San Manuel, officially the Municipality of San Manuel (Ilocano: Ili ti San Manuel; Pangasinan: Baley na San Manuel; Tagalog: Bayan ng San Manuel), is a municipality in the province of Tarlac, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 28,387 people.[3]
History
When the barrio of San Jose was separated from the town of Moncada to be proclaimed a sister municipality in 1909, they renamed it “San Manuel” in honor of their benefactor, Don Manuel de Leon.
San Manuel was originally covered with dense forest, lakes and creeks. Wild animals roamed into the wilderness. Settlers from Zambales and Pangasinan and later those from the Ilocos region inhabited into the area to start a new life.
The residents of this barrio then did not know which jurisdiction they belonged. There are four towns surrounding the area namely: Moncada in the south; Anao and Cuyapo in the east and Alcala in the north. Neither of these duly organized municipalities claimed the sprawling area. However, an incident in the barrio helped the people solved the “jurisdiction” problem. A man gathering bees fell from the tree and died. The people immediately reported the incident to the nearby localities but only the Moncada authorities came and investigated the incident. Spurred by the gestures of the people of that town, they joined and submitted themselves under their jurisdiction and finally became an integral part of Moncada.
Geography
The Provinces of Pangasinan and Nueva Ecija border it on the north and east respectively, while on the southern side are the municipalities of Anao and Moncada.
In the 2020 census, the population of San Manuel, Tarlac, was 28,387 people,[3] with a density of 670 inhabitants per square kilometre or 1,700 inhabitants per square mile.
Languages
Ilocano, Kapampangan and Pangasinan are commonly spoken, with Tagalog and English as official languages used for secondary education, business and governance.