San Jose, Northern Samar
Encyclopedia
San Jose is a 5th class municipality in the Province of Northern Samar, Philippines. The municipality can be found in the map at 12°N latitude
12th parallel north
The 12th parallel north is a circle of latitude that is 12 degrees north of the Earth's equatorial plane. It crosses Africa, the Indian Ocean, South Asia, Southeast Asia, the Pacific Ocean, Central America, South America and the Atlantic Ocean....

 and 124°E longitude
124th meridian east
The meridian 124° east of Greenwich is a line of longitude that extends from the North Pole across the Arctic Ocean, Asia, the Pacific Ocean, the Indian Ocean, Australia, the Southern Ocean, and Antarctica to the South Pole....

. It is located at the north central part of the aforementioned province, about nineteen kilometers west of Catarman, Northern Samar, the provincial capital, and about thirty kilometers east of Allen, Northern Samar, where the ferry terminal which connects islands of Luzon, Samar, Leyte, and Mindanao via the Pan-Philippine Highway (formerly the Maharlika Highway). It is approximately one hundred-fifty(150) kilometers north-northeast of Tacloban City, the Regional Center of Region VIII or Eastern Visayas.

Politically, the municipality is bounded on the north by the Pacific Ocean, on the east by the Municipality of Bobon
Bobon, Northern Samar
Bobon is a 5th class municipality in the province of Northern Samar, Philippines. According to the 2000 census, it has a population of 16,851 people in 3,213 households...

, on the south by the Municipality of Victoria
Victoria, Northern Samar
Victoria is a 5th class municipality in the province of Northern Samar, Philippines. According to the 2000 census, it has a population of 11,632 people in 2,354 households...

 and on the west by the Municipality of Rosario
Rosario, Northern Samar
Rosario is a 5th class municipality in the province of Northern Samar, Philippines. According to the 2000 census, it has a population of 8,647 people in 1,534 households...

. Its total land area of 8,867 hectares is generally underlain by well-bedded and moderately undulating terrain. The rock unit is probably part of the Mawo Volcanics, which is widespread in Northern Samar. The terrain is diversely oriented with inclination angles ranging from 10 degrees to 14 degrees. In the surveyed area, mangrove swamps dominate the western part of the municipality which extends to its northern coastline. In fact, more than half of the land area in the town proper, which is located at the northern coastline of the municipality are reclaimed lands from these swamplands.

Being a coastal town, it has several islet
Islet
An islet is a very small island.- Types :As suggested by its origin as islette, an Old French diminutive of "isle", use of the term implies small size, but little attention is given to drawing an upper limit on its applicability....

s within its municipal waters. There are six islets located at the northern coast of the municipality, which abound with natural resources waiting to be developed. These are the following: Cabaungon Grande, Cabaungon Pequiño, Tandang, Pangilala, Puropangdan, Matungko and Maghungaw which are plentiful in fishes, crustaceans, and other marine products. These islets also hold potential for eco-tourism.

The land occupied by the municipality is actually valley bounded on the east by the Palusong Mountain Range moving south and on the west by the Hitaasan Mountain Range. The northern portion of the municipality is occupied by the islands aforementioned which together with the coastline is arranged in such a manner that a lake is formed.

The land where the town is located consists generally of alluvial flat and swamplands which has an elevation of less than 10 meters above sea level, while going south, south easterly, the physiography abruptly rises to moderately rugged hills with a peak of sixty-eight meters. The drainage system in the area generally flows northeast towards Carangian Channel. Vegetation in this area generally consists of mangrove trees and shrubs, cogonal growth, and coconuts. The flat areas are planted with rice, corn and coconuts.

There are small flat and level areas along Barangay Dao and Barangay Geratag creeks. There are also wide coastal swamps. Most of the agricultural land areas are located along the valley between Palusong Mountain Range, near Barangay Aguadahan, and Barangay Geratag in the east, and Hitaasan Mountain Range near Barangay Bagong Sabang and Barangay Bonglas in the west.

According to the 2000 census, it has a population of 13,564 people in 2,729 households.

History

The Municipality of San Jose grew from a place that was then covered with bushes, shrubs, zacates. Marshes, where wild chicken, locally known as ilajas, abounded. It was then called carangian being the site where hunters assembled their trap, known as carang, to catch wild chickens. So, whenever one saw a person bringing his contraption carang, he already knew that he was going to carangan. In time, the word carangan was corrupted and the place began to be known as Carangian. Due to favorable economic opportunities, people migrated to the place. As population grew, it became a barrio within the administrative jurisdiction of the Municipality of Bobon known as Carangian.

