Balatan, officially the Municipality of Balatan (

Rinconada Bikol Rinconada Bikol or simply Rinconada, spoken in the province of Camarines Sur, Philippines, is one of several languages that compose the Inland Bikol (or Southern Bicol) group of the Bikol languages, Bikol macrolanguage. It belongs to the Austr ...

: ''Banwaān ka Balatan'';

Tagalog Tagalog may refer to: Language * Tagalog language, a language spoken in the Philippines ** Old Tagalog, an archaic form of the language ** Batangas Tagalog, a dialect of the language * Tagalog script, the writing system historically used for Tagal ...

: ''Bayan ng Balatan''), 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 ...

Camarines Sur Camarines Sur (; ), officially the Province of Camarines Sur (Central Bikol language, Bikol: ''Probinsya kan Habagatan na Camarines''; ), is a Provinces of the Philippines, province in the Philippines located in the Bicol Region on Luzon. Its ca ...

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 ...

. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 30,669 people. Balatan was founded by Don Gregorio Balatan, also its first mayor and founder of the municipality's first school, the Balatan Institute Memorial High School (formerly Balatan Institute). The current and the 6th mayor is Ernesto "Bares" Arillas Bagasbas. The town's economy is supported by people from the Burias Island of

Masbate Masbate, officially the Province of Masbate (Masbateño language, Masbateño: ''Probinsya san Masbate''; ), is an island Provinces of the Philippines, province in the Philippines located near the midsection of the nation's archipelago. Its provi ...

province who are mostly trading their products in this small municipality. Balatan celebrates the Pintakasi and Pagkamundag Festivals annually on February 18 and December 1–3 respectively.

History

Balatan was once a ''sitio'' known as Siramag which belonged to the town of Nabua. In 1951, Camarines Sur Provincial Board Member Gregorio O. Balatan Sr. proposed a resolution to divide Nabua into two municipalities: Nabua and Balatan. Balatan then was separated from its mother town and became independent on December 3, 1951, under Executive Order (EO) No. 485 of then President

Elpidio Quirino Elpidio Rivera Quirino (; November 16, 1890 – February 29, 1956) was a Philippine nationality law, Filipino lawyer and politician who served as the 6th President of the Philippines from 1948 to 1953. A lawyer by profession, Quirino entered p ...

. It was named after Don Rufino Balatan which is the father of Board Member Gregorio O. Balatan Sr.

Geography

This town bounded by the municipalities of Bula, Bato, and Nabua, as well as

Ragay Gulf Ragay Gulf is a large gulf in the Bicol Peninsula in Luzon, 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 Quezon, officially the Province of Quezon ...

. Animasola Island is part of this municipality's territory.

Barangays

Balatan is politically subdivided into 17

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 ...

. * Cabanbanan * Cabungan * Camangahan * Cayogcog * Coguit * Duran * Laganac * Luluasan * Montenegro (formerly Maguiron, renamed in honor of Mayor Candido Montenegro) * Pararao (Parao) * Siramag (Poblacion) * Pulang Daga * Sagrada Nacacale * San Francisco * Santiago Nacacale * Tapayas * Tomatarayo

Climate

Demographics

In the 2020 census, the population of Balatan, Camarines Sur, was 30,669 people, with a density of .

is the mother tongue spoken by 96.67% of the population. In the period 1960 to 1997, there was an average of 97.60% of total housing units in the municipality that were occupied while only 3.40% were vacant. ;Literacy Rate: * Urban area

literacy rate Literacy is the ability to read and write, while illiteracy refers to an inability to read and write. Some researchers suggest that the study of "literacy" as a concept can be divided into two periods: the period before 1950, when literacy was ...

: 98.29% * Rural area literacy rate: 97.17% ;Religious affiliation: *

Catholics The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

: 96.50% *

Iglesia ni Cristo The (INC; ; ) is an independent Nontrinitarianism, nontrinitarian Christianity, Christian Christian denomination, church founded in 1913 and registered by Felix Manalo, Félix Manalo in 1914 as a corporation sole, sole religious corporation ...

: 2.00% * Others: 1.50%

Economy

Minor central business district consists of public market, grocery,

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 F ...

s, welding and vulcanizing shop, calling office,

fish A fish (: fish or fishes) is an aquatic animal, aquatic, Anamniotes, anamniotic, gill-bearing vertebrate animal with swimming fish fin, fins and craniate, a hard skull, but lacking limb (anatomy), limbs with digit (anatomy), digits. Fish can ...

dealer,

bakery A bakery is an establishment that produces and sells flour-based baked goods made in an oven such as bread, cookies, cakes, doughnuts, bagels, Pastry, pastries, and pies. Some retail bakeries are also categorized as Coffeehouse, cafés, servi ...

