The Rice Granary of the Philippines….

Nueva Ecija is one of the top producers of rice in the country and a major supplier of food crops to Metro Manila. The province main livelihood is farming and agriculture since it is blessed with fertile soil that makes it possible to produce great quantities of rice, corn, vegetables and other lowland crops. Its provincial capital of Palayan City, the word derived from palay and means “rice seed” or “raw grain”, is one of the planned cities of the country along with Manila, Baguio, Quezon City, Trece Martirez City and the Island Garden City of Samal and located in the heart of Nueva Ecija. Aside from the capital Munoz, Cabanatuan and San Jose are the other popular cities while 27 municipalities compose this major rice producing province. Pantabangan is where the popular Pantabangan Dam is located and a phenomenon in Philippine engineering while Penaranda is the hometown of my father, Ricardo Aves Deguzman.

Just because it is considered a province of rich agricultural lands does not mean there is no modern places. Fort Magasaysay is home to the Philippine Army Scout Rangers also a boot camp. Cabanatuan City has its modern infrastuctures and is a major trading place of Nueva Ecija also dubbed as the Tricycle Capital of the Philippines because of its enormous count of tricycle services registered. While Nueva Ecija is composed of different ethnic groups such as Ilocanos, Kapangpangans, Panggalatoks and Tagalogs the main language is Tagalog. Farming and agriculture is not only the prime resource of the province, it has also mine deposits such as copper, manganese and gold.

Festivals and attractions are also abundant and celebrated in Nueva Ecija. Most famous is the Pagsa San Juan Festival in honor of Saint John the Baptist where scores of devotees with mud smeared bodies and covered from head to toe with dried banana leaves and vines would emerge from their houses on the eve of June 24 and also a free-for all dousing with water. Minalungao National Park with its hair raising stiff ravines and majestic rock formations, this park was included in the tourism map of the Philippines while Barrio Puncan was dubbed as Little Baguio of Nueva Ecija because of its pine scented cool climate and other hot springs location. Malls and other favorite hang out places are not to be ignored in the modern city of Cabanatuan City such as the Mega Center.

This page dedicated to my father Ricardo Aves Deguzman and a native of Penaranda, Nueva Ecija.

In Loving Memory from Me and My Family. We Miss You Dad.
Born: January 20, 1921
Died: September 23, 1993

Tags: Deguzman, Minalungao National Park, Nueva Ecija, Penaranda