Alibijaban is a small island located off the southeastern coast of

Bondoc Peninsula The Bondoc Peninsula (commonly known as BonPen) is located in the southeastern part of Quezon Province in Calabarzon Region, southern part of Luzon Island, Philippines. The peninsula consists of 13 municipalities: Agdangan, Buenavista, Catanauan, ...

in 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 ...

. It belongs administratively to the municipality of San Andres,

Quezon Quezon, officially the Province of Quezon ( tl, Lalawigan ng Quezon), is a province in the Philippines located in the Calabarzon region on Luzon. Kalilayan was the first known name of the province. It was later renamed Tayabas. In honor of the ...

province, and is coterminous with the

barangay A barangay (; abbreviated as Brgy. or Bgy.), historically referred to as barrio (abbreviated as Bo.), is the smallest administrative division in the Philippines and is the native Filipino term for a village, district, or ward. In metropolita ...

of the same name. With a population of 1,643 inhabitants in 2015, it is the smallest of seven barangays in San Andres. The island is known for its pristine mangrove forest and

coral reef A coral reef is an underwater ecosystem characterized by reef-building corals. Reefs are formed of colonies of coral polyps held together by calcium carbonate. Most coral reefs are built from stony corals, whose polyps cluster in groups. C ...

s. It is also visited for its white sandy beaches and rich bird life. Its mangrove forest which covers approximately of the island's central and northern portions is protected under the National Integrated Protected Areas System as a

wilderness area Wilderness or wildlands (usually in the plural), are natural environments on Earth that have not been significantly modified by human activity or any nonurbanized land not under extensive agricultural cultivation. The term has traditionally re ...

called the ''Alibijaban Island Wilderness Area''. of waters surrounding it have also been declared a

marine protected area Marine protected areas (MPA) are protected areas of seas, oceans, estuaries or in the US, the Great Lakes. These marine areas can come in many forms ranging from wildlife refuges to research facilities. MPAs restrict human activity for a conse ...

known as the ''Alibijaban Fish Sanctuary''.

Description

Alibijaban is located in the southwestern end of

Ragay Gulf Ragay Gulf is a large gulf in the Bicol Peninsula of Luzon island in the Philippines, part of the Sibuyan Sea. It is separated from Tayabas Bay by the Bondoc Peninsula in the west. The gulf covers the provinces of Quezon and Camarines Sur Ca ...

approximately from the mainland of Bondoc Peninsula. It is roughly from north to south, and from east to west at its widest point. It is a low-lying island surrounded by a

fringing reef A fringing reef is one of the three main types of coral reef. It is distinguished from the other main types, barrier reefs and atolls, in that it has either an entirely shallow backreef zone (lagoon) or none at all. If a fringing reef grows direc ...

which is interspersed with

seagrass Seagrasses are the only flowering plants which grow in marine environments. There are about 60 species of fully marine seagrasses which belong to four families (Posidoniaceae, Zosteraceae, Hydrocharitaceae and Cymodoceaceae), all in the or ...

beds near the shore. The island's central and northern interior are dominated by mangrove wilderness, with most of the population concentrated on two

sitio A ''sitio'' (Spanish for "site") in the Philippines is a territorial enclave that forms part of a barangay. Typically rural, a ''sitios location is usually far from the center of the barangay itself and could be its own barangay if its popul ...

s on the island's western and southwestern coast facing San Andres and Bondoc Peninsula. Its coastal formations include sandy beaches and rocky shores, particularly in its northeastern side. The island is accessible via motorized banca from the port of San Andres. It is southeast of

Manila Manila ( , ; fil, Maynila, ), officially the City of Manila ( fil, Lungsod ng Maynila, ), is the capital of the Philippines, and its second-most populous city. It is highly urbanized and, as of 2019, was the world's most densely populate ...

via the

Pan-Philippine Highway The Pan-Philippine Highway, also known as the Maharlika Highway ( tl, Daang Maharlika; ceb, Dalang Halangdon), is a network of roads, expressways, bridges, and ferry services that connect the islands of Luzon, Samar, Leyte, and Mindanao in t ...

and Bondoc Peninsula Road.

Conservation

Alibajaban has some of the most undisturbed mangrove wilderness in the Philippines. It hosts at least 22 mangrove species and 14 species of birds, including the

Tabon scrubfowl The Philippine megapode (''Megapodius cumingii''), also known as the Philippine scrubfowl or the Tabon scrubfowl, is a species of bird in the family Megapodiidae. It is found in the Philippines, northeastern Borneo, and Sulawesi. Its natural ha ...

, white-collared kingfisher,

jungle crow Jungle crow is a common name that refers to three species of crow. Initially thought to be a single species, the group has since been split into the following species: * Large-billed crow, ''Corvus macrorhynchos'' * Eastern jungle crow The easter ...

, black-naped oriole, Philippine collared dove,

Asian glossy starling The Asian glossy starling (''Aplonis panayensis'') is a species of starling in the family Sturnidae. It is found in Bangladesh, Brunei, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan (introduced) and Thailand. Its natura ...

, chestnut munia, Philippine pied fantail,

common emerald dove The common emerald dove (''Chalcophaps indica''), also called Asian emerald dove and grey-capped emerald dove, is a widespread resident breeding pigeon native to the tropical and subtropical parts of the Indian Subcontinent and Southeast Asia. ...

, black-crowned night heron,

common snipe The common snipe (''Gallinago gallinago'') is a small, stocky wader native to the Old World. The breeding habitats are marshes, bogs, tundra and wet meadows throughout the Palearctic. In the north, the distribution limit extends from Iceland ov ...

. It also supports a number of fruit bats and monitor lizards. Since the establishment on the island of a wilderness protected area in 1981, the Community Environment and Resources Office (CENRO) under the

Department of Environment and Natural Resources The Department of Environment and Natural Resources ( fil, Kagawaran ng Kapaligiran at Likas na Yaman, DENR or KKLY) is the executive department of the Philippine government responsible for governing and supervising the exploration, developmen ...

and Provincial Government of Quezon now administers the area. The island also has the most diverse marine habitat in the region of Ragay Gulf. It is home to at least 30 genera of hard coral dominated by ''

Porites ''Porites'' is a genus of stony coral; they are small polyp stony (SPS) corals. They are characterised by a finger-like morphology. Members of this genus have widely spaced calices, a well-developed wall reticulum and are bilaterally symmetr ...

'', ''

Montipora ''Montipora'' is a genus of Scleractinian corals in the phylum Cnidaria. Members of the genus ''Montipora'' may exhibit many different growth morphologies. With eighty five known species, ''Montipora'' is the second most species rich coral genus ...

'' and '' Acropora''. Its adjacent waters are visited by

whale shark The whale shark (''Rhincodon typus'') is a slow-moving, filter-feeding carpet shark and the largest known extant fish species. The largest confirmed individual had a length of .McClain CR, Balk MA, Benfield MC, Branch TA, Chen C, Cosgrove J, ...

s, manta rays, and ''

pawikan Sea turtles (superfamily Chelonioidea), sometimes called marine turtles, are reptiles of the order Testudines and of the suborder Cryptodira. The seven existing species of sea turtles are the flatback, green, hawksbill, leatherback, loggerhead ...

s'' (marine turtles). The passage of a municipal ordinance in 2006 prohibited all kinds of fishing in the area.

Tourism

Alibijaban is an emerging backpacker destination. It's fine white sand beach and mangrove forest are few of the reasons why backpackers visit the island. The activities to do include: beach bumming, camping, boating, and snorkeling.

References

External links

* {{Calabarzon attractions Islands of Quezon Barangays of Quezon Wilderness areas of the Philippines