Coron, officially the Municipality of Coron (), 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 ...

Palawan Palawan (, ), officially the Province of Palawan (; ), is an archipelagic province of the Philippines that is located in the region of Mimaropa. It is the largest province in the country in terms of total area of . The capital and largest c ...

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 65,855 people. The main population center of the municipality is composed of

Poblacion ''Poblacion'' (from Spanish '' población'', meaning "population"), sometimes abbreviated as Pob., is a term used in the Philippines to refer to the administrative center, downtown, old town, or commercial area of a city or municipality. It ...

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 1 to 6, where the Municipal Building, the Municipal Legislative Building, and the Judicial Hall of the Municipal Circuit Trial Court are located. Its fiesta is held annually on August 28 in honor of Saint Augustine. It is the commercial capital of the

Calamian Islands The Calamian Islands or the Calamianes is a group of islands in the province of Palawan, Philippines. It includes: * Busuanga Island * Coron Island * Culion Island * Calauit Island * Malcapuya Island * Banana Island * Pass Island * Calumbuyan ...

. The municipality is home to the Coron Island Natural Biotic Area, which is listed in the natural category of the UNESCO World Heritage Tentative List.

History

The

were originally inhabited by the Tagbanuas, Calmiananen, and Cuyonon tribes. Oral history tells that the Datu Macanas ruled the entire Busuanga Island where present-day Coron town lies. Early on Spanish exploration of the islands, Fray de la Concepcion took note of the friendliness of the people of Busuanga Island and the ferocity of the Tagbanua tribe living in Coron Island. Early on the history of the Calamianes, Coron was directly ruled by the Spanish in Mindoro while the island of Cuyo by the Spanish authorities in

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 ...

. In this area of the Calamianes, the first permanent Spanish settlement was Culion. Coron was a mere visita of Culion at that time. A fort and church were built in Libis, Culion around 1670 by the Spaniards as part of the defenses (along with Cuyo, Taytay, and Linapacan) against the Muslim raids. This became a settlement for migrants to the Calamianes. Don Nicolas Manlavi a Cuyonon served several years in Spanish Galleons, and an Ilonggo from Jaro, Ilo-ilo named Claudio Sandoval later wed Nicolas' only daughter Evarista. The Sandoval clan of the Calamianes came from this union. It was Don Nicolas Manlavi who established the first settlement in Coron which was initially at Banuang Lague (old town) in present-day Banuang Daan in Coron Island. Late in the 1890s, an American naturalist, Dean Worcester, journeyed through the Calamianes collecting specimens and stayed briefly in Culion. At the turn of the century, he was appointed part of the First

Philippine Commission The Philippine Commission was the name of two bodies, both appointed by the president of the United States, to assist with governing the Philippines. The First Philippine Commission, also known as the Schurman Commission, was appointed by Pre ...

, becoming the Secretary of the Interior. He recommended Culion as the Philippine Leper Colony. This act forced the transfer of the Sandoval clan in 1900 to the various barrios of what is now Coron and Busuanga. The Coron town was settled by the family of Claudio Sandoval, and the other Sandovals settled in what is now Bintuan, Salvacion, Concepcion, and Old Busuanga. In 1950, the town of Busuanga was created from the barrios of Concepcion, Salvacion, Busuanga, New Busuanga, Buluang, Quezon, Calawit, and Cheey which used to belong to Coron. In 1954, the islands of Linapacan, Cabunlaoan, Niangalao, Decabayotot, Calibanbangan, Pical, and Barangonan were separated from Coron to form the town of Linapacan.

Geography

The municipality of Busuanga comprises the western part of Busuanga Island, while Coron comprises the eastern part of Busuanga Island, all of

Coron Island Coron is the third-largest island in the Calamian Islands in northern Palawan in the Philippines. The island is part of the larger Coron, Palawan, municipality of the same name. It is about southwest of Manila and is known for several Empire of ...

and about 50 other minor islets stretching as far as Tara Island in the north-east and Canipo Island in the south. All these islands are part of the Calamian Archipelago in northern Palawan that separates the

South China Sea The South China Sea is a marginal sea of the Western Pacific Ocean. It is bounded in the north by South China, in the west by the Indochinese Peninsula, in the east by the islands of Taiwan island, Taiwan and northwestern Philippines (mainly Luz ...

from the

Sulu Sea The Sulu Sea (; Tausug: ''Dagat sin Sūg''; ; ) is a body of water in the southwestern area of the Philippines, separated from the South China Sea in the northwest by Palawan and from the Celebes Sea in the southeast by the Sulu Archipela ...

Barangays

Coron is politically subdivided into 23

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 ...

