidence (parol evidence no longer available due to the death of reliable witnesses) that would clinch the case for Dasol. The same appears to be true with respect to the other boundary conflicts.
Japanese occupation Dasol Bay witnessed several naval battles in World War II. On August 23, 1944, while searching for new targets, the American submarines USS Harder and USS Hake were attacked by Kaibokan CD-22 and PB-102 (ex-USS Stewart (DD-224)). Thinking that it was just a Japanese minesweeper and a three-stack Thai destroyer Phra Ruang, the Japanese vessel operated in consort with the anti-submarine vessel attacked and sank the Harder through with depth charges. The Hake was also attacked but escaped and arrived at Fremantle Harbor, Australia on September 24, 1944.
On November 6, 1944, while guarding convoy Ma-Ta 31, the Japanese cruiser Kumano was attacked by a US submarine wolf-pack consisting of the Batfish, the Guitarro, the Bream, theRaton and the Ray. In all, the American submarines launched 23 torpedoes towards the convoy, two of which struck the Kumano. The first hit destroyed the ship's recently replaced bow, and the second damaged its starboard engine room. The Kumano escaped and was towed to Dasol Bay by the cargo ship Doryo Maru, and from there the ship was moved to the beach and underwent repairs. On November 25, 1944, the Kumano came under aerial attack by aircraft launched by the USS Ticonderoga. Five torpedoes and four 500 pound bombs struck the ship, and rolled over and sank in about 31 m (100 ft) of water.
Geography The Municipality of Dasol is a small town in western Pangasinan, situated in a plateau, on the Olongapo–Bugallon Road. It is bounded l by the municipalities of Burgos and Mabini to the north, the mineral-rich Zambales Mountains to the east, the municipality of Infanta to the south, and the vast South China Sea to the west. It has an area of about 230 square kilometers.
Dasol is situated from the provincial capital Lingayen, and from the country's capital city of Manila.
Barangays
Dasol is politically subdivided into 18 barangays. Each barangay consists of puroks and some have sitios.
Alilao Amalbalan Bobonot Eguia Gais-Guipe Hermosa Macalang Magsaysay Malacapas Malimpin Osmeña Petal Poblacion San Vicente Tambac Tambobong Uli Viga
Dasol had seven barrios (now called barangay) when it was created. These were Tambobong, Tanobong, Uli, Malacapas, Bongalon, Alilao and Poblacion. Eguia was then part of Infanta and was annexed to Dasol in 1925. As years went by and due to its increasing population, two more barrios were created. Eguia was divided to form other three barangays namely Macalang, Viga and Tambac. Then came the time when Tambobong was to create Magsaysay and Tanobong (Malimpin) was divided to create San Vicente. Later, Bongalon (Hermosa) was divided to create Petal out of its two sitios Penec and Espital and from Alilao, two more barangays were formed now known as Amalbalan and Gais-Guipe. The sitios of Macalang, Pantol, Tapac and Pagdagaan were constituted into a barrio of Macalang by virtue of Republic Act 1707.
Climate
Demographics
Religions Jehovah's Witnesses Roman Catholic Church Philippine Independent Church Iglesia ni Cristo United Methodist Church Assembly of God Pentecostal Seventh Day Adventist Iglesia Mistica De Dios Jesus is Lord Lord of the Harvests
Economy
The basic livelihood of the town includes salt making, small scale fishing, bagoong making, charcoal making, fruitwine making, and farming (mostly rice crops).
An average family raises only PhP 5,561.67 and spends PhP 4,506.58 mostly for basic needs.
Majority of Dasol's income came from commercial salt making, with 14 major salt producers in the municipality.
Dasol is rich in non-metallic resources. It has 360,230,000 m³ of limestone and 5,245 metric tons of guano.
About 0.5 km2 of Dasol is used for commercial crops mostly for rice and vegetable production. The municipality have several coconut and mango plantations. Since it lie on the Zambales Mountain Range, the municipality have 6,513 mango fruit bearing trees. One of the plantations is the Carolina Farm and Mango Orchard owned by Menardo Jimenez, former GMA Network president.
Most of Dasol's livestock includes poultry, swine, cattle, goats, and carabaos with 6,370 livestock raisers all across the municipality.
Mining Areas Barangay Tambac Barangay Viga
Registered Mining Operators: A & P Mineral Trading
Government
Local government
Dasol, belonging to the first congressional district of the province of Pangasinan, is governed by a mayor designated as its local chief executive and by a municipal council as its legislative body in accordance with the Local Government Code. The mayor, vice mayor, and the councilors are elected directly by the people through an election which is being held every three years.
Elected officials
+ Members of the Dasol Municipal Government(2025-2028) Position Name Congressman Arthur F. Celeste (NP) Municipal Mayor Rizalde J. Bernal (NP) Municipal Vice-Mayor Edgardo C. Fontelera (NP) Municipal Councilors Jon Ray S. Aseo (NP) Mark Anthony J. Carrera (NP) Angelo Emmanuel M. Gabuyo (NP) Gerardo M. Rivera III (NP) Manuel B. Rivera (API) John Wesley P. Domagas (NP) Richard B. Garcia (NP) Johnny B. Versoza (API)
Political History No record has been found regarding the reign of a governardorcillo in this municipality but records show that there was already an organized government, with Santos Jimenez, Vicente Liceralde, Gaspar Estrada and Pedro Estrada as early capitan municipáles.
Cornelio Estrada was the capitan municipál from 1898 until 1900. At the height of the Katipunan resistance against the Americans, Francisco Bernal was the capitan municipál.
During the time San Isidro Putot was established, the town had been under three rulers, who ruled in different terms, namely: Lucas Bonilla (1899–1901), Nazario Nacar (1901–1903), and Paulino Mendoza (1904–1908).
When Dasol municipality was created, Apolonio Casipit was its first president. He was succeeded by Leandro Cristobal from 1912 to 1916. Calixto Tobias was the municipal president from 1916. In 1918, Tobias was assassinated by an unknown assailant. His unexpired term was served by his vice mayor, Severino delos Reyes. In the following election, Apolonio Casipit won and served his second term from 1919 to 1922. Succeeding him was Pedro dela Rosa from 1922 to 1925.