With the construction of a deep-sea port, steamers and ships from Manila and other countries began to dock in Carangian, which due to its strategic location and the presence of the well-protected deep-sea port, quickly became the main port entry of Northern Samar. As its economy boomed, it was inevitable that the barrio would aspire to become a municipality. As early as 1932, Barrio Carangian had been aspiring to become an independent municipality from its mother town of Bobon. In that year, the Governor of Samar, Honorable Pedro Arteche, conducted a plebiscite for the conversion of Barrio Carangian into a municipality. Unluckily, however, due to the overwhelming negative votes in the Poblacion of Bobon
Bobon, Northern Samar
Bobon is a 5th class municipality in the province of Northern Samar, Philippines. According to the 2000 census, it has a population of 16,851 people in 3,213 households...

 and some other barrios which were jealous of the imminent independence of Carangian that dream was not realized.

Before the elections of 1949, the leaders of Carangian saw a golden chance to separate from Bobon in the rift between President Elpidio Quirino
President of the Philippines
The President of the Philippines is the head of state and head of government of the Philippines. The president leads the executive branch of the Philippine government and is the commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces of the Philippines...

 and José Dira Avelino
José Avelino
José Dira Avelino . The first President of the Senate of the First Republic of the Philippines under the presidency of Manuel Roxas. He was President Pro-tempore to President Manuel Quezon prior to the establishment of the Commonwealth.Avelino was born in a town called Calbayog in Samar to...

, President of the Senate. A delegation was formed under the leadership of Honorable Eladio T. Balite, Representative of the first district of Samar. The delegation was immediately dispatched to Manila to lobby for the independence of Carangian. After more than a month of going from office to office in Manila, the delegation succeeded in having the Barrio of Carangian created into the Municipality of San Jose. Eugenio Perez, Speaker of the House, was also instrumental in the creation of the new municipality. Thus, on July 25, 1949 by virtue of Executive Order No. 248 of the then President Elpidio Quirino, Carangian together with eleven became the new municipality of San Jose in honor of the late Jose Tagros Balite, Sr, then Mayor of Bobon, Samar.

Barangays

San Jose is politically subdivided into 16 barangay
Barangay
A barangay is the smallest administrative division in the Philippines and is the native Filipino term for a village, district or ward...

s.

  • Aguadahan
  • Bagong Sabang
  • Balite
  • Bonglas
  • Da-o
  • Gengarog
  • Geratag
  • Layuhan

  • Mandugang
  • P. Tingzon
  • San Lorenzo
  • Tubigdanao
  • Barangay North (Pob.)
  • Barangay South (Pob.)
  • Barangay East (Pob.)
  • Barangay West (Pob.)


Local Chief Executives

The first person to have been elected to the post of Mayor
Mayor
In many countries, a Mayor is the highest ranking officer in the municipal government of a town or a large urban city....

 of the newly created Municipality of San Jose in the province of Samar (which have included now independent Municipality of Biri
Biri, Northern Samar
Biri is a 5th class municipality in the province of Northern Samar, Philippines. According to the 2000 census, it has a population of 8,700 people in 1,661 households...

 and some parts adjoining to form the Municipality of Rosario
Rosario, Northern Samar
Rosario is a 5th class municipality in the province of Northern Samar, Philippines. According to the 2000 census, it has a population of 8,647 people in 1,534 households...

) is the late Honorable Roque H. Dato (1949–51). He is the father of the late Bayani A. Dato who also assumed the post as the local chief executive, or Mayor, of San Jose in the newly created province of Northern Samar (1968–86; 1988–95).

Don Francisco S. Evaristo, the late Mayor of Bobon, Samar and a husband to Pelagia Arcebuche del Valle who belongs to a prominent and wealthy del Valle family in San Jose (Carangian), is the next Mayor of San Jose (1952–55) to have succeeded after the late Honorable Roque H. Dato, his known-rival in chaotic politics.

For a trivia, it has been a great surprise for rivals, the former Mayors of San Jose, when Atty. Bayani A. Dato married Dr. Norma del Valle Evaristo, the eldest daughter of the late Don Francisco S. Evaristo. This is because Bayani's father is one of the state witnesses in the framed-up killing incident of Pastor Muyot, of which Norma's father, among others, is found guilty beyond reasonable doubt.

Other persons to have been elected to the post are: Honorable Agustin Pondemira (1956–67); and Honorable Felipe Ballesta (1986–88).

The current Mayor of San Jose is Honorable Damian T. Luzon, Jr. (1995–2001; 2007–present) characterized present administration as his comeback to the post after losing it during the 2001 local election
Philippine general election, 2001
The senatorial election was held in the Philippines on May 14, 2001. Independent candidate Noli de Castro, a former television anchor of TV Patrol of ABS-CBN was announced as the topnotcher...

 to former Mayor of San Jose, Honorable Lazaro A. Ballesta (2001–07).

