Romblon, Romblon

Romblon
Municipality
Municipality of Romblon
Romblon town and Romblon Bay
Flag Seal
Nickname:  Marble Capital of the Philippines
Map of Romblon with Romblon highlighted
OpenStreetMap
Romblon Location within the Philippines
Coordinates: 12°34′44″N 122°16′29″E
Country	Philippines
Region	Mimaropa
Province	Romblon
District	Lone district
Founded	1571 (as encomienda)
Incorporated	1631 (as pueblo)
Barangays	31 (see Barangays)
Government
• Type	Sangguniang Bayan
• Mayor	Gerard S. Montojo
• Vice Mayor	Mariano "Anoy" M. Mateo
• Representative	Eleandro Jesus F. Madrona
• Electorate	26,229 voters (2022)
Area
• Total	86.87 km2 (33.54 sq mi)
Highest elevation (Mount Lagting)	464 m (1,522 ft)
Lowest elevation	0 m (0 ft)
Population  (2020 census)
• Total	40,554
• Density	470/km2 (1,200/sq mi)
• Households	10,406
Economy
• Income class	3rd municipal income class
• Poverty incidence	21.71 % (2018)
• Revenue	₱ 144.1 million (2020)
• Assets	₱ 231.8 million (2020)
• Expenditure	₱ 106 million (2020)
• Liabilities	₱ 32.13 million (2020)
Service provider
• Electricity	Romblon Electric Cooperative (ROMELCO)
Time zone	UTC+8 (PST)
ZIP code	5500
PSGC	1705910000
IDD : area code	+63 (0)42
Native languages	Romblomanon Tagalog
Website	www.romblon.gov.ph

Romblon, officially the Municipality of Romblon, is a 3rd class municipality and capital of the province of Romblon, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 40,554 people. The archipelagic municipality is the capital of Romblon province and the seat of its provincial government. It includes Romblon Island as well as the nearby islands of Lugbon, Alad and Cobrador.

Romblon island is one of the three major islands of the province, aside from Sibuyan Island and Tablas Island. As the capital of the province, its natives mostly speak Romblomanon or Ini language. Romblon is known for its local marble industry and is the second biggest producer of the mineral in the country. It is also a tourist destination because of its unspoiled beaches and Spanish-era twin forts.

History

Romblon, Romblon in the early 1900s

Fuerza de San Andres, a national cultural treasure as declared by the NCCA.

Romblon church, a national cultural treasure as declared by the NCCA.

Early history

The first inhabitants of Romblon were the Negritos tribes of Panay and the Mindoro Mangyan tribes. The discovery of hanging coffins and artistic material in the caves of the island of Banton demonstrates the existence of a rich and ancient civilization and aboriginal culture.

Spanish colonial era

The islands were first visited by Spanish conquistador Martin de Goiti in late 1569, and were thereafter organized by the Spanish into encomiendas. The encomienda of Donblon (Romblon), established on April 24, 1571, was granted to Don Gonzalo Riquel. In the first census done by Spanish navigator Miguel de Loarca in 1582, Romblon Island was shown to have 240 residents engaged in wax gathering. At this time, Miguel de Loarca recorded the island's name as "Lomlon" or "Doblon". In the local Visayan dialect, the word means a bird warming an egg in its nest. It was also known as Domblon before the present name was adopted.

In 1631, during the term of Spanish Governor-General Juan Niño de Tabora, Romblon was established as a pueblo, making it one of the two oldest settlements in the province, the other being Banton located in the north of the province. In 1635, the island of Romblon was evangelized by Spanish Recollect fathers and became a dependency of the Captaincy General of the Philippines. Their fortified church is the present cathedral of Romblon. It received its first Spanish missionaries in the 17th century. During the 17th and 18th centuries, it was often ravaged by Moros. Two forts were erected by the Spanish, San Andrés and Santiago.

It was organized into a Comandancia (a province or district under military control) by the Spanish in 1853.

Philippine–American War era

Main articles: Treaty of Paris (1898) and Philippine–American War

In 1898, at the conclusion of the Spanish–American War, Spain ceded the Philippines to the United States. In 1901, the Americans established a civilian government in the town. Ten new barrios were created while three existing barrios were also abolished. These include Aglomiom, which was merged to Sablayan due to its small population, Embarcacion, which was attached again to El Pueblo or Poblacion, and the inland barrio of Cogon, which was reorganized and split into five barrios of Tambac, Ilauran, Macalas, Lamao, and Agbaluto (referred collectively as TIMLA, from their initial letters) while barrio Alfonso XIII was renamed as Li-o.

