San Manuel Pangasinan

The history of San Manuel dates back to 1614, the year Lingayen became a town. According to the pamphlet published by Mr. Crispo Baclit, "Ti Ababa Nga Pakasaritaan Ti Ili a San Manuel, Pangasinan," San Manuel is not a daughter town of Asingan as some assert. It had been in existence as a town for forty-four (44) years before Asingan assumed the same political status.

However, San Manuel was absorbed as a barrio of Asingan after it had been in existence for a period of one hundred forty-four (144) years. The town was named after Don Manuel Sequig, the founder and leader of the first settlers who explored the virgin forest from the bank of the Agno River towards the grassy lands of the west and to the foot of the Caraballo Mountain in the north.

When San Manuel became a town in 1614, the site of the Poblacion was in Pau, now known as Curibetbet and it had a population of 2,023. As the population continued to swell in 1688, the inhabitants thought of erecting the first church and convent. It was also in the same year that Asingan was laying out its town site in a place called Sinapug.

In 1720, the church and convent built in Pau were burned and the people believed that it was a bad omen and so they abandoned the site and went to Sinapug to live. This was then the time when San Manuel was absorbed by Asingan for the first time.

However, some of the inhabitants moved westward to the place called Guiset, a name given to San Manuel derived from the great bamboo thickets that were plentiful during that time. In 1860, San Manuel separated from Asingan and became a town for the second time but its site was no longer Pau but in its present site.

For a brief period, from 1903 to 1907, due to lack of funds San Manuel was again absorbed by Asingan for the second time.