Poro Island (Filipino: Pulo ng Poro) is an island in the province of
Cebu
Cebu (; ceb, Sugbo), officially the Province of Cebu ( ceb, Lalawigan sa Sugbo; tl, Lalawigan ng Cebu; hil, Kapuroan sang Sugbo), is a province of the Philippines located in the Central Visayas region, and consists of a main island and 16 ...
, located east of
Cebu Island and west of
Leyte Island. Two
municipalities
A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate.
The term ''municipality'' may also mean the ...
,
Poro and
Tudela Tudela may refer to:
*Tudela, Navarre, a town and municipality in northern Spain
** Benjamin of Tudela Medieval Jewish traveller
** William of Tudela, Medieval troubadour who wrote the first part of the ''Song of the Albigensian Crusade''
** Ba ...
, are located on Poro Island. It is one of the four
Camotes Islands along with
Pacijan Island
San Francisco, officially the Municipality of San Francisco ( ceb, Lungsod sa San Francisco; tgl, Bayan ng San Francisco), is a 3rd class municipality of the Philippines, municipality in the Philippine Province, province of Cebu, Philippines. A ...
,
Ponson Island, and
Tulang Island
San Francisco, officially the Municipality of San Francisco ( ceb, Lungsod sa San Francisco; tgl, Bayan ng San Francisco), is a 3rd class municipality in the province of Cebu, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 59 ...
. The island is one of the early Pacific contact sites between the East and the West.
Geography
Bukilat Cave
The island hosts various caves. One example is the Bukilat Cave which is a large natural cavern in the southeastern part of the island. Because of naturally formed piercings in its canopy, the interior is well illuminated. There are many
stalactite
A stalactite (, ; from the Greek 'stalaktos' ('dripping') via
''stalassein'' ('to drip') is a mineral formation that hangs from the ceiling of caves, hot springs, or man-made structures such as bridges and mines. Any material that is soluble ...
and
stalagmite
A stalagmite (, ; from the Greek , from , "dropping, trickling")
is a type of rock formation that rises from the floor of a cave due to the accumulation of material deposited on the floor from ceiling drippings. Stalagmites are typicall ...
formations in the cave. It was used as a shelter for Poro Island residents during the
Japanese occupation of the Philippines
The Japanese occupation of the Philippines ( Filipino: ''Pananakop ng mga Japones sa Filipinas''; ja, 日本のフィリピン占領, Nihon no Firipin Senryō) occurred between 1942 and 1945, when Imperial Japan occupied the Commonwealth of t ...
during the
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 World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...
era.
Waterfalls
Busay and Pangunuron Falls are among the waterfalls in the island.
Buho Rock
Buho Rock is a hole in a cliff wall said to have been formed when a Spanish warship mistook it for an enemy ship in the mist and fired cannon into it. It is reached by a stone staircase, and offers views of Poro and the sea.
Language
The Poro islands are home to the ''Porohanon language'', one of the most endangered languages in the Visayas. The language is only used in the Camotes Islands, which are composed of four municipalities. The language is classified as distinct from
Cebuano (Bisaya) by the
Komisyon ng Wikang Filipino and is vital to the culture and arts of the Porohanon people.
Islands of Cebu
{{CVisayas-geo-stub