Anao is a 5th class Municipality in the Province of Tarlac, Philippines.

As the smallest municipality in the province, Anao covers a total land area of 2,387 hectares (5,900 acres). The area occupied by the municipality was formerly a part of Pangasinan. It is 34 kilometers (21 mi) east of the Provincial Capital and nestling on the Tarlac-Nueva Ecija border. Located in the north-eastern part of Tarlac, it is bounded on the north by San Manuel, in the easr by Nampicuan, on the south by Ramos and on the west by Paniqui and Moncada.

The area where Anao is locates was inhabited before 1800 by people from Ilocos Region. In 1835, a group of immigrants from Paoay, Ilocos Norte reached the region and first settled near a creek on the bank where there were BaleteTtrees. These immigrants called their settlement “Balete”. The immigrants found that the region where they settled has many agricultural prospects and this attracted more immigrants who came from the north, especially from the town of Paoay. The settlement expanded and became a barrio named Balete which later changed to Barrio Anao deriving authentically from the Ilocano word “Danao” which means creek. By that time, Balete trees were extinguished and the barrio was adjacent in all directions by creeks. Paniqui then stood as one municipality and has a road extended toward the east to Barrio Anao. Paniqui has more rights to claim Anao as its barrio and the people of the barrio accepted the claim.

Years went by and Barrio Anao expanded. A petition was made and approved that Barrio Anao be made a Municipality. This was in the year 1870. Let us know if theres more we can do to make information available to you! Email us at [email protected] with your idea and suggestions.