About the Community of Gapan

          Gapan City is a 4^th class city in the Nueva Ecija. It is also called the “Rice Granary of the Philippines”.  Also, it has a nicknamed "Footwear Capital of the North”.  According to the 2000 census, it has a population of 89,199 people in 18,200 households. It has a land area of 185.68 km².  It is located in the southern part of the Nueva Ecija.  It is bounded to the north of Peñaranda and San Leonardo, bounded to the east by Gen.  Tinio, bounded to the south by San Miguel, and to the west by San Isidro.

          The first name given to Gapan is Ibon.  How it came to be known as Gapan is very interesting legend to know:  Spanish soldiers came there on a mission when they saw some natives crawling on some thick bushes.  Then the soldier stopped them, not knowing the local dialect, the Spanish soldiers ask what the name of place is.  But the natives know nothing about Spanish.  They thought that the Spanish soldiers are asking what they are doing.  So they answered in Tagalog, a local dialect, "Gumagapang gapang kami".  The Spanish took it as a name and henceforth called The Pueblo Gapang. In time, the letter "g" was dropped and the name Gapan sticks to this day. Another legend stated the name came from the climbing and crawling plants that were so numerous in the locality.  Another legend says the town's name came from the climbing and crawling plants that were abundant in the once forested area.(read more)