San Jose del Monte (SJDM), officially the City of San Jose del Monte (; ), is a component city in the province of Bulacan, Philippines. According to the , it has a population of people, making it the largest local government unit within the province of Bulacan and Central Luzon, and the 18th most populated city in the Philippines.
It was proclaimed as a component city on 10 September 2000, through Republic Act No. 8797. Its conversion into a highly urbanized city was by virtue of Proclamation No. 1057 issued by President Rodrigo Duterte on 4 December 2020; the conversion was rejected on a referendum held on 30 October 2023, by the voters of Bulacan including the concerned city.
San José del Monte derived its name from Saint Joseph, whose statue was found in a veritable forest. The hunters called it as such, which means “Saint Joseph of the Mountain” in Spanish.
History Early accounts of the founding of the city, as gathered from the old people, contend that it was formerly a part of the town of Meycauayan. This is supported by a decree from the Archbishop of Manila dated March 1750 on the creation of new municipalities. The municipality of San Jose del Monte was then officially founded on 2 March 1752.
The decree included the list of families who volunteered to be relocated. These families, most if not all from Lagulo (now Malhacan) in Meycauayan, brought with them rice, wine, nganga, and salt in exchange for the wild pigs, deer, yantok, and almasigan of the Itas and Dumagats, the native inhabitants of the area. Solares, including intended lots for main roads, were peacefully distributed to the new occupants after being measured and surveyed.
In all probability, the hunters reported their findings to the parish priest of Meycauayan. It was said that the priest built a stone church at the site where the town proper is now located. The statue was installed in the new church. Extant Catholic Church records reveal that the first parish priest was Father Antonio de Moral. He took charge of the parish in 1845.
During the revolt against Spain, the town became a battleground between the Katipuneros and the Spanish forces. The revolutionaries lost and the vengeful Spanish soldiers burned down the settlement. The townspeople fled for their lives to nearby towns. At the advent of American rule, it was made a part of Santa Maria until 1918 when the town was recreated and Ciriaco Gallardo appointed the first municipal president. Public schools were opened at the start of the American regime but due to the scarcity of the population, the highest grade organized was at the fourth grade.
During the Japanese occupation, the town became an ideal hiding place for the locally recognized guerrillas because of the town's hilly and wooden terrain. The Japanese Imperial Army took over the local government of San Jose del Monte from 1942 to 1943. In resistance, the municipality formed its guerrilla unit. San Jose del Monte experienced large casualties when the Americans bombed the town center on 11 January 1945, and again on 14 January 1945. When the combined Filipino and American troops came, peace reigned but not for long.
At the height of the Hukbalahap Rebellion, the town was raided on 10 October 1950. The Huks burned down the town hall. The town was raided for the second time on 21 March 1951. The Huks did not succeed because of the precautionary measures instituted by the town officials after which the Huks were gradually eliminated.
In the 1980s, thousands of informal settlers from Metro Manila were relocated to San Jose del Monte. Due to the large number of residents, Bulacan Governor Roberto Pagdanganan recalled in 1996 that the relocation did not ensure new livelihoods for its informal settlers, thus turning many squatters toward criminality; he noted that the town had the highest crime rate in the province according to police reports.
In 1988, Eduardo Roquero was elected mayor of the municipality by a margin of eight votes against his closest opponent, reelectionist Reynaldo Villano.
Cityhood
2000 plebiscite and later events In December 1999, congressman Angelito Sarmiento filed the bill converting the then municipality of San Jose del Monte into a component city. This was approved on July 15, 2000 as Republic Act No. 8797.Republic Act No. 8797:
A plebiscite was held on September 10, 2000. Despite a low turnout, the cityhood was approved mostly by migrants, mainly from Metro Manila which composed 70% of the residents by then; only nine of the 59 villages voted against the bill. The official proclamation was held in the evening. San Jose del Monte became the first city in Bulacan since Malolos failed in the cityhood bid in December 1999. Malolos was eventually declared a city in 2002 by the Commission on Elections which had reversed the official result following a recount. It was also recorded as the country's 86th chartered city.
Through RA No. 9230, amending the city charter and approved on December 18, 2003, the city was granted its own legislative district, the province's first lone district, while barangays were classified into two districts for purposes of representation in the Sangguniang Panlungsod. Officers were first elected in 2004.
Highly urbanized city
On 4 December 2020, President Rodrigo Duterte declared San Jose del Monte as a highly urbanized city through Proclamation No. 1057. However, it required a plebiscite to ratify its city charter. It was supposed to be held four months after the 2022 general elections but was not held. Hence, the proclamation remained pending. On 11 September 2023, COMELEC released a resolution that synchronized the plebiscite on 30 October 2023, along with the barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections.
The majority of voters in the Province of Bulacan rejected the conversion, as declared by the COMELEC two days after the plebiscite. Meanwhile, a tenth of those who joined did not vote, leaving blank ballots.
