Tanza, Province of Cavite, Calabarzon, Philippines

🇵🇭 Tanza, officially the Municipality of Tanza (Bayan ng Tanza), formerly known as Santa Cruz de Malabon, is a 1st class urban municipality in the province of Cavite, Philippines. It has a land area of 95.59 square km (36.91 sq mi), making it the third largest municipality by land area in the province.

Tanza was awarded the "Seal of Good Financial Housekeeping" in 2011, 2012, 2018, 2019, and 2021 and the "Seal of Good Local Governance" in 2016 by the Department of the Interior and Local Government. The municipality was named 2014 most competitive in economic dynamism by the National Competitiveness Council, eighth most populous municipality (2015 NSO Census), and 15th largest Municipality Revenue Earner based on the 2016 Bureau of Local Government Finance Financial Report.

Tanza is the place where Emilio Aguinaldo was sworn as the president of the revolutionary government of the Philippines, in front of the ancient Santa Cruz or Holy Cross (the titular of Tanza's main Catholic parish). Other officials elected at Tejeros Convention elections, including Mariano Trias as vice president, also took their oath with Aguinaldo. Also, Tanza was the birthplace of Felipe G. Calderon, the person who drafted the Malolos Constitution.

Tanza is the home of Cavite Gateway Terminal, the first roll-on, roll-off barge terminal in the Philippines.

History Tanza was formerly a strip of land incorporated for official purpose to the municipality of San Francisco de Malabon, now called General Trias. The first settlers were the Fabian brothers who migrated here. This place was particularly devoted to grazing and was called Estancia (1780).

In the mid-19th century, the Secularization movement that was largely centered in Santa Cruz de Malabón led by Pedro Pelaez.

On October 15, 1903, the Philippine Commission approved Act No. 947, annexing Santa Cruz de Malabon to the adjacent town of San Francisco de Malabon. In 1909, a resolution was passed by the San Francisco de Malabon municipal council to reconvert Santa Cruz de Malabon into a separate and independent municipality; it took effect in 1910.

In 1914, Florentino Joya, the then-representative of Cavite to the Philippine Assembly, worked for the passage of a bill which renamed the town of Santa Cruz de Malabon to Tanza by virtue of Philippine Legislative Act No. 2390 dated February 28, 1914.

Tanza celebrated Araw ng Tanza 100th anniversary with a theme "Tanza, Sandaang Taon Na!" February 28, 2014, with a parade of Higante figures across the town proper with fireworks display and a Lantern festival at evening.

Cityhood Tanza, alongside Silang, is one of the two municipalities in Cavite that has already reached the requirements to become a new city in the province, yet no bills had been filed in the Congress to convert the two towns into a component city of the province.

Geography The lowland municipality of Tanza is among of the 23 cities and municipalities that comprise the Province of Cavite. It is located in the north-western part of Cavite lying within latitudes 140° 24’ north and longitude 120° 51’ east. It is bounded by the Municipality of Rosario to the North; the General Trias to the east; by Trece Martires City and the Municipality of Naic to the south; and Manila Bay on the west.

Geography: Barangays Tanza is politically subdivided into 41 barangays.  Each barangay consists of puroks and some have sitios. • Amaya 1 • Amaya 2 • Amaya 3 • Amaya 4 • Amaya 5 • Amaya 6 • Amaya 7 • Bagtas • Biga • Biwas • Bucal • Bunga • Calibuyo • Capipisa • Daang Amaya 1 • Daang Amaya 2 • Daang Amaya 3 • Halayhay • Julugan 1 • Julugan 2 • Julugan 3 • Julugan 4 • Julugan 5 • Julugan 6 • Julugan 7 • Julugan 8 • Lambingan • Mulawin • Paradahan 1 • Paradahan 2 • Poblacion 1 • Poblacion 2 • Poblacion 3 • Poblacion 4 • Punta 1 • Punta 2 • Sahud Ulan • Sanja Mayor • Santol • Tanauan • Tres Cruses.

Christianity The majority of the people of Tanza are Roman Catholic under the jurisdiction of the Diocese of Imus, but there has been fast growth of Protestant and other non-Catholic denominations in the town, including Iglesia ni Cristo, Baptist, Seventh-day Adventist, Jehovah's Witnesses, Members Church of God International, and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Islam With the influx of migrants from other provinces especially from Mindanao, other non-Christian faiths particularly Islam are practiced in the town.

Other faiths Non-Abrahamic faiths include native-Tagalog Anitism, Animism, and within the local Indian and Chinese communities Hinduism, Buddhism, Taoism and Confucianism are followed.

Languages The main languages spoken are Tagalog, and English. A large number of people from farther provinces have migrated to Tanza, resulting in minor but significant usage of the Bicolano, Cebuano, Ilocano, Hiligaynon and Waray languages.

Retail and business process outsourcing Large retail operators have shown significant interest to the growth and increase of land value in cities throughout the Philippines. They are seen as highly developed urban centres where a lot of economic activities take place and is important to urbanization and development. Tanza is eyed as a centre of exponential growth for commerce, industry and service, strengthening its stature as one of the fastest growing municipalities in Cavite province.

SM Supermalls, a subsidiary of SM Prime, the largest mall operator in the country, since 2014 is negotiating with other landowners nearby Antero Soriano Highway in Barangay Daang Amaya 2 on their plan to build a new SM Mall in the town. SM City Tanza was opened in October 2022 as their 80th mall in the country.

Colleges • Cavite State University - Tanza Campus • Far East Asia Pacific Institute of Tourism Science and Technology (FEAPITSAT-main) • POWER School of Technology • Saint Joseph College - Tanza • PNTC Colleges Multi-Training Facility • Magsaysay Training Center • Lyceum of the Philippine University (Cavite Campus).