Mavulis Island is the northernmost of the

Batanes Islands Batanes, officially the Province of Batanes (; ilocano language, Ilocano: ''Probinsia ti Batanes''; , ), is an archipelagic province in the Philippines, administratively part of the Cagayan Valley regions of the Philippines, region. It is the n ...

and the northernmost island in the Philippines. It is part of the archipelagic

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 ...

Batanes Batanes, officially the Province of Batanes (; Ilocano: ''Probinsia ti Batanes''; , ), is an archipelagic province in the Philippines, administratively part of the Cagayan Valley region. It is the northernmost province in the Philippines, an ...

. The island is uninhabited, but it is garrisoned by the

Armed Forces of the Philippines The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) () are the military forces of the Philippines. It consists of three main service branches; the Philippine Army, Army, the Philippine Air Force, Air Force, and the Philippine Navy, Navy (including the P ...

which constructed a shelter for local fishermen, a water desalination plant, a helipad, lighthouse, and a flagpole on the top of the hill on the island considered as the northernmost flagpole in the country. Mavulis Island is much closer to the Taiwanese

mainland Mainland is defined as "relating to or forming the main part of a country or continent, not including the islands around it egardless of status under territorial jurisdiction by an entity" The term is often politically, economically and/or demogr ...

than the Philippine mainland of

Luzon Luzon ( , ) is the largest and most populous List of islands in the Philippines, island in the Philippines. Located in the northern portion of the List of islands of the Philippines, Philippine archipelago, it is the economic and political ce ...

itself. The southernmost point of Taiwan

Cape Eluanbi Cape Eluanbi or Oluanpi, also known by other names, is the southernmost point on the island of Taiwan. It is located in within the Hengchun Township in Pingtung County. Names ''Éluánbí'' is the pinyin romanization of the Mandarin pronunci ...

is about 142 km away, while the northernmost tip of Luzon mainland (Maira-ira Point,

Pagudpud Pagudpud, officially the Municipality of Pagudpud (; ), is a municipality in the province of Ilocos Norte, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 25,098 people. It is the northernmost settlement on Luzon Island and a p ...

Ilocos Norte Ilocos Norte (), officially the Province of Ilocos Norte (; ), is a Provinces of the Philippines, province of the Philippines located in the Ilocos Region. It is located in the northwest corner of Luzon island, bordering Cagayan and Apayao to t ...

) is about 200 km away. The nearest Taiwanese territory is the

Orchid Island Orchid Island, known as Pongso no Tao by the indigenous inhabitants, is a volcanic island located off the southeastern coast of Taiwan, the island and the nearby are governed by Taiwan as in Taitung County, which is one of the county's two ...

group, with the uninhabited Lesser Orchid island just barely 98 km away.

Alternative names

Older Batan natives also called the island Dimavulis or Dihami, meaning "north" in Ivatan. By some members of the Spanish colonial government it was called Diami, and it is known as Yami or Y'Ami on most American colonial-era maps of the Philippines. The latter should not be confused with the aboriginal

Yami Yamuna is a sacred river in Hinduism and the main tributary of the Ganges River. The river is also worshipped as a Hindu goddess called Yamuna. Yamuna is known as Yami in early texts, while in later literature, she is called Kalindi. In Hindu scr ...

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The main geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, also known as ''Formosa'', lies between the East China Sea, East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocea ...

who live on islands farther north beyond Philippine territorial limits, but are geographically, culturally and linguistically related to the

Ivatan people The Ivatan people are an Austronesian ethnolinguistic group native to the Batanes and Babuyan Islands of the northernmost Philippines. They are genetically closely related to other ethnic groups in Northern Luzon, but also share close linguis ...

. The island is also called Amianan, meaning "north" in Ilocano.

