Maconacon, officially the Municipality of Maconacon ( Ibanag: ''Ili nat Maconacon''; ; Tagalog/

Kasiguranin Kasiguranin (Casiguranin) is a Tagalogic language from the Casiguran town of Aurora in the northern Philippines. It is descended from an early Tagalog dialect (i.e. particularly Tayabas dialect of Quezon) that had borrowed heavily from Northea ...

: ''Bayan ng Maconacon''), 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 ...

of Isabela,

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 3,977 people, making it the least populous municipality in the province.

History

Maconacon was a former ''barrio'' of Cabagan. It became a separate municipality on June 21, 1969, by virtue of ''Republic Act No. 5776''. In June 2009, Municipal Mayor Francisco Talosig was shot in an ambush and died after being in a coma for four months. His successor, Erlinda Domingo, was also assassinated in 2013. On April 12, 2024, the town is declared an insurgency-free municipality from the influence of CPP, NPA, and NDF, along with Divilacan.

Geography

Maconacon is one of the four coastal municipalities of the province of Isabela facing the

Philippine Sea The Philippine Sea is a List of seas#Marginal seas by ocean, marginal sea of the Pacific Ocean, Western Pacific Ocean east of the list of islands of the Philippines, Philippine Archipelago (hence the name) and the List of seas#Largest seas ...

to the east. Separated from the rest of the province by the mighty Sierra Madre mountains, it is considered to be one of the most

remote and isolated community In Canada, the designations remote, isolated, outport and fly-in refer to a settlement that is either a long distance from larger settlements or lacks transportation links that are typical in more populated areas. Definition In responding to t ...

in the province. The town is bounded to the north by

Peñablanca Peñablanca, officially the Municipality of Peñablanca (; ; ), is a municipality of the Philippines, municipality in the Philippine Province, province of Cagayan, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 50,300 people ...

in the province of

Cagayan Cagayan ( ), officially the Province of Cagayan (; ; ; isnag language, Isnag: ''Provinsia nga Cagayan''; ivatan language, Ivatan: ''Provinsiya nu Cagayan''; ; ), is a Provinces of the Philippines, province in the Philippines located in the Cag ...

, San Pablo and Cabagan to the west, Tumauini to the southwest, Divilacan to the south and the Philippine Sea to the east. Maconacon is situated from the provincial capital

Ilagan Ilagan, officially the City of Ilagan (; ; ), is a component city and capital of the province of Isabela, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 158,218 people making it the most populous city in the province and ...

, and from the country's capital city of

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 ...

, via Ilagan–Divilacan Road.

Barangays

Maconacon is politically subdivided into 10

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 while 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 ...

. * Diana * Eleonor (

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 ...

) * Fely (

) * Lita (

) * Reina Mercedes * Minanga * Malasin * Canadam * Aplaya * Santa Marina (Dianggo)

Climate

Maconacon has a

tropical monsoon climate An area of tropical monsoon climate (occasionally known as a sub-equatorial, tropical wet climate or a tropical monsoon and trade-wind littoral climate) is a tropical climate subtype that corresponds to the Köppen climate classification category ' ...

(Am) with moderate rainfall from January to May and heavy to very heavy rainfall from June to December.

Demographics

In the 2020 census, the population of Maconacon was 3,977 people, with a density of .

Economy

Government

Local government

As a municipality in the Province of Isabela, government officials at the provincial and municipal levels are voted by the town. The provincial government has political jurisdiction over most local transactions of the municipal government. The Municipality of Maconacon is governed by a mayor, designated as its local chief executive, and by a municipal council as its legislative body in accordance with the Local Government Code. The mayor, vice mayor, and the municipal councilors are elected directly by the people in elections held every three years. Barangays are also headed by elected officials: Barangay Captain,

Barangay Council The Sangguniang Barangay, known in English as the Barangay Council is the local government of a barangay, the smallest administrative division in the Philippines. Each of the 42,004 barangays in the country has its respective Sangguniang Baran ...

, whose members are called Barangay Councilors. The barangays have SK federation which represents the barangay, headed by SK chairperson and whose members are called SK councilors. All officials are also elected every three years.

Elected officials

Congress representation

Maconacon, belonging to the first legislative district of the province of Isabela, is currently represented by Antonio T. Albano.

Education

The Schools Division of Isabela governs the town's public education system. The division office is a field office of the DepEd in

Cagayan Valley Cagayan Valley (; ), designated as Region II, is an Regions of the Philippines, administrative region in the Philippines. Located in the northeastern section of Luzon, it is composed of five Provinces of the Philippines, Philippine provinces: ...

. The Palanan Schools District Office governs the public and private elementary and public and private high schools throughout the municipality.

Elementary school

* Maconacon Central School

Secondary schools

* Maconacon National High School * Reina Mercedes Integrated School

Infrastructure

Maconacon is accessible via sea and air. Its primary gateway is the Maconacon Airport which connects this isolated town to the rest of the province through

Cauayan Airport Cauayan Airport is an airport serving the general area of Cauayan, a city in Isabela province in the Philippines. It is one of three commercial airports in Isabela, the others being Palanan Airport in the town of Palanan and Maconacon Airp ...

, also in Cauayan and

Tuguegarao Airport Tuguegarao Airport is an airport serving the general area of Tuguegarao, the capital city of the province of Cagayan in the Philippines. Located along Pan-Philippine Highway, Maharlika Highway, the airport is accessible from adjacent municipali ...

Tuguegarao Tuguegarao ( or ), officially the City of Tuguegarao (; ; ; ), is a 2nd class Cities of the Philippines#Legal classification, component city and capital of the Provinces of the Philippines, province of Cagayan, Philippines. According to the 2020 ...

References

External links

Municipal Profile at the National Competitiveness Council of the PhilippinesMaconacon at the Isabela Government WebsiteLocal Governance Performance Management System
*

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 InformationMunicipality of Maconacon
{{Authority control Municipalities of Isabela (province)