Agho Island is a small, mostly uninhabited island in northeastern
Iloilo
Iloilo (), officially the Province of Iloilo ( hil, Kapuoran sang Iloilo; krj, Kapuoran kang Iloilo; tl, Lalawigan ng Iloilo), is a province in the Philippines located in the Western Visayas region. Its capital is the City of Iloilo, the ...
,
Philippines
The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no),
* bik, Republika kan Filipinas
* ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas
* cbk, República de Filipinas
* hil, Republ ...
Panay
Panay is the sixth-largest and fourth-most populous island in the Philippines, with a total land area of and has a total population of 4,542,926 as of 2020 census. Panay comprises 4.4 percent of the entire population of the country. The City o ...
Island in the
Visayan Sea
The Visayan Sea is a sea in the Philippines surrounded by the islands of the Visayas. It is bounded by the islands Masbate to the north, Panay to the west, Leyte to the east, and Cebu and Negros to the south.
The sea is connected to several bod ...
. It is in a channel between
Igbon Island
Igbon Island (variously Polopina Island or Balubadiangan Island) is an island and barangay in northeastern Iloilo, Philippines. It is part of the municipality of Concepcion. According to the 2010 census, it has a population of 2,547. The island ...
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, although they did not stay as they had a garrison in nearby Bagungon Island. The island is currently owned by the Villarias clan, who own the island's resort and
sari-sari store
A sari-sari store, anglicized as neighborhood sundry store, is a convenience store found in the Philippines. The word ''sari-sari'' is Tagalog meaning "variety" or "sundry". Such stores occupy an important economic and social location in a Fil ...
.
In 1980 or 81, a couple arrived on Agho Island with the claim that the island has been given to them by then-president
Ferdinand Marcos
Ferdinand Emmanuel Edralin Marcos Sr. ( , , ; September 11, 1917 – September 28, 1989) was a Filipino politician, lawyer, dictator, and kleptocrat who was the 10th president of the Philippines from 1965 to 1986. He ruled under martial ...
. This couple, variously American or Australian and named as Thomas and Terry Cook or Kurt, hired locals to build a cottage on Agho. At first, relations between the couple and the locals were friendly; however, after the cottage was completed the couple posted an armed guard and dogs on the property to keep out intruders. Tensions between the couple and the locals grew and eventually the authorities were called in. On 19 August 1988, Narcom ( Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency) found 1,000 plants on the property that were believed to be cocoa plants, although some officials disputed this claim. The couple had left the island two years earlier, after Marcos's fall from power.
Transport
Agho is a 30-minute pumpboat ride from Concepcion.
See also
*
List of islands in the Philippines
The islands of the Philippines, also known as the Philippine Archipelago, comprises about 7,641 islands, of which only about 2,000 are inhabited.Agho Island at
OpenStreetMap
OpenStreetMap (OSM) is a free, open geographic database updated and maintained by a community of volunteers via open collaboration. Contributors collect data from surveys, trace from aerial imagery and also import from other freely licensed g ...