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HISTORY (cont'd. page 3) Under the American regime, Daet was developed under the new order. On April 27, 1901, a civil government under the Philippine Commission was established in Ambos Camarines. Juan Pimentel Y. Campos was appointed as the first Municipal President. Later, he became the first Provincial Governor of Ambos Camarines. The Philippine Legislature passed an act in March 1919. The act authorized the Governor General to divide the province into Norte and Sur. Camarines Norte was to consists of the towns of Capalonga, Mambulao, Paracale, Indan, Labo, San Vicente, Talisay, Daet and Basud, and islands along the Pacific coast. Originally, Camarines was one political unit only. In 1829, the province of Camarines was divided in the first of a series of attempts to separate Camarines Norte from Camarines Sur. Ambos Camarines was divided into two, Camarines Norte Camarines Sur. The Camarines Norte province included the towns of Daet, Talisay, Indan, Labo, Paracale, Mambulao, Capalonga, Ragay, Lupi and Sipocot. In 1846, the towns of Sipocot, Lupi and Ragay were returned to Camarines Sur. Later, in 1854, the two provinces were again united to form the Province of Ambos Camarines. In 1857, they were again separated, and in 1893, again reunited. They remained united as Ambos Camarines until March 1919 when the American Governor approved an act dividing it into Camarines Norte and Camarines Sur. Until the end of the Spanish regime, barangay Calasgasan and the surrounding area was an independent municipality. It was later merged with Daet after the American liberation. The oldest hacienda, covering almost 400 hectares planted to abaca, is found in barangay Calasgasan where it is believed the municipal site once stood. However, this has yet to be proven by researchers. While Daet regained the old Calasgasan during the Spanish period, it however, lost the big barrios. These were Basud in 1911 and Mercedes in 1918. They were later created as new municipalities. During the World War II on December 12, 1941, the Japanese Imperial Forces landed in Legaspi, Albay. Six days later in December 18, Camarines Norte Governor Wenceslao Q. Vinzons organized guerilla units to fight the Japanese. On July 8, 1942 Vinzons was captured and was later executed by the Japanese. When the American Liberation Force came, General Douglas Macarthur on February 5, 1945, ordered the Sixth Army to occupy the Bicol Peninsula. With the assistance of the Filipino guerrillas, the region was liberated from the Japanese. More the fifty years after the Second World War and in the threshold of the 21st century, Daet has grown into a municipality of more than 80,000 people as of 2002 from a small Spanish town of 7,970 souls in 1751. It continues and still is the center and capital of Camarines Norte province.
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