Padre Garcia, officially the Municipality of Padre Garcia (), is a first class

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 ...

Batangas Batangas, officially the Province of Batangas ( ), is a first class province of the Philippines located in the southwestern part of Luzon in the Calabarzon region. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 2,908,494 people, making ...

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 51,853 people. Padre Garcia's old name is ''Lumang Bayan'', as it is the former seat of government of the neighboring town of

Rosario Rosario () is the largest city in the central provinces of Argentina, Argentine province of Santa Fe Province, Santa Fe. The city, located northwest of Buenos Aires on the west bank of the Paraná River, is the third-most populous city in the ...

. The name of the town is derived from one of its most famous sons,

Padre Vicente Garcia Padre means father in many Romance languages, and it may also refer to: __NOTOC__ Arts and entertainment * "Padre" (song), by Gloria Lasso, 1956; covered by Toni Arden (1958) and Elvis Presley (1973) * ''Padre'' (film), a 2016 Italian drama * ''T ...

, a native of Barangay Maugat. He was one of the first defenders of

Jose Rizal Jose is the English transliteration of the Hebrew and Aramaic name ''Yose'', which is etymologically linked to ''Yosef'' or Joseph. Given name Mishnaic and Talmudic periods * Jose ben Abin * Jose ben Akabya *Jose the Galilean * Jose ben Halaft ...

's ''

Noli Me Tangere ''Noli me tangere'' ('touch me not') is the Latin version of a phrase spoken, according to John 20:17, by Jesus to Mary Magdalene when she recognized him after His resurrection. The original Koine Greek phrase is (). The biblical scene has b ...

''. He and Rizal were friends during the time when they were fighting for the Philippines' independence from

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

History

The town was originally part of

and known as ''Lumang Bayan'' or ''Sambat''. It officially became a separate municipality on December 1, 1949 through ''Executive Order No. 279'' signed by President

Elpidio Quirino Elpidio Rivera Quirino (; November 16, 1890 – February 29, 1956) was a Philippine nationality law, Filipino lawyer and politician who served as the 6th President of the Philippines from 1948 to 1953. A lawyer by profession, Quirino entered p ...

on October 11, 1949, with Jose A. Pesigan and Rustico K. Recto as the first elected mayor and vice mayor, respectively. It originally consisted of barrios Banaba, Banay-banay, Bawi, Castillo, Maugat, Lumang Bayan (''

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 ...

''), Pansol, Payapa, Quilo-quilo, San Miguel, San Felipe, and Tangob. In 1952, the town council founded the cattle market or ''bakahan''. This was in direct competition to the established livestock market of neighboring Rosario, which resulted in rivalry, intimidation, and violence at times. But the market succeeded and developed into the biggest auction market in

Southern Tagalog Southern Tagalog (), designated as Region IV, was an administrative region in the Philippines that comprised the current regions of Calabarzon and Mimaropa, the province of Aurora in Central Luzon, and most of the National Capital Region. ...

. Cattle trade happens during every Friday of the week.

Contemporary

On July 28, 2023, the new five-story municipal hall of Padre Garcia was inaugurated.

Geography

Padre Garcia is located at . It is from

Batangas City Batangas, sometimes called Batangas City and officially called the City of Batangas (), is a component city and capital of the province of Batangas, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 351,437 people. Batangas City ...

, from

Manila Manila, officially the City of Manila, is the Capital of the Philippines, capital and second-most populous city of the Philippines after Quezon City, with a population of 1,846,513 people in 2020. Located on the eastern shore of Manila Bay on ...

, from

Lucena Lucena (, American Spanish: , European Spanish: ), officially known as the City of Lucena (), is a highly urbanized city situated in the Calabarzon region (Region IV-A) of the Philippines. The city is the largest urban center and capital of ...

, and from

Lipa Lipa or LIPA (Cyrillic: Липа) may refer to: Acronym *Liquid Isopropyl alcohol * League for Independent Political Action, a former American progressive political organization *Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts, a performing arts school i ...

. It is bounded on the north and northwest by

Lipa City Lipa (), officially the City of Lipa (), is a component city in the province of Batangas, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 372,931 people. It is the first city with a charter in the province and one of five ...

; east by

San Antonio San Antonio ( ; Spanish for " Saint Anthony") is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in Greater San Antonio. San Antonio is the third-largest metropolitan area in Texas and the 24th-largest metropolitan area in the ...

, Quezon; and south and southwest by

. According to the

Philippine Statistics Authority The Philippine Statistics Authority (; PSA) is the central statistical authority of the Philippine government that collects, compiles, analyzes, and publishes statistical information on economic, social, demographic, political affairs, and gene ...

, the municipality has a land area of constituting of the total area of Batangas.

Barangays

Padre Garcia is politically subdivided into 18

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, as shown in the matrix below. 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 ...

Climate

Demographics

In the 2020 census, Padre Garcia had a population of 51,853. The population density was .

Economy

Gallery

File:PadreGarciaChurchjf9806 13.JPG, Parish of the Most Holy Rosary File:PadreGarciaMunicipalHalljf9925 28.JPG, Old municipal hall File:PadreGarciaChurchjf9863 14.JPG, Padre Garcia Health Center File:PadreGarcia,Batangasjf9983 08.JPG, Multi-purpose Hall

References

External links

* *

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 ...

{{Authority control Municipalities of Batangas Political divisions established by Philippine executive order 1949 establishments in the Philippines