Santa Monica, officially the Municipality of Sta. Monica ( Surigaonon: Lungsod nan Santa Monica; ), 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 ...

Surigao del Norte Surigao del Norte ( Surigaonon: ''Probinsya nan Surigao del Norte''; ; Tagalog: ''Hilagang Surigao''), officially the Province of Surigao del Norte, is a province in the Philippines located in the Caraga region of Mindanao. The province was fo ...

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 9,423 people. It is also known as Sapao. Santa Monica is one of the two northernmost towns of

Siargao Island Siargao is a tear-drop shaped island in the Philippine Sea situated 196 kilometers southeast of Tacloban. It has a land area of approximately . The east coast is relatively straight with one deep inlet, Port Pilar. The coastline is marked by a s ...

. The other is the municipality of

Burgos Burgos () is a city in Spain located in the autonomous community of Castile and León. It is the capital and most populous municipality of the province of Burgos. Burgos is situated in the north of the Iberian Peninsula, on the confluence of th ...

. Although many sources refer to it as "Santa Monica" it is officially named "Sta. Monica".

Etymology

Santa Monica is named after its patron saint,

Saint Monica Monica ( – 387) was an early North African Christian saint and the mother of Augustine of Hippo. She is remembered and honored in the Catholic and Orthodox Churches, albeit on different feast days, for her outstanding Christian virtues, partic ...

, in shortened

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...

term. It was originally known as Sapao, a name given by the first Spaniards who reached the area. According to one version of the story, a fisherman, upon being asked by the Spaniards about the name of the place, replied "no sapao," meaning he missed catching the school of fish. Another version suggests that a fisherman responded "sapao," meaning his

banca Banca may refer to: Places * Bangka Island, an island lying east of Sumatra, part of Indonesia * Banca, Pyrénées-Atlantiques, a commune of the Pyrénées-Atlantiques ''département'', France * Banca, Tasmania, a locality in Tasmania, Australia * ...

was full of fish.

History

Santa Monica was originally known as a pueblo (town) named Sapao during the Spanish regime. Eventually, Sapao was reverted into a barrio, part of the municipality of Numancia (now Del Carmen). It regained its municipal status on October 1, 1953, by virtue of Executive Order No. 623. It then consisted of barrios Alegria, Baybay, Bailan, Bitaug, Burgos, Cabugsan, Libertad, Rizal, and Sapao. On June 17, 1967, the municipality of Sapao was renamed Santa Monica and five barrios, including Burgos, and three sitios were separated from it to form the new municipality of

Geography

Barangays

Santa Monica is politically subdivided into 11

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 while 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 ...

. * Abad Santos * Alegria * Bailan * Garcia * Libertad * Mabini * Mabuhay (

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 ...

) * Magsaysay * Rizal * T. Arlan (

) * Tangbo

Climate

Demographics

Economy

References

External links

Santa Monica Profile at PhilAtlas.com

Santa Monica Profile at the DTI Cities and Municipalities Competitive Index
*

Philippine Standard Geographic Code The Philippine Standard Geographic Code (PSGC) is a systematic classification and coding for geographic areas in the Philippines. It classifies areas based on the country's four levels of administrative divisions: regions, provinces, municipalities ...

Philippine Census Information

Local Governance Performance Management System
{{Authority control Municipalities of Surigao del Norte