San Simon, officially the Municipality of San Simon ( pam, Balen ning San Simon; tl, Bayan ng San Simon), is a 3rd class municipality in the

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

Pampanga Pampanga, officially the Province of Pampanga ( pam, Lalawigan ning Pampanga; tl, Lalawigan ng Pampanga ), is a province in the Central Luzon region of the Philippines. Lying on the northern shore of Manila Bay, Pampanga is bordered by Tarlac ...

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 59,182 people. San Simon is accessible via the

North Luzon Expressway The North Luzon Expressway (NLEX), signed as E1 of the Philippine expressway network, partially as N160 of the Philippine highway network, and R-8 of the Metro Manila arterial road network, is a limited-access toll expressway that connects ...

via the San Simon current exit.

History

In 1770, Don Mariano del Pilar de los Reyes founded a farming village named Barrio Del Pilar''', which later became the town of San Simon. The village was located between the towns of San Luis in the north and

Apalit Apalit, officially the Municipality of Apalit ( pam, Balen ning Apalit; tl, Bayan ng Apalit), is a 1st class municipality in the province of Pampanga, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 117,160 people. The town is ...

in the south. As the population of the village kept on growing, the village leaders of that time petitioned to consolidate the village and portions of the towns of San Luis and Apalit, to form an independent ''pueblo'' (town). On November 15, 1771, Don

Simón de Anda y Salazar Simón de Anda y Salazar (28 October 1709 – 30 October 1776) was a Spanish Basque governor of the Philippines from July 1770 to 30 October 1776. Oidor at the Royal Audience of Manila and Lieutenant Governor De Anda y Salazar was an Oidor of th ...

, the

governor general of the Philippines The Governor-General of the Philippines (Spanish: ''Gobernador y Capitán General de Filipinas''; Filipino: ''Gobernador-Heneral ng Pilipinas/Kapitan Heneral ng Pilipinas''; Japanese: ) was the title of the government executive during the colon ...

at that time, approved the official creation of the town. The town was named after the Spanish governor general who approved its creation and of the Apostle Simon Peter, the patron saint of Apalit. In 1898, the retreating forces of General Antonio Luna, on their way to

Nueva Ecija Nueva Ecija, officially the Province of Nueva Ecija ( tgl, Lalawigan ng Nueva Ecija , also ; ilo, Probinsia ti Nueva Ecija; pag, Luyag/Probinsia na Nueva Ecija; Kapampangan: ''Lalawigan/Probinsia ning Nueva Ecija''), is a landlocked province i ...

, burned the town's parish church. The church was only rebuilt after almost a century in 1979. In 1904, San Simon was merged with San Luis but only for three years. In 1920, the geographical boundaries of the towns of Apalit, San Luis, and Simon are officially established. By the year 1835, San Simon had eight ''barrios'' (barangay). But in the late 1940s, the population grew and the number of barrios were increased to fourteen, which has been maintained until the present times.

Geography

Barangays

San Simon is politically subdivided into 14

barangay A barangay (; abbreviated as Brgy. or Bgy.), historically referred to as barrio (abbreviated as Bo.), is the smallest administrative division in the Philippines and is the native Filipino term for a village, district, or ward. In metropolitan ...

s. * Concepcion * De La Paz * San Juan (

Poblacion ''Poblacion'' (literally "town" or "settlement" in Spanish language in the Philippines, Spanish; ) is the common term used for the administrative center, central, downtown, old town or central business district area of a Philippines, Philippi ...

) * San Agustin * San Isidro * San Jose * San Miguel * San Nicolas * San Pablo Libutad * San Pablo Proper * San Pedro * Santa Cruz * Santa Monica * Santo Niño

Climate

Demographics

In the 2020 census, the population of San Simon, Pampanga, was 59,182 people, with a density of .

Religion

The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of San Fernando has jurisdiction over the 1771 Virgen del Pilar Parish Church. Like most Kapampangan people, residents of San Simon retain their

Kapampangan language Kapampangan or Pampangan is an Austronesian language, and one of the eight major languages of the Philippines. It is the primary and predominant language of the entire province of Pampanga and southern Tarlac, on the southern part of Luzon's c ...

and traditional culture and arts brought about by their Malay ancestors and enriched by Chinese, Spanish, American, Japanese and other ethnic and foreign cultures. Religious affiliations are: *Catholic 80% *

Members Church of God International Member may refer to: * Military jury, referred to as "Members" in military jargon * Element (mathematics), an object that belongs to a mathematical set * In object-oriented programming, a member of a class ** Field (computer science), entries in ...

10% *Iglesia ni Cristo 7% *others 3%

Economy

The principal industries in San Simon are farming, fishing and poultry and swine industries. There are two public markets in San Simon, one in the old poblacion area and another one located in the industrial zone area.

Government

San Simon is governed by a mayor and vice mayor who are elected to three-year terms. The mayor is the executive head and leads the town's departments in executing the ordinances and improving public services. The vice mayor heads a legislative council (

Sangguniang Bayan The Sangguniang Bayan () is the local legislative branch of the municipal governments in the Philippines. It is responsible for passing ordinances and resolutions for the administration of a municipality. Its powers are defined by the Local Gov ...

) consisting of councilors from the barangays of barrios.

List of local chief executives

Available records at the Municipal Hall list the following town executives from 1898 until present:

Education

For elementary and high school education, residents of San Simon are served by thirteen elementary schools, two barangay public high schools, and three private schools. For Example: *Assumpta Technical High School (ATHS) *Pampanga Central High School (PCHS) *St. Augustine Institute of Pampanga (SAIP) *San Simon High School (SSHS) *San Pedro Elementary School (SPES) *San Pedro National High School (SPNHS) *Next Generation Technological College *Dela Paz Libutad High School

Communications

For telecommunications, the town is served by Digitel, PLDT, PILTEL, DATELCOM, SMART, GLOBE and with new copper line CONVERGE ICT.

Gallery

References

External links

San Simon Profile at PhilAtlas.com
* Philippine Standard Geographic Codebr>Philippine Census InformationLocal Governance Performance Management SystemOfficial Website
{{Authority control Municipalities of Pampanga Populated places on the Pampanga River