Spanish Colonial Era As early as 1878, Dasol was part of municipality of
San Isidro de Potot, which also included the present-day municipalities of
Mabini (at that time was named as Barrio Balincaguin), and
Burgos, in
Zambales province. At that time, only a few people lived in Dasol. Balincaguin was the most thickly populated barrio and later became an independent municipality. The people, in their desire for better living conditions, moved to the south-west. They found good fishing grounds and they decided to stay along the coast in the barrio of Uli, Dasol. Dasol was repopulated by the Ilocano settlers from
Paoay,
Ilocos Norte headed by Don Matias Bustamante in 1830.
Philippine Revolution A revolutionary group was organized in the Central Luzon on January 14, 1898, under
General Francisco Macabulos. The Pangasinan sub-group was headed by Vicente del Prado, who together with Daniel Maramba reached an understanding to launch an attack on
Spanish situations. On March 7, 1898, a simultaneous attack was suddenly made upon convents in number of towns of western Pangasinan (then as northern Zambales). Areas of San Isidro de Potot, Dasol (proper), and Eguia were among attacked. The Spanish detachments in these towns and around fifty Spanish
friars were defeated.
American Invasion Era Secession from Zambales and other towns On November 7, 1903, the northern part of Zambales was annexed to the province of
Pangasinan by virtue of Act No. 1004. The municipalities ceded were
Alaminos,
Bolinao,
Anda, San Isidro de Potot,
Bani,
Agno, and
Infanta. Townsfolk cited alleged lack of concern for the towns' interest and welfare by the Zambales provincial government and was encouraged to join Pangasinan province. However, for allegedly the same reason, there was a movement to rejoin Zambales, which clamor was aroused by the incumbency of then President
Ramon Magsaysay, a Zambales-born president in the middle of the 1950s. This proposal was defeated when Governor Aguedo Agbayani of Pangasinan became the governor. In 1911, by virtue of Executive Order No. 25, signed by Governor-General
William Cameron Forbes, Dasol seceded from San Isidro de Potot, San Isidro de Potot was renamed as Burgos (in honor of
José Burgos) and Balincaguin was renamed as Mabini (in honor of
Apolinario Mabini).
Boundary issues Ever since its creation, the boundaries of Dasol with the municipalities of Burgos, Mabini and Infanta remain vague, for what the leaders of Dasol had claimed to be the boundaries then agreed upon and as allegedly borne out by records, are no longer respected by the respective officials of said adjoining municipalities. Instead, they have encroached into Dasol's domain. During the incumbency of Mayor Liceralde, he made an attempt to settle Dasol's boundary with Mabini, but even after two separate conferences between the officials of the two towns were already had, each group was adamant in its own version. Considering that there was no visible sign of a probability for an amicable settlement of the dispute, the idea was abandoned so as to give way to court battle. He allegedly said that it was time-consuming to gather relevant documentary evidence (parol evidence no longer available due to the death of reliable witnesses) that would clinch the case for Dasol. The same appears to be true with respect to the other boundary conflicts.
Japanese occupation Dasol Bay witnessed several naval battles in
World War II. On August 23, 1944, while searching for new targets, the American submarines
USS Harder and
USS Hake were attacked by Kaibokan CD-22 and PB-102 (ex-
USS Stewart (DD-224)). Thinking that it was just a Japanese minesweeper and a three-stack
Thai destroyer
Phra Ruang, the Japanese vessel operated in consort with the anti-submarine vessel attacked and sank the
Harder through with
depth charges. The
Hake was also attacked but escaped and arrived at
Fremantle Harbor,
Australia on September 24, 1944. On November 6, 1944, while guarding convoy Ma-Ta 31, the
Japanese cruiser Kumano was attacked by a US submarine wolf-pack consisting of the
Batfish, the
Guitarro, the
Bream, the
Raton and the
Ray. In all, the American submarines launched 23 torpedoes towards the convoy, two of which struck the
Kumano. The first hit destroyed the ship's recently replaced bow, and the second damaged its starboard engine room. The
Kumano escaped and was towed to Dasol Bay by the cargo ship
Doryo Maru, and from there the ship was moved to the beach and underwent repairs. On November 25, 1944, the Kumano came under aerial attack by aircraft launched by the
USS Ticonderoga. Five torpedoes and four 500 pound bombs struck the ship, and rolled over and sank in about 31 m (100 ft) of water. ==Geography==