Tarangnan, officially the Municipality of Tarangnan (; ), 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 ...

Samar Samar ( ) is the third-largest and seventh-most populous island in the Philippines, with a total population of 1,909,537 as of the 2020 census. It is located in the eastern Visayas, which are in the central Philippines. The island is divided in ...

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 25,713 people. Tarangnan is situated on the western coast of

Samar Island Samar ( ) is the third-largest and seventh-most populous island in the Philippines, with a total population of 1,909,537 as of the 2020 census. It is located in the eastern Visayas, which are in the central Philippines. The island is divided in ...

, to the south-east of the ancient town of Bangahon (now Gandara) and to the north of Samar's capital

Catbalogan Catbalogan, officially the City of Catbalogan (; ), is a component city and capital city of the province of Samar, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 106,440 people. It is Samar's main commercial, trading, educa ...

. Tarangnan is found near the former ancient ''pueblo'' Tinago, the first town to be Christianized and was made a center or ''cabecera''. Tarangnan has its own municipal hospital which was inaugurated in 1982, with a 10-bed capacity. It is augmented by Rural Health Unit extension workers. It has daycare centers which also cater the needs of pre-schoolers.

History

During the earlier part of the 17th century, Tarangnan or Tinago was the first settlement of

Jesuit The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...

missionaries on the island of Samar. Tinago was the first ''cabecera'' on Samar where the first Jesuits have arrived, that is October 15, 1596. When Tinago was devastated by the Moro attack in 1616, the Jesuits decided to transfer the ''cabecera'' to

. Since that time Tinago had not came back to life as pueblo until 1725. The

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 ...

was established at Dapdap but for access and sanitation it was moved to tarangnan in 1883–1884. The attempted transfer of the ''pueblo'' from Dapdap to Tarangnan in 1882 became highly celebrated case. It was a struggle or a fight between the parish priest of Dapdap, fr. Angel Pulido, OFM and the ''governadorcillo'' of Dapdap. The town of Dapdap was transferred in 1884 to a barrio called Tarangnan, from which it derived its name today. At first the church and ''convento'' were constructed of light materials which means bamboo and nipa. The new church was constructed in 1894 by P. Venancio Palencia, OFM and completed in 1897. In the second half of the nineteenth century, the island of Samar experienced a commercial boom, especially in abaca, with imports and exports of abaca products. Moro raids in the island declined due to the presence of

Spaniard Spaniards, or Spanish people, are a Romance languages, Romance-speaking Ethnicity, ethnic group native to the Iberian Peninsula, primarily associated with the modern Nation state, nation-state of Spain. Genetics, Genetically and Ethnolinguisti ...

s. As the Spaniards settled in Samar, they saw the need of all-weather seaports and easy communications for their commercial activities and political administration. This development paved the way for the convergence of the inhabitants into the old town site of Tarangnan, where transport was relatively accessible. The settlement of Tarangnan was growing at a much faster pace than the pueblo of Dapdap. Taking into consideration the island's commercial boom, with prospects of Tarangnan as a trading center and its religious vigilance over Dapdap, on June 21, 1881, Gov. Enrique Chacon wrote to his superiors. He recommended the transfer of the Poblacion from Dapdap to Tarangnan due to the former's poor accessibility, unavailability of land area for expansion, and its unsanitary environment. On April 1, 1884, Tarangnan was declared as one of the municipalities of the Province of Samar by means of Royal Decree by the King of Spain, King Alfonso I. In 1957, the following sitios were declared barrios: Cabunga-an, Tigdaranao, and Binalayan. In 1979, by virtue of ''

Batas Pambansa This article contains a partial list of Philippine laws. Sources of Philippine laws ;Notes : *Customs may be considered as supplementary source of law, however, customs which are contrary to law, public order or public policy shall not ...

Blg. 16'', nine

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 were separated to create the municipality of Pagsanghan.

Geography

The municipality of Tarangnan is geographically situated in the west portion of the island of Samar, bounded on the north by the municipality of Pagsanghan, in the south by the capital city of

and on the west by the

Samar Sea The Samar Sea is a small sea within the Philippine archipelago, situated between the Bicol Region of Luzon and the Eastern Visayas. It is bordered by the islands of Samar to the east, Leyte to the south, Masbate to the west, and Luzon to the nor ...

or Maqueda Bay. The distance of the poblacion to Catbalogan is about and away from

Calbayog Calbayog, officially the City of Calbayog (; ), is a component city in the province of Samar, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 186,960 people. It lies along the coastal region of the province stretching about ...

. It can be reached via an road from the

Maharlika Highway The Pan-Philippine Highway, also known as the Maharlika Highway (; ), is a network of roads, expressways, bridges, and ferry services that connect the islands of Luzon, Samar, Leyte, and Mindanao in the Philippines, serving as the country's ...

crossing Barangay Balugo by a provincial road.

Barangays

Tarangnan is politically subdivided into 41

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 ...

. * Alcazar * Awang * Bahay * Balonga-as * Balugo * Bangon Gote * Baras * Binalayan * Bisitahan * Bonga * Cabunga-an * Cagtutulo * Cambatutay Nuevo * Cambatutay Viejo * Canunghan * Catan-agan * Dapdap * Gallego * Imelda Pob. (Posgo) * Lucerdoni (Irong-irong) * Lahong * Libucan Dacu * Libucan Gote * Majacob * Mancares * Marabut * Oeste - A * Oeste - B * Pajo * Palencia * Poblacion A * Poblacion B * Poblacion C * Poblacion D * Poblacion E * San Vicente * Santa Cruz * Sugod * Talinga * Tigdaranao * Tizon

Climate

Demographics

Economy

Education

Some years back, Tarangnan was estimated to have a low literacy rate. But, with the opening of primary education in some barangays and expansion of secondary education (Tarangnan National High School) in Barangay Oeste, its literacy rose dramatically to 89.95%, as recorded in the NSO 1995 survey. *Tarangnan National High School *Oeste National High School *Tizon National High School *Majacob Integrated School

Gallery

File:Entering_Town_Proper_of_Tarangnan.jpg, Entering Tarangnan Town Proper File:Going_to_pantalan (small pier).jpg, Going To Pantalan (Wharf) File:Tarangnan_Town_Hall.jpg, Town Hall File:Tarangnan_high_school.jpg, High School File:Tarangnan seaside, April 2007.jpg, Sea Side File:Panapukan_beach.jpg, Panapukan Beach (one of the beaches)

Notes

External links

Tarangnan 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 ...

Philippine Census Information

Local Governance Performance Management System
{{Authority control Municipalities of Samar (province)