(Tagalog pronunciation: [pɐˈlawan]), officially the Province of Palawan (Filipino: Lalawigan ng Palawan), is an island province of the Philippines that is located in the MIMAROPA region. It is the largest province in the country in terms of total area of jurisdiction. Its capital is Puerto Princesa City, but it is governed independently from the province.
The islands of Palawan stretch from Mindoro in the northeast to Borneo in the southwest. It lies between the South China Sea and the Sulu Sea. The province is named after its largest island, Palawan Island (09°30′N 118°30′E), measuring 450 kilometres (280 mi) long, and 50 kilometres (31 mi) wide.
Geography
Palawan is composed of the long and narrow Palawan Island, plus a number of other smaller islands surrounding the main island. The Calamianes Group of Islands to the Northeast consists of Busuanga Island, Coron Island and Culion Island. Durangan Island almost touches the westernmost part of Palawan Island, while Balabac Island is located off the southern tip, separated fromBorneo by the Balabac Strait. In addition, Palawan covers the Cuyo Islands in the Sulu Sea. The disputed Spratly Islands, located a few hundred kilometres to the west, are considered part of Palawan by the Philippines, and is locally called the “Kalayaan Group of Islands”.
Palawan’s almost 2,000 kilometres (1,200 mi) of irregular coastline are dotted with roughly 1,780 islands and islets, rocky coves, and sugar-white sandy beaches. It also harbors a vast stretch of virgin forests that carpet its chain of mountain ranges. The mountain heights average 3,500 feet (1,100 m) in altitude, with the highest peak rising to 6,843 feet (2,086 m)[6] at Mount Mantalingahan. The vast mountain areas are the source of valuable timber. The terrain is a mix of coastal plain, craggy foothills, valley deltas, and heavy forest interspersed with riverine arteries that serve as irrigation.
Climate
The province has two types of climate. The first, which occurs in the northern and southern extremities and the entire western coast, has two distinct seasons – six months dry and six months wet. The other, which prevails in the eastern coast, has a short dry season of one to three months and no pronounced rainy period during the rest of the year. The southern part of the province is virtually free from tropical depressions but northern Palawan experiences torrential rains during the months of July and August. Summer months serve as peak season for Palawan. Sea voyage is most favorable from March to early June when the seas are calm. The average maximum temperature is 31 degrees C with little variation all year.
Subdivisions
Palawan consists of 367 barangays in 23 municipalities, and two congressional districts that divide the province into north and south portions. Thirteen municipalities are considered as mainland municipalities, and these are, Aborlan, Narra, Quezon, Sofronio Española, Brooke’s Point, Rizal, and Bataraza (located south);San Vicente, Roxas, Dumaran, El Nido, and Taytay (found in the north). The remaining island municipalitiesare: Busuanga, Coron, Linapacan and Culion (forming the Calamianes group of islands), Cuyo, Agutaya andMagsaysay (the Cuyo group of islands), Araceli, Cagayancillo, Balabac and Kalayaan (Spratly Islands). The capital, Puerto Princesa is a highly urbanized city that governs itself independently from the province, but it usually grouped with the province for statistical and geographic purposes.
It has a total land area of 14,896 square kilometer (km2), When Puerto Princesa City is included for geographical purposes, the province’s land area is 17,030.75 square kilometres (6,575.61 sq mi).[3] The land area is distributed to its mainland municipalities, comprising 12,239 km², and the island municipalities, which altogether measure 2,657 km². On the average, each municipality has an area of 620 km². On the other hand, the island municipality of Cuyo (4,003 km²) ranks largest in terms of municipal waters. On the latter, the mainland municipality of Sofronio Española has the smallest marine area with only 485 km².
The largest municipalities are situated in the central and northern mainland, and they are: Taytay (1,390 km²), and Roxas (1,220 km²). On the contrary, the smallest local government units are the island municipalities of Cagayancillo (15.40 km²), Magsaysay (27.70 km²) and Cuyo (57.30 km²). All 24 local government units have 431 barangays as of June 2002.
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