Moncada, officially the Municipality of Moncada (; ; ), is a 1st class municipality in the province of Tarlac, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 62,819 people.
The economy is primarily based on agriculture with rice, corn, vegetables, root crops, watermelons, and mangoes as major products. The fishery sector, once a vibrant source of food and income, needs rehabilitation after the onslaught of lahar flows resulting from the Mount Pinatubo eruption. There is a growing retail and service sector in the poblacion along the national highway. Light industries are yet to evolve in the municipality to generate much needed employment. Ilocano, Kapampangan, and Pangasinan are commonly spoken, with Tagalog and English as official languages used for secondary education, business and governance.
Moncada is from Manila and is from the provincial capital, Tarlac City. It is accessible via the MacArthur Highway, and from Manila via the NLEX (North Luzon Expressway), SCTEX (Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway), and TPLEX (Tarlac–Pangasinan–La Union Expressway).
History
Originally, Moncada was a part of the town of Paniqui. Oral history indicates that the area was originally named after the principal crop grown in the place, a certain type of tobacco known as "muscada". Oral history indicates also that the newly inhabited lands in early 18th century - until then uncoltivated and uninhabited due to its harsh geological situation and location - by some pioneer families (the first settlers seem to be unknown by official documents) that fled Spanish persecutions in nearby towns, was called San Ramon in honor of the saint whom they venerated. From the administrative organization of its mother town Paniqui in mid-18th century, barrio San Ramon, which was fast developing in economy and population, became a municipality and was named "Moncada" in honor of the powerful Moncada family, from Valencia, Spain. San Manuel, the neighboring municipality, was a former barrio of Moncada.
The pioneer families of Moncada increased in number as time went on and probably mostly from the towns of the now so-called First District of Tarlac and from the nearby towns of Pangasinan, where principally Ilocano was spoken. The history of Moncada is instilled in the minds of its people, through its progresses and achievements with time. Starting as a land of "El Dorado" (similar to the meaning of the term "gold rush"), a "golden land without gold" for landless and oppressed people by an oppressive colonial country, from a poor barrio that it was, now it became a first class town of the Philippines. Moncada must also look back on its written history, and especially, from what the many pioneer families had in reality contributed in the past for its development.
The American Occupation of the Philippines, right after the swift Spanish-American War (21 April 1898 – 10 December 1898), produced local revolutionaries who fought for Philippine self-determination and the Country free from foreign domination. The Katipunan revolutionary secret society, which was founded by Andres Bonifacio in 1872 as anti-Spanish colonialism in the Philippines, continued as a revolutionary secret society against the American Occupation after the Treaty of Paris (1898). The revolutionaries referred here are Placido Cuchapin and Nicolas Valenton who can be considered, from official document, the most important Moncada heroes of the Philippine-American War.
When the Philippines was placed under the authority of the United States, Cuchapin and Valenton were installed respectively as presidente and vice presidente and lieutenant of the police of Moncada. During this period of Philippine war against the United States, Placido Cuchapin and Nicolas Valenton were accused and sentenced by the Military Commission on 13 June 1901 for "Treachery in office and violation of the laws of war".War.
To summarize this part of the history of Moncada, it is enough to note here the Military Commission's charges and sentences on Placido Cuchapin and Nicolas Valenton. On Cuchapin the Military Commission stated: "And the commission does therefore sentence him, Placido Cuchapin, native, "To be confined at hard labor, under guard, at such place as the reviewing authority may direct, for the period of thirty (30) years."