Lezo, officially the Municipality of Lezo ( Aklanon: ''Banwa it Lezo''; Hiligaynon: ''Banwa sang Lezo''; ), is a

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality' ...

in the

province A province is an administrative division within a country or sovereign state, state. The term derives from the ancient Roman , which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire, Roman Empire's territorial possessions ou ...

Aklan Aklan, officially the Province of Aklan, is a Provinces of the Philippines, province in the Western Visayas region of the Philippines. Its capital and largest town is Kalibo. The province is situated in the northwest portion of Panay, Panay Islan ...

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

. It is the smallest municipality in the province both by population and by land area, and even by revenue. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 15,639 people.

History

Before its creation into an independent municipality, Lezo was a ''barrio'' in

Kalibo Kalibo, officially the Municipality of Kalibo (Aklanon language, Aklanon: ''Banwa it Kalibo''; Hiligaynon language, Hiligaynon: ''Banwa sang Kalibo''; ), is a municipality of the Philippines, municipality and capital of the Philippine Province, ...

called ''Guicod'' derived from the word "Guicab" which means "a cavern in a creek where eels were in abundance", and was also known as ''Tierra Alta'' meaning a "high land" because the town center was not inundated during the great flood of the early 19th century. When the Americans came in 1899, the military government appointed Felix Kimpo as head of the Calivo (covering the present territory of

, Numancia and Lezo). During the election in 1901 he was elected as the president from 1901 to 1903. At that time there were 34 towns in the province of Capiz, but these were reduced to 24 towns by a law passed by the civil Commission when it was found out that some towns were incapable of meeting their financial obligations and maintenance. So on April 4, 1903, through Act No. 720 of the Philippine Commission, Lezo, along with Numancia, and Banga was annexed to Kalibo for decreased of revenue collections. On July 31, 1909, the civil commission issued Executive Order No. 58 separating Lezo (that includes Numancia) from Kalibo and making Lezo as the seat of government. Numancia then, became a ''barrio'' of Lezo. On December 31, 1916, through ''Act No. 2657'', Lezo was part of the second district of the province of

Capiz Capiz (), officially the Province of Capiz (Capiznon language, Capiznon/Hiligaynon language, Hiligaynon: ''Kapuoran sang Capiz''; ), is a Provinces of the Philippines, province in the central part of the Western Visayas Regions of the Philippines ...

. On March 10, 1917, through ''Act No. 2711'' Lezo was part of the third district of Capiz. In 1920 the situation was reversed with regards to the status of Lezo and Numancia. By ''Executive Order No. 17'', series of 1920, the seat of government was transferred to Numancia and Lezo became a ''barrio'' of Numancia. With several petitions by the residents over the years to separate from Numancia, President

Manuel Quezon Manuel Luis Quezon y Molina (, , , ; 19 August 1878 – 1 August 1944), also known by his initials MLQ, was a Filipino lawyer, statesman, soldier, and politician who was president of the Commonwealth of the Philippines from 1935 until his d ...

signed ''Executive Order No. 364'' dated August 28, 1941 converting Lezo into an independent municipality. The inauguration of Lezo as a separate municipality was scheduled in 1942, but due to the outbreak of

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

it was deferred to January 1, 1945.

Geography

Lezo is located at . It is from the provincial capital

According to the

Philippine Statistics Authority The Philippine Statistics Authority (; PSA) is the central statistical authority of the Philippine government that collects, compiles, analyzes, and publishes statistical information on economic, social, demographic, political affairs, and gene ...

, the municipality has a land area of constituting of the total area of Aklan.

Climate

Barangays

Lezo is politically subdivided into 12

barangay The barangay (; abbreviated as Brgy. or Bgy.), historically referred to as ''barrio'', is the smallest Administrative divisions of the Philippines, administrative division in the Philippines. Named after the Precolonial barangay, precolonial po ...

s. Each barangay consists of

purok A ''purok'' () is an informal division within a barangay in the Philippines. While not officially considered a local government unit (LGU), a ''purok'' often serves as a unit for delivering services and administration within a barangay. ''Pur ...

s and some have

sitios A ''sitio'' (Spanish language, 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 bar ...

Demographics

In the 2020 census, Lezo had a population of 15,639. The population density was .

Economy

Image gallery

File:Lezo Aklan Plaza Statue.jpg, Town plaza in front of the Church File:Lezo, Aklan Church 2.jpg, Church in Lezo

References

External links

Philippine Standard Geographic Code The Philippine Standard Geographic Code (PSGC) is a systematic classification and coding for geographic areas in the Philippines. It classifies areas based on the country's four levels of administrative divisions: regions, provinces, municipalities ...

Official Municipal Website
{{Authority control Municipalities of Aklan Political divisions established by Philippine executive order