Mimaropa

For the historical region, see Southern Tagalog.

Mimaropa (officially stylized in all caps), officially the Southwestern Tagalog Region^[3][4] (Filipino: Rehiyong Timog-Kanlurang Tagalog), is an administrative region in the Philippines. The name is an acronym combination of its constituent provinces: Mindoro (divided into Occidental Mindoro and Oriental Mindoro), Marinduque, Romblon, and Palawan. It is the only region in the country outside the Visayas that has no land border with another region.

Mimaropa
Region
Southwestern Tagalog Region
Clockwise from the top: El Nido, Palawan, Mount Guiting-Guiting, Tamaraw Falls, Boac Cathedral, Coron Island
Location in the Philippines
OpenStreetMap
Coordinates: 10°40′N 119°30′E
Country	Philippines
Island group	Luzon
Regional center	Calapan
Largest city	Puerto Princesa
Area
• Total	29,620.90 km2 (11,436.69 sq mi)
Highest elevation (Mount Halcon)	2,586 m (8,484 ft)
Population  (2020 census)[1]
• Total	3,228,558
• Density	110/km2 (280/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC+8 (PST)
ISO 3166 code	PH-41
Provinces	5 Marinduque Occidental Mindoro Oriental Mindoro Palawan Romblon
Independent cities	1 Puerto Princesa
Component cities	1 Calapan
Municipalities	71
Barangays	1,460
Cong. districts	7
Languages	Tagalog Romblomanon Bantoanon or Asi Onhan Cuyonon Hiligaynon English others
GDP (2023)	₱472 billion $8.49 billion[2]
Growth rate	(4.7%)[2]
HDI	0.673 (Medium)
HDI rank	15th in the Philippines (2019)

The region was part of the now-defunct Southern Tagalog region until May 17, 2002.^[5] On May 23, 2005, Palawan and the highly urbanized city of Puerto Princesa were moved to the region of Western Visayas by Executive Order No. 429.^[6] However, on August 19, 2005, President Arroyo issued Administrative Order No. 129 to put in abeyance Executive Order No. 429 pending a review.^[7] On July 17, 2016, Republic Act No. 10879 formally established the Southwestern Tagalog Region to be known as Mimaropa, discontinuing the Region IV-B designation; however, no boundary changes were involved.^[3]

Calapan is Mimaropa's regional center while the highly-urbanized city of Puerto Princesa is the most populous in the region.^[8] However, most regional government offices such as the Department of Public Works and Highways^[9] and the Department of Budget and Management are in Quezon City, Metro Manila, because Quezon City was the regional capital of Southern Tagalog.

History

Mimaropa, together with Calabarzon, were officially created with the partitioning of Southern Tagalog (Region IV) into the two regions on May 17, 2002, with the issuance of Executive Order No. 103 by then-President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo; for the purpose of promoting efficiency in the government, accelerating social and economic development and improving public services in the provinces covered. Region IV-B was designated as Mimaropa, which stands for the island provinces belonging to the Southern Tagalog region—Mindoro (Oriental and Occidental), Marinduque, Romblon and Palawan. Region IV-A was designated as Calabarzon.^[5] Marinduque was a sub-province of Quezon, at that time known as Tayabas; it became independent province in 1920. Quezon is now part of Calabarzon. Romblon was a sub-province of Capiz & was part of Western Visayas. When President Ferdinand Marcos enacted Presidential Decree No. 1, which organized the provinces into 11 regions as part of Marcos' Integrated Reorganization Plan,^[10] Romblon was transferred from Western Visayas to Southern Tagalog.

On May 23, 2005, Executive Order 429 was issued, moving the province of Palawan to the region of Western Visayas,^[6] designating Region IV-B as "Mimaro". However, Palawan residents criticized the move, citing a lack of consultation, with most residents in Puerto Princesa and nearly all municipalities preferring to stay with Region IV-B. Consequently, Administrative Order No. 129 was issued on August 19, 2005, to address this backlash. This order directed the abeyance of Executive Order 429 pending the approval of an implementation plan for the orderly transfer of Palawan from Mimaropa to Region VI.^[7]

The 2010 Philippine Census of Population reported the region's name as "Mimaropa" and included Palawan as part of the region.^[11] As of 2014^[update], it is not clear whether the transfer of Palawan to Western Visayas is still considered pending by the Philippine government. As of 2014^[update], the National Statistical Coordinating Board of the Philippines continued to list Palawan province as part of the Mimaropa region.^{[12][needs update]}