For a trivia, the current Mayor of San Jose is a grandnephew of the late Doña Pelagia Arcebuche del Valle-Evaristo belonging to the vast Tingzon Clan of Leyte
Leyte
Leyte is a province of the Philippines located in the Eastern Visayas region. Its capital is Tacloban City and occupies the northern three-quarters of the Leyte Island. Leyte is located west of Samar Island, north of Southern Leyte and south of Biliran...

 who came in San Jose (Carangian).

Facilities

  • Port of San Jose is a reinforced concrete general purpose pier handling passengers and domestic cargoes situated at Lat 12°32'N Long 124°29'E in Barangay North, San Jose, Northern Samar. Its berthing facilities: 138m long pier 12 ft. Wide with a controlling depth of 25 ft. alongside. Pier is fendered and equipped by 8 rubber fenders system and 9 mooring bit. Its anchorage facilities: vessel approach through NW or E ward through Carangian Channel. Recommended approach is through Eastward which is wider, deeper, straighter. Vessels must anchor off pier at 18m – 20m depth. Its storage facilities: an open storage of 940 sq. m., 2 transit sheds with total area of 744 sq. m., and 3 private warehouse with a total area of 1,060 sq.m.

Body of water

  • marine channel
    Channel (geography)
    In physical geography, a channel is the physical confine of a river, slough or ocean strait consisting of a bed and banks.A channel is also the natural or human-made deeper course through a reef, sand bar, bay, or any shallow body of water...

    . The Carangian Channel is a marine channel, or that part of a body of water deep enough for navigation through an area otherwise not suitable, along the San Bernardino Strait
    San Bernardino Strait
    The San Bernardino Strait is a strait in the Philippines. It separates the Bicol Peninsula of Luzon island from the island of Samar in the south.-Filipinos and San Bernardino Strait:...

     situated on map view: N 12° 32' 0 E 124° 30' 012.53333 / 124.5.
  • stream
    Stream
    A stream is a body of water with a current, confined within a bed and stream banks. Depending on its locale or certain characteristics, a stream may be referred to as a branch, brook, beck, burn, creek, "crick", gill , kill, lick, rill, river, syke, bayou, rivulet, streamage, wash, run or...

    . There are four large natural streams to be found flowing just around or within the municipality of San Jose, to wit: Gengarog River, Sinamangan River, Bobon River and Nahalugan River.
  • waterfall
    Waterfall
    A waterfall is a place where flowing water rapidly drops in elevation as it flows over a steep region or a cliff.-Formation:Waterfalls are commonly formed when a river is young. At these times the channel is often narrow and deep. When the river courses over resistant bedrock, erosion happens...

    . Off the National Highway about 10 minutes walk toward the hillside, you will find, "Honeybee Falls" A beautiful waterfall and a great place to relax. Honeybee Falls is on private property, but free to walk to if you will ask the area residence for permission.

Tourism

With the existence of small island in front of the municipality arranged in a manner which makes the internal waters of the municipality somewhat like a lake, the municipality could be positioned as a tourism lake devoted to resort tourism
Tourism
Tourism is travel for recreational, leisure or business purposes. The World Tourism Organization defines tourists as people "traveling to and staying in places outside their usual environment for not more than one consecutive year for leisure, business and other purposes".Tourism has become a...

. Sports like kayaking
Kayaking
Kayaking is the use of a kayak for moving across water. Kayaking and canoeing are also known as paddling. Kayaking is distinguished from canoeing by the sitting position of the paddler and the number of blades on the paddle...

, snorkeling
Snorkeling
Snorkeling is the practice of swimming on or through a body of water while equipped with a diving mask, a shaped tube called a snorkel, and usually swimfins. In cooler waters, a wetsuit may also be worn...

, scuba diving
Scuba diving
Scuba diving is a form of underwater diving in which a diver uses a scuba set to breathe underwater....

 and island hopping
Island hopping
Island hopping is a term that refers to the means of crossing an ocean by a series of shorter journeys between islands, as opposed to a single journey directly across the ocean to the destination.- Forms :...

 can be done along the tourism lake.

Nature watching can be done by the tourists by trekking the Palusong Range overlooking the whole town, the surrounding, islands and adjacent municipality.

Notable Carangianons in politics

Carangian (San Jose) is home to local notable persons in politics the Carangianons are proud of, to wit:

  • Edilberto Aguilar del Valle is the second person, after the first woman Governor of Northern Samar Irene Balite, to have assumed the post of Governor of Northern Samar after the separation of Northern Samar from former Samar Province
    Samar
    Samar, formerly and also known as Western Samar, is a province in the Philippines located in the Eastern Visayas region. Its capital is Catbalogan City and covers the western portion of Samar as well as several islands in the Samar Sea located to the west of the mainland...

     constituting the whole Samar Island, including some island towns thereof. Not later then on, he assumed the higher level post, as the first and the only Assemblyman hailed from Northern Samar among the group of Regional Assemblymen representing Region VIII (Eastern Visayas
    Eastern Visayas
    Eastern Visayas is one of the two regions of the Philippines having no land border with another region, MIMAROPA being the other, and is designated as Region VIII...

