Current Time in San Fernando, Philippines

San Fernando is the capital of Pampanga province and the regional centre of Central Luzon, standing on the broad alluvial plain about seventy kilometres north of Manila. The land around it is flat and intensively farmed, crossed by rivers flowing south towards Manila Bay, with the volcanic cone of Mount Arayat visible to the east and the ridges of the Zambales mountains, including Mount Pinatubo, on the western horizon. The climate is tropical, with a hot dry season from November to April and a wet season dominated by the monsoon and occasional typhoons.

The city has a population of around three hundred and sixty thousand and forms part of a continuous urban area stretching towards Angeles and the former Clark air base. It serves as the administrative headquarters of the region, and its economy is built on government offices, commerce, food processing, light manufacturing, logistics and a growing business process outsourcing sector.

Founded in 1754 and named after Saint Ferdinand, the town grew wealthy on sugar and rice and became the provincial capital in 1904. Its railway station is remembered as the end point of the Bataan Death March in 1942, when prisoners of war were transported from here to Camp O'Donnell, and a memorial marks the site. In the years after the 1991 eruption of Mount Pinatubo the city was badly affected by lahar, the volcanic mudflows that buried farmland and villages nearby, and the half-submerged church in neighbouring Bacolor remains an extraordinary reminder of that disaster.

San Fernando is known throughout the Philippines as the Christmas Capital. Every December it holds the Giant Lantern Festival, in which villages compete with enormous illuminated parols several metres across, containing thousands of bulbs choreographed to music. The lantern-making workshops of the city supply decorations to the whole country and export them abroad. During Holy Week the barangay of San Pedro Cutud draws large crowds and international attention for its dramatic penitential rites and re-enactments of the Passion.

Pampanga is also celebrated as the culinary capital of the Philippines, and San Fernando is at the heart of that reputation. Kapampangan cooking is famous for dishes such as sisig, tocino, longganisa, morcon and a wide range of sweets, and the province's cooks have long been sought after across the country. The local language, Kapampangan, is spoken with pride alongside Filipino and English.

Visitors find heritage houses of the Spanish and American periods, the Metropolitan Cathedral, museums devoted to local history and lantern-making, and large modern shopping centres. Universities and colleges including the state university system, the University of the Assumption and the city college give the town a substantial student population.

The North Luzon Expressway, the MacArthur Highway and a network of bus routes connect San Fernando to Manila in about an hour and a half, while Clark International Airport lies a short drive to the north.

San Fernando is popular for its lanterns, its food and its role as the vibrant administrative and cultural heart of Central Luzon.