The word Dipaculao allegedly stems from when the Ilongot people, the first inhabitants, held thanksgiving festivities to celebrate an abundant hunt and harvest. Their chieftain Dipac Script error: No such module "IPA". was drunk on basi and tubâ, so when he fell the Ilocanos present shouted: "Dipac naulaw" or "Naulaw ni Dipac" (“Dipac got dizzy”, idiomatically "Dipac is/got drunk").[1]
This etymology is doubtful as the name already appeared in Spanish records, when Franciscan priests established Misión de San Miguel de Dipaculao in 1719; at the time, there were no Ilocano settlers yet as the Ilongot were headhunters.[2][3] The name Dipaculao is likely derived from "di” ("native of" or "come from") and the Pakugao River, wherein “Pakugao” is composed of Ilongot words "paku" ("fern"), and "gao" ("get”).[4]
History
In the early 1921, migrants from Central Luzon including Ilocanos, mostly from neighboring Nueva Ecija, arrived at present-day municipality, which was then a large strip of virgin land by the Pacific Coast, then part of Nueva Vizcaya[1] from where others arrived. Another wave of Ilocano settlers arrived from the Ilocos Region, including La Union and Pangasinan.[5]Igorots from the Cordilleras also came down to lived alongside Ilocanos and the aboriginal Ilongot.[5][6] Other ethnic groups who came to and stayed in Dipaculao include Christianized Gaddang and Isinai settlers who settled the surrounding lowlands of Baler Bay, Gaddang from Nueva Vizcaya and Mountain Province and Isinai from Nueva Vizcaya.[7] Later that year, the large strip of land where the municipality is located was returned to Tayabas (present-day Quezon Province).[8]
On November 27, 1950, Dipaculao was converted from a barrio of Baler into an independent municipality of Quezon via Executive Order No. 375 by PresidentElpidio Quirino.[9] Anacleto Mijares was the first Municipal Mayor, and administered the transition.[10]
On June 21, 1957, the sitios of Dimabuno, Laboy, Dinadiawan and Puangi were converted into barrios.[11][12][13][14] Several more sitios were converted into barrios on June 18, 1966.[15]
The Dipaculao Schools District Office governs all educational institutions within the municipality. It oversees the management and operations of all private and public, from primary to secondary schools.[16]
