Pampanga

Province of central Luzon Island in the Philippines, largely co-extensive with the plain of the Pampanga River; area 2,181 sq km/842 sq mi; population (1995) 1,636,000. The capital is San Fernando. The main occupations are fishing, prawn farming, and the cultivation of rice and sugar cane. In the dry season melons are grown in the swampy delta region, which also serves as an extensive commercial fishpond. There are mangrove forests on the coast.