Bulalacao, officially the Municipality of Bulalacao (, Hiligaynon: ''Banwa sang Bulalacao''), 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 ...

Oriental Mindoro Oriental Mindoro (), officially the Province of Oriental Mindoro (), is a province in the Philippines located on the island of Mindoro under Mimaropa region in Luzon, about southwest of Manila. The province is bordered by the Verde Island P ...

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 44,366 people. It is formerly known as San Pedro.Republic Act No. 5646
, PhilippineLaw.info, retrieved 2012

History

Precolonial period

Ma-i Mait (also spelled Maidh, Ma'I, Mai, Ma-yi, or Mayi; Baybayin: ; Hanunoo: ; Hokkien ; Mandarin ), was a medieval sovereign state located in what is now the Philippines. Its existence was first documented in 971 in the Song dynasty documents k ...

was a medieval state first recorded in Chinese documents, such as the History of Song and the Zhu Fan Zhi (1225) by Zhao Rukuo. Ma-i was described to be located north of Borneo, and were highly competitive in the trade with China. While the location of Ma-i remains disputed, most historians agree that it was located in

Mindoro Mindoro is the seventh largest and eighth-most populous island in the Philippines. With a total land area of 10,571 km2 ( 4,082 sq.mi ), it has a population of 1,408,454, as of the 2020 census. It is located off the southwestern coast of ...

, specifically at the Mauhaw River around Bulalacao according to William Henry Scott. This is corroborated by Spanish records, such as the account of Juan Francisco de San Antonio, called the "Chronicas de N.S.P. Francisco en las Islas Filipinas, China y Japon 1738", where Chapter 36 of the book is called "De la Provincia y Isla de Mait o Mindoro" (The Province of the Island of Mait or Mindoro), showing that the term 'Mait' and 'Mindoro' were once interchangeably used. Historical records from the National Archive of the Philippines has shown Bulalacao engaging in

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 ...

network trade alliance with neighboring polities. Colonial documents point to this fact. Evidence shows that Nicolas Contreras, the Panginoon Basal of Bulalacao, along with his vassal

maginoo The Tagalog ''maginoo'', the Kapampangan ''ginu'', and the Visayan ''tumao'' were the nobility social class among various cultures of the pre-colonial Philippines. Among the Visayans, the ''tumao'' were further distinguished from the immediat ...

, entered into alliances with the Panginoon of Mansalay and their maginoo, in trade agreements with the Spanish colonial government in Manila. Since at least the 1700s, Bulalacao has been ruled by the Contreras clan as the Panginoon Basal. The clan is one of a few Filipino families with clear descent from ancient

lineage.

Spanish to early American period

In the early 19th century, Datu Calido of

Panay Panay is the sixth-largest and fourth-most populous island in the Philippines, with a total land area of and 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 of Il ...

was in control of Bulalacao. Following the expansion of the settlement, it was ruled by the capitanes. They were Gabriel Contreras as Gobernadorcillo, with vassal datus: Paigao, Jacinto Pajado and Narciso Pandino. They ruled the area until the arrival of Lieutenant Morris in 1903. In 1906, the settlement became a township, which included Paclasan,

Mansalay Mansalay, officially the Municipality of Mansalay (), is a municipality in the province of Oriental Mindoro, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 59,114 people. This town is notable for its indigenous Mangyan popu ...

, Mangaring, and the islands of

Caluya Caluya, officially the Municipality of Caluya (; ; ), is a municipality in the province of Antique, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 38,908 people, making it the sixth most populous municipality in the province. ...

, Sibay and

Semirara Semirara is an island in the Philippines located in the Caluya archipelago which is situated south of Mindoro Island. It is under the jurisdiction of the town of Caluya in the province of Antique. It is a major site of coal mining in the Philipp ...

Modern period

On May 7, 1995, re-electionist Mayor Guillermo Salas was assassinated a day before the 1995 election by Rodel Gonzales of the

Mangyan Mangyan is the generic name for the eight indigenous groups found in Mindoro each with its own tribal name, language, and customs. The total population may be around 280,001, but official statistics are difficult to determine under the condi ...

tribe; Gonzales eventually surrendered to authorities five days later, confessing to the crime.

Geography

Bulalacao is located at the southernmost tip of the province and is from the provincial capital

Calapan Calapan, officially the City of Calapan (), is a component city and the capital of the province of Oriental Mindoro, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 145,786 people making it the most populous in Oriental Mi ...

and from Roxas.

Climate

Barangays

Bulalacao is politically subdivided into 15

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 ...

. * Bagong Sikat * Balatasan * Benli (Mangyan Settlement) * Cabugao * Cambunang (Poblacion) * Campaasan (Poblacion) * Maasin * Maujao * Milagrosa (Guiob) * Nasukob (Poblacion) * Poblacion * San Francisco (Alimawan) * San Isidro * San Juan * San Roque (Buyayao)

Demographics

Economy

Transportation

Bulalacao has a port that serves as a gateway from Mindoro to Caticlan in

Malay, Aklan Malay , officially the Municipality of Malay ( Aklanon: ''Banwa it Malay''; Hiligaynon: ''Banwa sang Malay''; ), is a municipality in the province of Aklan, Philippines. It is the richest municipality in the province in terms of revenue. Accordi ...

. FastCat operates in the port.

References

External links

Bulalacao Profile at PhilAtlas.comBulalacao, Oriental Mindoro official website
*

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 ...

br>Philippine Census InformationLocal Governance Performance Management System
{{Authority control Municipalities of Oriental Mindoro