An Ordinance adopting the San Carlos City Tourism Code of 2018, for the development, promotion and regulation …
Brief History
San Carlos City lies at the northeastern part of the Negros Islands. It is bounded on the north by the town of Calatrava, on the east by the Refugio Pass, on the south by Canlaon City (Negros Oriental), and on the west by the town of Murcia.
The city, with a land area of 451.3 square kilometers, had a population of 90,058 (26% urban and 74% rural) in 1970.
San Carlos, with large tracts of land, is planted to sugarcane, the principal crop which annually earns for the city’s coffers a million peso revenue. Besides corn, tobacco, and coffee, soy beans are also raised.
As an ideal port city, San Carlos has two piers serving domestic and foreign ships.
Aside from being a commercial community, the city is also considered as a seat of culture in the northeastern part of Negros Occidental. There are four educational institutions: Colegio de Santo Tomas de Villanueva, Colegio de Santa Rita, Central Negros Institute, and Tañon College.
The present site of San Carlos City was a former barrio of Calatrava, called Nabingkalan, in honor of a beautiful daughter of a Negrito chieftain. It was said that a certain Carlos Apurado and his men from the town of Badian, Cebu, bought the settlement from the Negritoes.
Nabingkalan became a municipality in 1898. It was later called San Carlos, in honor of San Carlos Borromeo, the town’s patron saint.
San Carlos became a city on June 18, 1960, with the passage of Republic Act No. 2643.
During the Second World War, in March 1945, the Japanese invaders were repulsed by the local guerrillas under the leadership of Lieutenants Alfredo Valdevia and Leonardo Marane. Under the overall command of Colonel Ernesto S. Mata, the guerrillas attacked a Japanese garrison in the compound of San Carlos Milling Company.
Two more of its sons who have distinguished themselves are the late Don Julio Ledesma, sugar magnate, and Romeo Tabuena, the internationally acclaimed painter.
The scenic vacation resorts in San Carlos City are the Refugio (Sipaway) Island (reached by sailboat or ferryboat from the city proper) which is famous for its white beaches; and the Mainit Spring (reached in twenty minutes by bus from the city’s thoroughfares) which is known for its hot water of volcanic origin.
*Taken from Symbols of the State: Republic of the Philippines, Philippines. Page 84. Bureau of Local Government, Department of Local Government and Community Development, 1975 – Emblems, National – 301 pages
Produced by the Bureau of Local Government in cooperation with the Office of the President, National Historical Institure and the National Media Production Center
Tourism Code
Local Government Symbols
Official Seal
Meaning of the Official Seal of the City
Upper Right Quadrant – sugar mill, symbolical of San Carlos City’s main product which is sugar; the ship signifies that the city is accessible by sea and is a typical coastal city of commerce
Lower Left Quadrant – connotes the topographical structure of the city
Map at the Center – Negros map divided into two component provinces
Plants – corn and sugar which are the staple food of San Carloseños
Wheel – symbol of the local administration at the wheel-of-state
Text on the band – Nabingkalan, the original name of the City, first christian settler of the city