Santa Praxedes, Cagayan

The town's original names were Capan-awan and Langangan (Lang-ga-ngan), which means "Sagapa", a round piece of rattan work to hold in place earthen pots,^[6] Municipal officials then petitioned for a change of name through Representative Benjamin Ligot. Under Republic Act No. 4149 which he authored in 1966, Langangan was renamed into Sta. Praxedes in honor of the name of Congressman Ligot’s mother, Doña Praxedes Ligot.

The town was formerly part of Claveria until 1922.^[6] The first settlers were known to be the emigrants from the provinces of Ilocos Sur (from the municipalities of Sinait and Magsingal) and Ilocos Norte (from the municipalities of Pasuquin, Badoc and Pinili). The early settlers in this municipality were the Agamanos, Agnir, Aguinaldo, Aguirre, Agullana, Bumanglag, Estabillo, Llapitan, Madamba, Pagdilao, Ragsac, Rivera, and the Sanchez families.

There have been moves by the municipal council to regain political control over some barangays of the neighboring municipality of Claveria, particularly the barangays of Cadcadir, Lablabig, Mabnang, Union, Kilkiling and Siam-Siam. These barangays were once part of Santa Praxedes but lost them when the municipality was transferred to the provincial jurisdiction of Ilocos Norte.

It borders the Ilocos Norte municipality of Pagudpud to the west; Calanasan, Apayao, to the south-west; Claveria, Cagayan, to the east. It also shares a third of the area of the Calvario National Park along with the municipality of Pagudpud. Taiwan directly to the north of Luzon Island via Luzon Strait to Bashi Channel.

The central plain is situated in a valley enveloped by the Cordillera Mountains. It is also one of the coastal towns of Cagayan that does not have direct road access to its seacoast due to the high mountains surrounding it.

Santa Praxedes is situated 195.83 kilometres (121.68 mi) from the provincial capital Tuguegarao, and 592.41 kilometres (368.11 mi) from the country's capital city of Manila.

In the 2024 census, the population of Santa Praxedes was 4,643 people,^[13] with a density of 42 inhabitants per square kilometer or 110 inhabitants per square mile.

Poverty incidence of Santa Praxedes

Source: Philippine Statistics Authority^{[14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21]}

Economic activity consists mainly of fishing, farming and tourism. Currently, the local government is further developing both Portabaga Falls Park and Resort in Barangay Portabaga, and Mingay Beach Camp in Barangay San Juan.

Limited economic activities and lack of job opportunity forced many of its skilled professionals opted to work outside the municipality and many have already immigrated to other countries for better career prospect and for greater economic stability.

Being a small town and the fact that its inhabitants are related by ancestry, recent political development created friction among political clans. Among other factor is that politicians are mainly late-comer emigrants from neighboring municipalities and provinces thus in the 2016 national election, claims of illegal voters or "flying voters" were uncovered by the local election office. Such controversy was resolved before election.^{[citation needed]}

The municipality is 595 kilometers (370 mi) north of Manila via Laoag and 192 kilometers (119 mi) northwest of Tuguegarao, the province's capital. Bus companies serving the town are GV Florida Transport (Manila–Junction Luna v/v via Laoag), GMW Trans (Laoag–Tuguegarao/Santiago) and Claveria Tours Transport (Laoag - Claveria) on a daily regular basis.

Although it has a small population, it enjoys full coverage of Smart and Globe cellular networks which residents use to connect to the Internet.^{[citation needed]}

The Schools Division of Cagayan governs the town's public education system.^[23] The division office is a field office of the DepEd in Cagayan Valley region.^[24] The Sta. Praxedes Schools District Office governs the public and private elementary and high schools throughout the municipality.^[25]