San Manuel, officially the Municipality of San Manuel (; ; ), is a municipality in the province of Tarlac, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 28,387 people.
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.
From Manila, the town is accessible via the MacArthur Highway, or via the NLEX (North Luzon Expressway), SCTEX (Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway) and TPLEX (Tarlac–Pangasinan–La Union Expressway); it is the last town of Tarlac before entering the town of Rosales in the province of Pangasinan.
San Manuel is from Manila and is from the provincial capital, Tarlac City.
Barangays
San Manuel is politically subdivided into 15 barangays. Each barangay consists of puroks and some have sitios.
Colubot
Lanat
Legaspi
Mangandingay
Matarannoc
Pacpaco
Poblacion
Salcedo
San Agustin
San Felipe
San Jacinto
San Miguel
San Narciso
San Vicente
Santa Maria
Climate
Demographics
In the 2020 census, the population of San Manuel, Tarlac, was 28,387 people, with a density of .
Languages
Ilocano, Kapampangan and Pangasinan are commonly spoken, with Tagalog and English as official languages used for secondary education, business and governance.
Economy
The town of San Manuel is a typically rural community located at the northernmost horn of the Province of Tarlac.
Culture
The municipality is known to have the best corn quality in the country which they celebrate every February during their Mais Festival.