San Jose, Northern Samar
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San Jose is a 5th class municipality in the province of Northern Samar, Philippines. The municipality is located in the map aat 124 degrees or 28\A' latitude and 12 degrees or 30\A' longitude. Furthermore, it is located in the north central portion of the province about nineteen kilometers west of Catarman, the provincial capital, and about thirty kilometers east of Allen's Ferry Terminal connecting the islands of Luzon, Samar, Leyte and Mindanao via the Maharlika Highway. It is approximately one hundred-fifty kilometers north-northeast of Tacloban City, the Regional Center of Region VIII.
Politically, the municipality is bounded on the north by the Pacific Ocean, on the east by the Municipality of Bobon, on the south by the Municipality of Victoria, and on the west by the Municipality of Rosario. Its total land area of 8,867 hectares is generally underlain by well-bedded and moderately undulating terrain. The rock unit is probably part of the Mawo Volcanics, which is widespread in Northern Samar. The terrain is diversely oriented with inclination angles that vary 10 degrees to 14 degrees. In the surveyed area, swamps are notable even in the eastern part of the town proper. More than half of the land area in the poblacion was reclaimed form the surrounding marshlands.
Being a coastal town, it has several islets within its municipal waters. There are six islets located at the northern coast of the municipality, which abound with natural resources waiting to be developed. These are the following: Cabaungon Grande, Cabaungon Pequiño, Tandang, Pangilala, Puropangdan, Matungko and Maghungaw which are plentiful in fishes, crustaceans, and other marine products. These islets also hold potential for eco-tourism.
The land occupied by the municipality is actually valley bounded on the east by the Palusong Mountain Range moving south and on the west by the Hitaasan Mountain Range. The northern portion of the municipality is occupied by the islands aforementioned which together with the coastline is arranged in such a manner that a lake is formed.
The land where the poblacion is located consists generally of alluvial flat and swamplands which has an elevation of less than 10 meters above sea level, while going south, south easterly, the physiography abruptly rises to moderately rugged hills with a peak of sixty-eight meters. The drainage system in the area generally flows northeast towards Carangian Channel. Vegetation in this area generally consists of mangrove trees and shrubs, cogonal growth, and coconuts. The flat areas are planted with rice, corn and coconuts.
There are small flat and level areas along Barangay Dao and Barangay Geratag creeks. There are also wide coastal swamps. Most of the agricultural land areas are located along the valley between Palusong Mountain Range, near Barangay Aguadahan, and Barangay Geratag in the east, and Hitaasan Mountain Range near Barangay Bagong Sabang and Barangay Bonglas in the west.
According to the 2000 census, it has a population of 13,564 people in 2,729 households.
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[edit] History
The Municipality of San Jose grew from a place that was then covered with bushes, shrubs, zacates. Marshes, where wild chicken, locally known as ilajas, abounded. It was then called carangian being the site where hunters assembled their trap, known as carang, to catch wild chickens. So, whenever one saw a person bringing his contraption carang, he already knew that he was going to carangan. In time, the word carangan was corrupted and the place began to be known as Carangian. Due to favorable economic opportunities, people migrated to the place. As population grew, it became a barrio within the administrative jurisdiction of the Municipality of Bobon known as Carangian.
With the construction of a deep-sea port, steamers and ships from Manila and other countries began to dock in Carangian, which due to its strategic location and the presence of the well-protected deep-sea port, quickly became the main port entry of Northern Samar. As its economy boomed, it was inevitable that the barrio would aspire to become a municipality. As early as 1932, Barrio Carangian had been aspiring to become an independent municipality from its mother town of Bobon. In that year, the Governor of Samar, Honorable Pedro Arteche, conducted a plebiscite for the conversion of Barrio Carangian into a municipality. Unluckily, however, due to the overwhelming negative votes in the Poblacion of Bobon and some other barrios which were jealous of the imminent independence of Carangian that dream was not realized.
Before the elections of 1949, the leaders of Carangian saw a golden chance to separate from Bobon in the rift between President Elpidio Quirino and José Dira Avelino, President of the Senate. A delegation was formed under the leadership of Honorable Eladio T. Balite, Representative of the first district of Samar. The delegation was immediately dispatched to Manila to lobby for the independence of Carangian. After more than a month of going from office to office in Manila, the delegation succeeded in having the Barrio of Carangian created into the Municipality of San Jose. Eugenio Perez, Speaker of the House, was also instrumental in the creation of the new municipality. Thus, on July 25, 1949 by virtue of Executive Order No. 248 of the then President Elpidio Quirino, Carangian together with eleven became the new municipality of San Jose in honor of the late Jose Tagros Balite, Sr, then Mayor of Bobon, Samar.
[edit] Barangays
San Jose is politically subdivided into 16 barangays.
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[edit] Local Chief Executives
The first person to have been elected to the post of Mayor of the newly created Municipality of San Jose in the province of Samar (which have included now independent Municipality of Biri and some parts adjoining to form the Municipality of Rosario} is the late Honorable Roque H. Dato (1949-51). He is the father of the late Bayani A. Dato who also assumed the post as the local chief executive, or Mayor, of San Jose in the newly created province of Northern Samar (1968-86; 1988-95).
Don Francisco S. Evaristo, the late Mayor of Bobon, Samar and a husband to Doña Pelagia Arcebuche del Valle who belongs to a prominent and wealthy del Valle family in San Jose (Carangian), is the next Mayor of San Jose (1952-55) to have succeeded after the late Honorable Roque H. Dato, his known-rival in chaotic politics.
For a trivia, it has been a great surprise for rivals, the former Mayors of San Jose, when Bayani A. Dato married Dr. Norma del Valle Evaristo, the eldest daughter of the late Don Francisco S. Evaristo. This is because Bayani's father, the late Roque H. Dato, is one of the state witnesses in the framed-up killing incident of Pastor Muyot, of which Norma's father, the late Don Francisco S. Evaristo, among others, is found guilty beyond reasonable doubt.
Other persons to have been elected to the post are: Honorable Agustin Pondemira (1956-67); and Honorable Felipe Ballesta (1986-88).
The current Mayor of San Jose is Honorable Damian T. Luzon, Jr. (1995-2001; 2007-present) characterized present administration as his comeback to the post after losing it during the 2001 local election to former Mayor of San Jose, Honorable Lazaro A. Ballesta (2001-07).
For a trivia, the current Mayor of San Jose is a grandnephew of the late Doña Pelagia Arcebuche del Valle - Evaristo belonging to the vast Tingzon Clan of San Jose (Carangian).
[edit] Facilities
[edit] Body of Water
[edit] TourismWith the existence of small island in front of ther municipality arranged in a manner which makes the internal waters of the municipality somewhat like a lake, the municipality could be positioned as a tourism lake devoted to resort tourism. Sports like kayaking, snorkeling, scuba diving and island hopping can be done along the tourism lake. Nature watching can be done by the tourists by trekking the Palusong Range overlooking the whole town, the surrounding, islands and adjacent municipality. [edit] Notable Carangianons in PoliticsCarangian (San Jose) is home to local notable persons in politics the Carangianons are proud of, to wit:
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