Santol
Santol was formerly a part of the Municipality of Balaoan and Mountain
Province. It lies in the northeastern part of the province, bounded on the north
by Sudipen, on the south by San Gabriel, Benguet Province on the east and
Balaoan on the west. It has an approximated area of 12,138 hectares which
comprises mostly hilly mountainous in predominantly occupied by cultural
minority groups. It has a population of 9,462.
It was during the Spanish-American war that Santol got its name. It is said that
when the Spanish soldiers dropped by this place, they met women carrying baskets
full of ripe santol fruits. The soldiers asked the name of the place. The women
did not understand Spanish and thinking that the soldiers asked them the name of
the fruits inside the basket, they answered, "Santol, apo". The soldiers did not
understand the native dialect and all they remembered was the word "SANTOL",
hence the name of the place.
In 1908, Barrio Santol was organized into a township of the Sub-province of
Amburayan, Mountain Province. The seat of government was located at Tubaday and
the first president was Camilot.
In 1922, Mt. Province relinquished the mountainous area of Santol, La Union and
became a municipality district of the Province of La Union. In 1949, through
Executive Order No. 214, President Elpidio Quirino, elevated the status of the
Municipal District of Santol into a regular municipality.
Agriculture is the major livelihood of the people with rice, tobacco, bananas,
peanuts, beans, mangoes, avocados, and tiger grass as the main crops. Its rugged
terrain makes the town an ideal place for raising fruit trees and provides
abundant raw materials for cottage industry such as soft brooms, wood carvings,
baskets, and other bamboo craft.
It is classified as fifth (5th) class municipality and composed of eleven (11)
barangays with the nearest barangay 3 kilometers away from Poblacion and 38
kilometers for the farthest. A 40 km distance from San Fernando City, the
capital of La Union, and can be traveled for one (1) hour by Bus.
The town is still underdeveloped. It is accessible from the national highway up
to Poblacion by an all-weather cemented road. Improvement and opening of
barangay roads, especially to the mountainous areas are the priority projects
for implementation by the local administration.
