Bayambang Municipal Plaza and Bandstand

Bayambang Municipal Plaza and Bandstand

Bayambang's Municipal Plaza is said to have been constructed in 1952 from a land donated by the family of Dr. Ramon de Castro, the town's first doctor and the father of Atty. Numeriano de Castro Sr., the town's mayor in 1951-1952.

The present plaza occupies about 1.5 hectares of square lot in the heart of the town, its four directions laid out adjacent to the Presidencia (now called municipal hall), parish church, public market, and row of residences of the most prominent families of the town, as prescribed in the Leyes de Indias during the Spanish colonial period. (The original plaza was situated across the present plaza, in a lot occupied by the old accessoria that includes Royal Mall today, right along the Agno River.)

At the front end of the plaza is reserved a place of honor for Dr. Jose Rizal's monument, which Mayor De Castro put up from its original location.

A most significant event in town in the latter part of the 1930s is the erection of the public bandstand, the gazebo or pavilion-like structure in the middle of the public plaza, now the public auditorium, under the administration of Atty. Gerundio Umengan, Sr., then Presidente (now mayor) of Bayambang from 1937 to 1940. It could be said that the building of the bandstand at the public plaza is literally one of the crowning glories of Bayambang, as it was fashioned to look like a giant crown. The roofless structure was designed in 1934 by Architect Juan Arellano in the Art Deco style.

Surrounding the gazebo are coconut-like stone structures that serve as lamp posts which light the plaza. The structure at the heart of the plaza originally sat at the center of the auditorium throughout the years as a mute witness of the crowning of Bayambang’s beauty queens. It had been the holding area for the reigning beauties and their families, as well as the crowning guests. But alas, repurposing took its toll with the bandstand as its victim, for at present, the kiosk has been relegated to the main gate of the auditorium, to make way for a more spacious dancing hall.

(Dr. Clarita Jimenez, with updated information from Resty S. Odon; Jonathan de Castro; Reference: Architect Gerard Lico)