Santa Maria Bulacan, The most populous municipality in Central Luzon
Santa María (or Sta. Maria), officially known as the Municipality of Santa Maria (Filipino: Bayan ng Santa Maria) is a first class highly urban municipality in the province of Bulacan, Philippines. It is the most populous municipality in Central Luzon and the 6th most populous in the Philippines. According to the 2010 census, it has a population of 218,351 inhabitants in 48,946 households, or 7.5% of the total population of Bulacan.
During the 1970s, Santa Maria was a little-known rustic area north of Metro Manila, with a rural economy that were still largely dependent on basic agriculture and family-owned enterprises for livelihood. The influence of commercialization and industrialization slowly took shape with the entry of local and foreign investors who were instrumental in the rapid economic and social transformation of the municipality.
Today, it enjoys the status of being the financial, commercial, and industrial center of eastern Bulacan. It has the highest concentration of business establishments and industrial parks in the area. Santa Maria also boasts of having the 4th highest number of financial institutions in the province having 28 banks with a total deposits amounting to PHP 14 billion. The municipality also houses the largest car battery manufacturing plant in the Philippines which is located inside the Santa Maria Industrial Park.
Aside for being the richest municipality in Central Luzon with an income of PHP 470 million,[7] it is also one of the fastest growing local government unit (LGU) in the country and it is considered by the National Competitiveness Council of the Philippines as the most competitive LGU in Bulacan. Santa Maria is also one of the 21 municipalities, informally called the "League of 21", that have met the requirements for cityhood set by the Constitution and Local Government Code of the Republic of the Philippines and as agreed upon by the League of Cities of the Philippines.
Residential
There are about 45 subdivisions in the municipality of low, medium and high density category. The existing residential hub occupies 1,360 hectares (13.60 km²) of land distributed unevenly in its 12 barangays. These subdivisions used to occupy the stretch of the roads but now they are now developing the inner portions of their barangays. It is expected that within the next ten years, land use development in Santa Maria will represent the sub-urban mix which means that the government will provide development where the level of accessibility is very high. This will provide for the clustering of lower density land uses to help meet housing, employment and public services needs of the people.
Tourism
Santa Maria is home to ten resorts located in barangays Pulong Buhangin, Balasing, Catmon, Bulac, Mahabang Parang, Tumana and Lalakhan. These resorts have become the main destinations of the residents from Metro Manila and Santa Maria’s nearby towns for their leisure and summer experience. Facilities like swimming pools, convention/seminar rooms, hotel, cottages, and spacious parking spaces that could accommodate fifty buses at a time equipped these resorts. Some resorts accommodate local and foreign tourist for live-in accommodations.
In 2005, over 138,000 tourists visited the resorts in Santa Maria. Sitio Lucia Resort situated in Pulong Buhangin attracted 36 percent of the total volume of resort visitors. 4K Garden Resort of Barangay Catmon came next with 29 percent share. The Summer Resort in Barangay Mahabang Parang settled at the bottom with 2 percent contribution.
Historical places
La Purísima Concepción Parish Church
Shopping
Santa Maria has one public wet and dry market, the Pamilihang Bayan ng Sta. Maria, in Poblacion and several private wet and dry markets (one each in Cay Pombo and in Pulong Buhangin).
Waltermart Santa Maria, the first shopping mall in the municipality, formally opened on February 25, 2009. The mall is located in Barangay Santa Clara. The mall has a supermarket (Waltermart Supermarket), department store (mi Department Store), school and office supplies store Expressions, bookstore (National Bookstore), drugstore (Mercury Drug), 3 state-of-the-art cinemas, hardware (Handyman), and several restaurants (Jollibee, KFC, Chowking, Mang Inasal, Greenwich, etc.)
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Aside from Waltermart, Santa Maria has several supermarkets and convenience stores in Barangays Poblacion and Bagbaguin: Puregold Santa Maria which opened last December 18, 2010 and SM Savemore. There are three (3) branches of Mercury Drug, two (2) 7-Eleven, two (2) Ministop and mini marts like Reby's Store, C. P. Pineda Supermarket, Hipolito Supermarket, Antonio's Mini Mart, etc.
Education
The following are institutions of higher learning found in Santa Maria, Bulacan:
| Polytechnic University of the Philippines Santa Maria extension campus | |
| Literacy Rate | 98.89% |
| Pre-Elementary [2013]: |
Public: 32
Private: 47
|
| Elementary [2013]: |
Public: 32
Private: 47
|
| Secondary [2013]: |
Public: 5
Private: 29
|
| Tertiary [2007]: |
Public: 2
Private: 3
|
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