Catarman (Waray: Bungto san

Catarman; Cebuano: Lungsod sa

Catarman; Filipino: Bayan ng Catarman) is
a first class municipality and the capital
of Northern Samar, Philippines. It is the
largest town in terms of land area and
population in the province. According to the
2015 census, it has a population of 94,037,
making it the most populous municipality
Catarman Legislative Building
in Eastern Visayas. It is the commercial,
educational, financial, political and
government center of the province. It lies on
the northern part of Samar Island, bounded
to the east by Mondragon, to the west
by Bobon, to the south by Lope de Vega,
and to the north by the Philippine Sea.
Geography
On the Pacific coast are flat lowlands with
the interior characterized by outlying low Catarman Municipal Hall
hills. Mount Puyao in Barangay Liberty is
the highest peak in the area. The Catarman
River, a major provincial river, divides the
eastern and the western parts of the town. It
is fed by the Paticua, Hibulwangan,
Mahangna, Tura, and Danao creeks
together with lesser prominent estuaries.
Barangays[edit]
The Municipality of Catarman is politically
subdivided into 55 barangays, 17 of them in Catarman Cathedral
the poblacion.[2]
Before the coming of the Spaniards,
Acacia (pob.) Catarman (Calatman) or (Cataruman) was a
Aguinaldo settlement by the mouth of the river of the
Airport Village (pob.) same name in the region called Ibabao. The
Spanish Conquistadores freely applied the
name Ibabao to the northern part of Samar
island when it established its civil
government. The similarities in the
vocabularies and pronunciation of the
dialects of these areas traces them to a
common root as a people.
The town was one of the 13 villages and
settlements and adopted as pueblos by the
Welcome sign at Catarman Spaniards in Samar Island and was one of
the settlements in the northern parts of the
island. The pueblo was named Calatman
and was one of the pueblos in the Visayan
islands, then collectively referred to as Islas
de Pintados. Test Edit. 2007 81,067 +2.52%

Conversion to Cityhood[edit] 2010 84,833 +1.67%

In 2003, its application for cityhood was
deterred after officials of the neighboring of 2015 94,037 +1.98%
towns Bobon and Mondragon opposed the
planned Catarman City conglomeration,
Source: Philippine Statistics Authority[3][4][5][6]
which was necessary to meet the criteria for
the approval of its bid for cityhood. Another
bill was filed converting the Municipality of
Transportation[edit]
Catarman into a component city of Northern
Samar but is still pending with the
Committee on Local Government in the
House of Representatives since July 2010.
The rise of establishments and banking
institutions has swiftly came and filled the
spaces of Catarman that paved the way for
it to become competitive.

Demographics[edit]

Population census of Catarman

Year Pop. % p.a. Catarman National Airport Terminal

1903 9,994

1918 13,278 +1.91%

1939 21,007 +2.21%

1948 33,153 +5.20%

1960 39,434 +1.46%

1970 44,438 +1.20%

1975 53,267 +3.70%

1980 59,021 +2.07%

1990 50,965 1.46%

1995 61,705 +3.65% Aerial view of Catarman

2000 67,671 +2.00% There is only one airline operating through

the Catarman National Airport (IATA: CRM)
coming from and going to Manila: PAL
Express. Flights are frequently booked out
well in advance and a one way ticket from
Manila costs between PhP3,000 and
PhP8,000 unless booked well in advance.
Pedicabs, commonly known as "padyak"
and tricycles are the means of
transportation within the town, while
multicabs, jeepneys, and vans are the
means of transportation to neighboring and
distant towns within the province.
Several taxi and bus companies are also
operating from the town going to Manila
or Tacloban city and vice versa.