Baler

Baler lies on the eastern coast of Luzon, facing the Pacific and backed by the mountains of the Sierra Madre. Franciscan friars established a mission settlement here in 1609. Its coastal position exposed it to the force of the ocean: on 27 December 1735 a great wave remembered as the tromba marina overwhelmed the old town at Sabang. The disaster destroyed the settlement and forced survivors to establish their community elsewhere in the valley.