The 10 additional barrios were Bagacay, Agbudia, Agtongo, Embarcacion, Maria Cristina (renamed as Sawang) and the five TIMLA barrios. Agtongo was created into a separate barrio in 1916, taken from Cajimos. In 1918, those engaged in the maritime industry were designated separately as a distinct barrio known as Embarcacion, which was annexed again to barrio Poblacion or El Pueblo in 1939. Agbudia was the last barrio to be created after being taken from Guimpingan in 1939. Meanwhile, the two barrios Majabangbaybay and Sogod, located in Tablas island, were returned to Badajoz (now San Agustin), and were abolished as independent barrios and attached as sitios of barrio Guinpuc-an (Carmen) in 1901.

Japanese occupation era

Plaque commemorating the landing of American liberation forces in Sawang, Romblon during World War II

During World War II, an American force landed in the island on March 11, 1945, and liberated it from the occupying Japanese forces. By March 18, the entire province was liberated from the Japanese. A monument located near the beach in Sawang commemorates this.

Philippine independence

Main articles: Treaty of Manila (1946) and Sovereignty of the Philippines

The Republic of the Philippines became an independent sovereign nation on July 4,1946. The island barrio of Nagoso was renamed Cobrador in 1960 and the urban barangay of Poblacion was split into four separate barangays, named simply as Barangays 1, 2, 3, and 4 in 1975.

Corruption

On March 25, 2018, the Sandiganbayan, a special appellate collegial court that tries graft and corruption cases, affirmed its ruling sentencing Romblon mayor Mariano Mateo, former mayor Leo Mérida and eight other former local officials to 10 years in prison. The ruling was in connection with the alleged anomalous procurement of a heavy equipment. The case, which was filed in 2010, stemmed from the municipal government's purchase of a backhoe amounting to P13.95 million in November 2005 without public bidding. At the time, Mérida was mayor and Mateo was councilor. The court said witnesses testified that the backhoe was not used for the purpose for which it was purchased.

Cityhood

Main article: Cities of the Philippines

In the 18th Congress of the Philippines, house bills were filed by various representatives which seeks Romblon including other capital towns of provinces with no current component cities, independent component cities or highly urbanized cities to automatically convert into cities. House Bill No. 5535 to this effect was referred to the House Committee on Local Government on November 25, 2019.

Geography

Romblon Island

Romblon island satellite image captured by Sentinel-2 in 2016
Geography
Archipelago	Romblon Group of Islands
Adjacent to	Sibuyan Sea
Administration
Philippines
Region	Mimaropa
Province	Romblon
Municipality	Romblon
Largest settlement	Romblon (pop. 38,758)
Demographics
Population	38,758 (2015)
Additional information

The municipality consists primarily of Romblon Island, as well as the smaller Alad, Cobrador, and Logbon islands, to the northwest, each of which are their own barangays. The municipality proper is situated along the coast of Romblon Bay, a natural harbor and safe haven for ships passing in the area during inclement weather. The highest peak is Mount Lagting in barangay Sablayan with a height of 444 metres (1,457 ft).

Barangays

Romblon is politically subdivided into 31 barangays. Each barangay consists of puroks and some have sitios.

• Agbaluto
• Agpanabat
• Agbudia
• Agnaga
• Agnay
• Agnipa
• Agtongo
• Alad (island barangay)
• Bagacay
• Cajimos
• Calabogo
• Capaclan
• Ginablan
• Guimpingan
• Ilauran
• Lamao
• Li-o
• Logbon (island barangay)
• Lunas
• Lonos
• Macalas
• Mapula
• Cobrador (Naguso; island barangay)
• Palje
• Barangay I (Poblacion)
• Barangay II (Poblacion)
• Barangay III (Poblacion)
• Barangay IV (Poblacion)
• Sablayan
• Sawang
• Tambac

