Bolinao

Bolinao lies at the western entrance to Lingayen Gulf, on a peninsula facing the South China Sea. Across a narrow channel is Santiago Island, where local tradition places an early settlement at Binabalian. The people of Bolinao speak a distinct language also used on neighbouring Anda. Spanish missionaries reached the district in the late sixteenth century; the Augustinians took responsibility for the mission in 1609, making it part of a network of churches along the western coast.