    ) to the Interim Batasang Pambansa
    Interim Batasang Pambansa
    The Interim Batasang Pambansa or the First Batasan was the legislature of the Republic of the Philippines from its inauguration on June 12, 1978 to June 5, 1984...

     (or Interim National Assembly) during the Marcos regime
    Ferdinand Marcos
    Ferdinand Emmanuel Edralin Marcos, Sr. was a Filipino leader and an authoritarian President of the Philippines from 1965 to 1986. He was a lawyer, member of the Philippine House of Representatives and a member of the Philippine Senate...

    , thus leaving the governorship to his brother who immediately succeeded him. He then served as the Assemblyman of the lone (defunct) district of Northern Samar to the Regular Batasang Pambansa
    Regular Batasang Pambansa
    The Regular Batasang Pambansa or the Second Batasan was the meeting of the parliament of the Philippines from the beginning of its session on July 23, 1984 until it was abolished by President Corazon Aquino on March 25, 1986....

     (or Regular National Assembly) until abolished by President Corazon Cojuangco-Aquino
    Corazon Aquino
    Maria Corazon Sumulong Cojuangco-Aquino was the 11th President of the Philippines and the first woman to hold that office in Philippine history. She is best remembered for leading the 1986 People Power Revolution, which toppled Ferdinand Marcos and restored democracy in the Philippines...

    . He likewise served as a Member of the Provincial Board of Samar/Northern Samar.

  • Reynaldo Aguilar del Valle succeeded the governorship from his brother making him the third Governor of Northern Samar. Like his brother, he served as a Member of the Provincial Board of Samar/Northern Samar.

  • Bayani A. Dato became Vice-Governor of Northern Samar under the governorship of Atty. Harlin Cast. Abayon I. He unsuccessfully fought against Atty. Harlin Cast. Abayon in the 1998 Philippine general election
    Philippine general election, 1998
    The senatorial election was held in the Philippines on May 11, 1998. The two main competing coalitions in the senatorial election were the Lakas-NUCD-UMDP and the Laban ng Makabayang Masang Pilipino -led coalition composed of the Laban ng Demokratikong Pilipino , Pwersa ng Masang Pilipino , the...

     for the post of Representatives to represent the first legislative district of Northern Samar in the 11th Congress of the Philippines
    11th Congress of the Philippines
    The Eleventh Congress of the Philippines is the meeting of the national legislature of the Republic of the Philippines, composed of the Philippine Senate and House of Representatives...

    .

  • Lazaro Anonuevo Ballesta was a Member of the Provincial Board of Northern Samar for three(3) consecutive terms, 1992 - 2001. In March, 1998, when then incumbent Governor Harlin Cast. Abayon ran against his Vice Governor, Atty. Bayani A. Dato, for the position of Congressman to represent the first district of Northern Samar in the House of Representatives, automatically resigning from office in accordance with the election rules in force at that time; thus, leaving their respective positions vacant, Ballesta promptly took his oath of office as a Governor of the Provincial Government of Northern Samar, and served from late March, 1998 to June 30, 1998, being the highest ranked and most qualified provincial official to succeed, pursuant to the rules of succession provided for in the Local Government Code of 1991, thus technically becoming the third provincial governor coming from this Municipality. In 2001, he ran and won as Mayor of San Jose against the then incumbent Mayor Damian T. Luzon, Jr. He won his re-election when he ran unopposed in 2004. In 2007, he did not run for the third term as Mayor. Instead, he ran for Congessman, to represent the first district of Northern Samar in the House of Representatives, which he lost to then Senior Board Member and current Governor Paul R. Daza, son of Deputy Speaker and former Governor of Northern Samar, Raul A. Daza.

  • Luis Romines Dasmarinas was elected as a Member of the Provincial Board of Northern Samar. A cousin to former Governors of Northern Samar Atty. Edilberto A. del Valle, Sr. and Atty. Reynaldo A. del Valle, Sr.

  • Rodolfo Robis del Valle was a Member of the Provincial Board of Northern Samar. He is the eldest child of the late Governor of Northern Samar, Atty. Reynaldo A. del Valle, Sr.

  • Alita Verano Esidera-Rosales former Mayor of the capital town of Catarman, 2007-2010. She is the first woman to have been elected to the post (but is second only to hold the post). She is the wife of former Mayor of Catarman and former member of the Provincial Board of Northern Samar, Francisco C. Rosales, Jr.

External links

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