San Policarpo, officially the Municipality of San Policarpo (; ), is a

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality' ...

in the

province A province is an administrative division within a country or sovereign state, state. The term derives from the ancient Roman , which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire, Roman Empire's territorial possessions ou ...

Eastern Samar Eastern Samar ( Waray-Waray: ''Sinirangan Samar''; ), officially the Province of Eastern Samar, is a province in the Philippines located in the Eastern Visayas region. Its capital is the city of Borongan, which is the most populous. Eastern Samar ...

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 15,365 people. In the north-west, it is bounded by Arteche, in the north-east by the vast

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five Borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is ...

and in the south by Oras.

History

San Policarpo was established as a

barrio ''Barrio'' () is a Spanish language, Spanish word that means "Quarter (urban subdivision), quarter" or "neighborhood". In the modern Spanish language, it is generally defined as each area of a city delimited by functional (e.g. residential, comm ...

in 1837. The Municipality of San Policarpo was created from the barrios of San Policarpo, Bahay, Alugan, Pangpang, Japunan, Tabo, Binogawan and Cajagwayan of the municipality of Oras, then in the old province of Samar, by virtue of Republic Act No. 281 signed on June 16, 1948 and inaugurated on February 5, 1949. In 1952, the barrio of Santa Monica was transferred from Oras to San Policarpo. On June 19, 1965, the municipality was annexed to the newly-established province of

through a plebiscite and the sitios of Santa Cruz, Tan-awan, Bangon, Guin-osokan, Barras, Lipata and Libas were converted into barrios. The town was formerly named "Bunga", derived from the plant called ''bunga'' which was very abundant in the present site of the town. "''Bunga''" means fruit, thus the name indicates the fruit of the toils of its founders.

Geography

Barangays

San Policarpo is politically subdivided into 17

barangay The barangay (; abbreviated as Brgy. or Bgy.), historically referred to as ''barrio'', is the smallest Administrative divisions of the Philippines, administrative division in the Philippines. Named after the Precolonial barangay, precolonial po ...

s. Each barangay consists of

purok A ''purok'' () is an informal division within a barangay in the Philippines. While not officially considered a local government unit (LGU), a ''purok'' often serves as a unit for delivering services and administration within a barangay. ''Pur ...

s and some have

sitios A ''sitio'' (Spanish language, Spanish for "site") in the Philippines is a territorial enclave that forms part of a barangay. Typically rural, a ''sitios location is usually far from the center of the barangay itself and could be its own bar ...

. * Alugan * Bahay * Bangon * Baras (Lipata) * Binogawan * Cajagwayan * Japunan * Natividad * Pangpang * Barangay No. 1 (

Poblacion ''Poblacion'' (from Spanish '' población'', meaning "population"), sometimes abbreviated as Pob., is a term used in the Philippines to refer to the administrative center, downtown, old town, or commercial area of a city or municipality. It ...

) * Barangay No. 2 (

) * Barangay No. 3 (

) * Barangay No. 4 (

) * Barangay No. 5 (

) * Santa Cruz * Tabo * Tanauawan

Climate

Demographics

The population of San Policarpo, Eastern Samar, in the 2020 census was 15,365 people, with a density of .

Economy

The local economy of San Policarpo, one of the country's poorest towns, is dependent on fishing and farming.

References

External links

* Philippine Standard Geographic Code
Philippine Census Information

Local Governance Performance Management System
{{Authority control Municipalities of Eastern Samar