Climate

Climate data for Romblon, Romblon (1981–2010, extremes 1904–2012)
Month	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	Year
Record high °C (°F)	35.5 (95.9)	35.1 (95.2)	35.8 (96.4)	37.5 (99.5)	38.2 (100.8)	38.2 (100.8)	37.7 (99.9)	35.7 (96.3)	35.8 (96.4)	35.3 (95.5)	35.2 (95.4)	34.1 (93.4)	38.2 (100.8)
Mean daily maximum °C (°F)	28.4 (83.1)	29.1 (84.4)	30.4 (86.7)	32.0 (89.6)	32.6 (90.7)	31.7 (89.1)	30.8 (87.4)	30.5 (86.9)	30.6 (87.1)	30.3 (86.5)	29.7 (85.5)	28.5 (83.3)	30.4 (86.7)
Daily mean °C (°F)	26.2 (79.2)	26.7 (80.1)	27.6 (81.7)	29.0 (84.2)	29.4 (84.9)	28.7 (83.7)	28.1 (82.6)	28.0 (82.4)	28.0 (82.4)	27.8 (82.0)	27.5 (81.5)	26.5 (79.7)	27.8 (82.0)
Mean daily minimum °C (°F)	24.0 (75.2)	24.2 (75.6)	24.9 (76.8)	26.0 (78.8)	26.3 (79.3)	25.8 (78.4)	25.4 (77.7)	25.5 (77.9)	25.3 (77.5)	25.2 (77.4)	25.2 (77.4)	24.4 (75.9)	25.2 (77.4)
Record low °C (°F)	18.4 (65.1)	17.0 (62.6)	19.7 (67.5)	20.1 (68.2)	15.6 (60.1)	20.6 (69.1)	21.1 (70.0)	21.2 (70.2)	21.0 (69.8)	20.4 (68.7)	20.3 (68.5)	18.5 (65.3)	15.6 (60.1)
Average rainfall mm (inches)	99.2 (3.91)	63.4 (2.50)	59.7 (2.35)	68.2 (2.69)	147.3 (5.80)	233.1 (9.18)	260.5 (10.26)	210.3 (8.28)	259.9 (10.23)	320.3 (12.61)	270.1 (10.63)	211.8 (8.34)	2,203.9 (86.77)
Average rainy days (≥ 0.1 mm)	13	8	8	7	10	16	18	16	17	19	18	17	167
Average relative humidity (%)	84	83	81	78	79	81	83	83	83	84	84	84	82
Source: PAGASA

Romblon falls under Type III of the Corona climatic classification system which was devised in 1920. It is characterized by no pronounced wet and dry seasons. Generally, the wet season is from June to November and sometimes extends up to December when the southwest monsoon is predominant. The dry season is from January to May but is sometimes interrupted by erratic rainfall. The annual mean temperature is 27 °C (81 °F), with February as the coldest month with temperatures dropping to 20 °C (68 °F), and May as the warmest month with temperatures reaching up to 35 °C (95 °F). Habagat monsoon winds pass through the province from June to October while northeasterly winds or Amihan blows through the islands from December to February.

Demographics

Population census of Romblon

Year Pop. ±% p.a. 1903 10,095 —     1918 10,467 +0.24% 1939 14,309 +1.50% 1948 12,879 −1.16% 1960 16,708 +2.19% 1970 21,717 +2.65% 1975 22,489 +0.70% 1980 24,251 +1.52%	Year Pop. ±% p.a. 1990 29,983 +2.14% 1995 34,290 +2.55% 2000 36,612 +1.41% 2007 37,544 +0.35% 2010 37,995 +0.44% 2015 38,758 +0.38% 2020 40,554 +0.89%
Source: Philippine Statistics Authority

Romblomanons are the indigenous inhabitants of Romblon. They are part of the wider Visayan ethnolinguistic group, who constitute the largest Filipino ethnolinguistic group. In 2015, there were 38,758 people living in Romblon. Most Romblomanons speak Ini, one of the three languages in the province after Asi and Onhan.

Economy

Marble wares from Romblon

Marble plant workers working in a quarry.

Romblon's economy relies much on the local marble industry. Marble is the most significant mineral deposit of Romblon and is the most renowned product of the province. The province is the second biggest provincial marble producer of the country next to Bulacan. Romblon marble is of very high quality and comes in shades of white, green, pink, red and black. The Mines and Geosciences Bureau has estimated that Romblon is endowed with about 150 million metric tons of marble. At current rates of extraction, the supply may last for three more centuries. Tablas Island is also believed to have vast reserves of marble.

Marble quarrying and processing are major activities in Romblon. Among the most common marble products are categorized into the following: novelty items (gifts, ashtray, table bars), furniture (dining tables, baptismal fonts) and construction materials (tiles, balusters, marble chips). Aside from marble quarrying and processing, tourism, fishing and coconut farming are also basic livelihood sources in the island.

Transportation

By sea

Main article: List of ports in the Philippines

The port of Romblon, one of the major ports of the Philippines, is located in Romblon, Romblon. The main transportation link to Romblon is through RORO vessels operated by Montenegro Lines, 2GO Travel, Starhorse Shipping, Navios Shipping and/or others that dock at Romblon port from the ports of Batangas or Lucena on Luzon island or from other Philippine port cities. Travel time from Luzon usually takes about six to seven hours. RORO vessels also travel directly from Batangas to Odiongan on nearby Tablas island, and from there, travelers can ride a jeepney to the port of San Agustin where they can catch a ferry or motorized outrigger boat to Romblon.

Some shipping lines also operate between Romblon and Roxas, Capiz on Panay island. Travel connections are generally available between either Roxas or Odiongan and Boracay and with other Philippine tourism destinations.

By air

Main article: List of airports in the Philippines

The closest airport with active airline service is Tugdan Airport in the town of Alcantara in the neighboring island of Tablas. From Alcantara, Romblon can be reached in 3–4 hours by jeepney and an hour by motorized boats or 40 minutes by ferry from San Agustin.

