Calaca, officially the City of Calaca ( fil, Lungsod ng Calaca), is a 1st class

component city A city ( fil, lungsod/siyudad) is one of the units of local government in the Philippines. All Philippine cities are chartered cities ( fil, nakakartang lungsod), whose existence as corporate and administrative entities is governed by their own ...

in the

province A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman '' provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions ou ...

Batangas Batangas, officially the Province of Batangas ( tl, Lalawigan ng Batangas ), is a province in the Philippines located in the Calabarzon region on Luzon. Its capital is the city of Batangas, and is bordered by the provinces of Cavite and La ...

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 87,361 people. Calaca is home to the lively Calacatchara festival (a

portmanteau A portmanteau word, or portmanteau (, ) is a blend of wordsatchara ''Atchara'' (also spelled ''achara'' or ''atsara'') is a pickle made from grated unripe papaya originating from the Philippines. This dish is often served as a side dish for fried or grilled foods such as pork barbecue. History The nam ...

'' (

chutney A chutney is a spread in the cuisines of the Indian subcontinent. Chutneys are made in a wide variety of forms, such as a tomato relish, a ground peanut garnish, yogurt or curd, cucumber, spicy coconut, spicy onion or mint dipping sa ...

Etymology

The name was taken from the roofs of the houses made of bamboos halves arranged over top of one another. One anecdote believes that: ''When it was still a sitio and long been called Calaca, three Spanish officials happened to pass by. They saw some carpenters making the roof of a house. They asked one of the carpenters about the name of the place. The carpenter, who did not know Spanish, believed that the Spaniards were asking what they were making and they answered, “calaca.”'' The Spaniards noted the name and since then, Calaca became the official name.

History

Calaca was part of Balayan when it was used to be a barrio. On May 10, 1835, it was officially converted into a town. Don Rufino Punungbayan was the first Gobernadorcillo of the municipality during the year 1835–1836.

Cityhood

On March 11, 2020, House Bill No. 6598 was filed for the conversion of the municipality of Calaca into a component city in the province of Batangas. Both the House of Representatives and the Senate passed the bill. On May 26, 2021, President Rodrigo Roa Duterte approved the bill through Republic Act No. 11544. On August 19, 2021, COMELEC postponed the plebiscite which seeks to ratify the conversion of the municipality of Calaca into a city for the preparation of the 2022 elections. On July 13, 2022, the election body sets the date of plebiscite on September 3, 2022. By virtue of Republic Act No. 11544 after ratification of the law, Calaca becomes the fifth city in

and the first in the province's 1st legislative district.

Geography

According to the

Philippine Statistics Authority The Philippine Statistics Authority (Filipino: ''Pangasiwaan ng Estadistika ng Pilipinas''), abbreviated as PSA, is the central statistical authority of the Philippine government that ''collects, compiles, analyzes and publishes statistical inf ...

, the city has a land area of constituting of the total area of Batangas. Calaca is from

Batangas City Batangas City, officially the City of Batangas ( fil, Lungsod ng Batangas), is a 1st class 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 ...

and from

Manila Manila ( , ; fil, Maynila, ), officially the City of Manila ( fil, Lungsod ng Maynila, ), is the capital of the Philippines, and its second-most populous city. It is highly urbanized and, as of 2019, was the world's most densely populate ...

Barangays

Calaca is politically subdivided into 40

barangay A barangay (; abbreviated as Brgy. or Bgy.), historically referred to as barrio (abbreviated as Bo.), is the smallest administrative division in the Philippines and is the native Filipino term for a village, district, or ward. In metropolita ...

s.. As of June 30, 2021, there are five barangays that are considered urban (highlighted in bold).

Climate

Demographics

In the 2020 census, Calaca had a population of 87,361. The population density was .

Economy

Gallery

File:Lemery,Calaca,Batangasjf9674 22.JPG, Welcome arch from Lemery File:Calaca,BatangasHalljf9850a 02.JPG, City hall File:Balayan,Calaca,Batangasjf0186 07.JPG, Police station File:Calaca,BatangasHalljf9841 03.JPG, Public market File:Calaca,Batangasjf9985 34.JPG, Saint Raphael the Archangel Parish Church

References

External links

* * Philippine Standard Geographic Code {{DEFAULTSORT:Calaca City, Batangas Cities in Batangas Component cities in the Philippines Populated places established in 1835