By Loreto S. Amante
Situated 82 kilometers southeast of Manila , about 500 feet above the mean sea level, San Pablo City is a fascinating blend of atural beauties and timeless history. Dubbed as te “City of Seven Lakes,” lies in the apex of the heart-shaped Province of Laguna , fanned by the swaying coconut breeze, nesting among the foothills of Mount San Cristobal and Mount Banahaw .
Archeological diggings undertaken before World War II by the late Don Arsenio M.Escudero reveals that it is a thriving community that had existed long before the coming of the Spanish. From a big settlements (or barangay), Sampalok, of the town of Bay, the Augustinian fathers made it into a parish in 1596, then into a town or pueblo under a gobernadorcillo in 1647, and renamed it San Pablo delos Montes, after Sain Paul, The First Hermit, at first under the Province of Laguna, later under Batangas for 100 years, then back to Laguna before outbreak of the Philippine-Spanish War. Through the untiring and determined effort of Assemblyman Tomas D. Dizon, it has bloosomed into a city, created under Commonwealth Act No. 520 approved by President as the first City chief executive by President Quezon.
An urban-agriculture community populated by 207,927, divided into 44,166 families (NSO May 1, 2000), San Pablo City has an area of 21,400 hectares (DENR-Land Management Bureau figure) bestowed by nature with seven (7) crater lakes, five rivers, and eight creeks, which in its water now abound with tilapia, carps, ayungin, dalag and prawn. The city is divided into 80 barangay, with 48 barangay consider as rural. Interconnected by a spiderweb road networks, almost 70% of the total land area fully energized and electrified.
Apperantly, San Pablo City is fast becoming the seat or hub of regional operations for several government agencies and private enterprises. For the 2004 National and Local Elections, San Pablo City has 122,868 registered voters divided into 566 precincts or voting centers.
Here is San Pablo City , proud of its legendary and noble past, enjoying its challenging present, and hopeful of its future.
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