SAN JUAN DE GUIMBA: A BRIEF HISTORY
It was the 20th of February 1865 when a group of Ilocano settlers in wooden carts and horsebacks arrived at a vast forested plain northwest of the Binituan River in Nueva Ecija. They cleared the land and started planting the loamy soil with the rice seeds they brought with them. They called the new land San Juan de Guimba in honor of the patron saint the settlers brought from Ilocos, and of the pot-making industry called “gebba” which they used to do in the old land. Thus was the origin of Guimba and its rice industry as it rose to become the province of Nueva Ecija’s traditional top rice producing area.

Soon more settlers arrived mostly from the old towns of Bacarra, Paoay, and Candon of the Ilocos provinces. Among the families who came were the Galapons, Mateos, Cudals, Padres, Cayogs, Romanos, Silvestres, Capinpuyans, Batangans, Faigals, Sumawangs, and Catabonas. What would be the town of Guimba is a relatively organized community when the Spanish colonialists arrived and appointed Don Luis De Ocampo as the first Gobernadorcillo.

The Spanish left and the Americans came and in 1912, the town’s name was abbreviated to Guimba with Don Alfonso Faigal as the first Alcalde Mayor. St. John the Evangelist though remains to be its patron saint. The first municipal hall was also built during this year in what is now known as Faigal Street. The Plaza Municipal evolved and what will become the public market started its commerce. In 1963, a new municipal hall was built in its current location that was later replaced by the new structure in 2006 when the town was elevated as a first class municipality.

The progressive town of Guimba as it is known today is a testament to the hard work and determination to succeed of its people. And of course a living monument to the vision of its leaders who served their town and constituents well:

1. Don ALFONSO FAIGAL (1865-1868)
2. Don GINES ONGJIANGCO (1869-1872)
3. Don JUAN SARMIENTO (1873-1876)
4. Don SATURNINO SANTIAGO(1877-1880)
5. Don PABLO MEDINA (1881-1884)
6. Don CENON RICO (1885-1888)
7. Don ANDRES AFAN SALVADOR (1889-1891)
8. Don MARTIN BAGAIN (1892-1895)
9. Don ESTEBAN DUBAL (1896-1899)
10. Don LUIS DE OCAMPO (1900-1903)
11. Don PABLO RAMOS (1910-1912)
12. Don SANTIAGO CUDAL (1912-1916)
13. Don SIMON SAWIT (1916-1919)
14. Don EUSEBIO TABAQUIN (1921-1922)
15. Don FELIX RAMENTO (1922-1925)
16. Don AGUSTIN VIGILIA (1925-1928)
17. Don ALFONSO FAIGAL (1928-1937)
18. Don JUAN VILLAMAR (1941-1943)
19. Don PEDRO CORPUZ (1943-1945)
20. Don ANACLETO RAMOS (1945-1948)
21. Hon. GIL DIZON (1948-1952)
22. Hon. ARSENIO PADRE (1953-1955)
23. Hon. VIRGILIO CALICA (1956-1957)
24. Hon. INOCENCIO GARAMPIL (1964-1967)
25. Hon. SEVERINO BERNARDINO (1968-1980)
26. Hon. VIRGILIO CALICA (1981-1983)
27. Hon. ANASTACIO ORTIZ (1983-1984)
28. Hon. JOSE DIZON (1988-1992)
29. Hon. CESAR CUCIO (1992-1995)
30. Hon. NESTOR BERNARDINO (1995-1998)
31. Hon. JOSE LUCIUS POCHOLO DIZON (1998-2007)
32. Hon. JOSE FRANCIS STEVENS DIZON (2007-Present)

PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS

Location and Accessibility
153 kilometers northwest of and 2 hours away from Metro Manila via North Luzon (NLEX) and Subic-Clark-Tarlac (SCTEX).

36 kilometers from and 30 minutes away from Cabanatuan City via Baloc Junction.

Other entry points: Cuyapo via Pangasinan-Nueva Ecija Provincial Road; Quezon via Guimba-Aliaga Road from SCTEX, Talugtug via Talugtug-Guimba Road, Pura via Gerona from Tarlac City.

Land Area and Political Subdivision
Land Area: 25,853,23 hectares
Agricultural lands: 23,669.5849
Topography: 0-3 percent slope
Elevation: 0-500 meters above sea level

Total: 64 Barangays
Urban Barangays (4)
Rural Barangays (60)
ROUTE SELECTION: We have selected 3 diversion roads in the map 3132-II of our project; its location is found in
Nueva Ecija, Philippines. Our criteria for selecting appropriate road diversion: 1) No more than two or three roads exists; 2) It must be 10 km of length; 3) No establishments or houses in road diversion exists; 4) River must not be 500 m wide; 5) No mountains, plateaus, hills or boulders traversed.

In return, we have selected many diversion roads in the map 3132-II because there is no

diversion road created yet, and yet roads that are existing are not interfere perpendicularly to each other due to many number of rivers and fishponds in the area.
The roads enlisted are: 1) Licab-Aliaga-Cabanatuan (L.A.C) Road (13.5 km) 2) Guimba Diagonal Road (22.0 km) 3) Munoz-Talavera Road 1 (10.4 km) 4) Munoz-Talavera Road 2 (18.7 km) 5) Guimba-Licab Road (17.2 km) 6) San Roque-Licab Road (11.2 km)

* Road 2 in observation is rejected due to its long length of its proposed road, it violates

Rule 2.

* Road 3 is nearly accepted, but when we observe that a lot of rivers surrounded in the

area, wow, a lot of bridges to be done!

* Road 4 violates almost all of our criteria due to its location and densely residential area.

* Therefore, Roads 1, 5 and 6 satisfies and goes to the top 3. But another criterion to be

made so that a final verdict of the chosen diversion road will established.

* Among the three, Road 6 is our final choice, because in observation, it almost follows all our criterion well and its length is near to 10 km, well done. So then it will be the time that the design of the diversion road must apply.