Talugtug, officially the Municipality of Talugtug, is a 4th class municipality in the province of Nueva Ecija, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 25,236 people.

History

The oldest settlement in the town was a hill top near the present-day Cuyapo-Munos trail, where a sacred balete tree stood and travelers and farmers came to rest. The area later became known as Talugtug-Balete, which became a barrio of the Municipality of Cuyapo in 1917. A part of the barrio was later absorbed into the Municipality of Guimba and became the barrio of San Isidro. During this time, Mariano Mendoza, Pablo Dacayo, Andres Dumandan and Severino Cachuela became the teniente del barrio of old Talugtug. After World War II, members of the town held a meeting on November 3, 1946, to launch the created of a proposed municipality. The meeting was chaired by Romualdo Estillore, with aid from officers Aniceto Feliciano, Simeon Ramos and Fermin Ancheta, while the campaign for the town's creation was heavily supported by the locals. The proposal was presented to the provincial board on December 6, 1946, and approved on February 12, 1947. On January 10, 1948, President Manuel Roxas signed executive order no. 113, officially creating Talutug as the 26th municipality of Nueva Ecija. In 1982, the Talugtug massacre occurred, where the Marcos-controlled military killed-off a number of Ilocanos in the town.

Geography

The municipality is situated in the northern part of Nueva Ecija, about 71 km from the seat of the provincial government in Palayan City; 169 km from Manila; and 29 km from the nearby City of San Jose. It is bounded on the South by the Municipality of Guimba; on the southeast by the Science City of Muñoz; on the west by Cuyapo, on the east by Lupao, all of which are in the province of Nueva Ecija. On the northernmost side of Talugtug is the boundary of Pangasinan with the municipality of Umingan. Talugtug has a total land area of 10122.2324 ha. Talugtug is characterized by hilly and rolling land in the north-eastern and north-western section of the municipality covering almost 7 barangays. The foot of two mountain ranges, namely Mt. Baloy (with peak in Cuyapo) and Mt. Amorong (with peak in Umingan, Pangasinan) occupies its hilly and rolling areas. About 70% of the land is flat and constitutes the agricultural area of the municipality, where almost 75% of its total rice production comes from.

Climate

Barangays

Talugtug is politically subdivided into 28 barangays. Each barangay consists of puroks and some have sitios.

Demographics

Economy

The municipality's status is currently fourth class. Majority of the inhabitants rely mainly on farming from their small farm holdings while the rest depend on pasturing animals.