, barber shop, beauty parlor, billiard hall, coco lumber dealer, junk shop and cable network. Neighborhood centers consists of sari-sari stores, bakery,

videoke is a type of interactive entertainment system usually offered in Nightclub, nightclubs and bars, where people Singing, sing along to pre-recorded accompaniment using a microphone. Its musical content is an instrumental rendition of a well-kno ...

/bar, mini-sound system, repair shops, piggery, cockpit, bakery, furniture shop, fish dealer, repair and welding shops, copra dealer, among others. The only industrial business is a mini-containerized ice plant which caters to the needs of rich-fishing activities, and a few

rice mill A rice mill is a food-processing facility where paddy (unmilled rice) is processed by cleaning the grain, removing the hull, sorting, and packing the rice, leaving it in its final form for sale to consumers. Process The entire product is proc ...

s. There are six beach resorts catering to domestic tourism. ;Agriculture sector: * 75.04% of the total municipal land area are devoted to crops such as

rice Rice is a cereal grain and in its Domestication, domesticated form is the staple food of over half of the world's population, particularly in Asia and Africa. Rice is the seed of the grass species ''Oryza sativa'' (Asian rice)—or, much l ...

corn Maize (; ''Zea mays''), also known as corn in North American English, is a tall stout Poaceae, grass that produces cereal grain. It was domesticated by indigenous peoples of Mexico, indigenous peoples in southern Mexico about 9,000 years ago ...

, vegetables,

legumes Legumes are plants in the pea family Fabaceae (or Leguminosae), or the fruit or seeds of such plants. When used as a dry grain for human consumption, the seeds are also called pulses. Legumes are grown agriculturally, primarily for human consu ...

coffee Coffee is a beverage brewed from roasted, ground coffee beans. Darkly colored, bitter, and slightly acidic, coffee has a stimulating effect on humans, primarily due to its caffeine content, but decaffeinated coffee is also commercially a ...

, high value crops and fruits,

sugar cane Sugarcane or sugar cane is a species of tall, Perennial plant, perennial grass (in the genus ''Saccharum'', tribe Andropogoneae) that is used for sugar Sugar industry, production. The plants are 2–6 m (6–20 ft) tall with stout, jointed, fib ...

, coconut, banana, abaca, root crops and industrial crops * For livestock production: 37 private owners engaged in raising carabaos, cattle, swine or poultry * For fishery production: 2 commercial, 298 local.

Infrastructure

Transportation

Land transportation refers to the present road circulation system as well as bus, van, and jeepney terminal. Marine transportation facility operates through the existing Balatan Municipal Port of Ragay Gulf.

Utilities

Water supply is distributed under Level III and Level I water systems: Level III is operated by the Balatan Water District; Level I water supply system consisting of either shallow wells, deep wells or improved spring provides alternative water supply source. Power and electricity: * 95% of the total households in the municipality are now served with electricity * Barangays with electricity are serviced by CASURECO III Communication facilities include the postal services, telegraph and telegraphic transfer service facilities, and telephone services.

Public services

Health

* Crude

birth rate Birth rate, also known as natality, is the total number of live childbirth, human births per 1,000 population for a given period divided by the length of the period in years. The number of live births is normally taken from a universal registr ...

: 19.97% * Crude

death rate Mortality rate, or death rate, is a measure of the number of deaths (in general, or due to a specific cause) in a particular population, scaled to the size of that population, per unit of time. Mortality rate is typically expressed in units of d ...

: 2.05% * Infant mortality rate: 11.49% * Young child mortality: 1.53% * Maternal mortality rate: 3.22% * General medical consultation rate: 358.68% * Hospitalization rate: 6.57% * Health service and facilities implemented by the municipal health office through its Rural Health Unit * Community Hospital (under-construction) * Existence of four barangay health stations

Protective

Facilities for protective services include the police headquarters, police substation, fire station, municipal jail, and Coast Guard.

Social welfare

Existing social welfare organizations or institutions include CVRD'S People Organization, KALIPI (Women) PYM, Federation of Day Care Workers, 4Ps, RincoMESA (Rinconada Movement for Environment and Sustainable Agriculture) and Kalahi-CIDDS.

Education

* 17 public

elementary Elementary may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music * ''Elementary'' (Cindy Morgan album), 2001 * ''Elementary'' (The End album), 2007 * ''Elementary'', a Melvin "Wah-Wah Watson" Ragin album, 1977 Other uses in arts, entertainment, an ...

schools * 1 private elementary school * 3 public secondary schools * 1 institution offering vocational/technical education * 1 Public Tertiary Institution, to be operational by 2012 * Community College (under-construction)

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 ...

Philippine Census Information
{{Authority control Municipalities of Camarines Sur Political divisions established by Philippine executive order