Cervantes, Ilocos Sur
| Cervantes | ||
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| Municipality | ||
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 Map of Ilocos Sur showing the location of Cervantes |
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 Cervantes
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| Coordinates: 16°59′30″N 120°44′00″E / 16.9917°N 120.7333°ECoordinates: 16°59′30″N 120°44′00″E / 16.9917°N 120.7333°E | ||
| Country | Philippines | |
| Region | Ilocos (Region I) | |
| Province | Ilocos Sur | |
| District | 2nd District | |
| Barangays | 13 | |
| Government | ||
| • Mayor | Benjamin N. Maggay | |
| Area | ||
| • Total | 234.70 km2 (90.62 sq mi) | |
| Population (2015 census) | ||
| • Total | 17,211 | |
| • Density | 73/km2 (190/sq mi) | |
| Time zone | PST (UTC+8) | |
| ZIP code | 2718 | |
| IDD : area code | +63 (0)77 | |
| Income class | 4th class | |
| Website | www |
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Cervantes is a fourth class municipality in the province of Ilocos Sur, Philippines. According to the 2015 census, it has a population of 17,211 people.
The municipality is officially the Summer Capital of Ilocos Sur. It has a relatively cooler climate than most of lowland Ilocos Sur due to its geographical location and proximity to Mountain Province and Benguet. The municipality is home to the Bessang Pass Natural Monument.
Municipality of Cervantes lies along the Southeastern tip of the province. It is bounded by the Municipalities of Mankayan and Bakun (Benguet) on the South; by Alilem (Ilocos Sur) on the Southeast, by Suyo and Sigay (Ilocos Sur) on the West; by Gregorio del Pilar (Concepcion) on the Northwest and Quirino (Angaki) on the North; and by Tadian (Mt. Province) on the East. It is cut southwesterly by the biggest and longest river in the area, the Abra River. It is almost isolated from the rest of Ilocos Region due to its location and natural barriers.
The earliest known historical document about Cervantes was that, it started as a small Igorot Village known as “Mantamang”, an Igorot word meaning “to look over”. Igorot traders and Chinese merchants who always had to pass the village frequently used man and horse trails connecting the lowland and upland neighboring localities.
On March 4, 1879, the residents of Mantamang petitioned that the village be recognized as a Christian town under Lepanto-Amburayan Sub-province of Mountain Province. The town was given the name Cervantes and that remained the name of the town up to the present. How it got the name Cervantes is not known or documented but it is believed that it was named after the famous poet Miguel de Cervantes.
Maximo Lilio de Garcia has written that Cervantes was formerly a barrio when it was founded by the Spanish colonizers. It started with only thirty (30) houses made of light building materials like bamboo and cogon. In spite of the fertile lands that abound the place the native used to cultivate only small patches of ricefield, which made the barrio unprogressive.
Lilio further stated that Cervantes has a distance of twenty-four (24) kilometers from Lepanto. The system of communication was maintained on weekly basis due to its poor road that traversed the sloppy mountains zigzagging upward the hills back of Cayus where the storage house was located and down to the lowlands reaching the Malaya River, which sometimes overflow during rainy season making the trail slippery.
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Wikipedia