Geography The elevation of the city ranges from approximately above sea level; the relief transitions from warm lowland to cool upland as one goes eastward. This is because the city is part of the Sierra Madre mountain range. Plains and river valley flats characterize the western and southwestern quadrant. The central portion and much of its eastern section are made up of undulating hills with low relief. High relief areas and moderate slopes best describe its extreme eastern and northwestern quadrant. Slopes of 3%-8% are extensively found in the city, particularly in the western half. Slopes of 30%-50% comprise the smallest portion of the total land area.
The rivers and creeks that flow in San Jose del Monte are from the Sierra Madre mountain range. Major natural waterways of San Jose del Monte are the Kipungok, Santo Cristo, and Santa Maria River systems. Kipungok River separates San Jose del Monte from Caloocan and Rodriguez. It is directly connected to the Marilao River, which flows downwards to Manila Bay. Draining to these rivers are creeks and streams, which act as catchment areas for the surface water runoff of the city. Among these are the Bigte, Kantulot, Katinga, and Salamin creeks.
Located in the southeast of the province, it is bordered by the cities of Caloocan and Quezon City in Metro Manila to the south, by the municipality of Rodríguez in Rizal to the east, the municipalities of Santa María and Marilao to the west and Norzagaray to the north. San Jose del Monte is from Malolos and from Manila.
The city is home to some of the biggest resettlement areas in the Philippines like the Sapang Palay resettlement area spread over 36 barangays in second district, Pabahay 2000 in Barangay Muzon South, San Jose Del Monte Heights in Barangay Muzon East, Towerville I-V in Barangay Minuyan Proper, and Towerville VI in Barangay Gaya-Gaya. Most of the city's population come from former informal settlers along the creeks, esteros, riverbanks and railway tracks of Metro Manila. Many private residential subdivisions have also been established in the city.
General Land Use Growing commercial, residential, and light industrial areas, are found all over the city at major road intersections and along major thoroughfares. However, the bulk of San Jose del Monte's built-up areas are mostly west of Quirino Highway at the primary level to gently sloping 8% terrain, dividing the city into a heavily built-up western section and the largely agricultural eastern section. Most of the city's schools, government institutions, commercial developments, industries, and other urban amenities are in this section. The largest contiguous built-up area is at Sapang Palay Resettlement Project area, followed by the conurbation in Tungkong Mangga and Muzon.
The developments east of the Quirino Highway are mostly scattered residential areas and agricultural lands. However, there are a few subdivisions that are some distance away from Ciudad Real and take advantage of its secluded and rural atmosphere. These are the Blessed Sacrament Seminary and an Augustinian convent.
In between the built-up clusters are pockets of agricultural lands, which are continuously converted into built-up uses. Planted in these lands are crops such as rice and corn. The clustering pattern for both built-up and agricultural uses is partly due to the decisions made by settlers about the hilly conditions that dominate the topography. Most households in the western half of San Jose del Monte opted to convert their lands to residential uses while others maintained the farms. This left upland uses, such as those about forest use, more common towards the easternmost zones.
Most vegetative outgrowths are in areas that are difficult to build on. But there are instances when these outgrowths are integrated into the built-up areas, usually found in the West: several heavily vegetated areas. Supplementing these are mini forest projects of the city government. The City Agriculture Office maintains a Mini Forest Project in Barangay Muzon along the San Jose del Monte–Marilao Road and a mahogany planting site.
Climate
Barangays
San Jose del Monte is politically subdivided into 62 barangays, as shown in the matrix below. Each barangay consists of puroks and some have sitios.
It was originally made up of only five barangays: Población, Halang (Muzon), Sapang Palay, Santo Cristo, and Gaya-Gaya. Over time, these five mother barangays were divided to provide better accommodation for the people, particularly in the Sapang Palay Resettlement Area (Hacienda de Sapang Palay), which stretches to Minuyan.
There is an ongoing land dispute with the municipality of Norzagaray, Bulacan regarding both territories. Such disputes can be located in the upper portion of Assumption, the eastern portion of Santo Niño II, the eastern portion of San Martín de Porres, the eastern portion of Lawang Pari, the eastern portion of Minuyan Proper, Kaybanban, San Roque, Paradise III, San Isidro, the upper portion of Tungkong Mangga, the upper portion of Ciudad Real barangays in San José del Monte and lower portion of Tigbe, the lower portion of Bitungol, the lower portion of Minuyan, lower portion of Bigte, lower portion of San Mateo (Sitio Karahume), mountainous portion of San Lorenzo in Norzagaray.
Historical maps of Bulacan, before the creation of Doña Remedios Trinidad, indicate that both territories of San José del Monte and Norzagaray stretch up to Tayabas province.
These barangays are grouped into two districts, the first with a ZIP Code of 3023, and the second with 3024. Twenty-six (26) barangays comprise the first district while the 36 barangays located in Sapang Palay compose the second district.