San Simon, officially the Municipality of San Simon (; ), is a 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 ...

Pampanga Pampanga, officially the Province of Pampanga (; ; ), is a province in Central Luzon in the Philippines. Lying on the northern shore of Manila Bay, Pampanga is bordered by Tarlac to the north, Nueva Ecija to the northeast, Bulacan to the east, ...

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 59,182 people.

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 (; ), is a municipality in the province of Pampanga, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 117,160 people. The town is famous for its Apung Iru Fluvial Procession, which i ...

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 the Spanish governor-general of the Philippines from July 1770 to 30 October 1776. He was born in the Basque Country in northern Spain. Oidor at the Royal Audience of Manila an ...

, the

governor general of the Philippines The governor-general of the Philippines (; ; ) was the title of the Executive (government), government executive during the colonial period of the Philippines, first by History of the Philippines (1521–1898), the Spanish in Mexico City and l ...

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 ( ; ; ; ), is a landlocked province in the Philippines located in the Central Luzon region. Its capital is the city of Palayan, while Cabanatuan, its former capital, is the largest Local gove ...

, 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

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 partially as R-8 of the Metro Manila arterial road network, is a controlled-access highway that ...

via the San Simon current exit. It is from

San Fernando San Fernando may refer to: People *Ferdinand III of Castile (c. 1200–1252), called ''San Fernando'' (Spanish) or ''Saint Ferdinand'', King of Castile, León, and Galicia Places Argentina *San Fernando de la Buena Vista, city of Greater Buenos ...

, 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 ...

, and from

Baliwag Baliwag, officially the City of Baliwag (; , Kapampangan: ''Lakanbalen ning Baliwag/Siudad ning Baliwag,'' also spelled as ''Baliuag''), is a component city in the province of Bulacan, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a popul ...

Barangays

San Simon is politically subdivided into 14

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 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 ...

. * Concepcion * De La Paz * San Juan (

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 ...

) * 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 The Archdiocese of San Fernando (; ; ; Kapampangan: ''Arkidiosesis ning San Fernando'') is the archdiocese of the Latin Church of the Catholic Church in Pampanga, Philippines which has territorial jurisdiction over the whole province of Pampanga a ...

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

Kapampangan language Kapampangan, Capampáñgan, 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 p ...

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 The Members Church of God International (), abbreviated as MCGI, is an international Christian religious organization with headquarters in the Philippines. It is popularly known in the Philippines as ''Ang Dating Daan'' (; abbreviated as AD ...

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

Local 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 Go ...

) 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 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 ...

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{{Authority control Municipalities of Pampanga Populated places on the Pampanga River