Geography

The island is part of the

Luzon Volcanic Arc The Luzon Volcanic Arc is a volcanic arc, chain of volcanoes in a north–south line across the Luzon Strait from Taiwan to Luzon. The name "Luzon Volcanic Arc" was first proposed by Carl Bowin et al. to describe a series of Miocene to recent vo ...

, and is located southeast of the southern tip of

's main island and to the nearest Taiwanese island, the "Lesser Orchid Island". The distance to

is . The island is long and up to wide. The highest point, Y'Ami Hill, is high. The island is rocky on the coasts but covered in lush vegetation, including mangrove,

vuyavuy palm ''Phoenix loureiroi'' (commonly known as the mountain date palm, vuyavuy palm, or voyavoy palm,) is a species of flowering plant in the palm family, indigenous to southern Asia, from the Philippines, Taiwan, India, southern Bhutan, Burma, Thailan ...

s and other native shrubs.

Coconut crab The coconut crab (''Birgus latro'') is a terrestrial species of giant hermit crab, and is also known as the robber crab or palm thief. It is the largest terrestrial arthropod known, with a weight up to . The distance from the tip of one leg to ...

s are found on the island in large numbers.

Development

In 2016, the

Northern Luzon Command pushed for the establishment of a Marine detachment on Mavulis Island to affirm Philippines'

sovereignty Sovereignty can generally be defined as supreme authority. Sovereignty entails hierarchy within a state as well as external autonomy for states. In any state, sovereignty is assigned to the person, body or institution that has the ultimate au ...

over the northernmost point of the archipelago. The Marine detachment was opened in 2018, with a fisherman's shelter completed in 2019 and turned over to the local municipality for maintenance and operation. In May 2021, the Department of Defense of the Philippines announced the electrification of the island through a solar power station, with a back-up diesel generator. This was done through the help of the One

Meralco The Manila Electric Company, also known as Meralco (, , stylized in uppercase), is an electric power distribution company in the Philippines. It is Metro Manila's only electric power distributor and holds the power distribution franchise for 3 ...

Foundation. The DND also announced the commissioning of a

desalination plant Desalination is a process that removes mineral components from saline water. More generally, desalination is the removal of salts and minerals from a substance. One example is soil desalination. This is important for agriculture. It is possible ...

to provide potable water to personnel assigned to the island. In October 2023, the

inaugurated a new naval detachment as headquarters for military troops on the Island. "This island underscores the strategic importance of this detachment. It serves as our watchful sentinel in the northernmost beaches of our maritime borders, ensuring the security and sovereignty of our homeland," Fernyl G. Buca,

AFP Northern Luzon Command The Northern Luzon Command (abbrv. as NOLCOM) is the Armed Forces of the Philippines' unified command in charge of the Ilocos Region, Cordillera Administrative Region, Cagayan Valley and Central Luzon, including the Scarborough Shoal and th ...

said. In 2024, there had been plans of upgrading several civilian ports in the Batanes Island chain, including Mavulis Island, to accommodate the unloading of more cargo from Manila and as preparation for possible contingencies that may arise should Filipino workers in Taiwan would repatriate in the event of a China-Taiwan conflict. Mavulis Island itself has been one of many frequent locations for the joint US-Philippines military training exercises called

Balikatan Exercise Balikatan is the most prominent annual military exercise between the Philippines and the United States. The Tagalog word ''balikatan'' means "''shoulder-to-shoulder''". The exercises have been the cornerstone of Philippines–Uni ...

held annually.

Gallery

File:Philippine Island - Batan Islands - NARA - 68156384.jpg, Aerial view of the island, 1935 File:Desalination Water Toast by Philippine government officials.jpg, Sec.

Delfin Lorenzana Delfin Negrillo Lorenzana, OLH, KGOR (born October 28, 1948) is a retired Philippine Army general who served as Chairman of the Bases Conversion and Development Authority from 2022 until September 2024. He previously served as Secretary of N ...

leads a toast of the water produced by the desalination plant at Mavulis Island.

External links

References