Bacoor is a suburban city in Cavite. It is a large, sprawling and squalid bedroom community just south of Metro Manila, with some slums along the coast of Manila Bay, and this city comes at your if your flight approaches or leaves Ninoy Aquino International Airport from the west.
Bacoor is large and sprawling, due to the fast pace of suburbanization that turned this quiet fishing and farming municipality into one of the most populous cities in Cavite. It just lies south of Metro Manila, and its suburban character can be seen from aircraft taking off or landing at Ninoy Aquino International Airport from the west.
Little is known about Bacoor's history, but it has some bits of history. Mariano Gomez, one of the Filipino secular priests collectively called the Gomburza, served Bacoor's old parish church for 48 years until he was arrested and executed along with Jose Burgos and Jacinto Zamora at the garrote for alleged involvement in the Cavite Mutiny. Bacoor is one of the first towns to rebel against Spanish rule at the beginning of the Philippine Revolution, and the turning point of the rebellion, the Battle of Zapote Bridge, happened in 1897 near the boundary with the Spanish-era province of Manila, but within the year, the town and Cavite province fell back to the Spaniards. A heritage home, the Cuenca Residence, was a site for meetings by the Filipino revolutionary group Katipunan.
- Zapote Bridge. A historic arch bridge at the boundary with Las Piñas, where two battles during the Philippine Revolution and the Philippine-American War, the 1897 Battle of Zapote Bridge and the 1899 Battle of Zapote River, occurred. The 1897 battle was a Filipino victory, while the 1899 battle was an American victory (as they used gun boats to devastate the Filipino positions). At the middle of the bridge, since bypassed by a modern six-lane one, is a National Historical Marker commemorating the two battles.
- Bacoor Church. Despite this being old, this has an obscure history, but it was part of the Spanish-era town (pueblo), and notably, one of the Gomburza, Mariano Gomez, became one of its parish priests until he was arrested in 1872 for alleged involvement in the Cavite Mutiny and was executed at the garrote in Bagumbayan, Manila. There is a historic marker dedicated to Gomez.
Zapote Bridge. A historic arch bridge at the boundary with [[Las Piñas]], where two battles during the Philippine Revolution and the Philippine-American War, the 1897 Battle of Zapote Bridge and the 1899 Battle of Zapote River, occurred. The 1897 battle was a Filipino victory, while the 1899 battle was an American victory (as they used gun boats to devastate the Filipino positions). At the middle of the bridge, since bypassed by a modern six-lane one, is a National Historical Marker commemorating the two battles.
Bacoor Church. Despite this being old, this has an obscure history, but it was part of the Spanish-era town (pueblo), and notably, one of the Gomburza, Mariano Gomez, became one of its parish priests until he was arrested in 1872 for alleged involvement in the Cavite Mutiny and was executed at the garrote in Bagumbayan, Manila. There is a historic marker dedicated to Gomez.
Next to Bacoor is Kawit, where the Philippines' declaration of independence is signed in 1898.
Other nearby places are:
- Imus - Another sprawling city, and the de jure capital of Cavite (but there are no provincial government offices there). One of the major battles of the Philippine Revolution, the Battle of Alapan, happened here.
- Dasmariñas — A city of over 660,000, it is a fast-growing economic center, with malls and universities.