San Pedro (Laguna)

San Pedro is a first class city in the province of Laguna, Philippines, officially City of San Pedro (Filipino: Lungsod ng San Pedro) and often referred to as San Pedro City. It is named after its patron saint, Peter the Apostle. According to the, it has a population of inhabitants. Despite being the third smallest in the entire province, with a total land surface area of only 24.05 km2, San Pedro is the fourth largest city in terms of population after the cities of Calamba, Biñan, and Santa Rosa. The city also has the highest population density in the province of Laguna and in the whole Calabarzon region, having 14,000 people/km2.HistorySan Pedro de Tunasán became a town on January 18, 1725, when King Charles II of Spain decreed that the town formerly known as "Tabuko" be a separate town from "Kabullaw" (now known as the city of Cabuyao).By virtue of the last will of Philip V of Spain, Rodriguez de Figueroa or "Don Esteban", a group of Augustinian Fathers gained the ownership of the Tunasán Estate. Later on, San Pedro became an hacienda of Colegio de San José, a group of Jesuits friars who took over the property which now is known as "San Pedro Tunasán". Tunasán literally means "a place where there is Tunás" (Nymphaea nouchali), a medicinal plant abundant on shoreline area.