MIMAROPA, Region IV-B, Philippines

Last modified: 2005-03-19 by rob raeside
Keywords: mimaropa | southern tagalog | tagalog | marinduque | mindoro | palawan | puerto princesa | romblon |
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The Philippine Republic's Region IV, Southern Tagalog, comprised eleven provinces with eight cities. Most of these provinces are in the southern part of the island of Luzon, but the province of Palawan, an archipelago in itself, stretches southwest of Luzon almost as far as Borneo, forming one of the four sides of the Sulu Sea. It has subsequently been subdivided into CALABARZON (Region IVA, comprising Batangas, Cavite, Laguna, Quezon and Rizal) and MIMAROPA (Region IVB, comprising  Occidental Mindoro, Oriental Mindoro, Marinduque, Romblon and Palawan).

Flag images here drawn after Symbols of the State, published by the Philippines Bureau of Local Government.

Region IV-A: CALABARZON

• Batangas
  • Batangas City
  • Lipa
• Cavite
  • Cavite City
  • Tagaytay
  • Tres Martires
• Laguna
  • San Pablo
• Quezon
• Rizal

• Marinduque
• Mindoro Occidental
• Mindoro Oriental
• Palawan
  • Puerto Princesa
• Romblon

See also:

• Philippines
• Philippines: index of all pages
• Philippines provincial flags

Marinduque

by Jaume Ollé, 12 January 2001

East of the Province of Oriental Mindoro is the smaller province of Marinduque. Its population is 217,000 in six towns, of which Boac is the capital, totalling 959 sq. km. It has been a separate province since 1920. It has considerable mineral resources, but a disastrous leak of mine tailings in 1996 forced the closure of the copper mines. Its chief products are coconuts, rice, maize, fruits, vegetables, livestock, fish, wood, and the products of a number of small-scale industries. Off the coast are three small islands called the Three Kings, individually Gaspar, Melchor, and Baltazar, a favoured spot for day-trips and diving; a Spanish galleon was found off Gaspar in forty meters of water in 1981. It has yielded a wealth of archaeological treasure. Both provinces seem to offer sufficient wilderness, wildlife, and water to make many vacationers happy, but here has been little touristic development.
John Ayer, 8 March 2001

Mindoro Occidental

by Jaume Ollé, 12 January 2001

Northeast of the Province of Palawan in Region IV of the Philippine Republic is the island of Mindoro, which (with surrounding smaller islands) constituted the Province of Mindoro from 1921 until 1950, when it was split into Occidental and Oriental halves. Occidental Mindoro has a population of 378,000 in eleven towns, of which Mamburao is the capital, on 5880 sq.km.

The Chinese traded with the natives of Mindoro for centuries before the Spanish, in the person of Miguel Lopez de Legaspi, discovered the island in 1569. Gold sediments in the streams led the Spaniards to christen the island "Mina de Oro" or "Gold Mine," but that didn't pan out to any great extent. The name survives, compressed. Spanish occupation began the next year under Lopez de Legaspi's lieutenant and grandson, Juan de Salcedo.

Both provinces Mindoro Occidental and Mindoro Oriental include primeval forest, nature reserves, many miles of unspoiled beach, and opportunities for hiking, swimming, diving, wind-surfing, fishing, camping, nature-watching, etc. The island is sole home to the tamaraw, a wild relative of the carabao, or water buffalo, with horns that grow up in a V instead of curving in. Exotic birds and butterflies also abound. Oriental Mindoro has the oldest Spanish fort in the Philippines, with the cannons that were used against Moro raiders, whose depredations continued well into the nineteent