. * Banuang Daan * Bintuan * Borac * Buenavista * Bulalacao * Cabugao * Decabobo * Decalachao * Guadalupe (also called Binalabag) * Lajala * Malawig * Marcilla * Barangay I (

) * Barangay II (Poblacion) * Barangay III (Poblacion) * Barangay IV (Poblacion) * Barangay V (Poblacion) * Barangay VI (Poblacion) * San Jose * San Nicolas * Tagumpay * Tara * Turda

Climate

Demographics

In the 2020 census, the population of Coron, Palawan, was 65,855 people, with a density of .

Economy

The main industries of Coron are

fishing Fishing is the activity of trying to catch fish. Fish are often caught as wildlife from the natural environment (Freshwater ecosystem, freshwater or Marine ecosystem, marine), but may also be caught from Fish stocking, stocked Body of water, ...

and

tourism Tourism is travel for pleasure, and the Commerce, commercial activity of providing and supporting such travel. World Tourism Organization, UN Tourism defines tourism more generally, in terms which go "beyond the common perception of tourism as ...

. Former industries include

manganese Manganese is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Mn and atomic number 25. It is a hard, brittle, silvery metal, often found in minerals in combination with iron. Manganese was first isolated in the 1770s. It is a transition m ...

mining at Singay Mines in Barangay San Nicolas during the Japanese Occupation period. This was followed by the fishing industry boom during the 1970s up to the 1990s which gradually dwindled due to illegal blast and sodium

cyanide fishing Cyanide fishing is a specific method of collecting live fish, mainly for use in aquariums, which involves spraying a sodium cyanide mixture into a habitat in order to incapacitate the fish there. This practice affects not only the target populati ...

. The rattan and basket-weaving industry which also gradually declined during the same period due to the ensuing depletion of raw materials. Currently tourism is the top industry in Coron due to local beaches, dive sites, Lagoons and other natural tourist spots. A dozen sunken Japanese warships at depths between off Coron Island is a

diving Diving most often refers to: * Diving (sport), the sport of jumping into deep water * Underwater diving, human activity underwater for recreational or occupational purposes Diving or Dive may also refer to: Sports * Dive (American football), ...

destination, listed in ''

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine founded by B. C. Forbes in 1917. It has been owned by the Hong Kong–based investment group Integrated Whale Media Investments since 2014. Its chairman and editor-in-chief is Steve Forbes. The co ...

Traveler Magazine’s'' top 10 best

scuba diving Scuba diving is a Diving mode, mode of underwater diving whereby divers use Scuba set, breathing equipment that is completely independent of a surface breathing gas supply, and therefore has a limited but variable endurance. The word ''scub ...

sites in the world. A description of the diving highlights in 2021 is provided by Dive the World.

Siete Pecados Marine Park

On April 17, 2024, the Siete Pecados Marine Park, under Jose Mazo, manager, in Coron, as one of 3

marine protected area A marine protected area (MPA) is a protected area of the world's 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 ...

s, won the Blue Park Award by Marine Conservation Institute at the 9th Our Ocean Conference in

Athens Athens ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica (region), Attica region and is the southe ...

for its role in conservation of marine biodiversity. It is part of the

Network in the Philippines, within a short distance from the coast of Coron. Founded in 2005 by the

United States Agency for International Development The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is an agency of the United States government that has been responsible for administering civilian foreign aid and development assistance. Established in 1961 and reorganized in 1998 ...

, it is currently an

ecotourism Ecotourism is a form of nature-oriented tourism intended to contribute to the Ecological conservation, conservation of the natural environment, generally defined as being minimally impactful, and including providing both contributions to conserv ...

landmark.

Transportation

The Francisco B. Reyes Airport serves the town. The airport has direct flights such as

Manila Manila, officially the City of Manila, is the Capital of the Philippines, capital and second-most populous city of the Philippines after Quezon City, with a population of 1,846,513 people in 2020. Located on the eastern shore of Manila Bay on ...

Cebu Cebu ( ; ), officially the Province of Cebu (; ), is a province of the Philippines located in the Central Visayas region, and consists of a main island and 167 surrounding islands and islets. The coastal zone of Cebu is identified as a ...

and Angeles

Gallery

Coron church(코론 시내의 교회) - panoramio.jpg, Church in Coron Isola di coron, baia nei pressi del lago kayangan 06.jpg,

File:Coron - Kayangan Lake.jpg, The lagoon going to Kayangan Lake File:Waling-Waling Island.jpg, Waling Waling Island, Coron, Palawan File:Nepenthes sp. (pitcher plant) sa Mt. Tapyas, Coron, Palawan.jpg,

Pitcher plant Pitcher plants are carnivorous plants known as pitfall traps—a prey-trapping mechanism featuring a deep cavity filled with digestive liquid. The traps of pitcher plant are considered to be "true" pitcher plants and are formed by specialized ...

along the slopes of Mt. Tapyas

References

External links

* Philippine Standard Geographic Codebr>Local Governance Performance Management SystemPhilippine Department of Tourism official site
{{Authority control Municipalities of Palawan Port cities and towns in the Philippines Beaches of the Philippines Underwater diving sites in the Philippines