Don Salvador Benedicto, officially the Municipality of Don Salvador Benedicto (; ) or simply Salvador Benedicto and abbreviated as DSB, 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 ...

Negros Occidental Negros Occidental (; ), officially the Province of Negros Occidental (; ), is a Provinces of the Philippines, province in the Philippines located in the Negros, Negros Island. Its capital is the city of Bacolod, of which it is geographically s ...

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 26,922 people. The municipality is a post-colonial provincial

hill station A hill station is a touristic town located at a higher elevation than the nearby plain or valley. The English term was originally used mostly in Western imperialism in Asia, colonial Asia, but also in Africa (albeit rarely), for towns founded by ...

, designated the ''Summer Capital of Negros Occidental'', and is a popular tourist site.

History

The idea for the creation of the municipality originated from Nehemias “Nene” de la Cruz, a political dissident who was imprisoned during the Martial law era. While in prison, he began dreaming of creating a town out of the “cradle of insurgency/rebellion”, and after his release, gained the support of his friend Mike Coronel, who was also the provincial commander of the

Philippine Constabulary The Philippine Constabulary (PC; , ''HPP''; ) was a gendarmerie-type military police force of the Philippines from 1901 to 1991, and the predecessor to the Philippine National Police. It was created by the Insular Government, American occupat ...

, in establishing the upcoming municipality based in Barangay Igmaya-an, which was then part of

Murcia Murcia ( , , ) is a city in south-eastern Spain, the Capital (political), capital and most populous city of the autonomous community of the Region of Murcia, and the Ranked lists of Spanish municipalities#By population, seventh largest city i ...

, in 1976. Located at the center of the mountains of northern Negros Occidental, Don Salvador Benedicto was chartered in 1983 through Batas Pambansa Bilang 336 by then President

Ferdinand Marcos Ferdinand Emmanuel Edralin Marcos Sr. (September 11, 1917 – September 28, 1989) was a Filipino lawyer, politician, dictator, and Kleptocracy, kleptocrat who served as the tenth president of the Philippines from 1965 to 1986. He ruled the c ...

. It consolidated all the remote barangays of San Carlos City and the towns of Calatrava and Murcia. which were apparently neglected due to inaccessibility. The town is named after the former Vice Governor Salvador Valois Benedicto (March 31, 1889–November 28, 1956) who played an important role in the setting up of a Revolutionary Government in

Negros Island Negros (, , ) is the fourth largest and third most populous island in the Philippines, with a total land area of . The coastal zone of the southern part of Negros is identified as a site of highest marine biodiversity importance in the Coral T ...

particularly in Barangay Igmaya-an, when the country was occupied by the Japanese during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. He was also the main guerrilla coordinator in both Negros Oriental and Negros Occidental during the said war. Salvador Benedicto is a relative of Roberto Benedicto, a crony of Marcos. DSB Tourism Marker.jpg, DSB Tourism Marker DSB, Negros Occ.jpg, Overlooking view at DSB

Geography

Don Salvador Benedicto is east of

Bacolod Bacolod, officially the City of Bacolod (; ; ; ), is a Cities of the Philippines#Legal classification, highly urbanized city in the Negros Island Region in the Philippines. With a total of 600,783 inhabitants as of the 2020 census, it is th ...

, via Negros Occidental Eco-Tourism Highway (N69) and from Calatrava.

Barangays

Don Salvador Benedicto is politically subdivided into 7

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 puroks 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 ...

. * Bago (Lalung) * Bagong Silang (Marcelo) * Bunga * Igmaya-an * Kumaliskis * Pandanon * Pinowayan (Prosperidad)

Climate

Demographics

Languages

Major languages are Hiligaynon, followed by Cebuano. English and Tagalog are also understood.

Economy

Although a small town, the town of Don Salvador Benedicto has seen a rise in its municipal economy thanks to tourism and local agriculture. Due to its high altitude like

Baguio Baguio ( , , ), officially the City of Baguio (; ; ), is a Cities of the Philippines#Legal classification, highly urbanized city in the Cordillera Administrative Region, Philippines. It is known as the "Summer Capital of the Philippines", ...

, the town can support crops that grow in temperate areas, making it ideal for a multitude of farming businesses. Tourism is on the rise for the town especially when travellers head out into the heart of the province. Also located in the municipality are the Choco Hills, similar to Bohol's Chocolate Hills, with shared boundary of Barangay Prosperidad, San Carlos City.

References

External links

Don Salvador Benedicto Profile at the Official Website of Negros Occidental
* Philippine Standard Geographic Codebr>Philippine Census Information
{{Authority control Municipalities of Negros Occidental Mountain resorts in the Philippines