The origin of the name “Dasmariñas” is “Gómez Pérez Dasmariñas”, a Spanish governor of the Philippines from 1590 to 1593. After his death, his son Luis Pérez Dasmariñas was the governor from 1593 to 1596. Pérez Dasmariñas came from San Miguel das Negradas, Galicia (Spain).
Dasmariñas literally means “from the marines” in the Galician language (NW of Iberian Peninsula).
According to Agustin de la Cavada in his Historia Geografica, Geologica y Estadistica de Filipinas, this town started as a barrio of Imus and it was made into an independent municipality in 1867.
The Spanish government named the town of Perez Dasmariñas in honor of Don Perez Dasmariñas who was the Governor General of the Islands from 1590 to 1593. Chinese oarsmen whom he had hired murdered him. His son, Don Luis Perez Dasmariñas also lost his life in the hands of the Chinese in 1603. Don Gomez Dasmariñas was well remembered because he was the one who ordered complete fortification of Intramuros and the construction of Fort Santiago.
The town of Perez Dasmariñas was founded by the Recollect Fathers in the year 1867 under the patronage of the Immaculate Conception whose feast day is celebrated on December 8. Perez Dasmariñas was formerly a “visita” of Imus that was also founded by the Recollect Fathers in 1795. According to records, the first settlers must have arrived in 1861 and were believed to be the families of Gil Tirona, Vicente Guevarra, Eleuterio Geda and Eustaquio Paulino.
Dasmariñas has a colorful history. On February 25, 1897, the Spanish forces came and brought destruction to the town and its people. Almost fifty percent of the population was wiped out during the attack and almost all buildings were burned down except the Roman Catholic Church which remained undamaged. The Spaniards utilized it as their garrison. At the coming of the American fleet of Admiral Dewey and the famous naval battle of Manila Bay in May 1898, which defeated the Spanish forces under Admiral Montojo, the people of Dasmariñas under the leadership of Placido Campos, fought and drove away the Spaniards occupying the town. Noted Filipino generals like Flaviano Yengko and Crispulo Aguinaldo (elder brother of Gen. Emilio Aguinaldo) died in action in Dasmariñas during the encounters.
The people who resettled back thereafter rebuilt the town that was heavily devastated. So sooner was it rehabilitated, then in the late 1800s, the Filipinos were again up in arms, this time against the Americans. Then again, Dasmariñas was annihilated and identity was lost in a heap of rabble. Two years later, the American regime took over and in 1904, the town was again reverted to its former distinction as part of Imus. In 1917, however, Dasmariñas re-gained its recognition as a separate municipality. Consequently, provincial Governor A. Soriano along with leading officials of the town particularly Placido N. Campos, Francisco Barzaga, Felipe Tirona and many others, convened and voted to drop the name “Perez” and retain “Dasmariñas” as its official name.
Today, Dasmariñas is complemented with over 556,000 population (as of 2007). As one of Cavite’s municipalities situated within the Metro Manila urban area, Dasmariñas serves as the main catalyst for a major economic development and sustained growth throughout the 1990s. The influx of industries and real estate developments is unheard of in a town outside of a financial district, attest to the fact that Dasmariñas is way ahead in crossing the bridge to the 21st century. The next millennium is a challenge but Dasmariñas will no doubt prevail.
With the future of our children as our guaranteed reward and with history as our sole judge, let us me the present head on to the future with a firm resolve to become the kind of citizens that this city would be proud of.
Let our accomplishments inspire us and challenge us to push harder, and to dream bigger.
A unified citizenry is this city's unshakable force. Our passion is our stirring flame. Together, we walk to claim the future.
Onward, forward, Dasmarineños!
A peaceful, environment–friendly, and highly urbanized city with service oriented, well–educated, and skilled Dasmarineños.
Efficient and adequate delivery of basic services and programs through strong leadership and good governance; and empower people for the realization and enhancement of their socio-economic development.
The municipality of Dasmariñas is one of the fastest growing municipalities in the province of Cavite. Numerous commercial establishments, which include major shopping malls, fast foods, groceries, convenient stores, restaurants and other service-oriented businesses, are mostly concentrated in the town proper. Industrial establishments are located in the outskirts of the municipality. It has the greatest number of universities in the province.
From an agri-based economy, the town of Dasmariñas has evolved into a highly urbanized and industrial town. It now boasts of three industrial estates, namely: First Cavite Industrial Estate (FCIE) in Barangay Langkaan, Dasmariñas Technopark located in Barangay Paliparan I and NHA in Bagong Bayan. Aside from these industrial areas, there are 240 other factories/business establishments scattered in the different barangays that sum up to a total of 309 operational industries in the municipality. Dasmariñas is home to hundreds of thousands of residents who occupy the more than 70 residential subdivisions of the municipality. It also serves as a haven to investors with its industrial estates and diverse pool of manpower. The rapid growth of the municipal population near universities, industrial estates and factories provides a ready market for real estate ventures such as subdivisions, apartments and other support services. Its infrastructure projects involving major road construction and widening support the town in its functional role as one of the residential, commercial, industrial and university centers of Cavite. To protect its environment, Dasmariñas has adopted its Luntiang Dasmariñas program, which is envisioned to plant 100,000 seedlings planted over the town during the year 2000.
Dasmariñas is partly lowland and partly hill. The Poblacion itself is elevated. From an elevation of 80 meters at the Poblacion, the land rises to 250 meters towards Silang. Generally, land near rivers and creeks are rugged. Dasmariñas is outside the typhoon belt and has no fault line constraints. Further, it is served by natural drainage system since it is traversed by several rivers and water tributaries draining to the Manila Bay. The town has not yet to experience floods.
Two pronounced seasons: wet season and dry season. Wet season covers the period from May to December of each year and dry season covers the period from January to April.
The temperature in Dasmariñas has been noted to range from below 60 F to about 90 F. Further, south, however, where there is a higher elevation, the temperature becomes as cool as 50 F during the Christmas season.
A bill was filed by Congressman Joseph Abaya with co-authors Congressman Pidi Barzaga and Crispin Remulla. The bill is supported by Senator Panfilo Lacson. It was approved by the House on 2008-06-11, transmitted to on 2008-06-17 and received by the Senate on 2008-06-17. However Dasmariñas cityhood housebill no. 5258 section 64 also includes the City of Dasmariñas shall have its own legislative district to commence in the next national election after the effectivity of this Act.
Strongly sloping to elevated areas cover approximately 1,532.16 hectares or 18.61% of the total area. These are dispersed among Burol, Langkaan, Paliparan, Salawag, Sampaloc and San Agustin. Areas with slopes 10.1 to 18% cover about 575.72 hectares of land in portions of Salawag, Salitran, Burol, and other parts.
On the other hand, gently sloping or undulating areas comprise merely 710.4 hectares or 8.62% of the total land area while undulating areas with a slope of 2.6 to 5% account for the biggest percentage of 50.59% of the total land area equivalent to 4, 165.64 hectares of land which are dispersed over the municipality except Sabang and San Jose.
The idea of converting Dasmariñas into a component city was proposed in 1997 and again in 2000, but the people overwhelmingly rejected it. However, recent unofficial surveys have shown that the municipality’s inhabitants are now willing to push forward with cityhood.
House Bill no. 5258 converting the municipality of Dasmariñas into a component city was filed by Congressman Pidi Barzaga. It is already approved by the House on 2008-11-17, transmitted to and received by the Senate on 2008-11-20.
Represents the intelligent, skillfull and productive Dasmarineño who is equipped with remarkable knowledge which brought economic progress thereby the City of Dasmariñas globally competitive.
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