Santo Tomas, officially the Municipality of Santo Tomas (; ; ), 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 ...

Pangasinan Pangasinan, officially the Province of Pangasinan (, ; ; ), is a coastal Provinces of the Philippines, province in the Philippines located in the Ilocos Region of Luzon. Its capital is Lingayen, Pangasinan, Lingayen while San Carlos, Pangasi ...

, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 14,878 people, making it the least populated municipality in the province.

Geography

Santo Tomas is situated from the provincial capital

Lingayen Lingayen, officially the Municipality of Lingayen (; ; ; ), is a municipality of the Philippines, municipality and capital of the Philippine Province, province of Pangasinan, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 10 ...

, and from the country's capital city of

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 ...

Barangays

Santo Tomas is politically subdivided into 10

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 ...

. * La Luna * Poblacion East * Poblacion West * Salvacion * San Agustin * San Antonio * San Jose * San Marcos * Santo Domingo * Santo Niño

Climate

Demographics

Religion

St. Thomas Aquinas Parish Church

The 1973 St. Thomas Aquinas Parish (F-1973) Church (Barangay Santo Domingo) is under the

Roman Catholic Diocese of Urdaneta The Diocese of Urdaneta (Latin: ''Dioecesis Urdanetensis'') is a Latin Church ecclesiastical jurisdiction or diocese of the Catholic Church in the Philippines. The diocese was established in 1985 from territory of the Archdiocese of Lingayen-D ...

and the Vicariate of Sacred Heart (Vicar Forane is Father Hurley John S. Solfelix). Its Feast Day is January 28, the same feast day of the Church's patron and the town's patron, St. Thomas Aquinas. The current Parish Priest as of 2024 is Father Joseph Repollo. As a parish, Santo Tomas was erected on March 15, 1974, by Archbishop Federico Limon consecrated the Church on March 15, 1974, since before, Santo Tomas Church was merely a "visita” or chapel of

Alcala, Pangasinan Alcala, officially the Municipality of Alcala (; ; ), is a municipality in the province of Pangasinan, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 48,908 people. Alcala recently made the world record for longest grill meas ...

, while the town was a barrio of Alcala (from 1898 until the 1901 fusion with Alcala), with former name of Arango (“inarang”, fresh water shells at

Agno River The Agno River, also known as the Pangasinan River, is a river on the island of Luzon in the Philippines. Traversing the provinces of Benguet, Pangasinan, and Tarlac, it is one of the largest river systems in the country, with a drainage ar ...

). Before 1898, Santo Tomas was a barrio of Alcala. Arango was its name as a barrio, Such a name derived from “inarang”, a name given to the fresh water shells which abound near the bank of the Agno river. Santo Tomas was recreated as a town in 1908.

Economy

The town's principal products are palay, yellow corn, coconut, tobacco, poultry and livestock.

Government

Local government

Santo Tomas is part of the fifth congressional district of the province of

. It is governed by a mayor, designated as its local chief executive, and by a municipal council as its legislative body in accordance with the Local Government Code. The mayor, vice mayor, and the councilors are elected directly by the people through an election which is being held every three years.

Elected officials

Guinness World Records

On February 11, 2008, during the first Corn Festival of the centennial celebration, Santo Tomas was awarded by the

Guinness World Records ''Guinness World Records'', known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as ''The Guinness Book of Records'' and in previous United States editions as ''The Guinness Book of World Records'', is a British reference book published annually, list ...

certificate for the longest

barbecue Barbecue or barbeque (often shortened to BBQ worldwide; barbie or barby in Australia and New Zealand) is a term used with significant regional and national variations to describe various cooking methods that employ live fire and smoke to coo ...

(). Residents grilled 93,540 glutinous corn on the long grills (each interconnected grill measured 2.4 meters), traversing its 10

barangays The barangay (; abbreviated as Brgy. or Bgy.), historically referred to as ''barrio'', is the smallest administrative division in the Philippines. Named after the precolonial polities of the same name, modern barangays are political subdivisio ...

. Santo Tomas' longest barbecue record beat the previous record of set in

Montevideo Montevideo (, ; ) is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Uruguay, largest city of Uruguay. According to the 2023 census, the city proper has a population of 1,302,954 (about 37.2% of the country's total population) in an area of . M ...

Uruguay Uruguay, officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay, is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast, while bordering the Río de la Plata to the south and the A ...

(grilled red meat). On February 11, 2009, Santo Tomas' 2nd Corn Festival's 200-meter (stretch of the street) corn grill was held for its 101st founding anniversary. at it previously held its 2007 Santo Tomas Corn Festival. In the "Agew na Pangasinan 2012 Street Dancers Showdown", April 11, 2012

Day amid the Float Parade and Street Dancing Contest, Santo. Tomas Street Dancers demonstrated their Guinness entry: “the biggest grill in the world”. On the 2012 Corn Festival, March 26, Santo Tomas, Pangasinan grilled 6,000 ears of corn for the town's 103rd founding anniversary yesterday.

Education

The Sto. Tomas Schools District Office governs all educational institutions within the municipality. It oversees the management and operations of all private and public, from primary to secondary schools.

Primary and elementary schools

* Doña Aurea Elementary School * Ernesting Gonzalez Central School * Salvacion Elementary School * San Jose Elementary School

Secondary schools

* Antonio P. Villar National High School * San Antonio National High School

Gallery

File:SantoTomasPangasinanjf126.JPG, Gate of the Town Hall File:SantoTomasPangasinanjf127.JPG, Santo Tomas Town Hall (Municipio) File:SantoTomasPangasinanjf132.JPG, Health Center File:SantoTomasPangasinanjf136.JPG, Santo Tomas Gymnasium File:SantoTomasPangasinanjf125.JPG, Santo Tomas Elementary School (in front of the Town Hall)

References

External links

Santo Tomas Profile at PhilAtlas.com

Municipal Profile at the National Competitiveness Council of the Philippines

Santo Tomas at the Pangasinan Government Website

Local Governance Performance Management System
*

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
{{Authority control Municipalities of Pangasinan Populated places on the Agno River