Mabalacat

關於Mabalacat

Mabalacat, officially Mabalacat City, is a component city in the province of Pampanga, Philippines. According to the 2024 census, it has a population of 306,594 people.

Mabalacat is in the urban core of Metro Clark, also known as Metro Angeles, an urban area in Pampanga. This area is considered the industrial and residential heartland of Central Luzon. Metro Clark is also identified as a regional center by the national government.

The name was derived from the indigenous Negrito word mabalacat meaning "place of balakat", a type of flowering buckthorn tree which was once abundant in the area.

Prior to 1712, Mabalacat was a barrio of Bambang (now Bamban, Tarlac). It became a separate town in 1792 and was named after the abundant balakat tree (Ziziphus talanai), a fourth-class timber tree with bark possessesint antimicrobial properties. Originally an Aeta settlement, the area was a virtual forest of the trees, giving its Kapampangan name the meaning "full of balacat." The city’s name is also reminiscent of the Maranao Mababaapalaqat, which means "short ladder".

In 1853, Mabalacat had a population of 2,611 in four barangays: Babangdapu, Duquit, Malabni, and...

Overview adapted from Wikipedia under CC BY-SA. Photography via Wikimedia Commons.