Going around

The island municipality is connected through the circumferential Romblon-Cogon-Sablayan Road as well as through a network of shorter roads. Modes of transportation available throughout the island include jeepneys and tricycles.

Tourism

The Fuente de Belen fountain in Romblon

The capital town of Romblon has a number of tourist places, which include:

• St. Joseph's Cathedral and Belfry: One of the oldest Roman Catholic Church is located in barrio Poblacion. It was constructed for the Recollect Fathers between 1640 and 1726 by talented local artisans using coral blocks and bricks.
• Fuente de Belen: Located across the municipal hall, Fuente de Belen is a water fountain erected in 1864 by Eduardo Asuero. It is the source of fresh water for Romblon during the Spanish colonial period. Atop the fountain is an image of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
• Old Municipal Building: Built out of coral limestone during the Spanish colonial era, it housed the cuartel or headquarters of the local Guardia Civil. Retaining the old architecture of the building, the municipal hall is still used to house government offices and the municipal jail.
• Bishop's Palace or Villa del Mar: Located in barangay Lonos, it serves as the official residence of the Bishop of Romblon. It was constructed out of clay bricks by the first bishop of Romblon, Msgr. Nicolas Mondejar
• Talipasak Beach Resort: It is located 13 kilometers from town in barangay Ginablan. Activities include swimming, snorkeling, beach combing, and island hopping.
• Tiamban Beach: Located some 5 kilometers from the town proper, this fine white sand beach in barangay Lonos stretches to about 250 meters.
• Forts San Andres and Santiago: Twin Spanish forts constructed out of coral blocks and bricks between 1644 and 1573, which overlook the whole town and harbor at 156 feet above sea level. These served as a bastion to protect the people against Muslim raiders and Dutch pirates.
• Marble Beach Resort: Located in Barangay Ginablan.
• Bonbon Beach: Located five kilometers away from town proper this shoreline in Barangay Lonos is covered with fine white sand and features a gradually sloping ocean floor free of sea grass and sharp stones.
• Simbahan Cave: Located in barangay Cobrador, it is the largest natural cave in the islands and believed to be an ancient burial ground as manifested by pottery and ancient works of arts found inside.
• Cobrador Beach: This beach is located in the eastern side of the islet and has fine white sand and crushed corals.
• Romblon Harbor: It has offered shelter for sea vessels since Spanish colonial period. Lying off the bay is a sunken galleon and the wreck of a Japanese battleship.
• Buena Suerte Resort: A nature resort with a swimming pool located in Barangay Tambac.
• Marble quarries and factories: Romblon's marble comes in a spectrum of shades ranging from white to black with a gamut of in-between tints like mottled white, tiger white, onyx and jade.

Government

The old municipal building of Romblon, Romblon

Local government

Main article: Sangguniang Bayan

Barangay Capaclan in the municipality hosts the Romblon Provincial Capitol Complex, where the governor, the vice governor, and the Sangguniang Panlalawigan hold office. The municipal government is seated in Barangay II.

Pursuant to Chapter II, Title II, Book III of Republic Act 7160 or the Local Government Code of 1991, the municipal government is composed of a mayor (alkalde), a vice mayor (bise alkalde) and members (kagawad) of the legislative branch Sangguniang Bayan alongside a secretary to the said legislature, all of which are elected to a three-year term and are eligible to run for three consecutive terms. The incumbent mayor is Gerard Montojo and the vice mayor is Mariano "Anoy" Mateo.

Barangays are also headed by elected officials: Barangay Captain, Barangay Council, 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

Term	Mayor	Vice Mayor
June 30, 2007 - June 30, 2010	Gerard Montojo y Sy (CMD), (KAMPI)	Melben Mesana y Montojo (CMD), (KAMPI)
June 30, 2010 - June 30, 2013
June 30, 2013 - June 30, 2016		Mariano "Anoy" Mateo
June 30, 2016 - June 30, 2019	Mariano "Anoy" Mateo y Mallorca	Mart Arthur "Mac-Mac" L. Silverio
June 30, 2019 - June 30, 2022	Gerard Montojo y Sy	Mariano "Anoy" Mateo y Mallorca
June 30, 2022 - incumbent

^a Died in office.
^b Served in acting capacity.
^c Resigned.

Congress representation

Romblon, as a municipality and provincial capital, belongs to the lone district of the province of Romblon. Currently, the town is represented by Rep. Eleandro Jesus F. Madrona in the house of representatives.

External links

• Philippine Standard Geographic Code
• Romblon, Romblon Profile - Cities and Municipalities Competitive Index
• Philippine Census Information
• Local Governance Performance Management System
• Tourist Attractions - Romblon, Romblon Provincial Government of Romblon website. Retrieved on April 1, 2013
• Romblon Island at OpenStreetMap