On July 17, 2016, Republic Act No. 10879 formally established the Southwestern Tagalog Region to be known as the Mimaropa Region. This involved no boundary changes but was in effect merely a renaming and discontinuation of the "Region IV-B" designation.^[3]

Demographics

Population census of Mimaropa

Year	Pop.	±% p.a.
1903	179,800	—
1918	262,462	+2.55%
1939	406,377	+2.10%
1948	468,619	+1.60%
1960	722,227	+3.67%
1970	1,020,222	+3.51%
1975	1,219,609	+3.64%
1980	1,408,040	+2.91%
1990	1,774,074	+2.34%
1995	2,033,271	+2.59%
2000	2,299,229	+2.67%
2007	2,559,791	+1.49%
2010	2,744,671	+2.57%
2015	2,963,360	+1.47%
2020	3,228,558	+1.70%
Source: Philippine Statistics Authority[1][13]

Languages

A view of Calapan as seen in December 2009

The native languages of Mimaropa are:

• Alangan, spoken in the interior of Mindoro.
• Asi, spoken in Romblon and Marinduque.
• Buhid, spoken in the interior of Mindoro.
• Calamian Tagbanwa, spoken in Palawan.
• Cuyonon, spoken in Palawan.
• Hanunoo, spoken in the interior of Mindoro.
• Hiligaynon, spoken in Palawan and Romblon.
• Iraya, spoken in the interior of Mindoro.
• Karay-a or Kinaray-a, spoken in eastern parts of Palawan, southern parts Mindoro and southern parts of Romblon.
• Malay, spoken in south Palawan.
• Molbog, spoken in south Palawan.
• Onhan, spoken in Romblon.
• Palawano, spoken in Palawan.
• Ratagnon, spoken in the south Mindoro.
• Romblomanon, spoken in Romblon.
• Sibuyanon, spoken in Romblon.
• Tadyawan, spoken in the interior of Mindoro.
• Tagalog, spoken in Occidental Mindoro, Oriental Mindoro, Marinduque, Romblon, and Palawan. It is the regional lingua franca, mostly as Filipino.
• Tausug, spoken in southwestern Palawan.
• Tawbuid, spoken in the interior of Mindoro.

Economy

Poverty Incidence of Mimaropa

10 20 30 40 50 2003 48.10 2006 40.60 2009 34.54 2012 31.02 2015 25.23 2018 15.08 2021 15.00 Source: Philippine Statistics Authority[14][15][16][17][18][19][20]

In 2007, Mimaropa's economy surged by 9.4%, making it the fastest growing region in the country in that year.^[21] It was aided by robust growth in the industrial sector which grew by 19.1% from -6.1% in 2006.^[21] Mimaropa experienced a big slowdown in 2006, posting a decelerated growth of 2.3% from a 6.4% increase in 2005. This resulted mainly from the slump in the industry sector, which shrunk by 5.4% in 2006 from its 10.8% increase in 2005.

The agriculture, forestry, and fishing sector, which contributed 42.1% to the total regional economy, grew by 9.1% in 2006, accelerating from 3.2% the previous year. The higher production of rice, maize, other crops, livestock and fishery resulted in the accelerated growth in the total agriculture and fishery sector.

The industry sector, which contributed 38.3% to the region's total economy, was the second largest contributor next to agriculture. Its decline of 5.4% was largely attributed to the decrease in the mining and quarrying sub-sector, which went down by 15.4% due to the reduced production of natural gas in Palawan. Mining and quarrying contributed 16.6% to the total regional economy. The positive growth in the electricity and water, construction and manufacturing sub-sectors were not able to compensate to the drop in the mining and quarrying sub-sector.

The service sector, on the other hand, posted an accelerated growth of 5.1%, which was attributed to the increase in the TCS, finance, private services, government services and trade sub-sectors, which managed to post accelerated growths of 6.0%, 5.5%, 5.1%, 5.1% and 4.7%, respectively. The other sub-sector, however, had a decelerated growth due to the slowdown in the ownership of dwelling.

Tourism

There are many scenic spots in Mimaropa. Some of them are the Bathala Cave, Balanacan Bay, and Tres Reyes Islands in the province of Marinduque; White Island in Mindoro; Fort San Andres, Mount Guiting-Guiting, and Bonbon Beach in Romblon; and the Puerto Princesa Subterranean River National Park and El Nido Marine Reserve Park in Palawan.

Administrative divisions

Provinces

Political map of Mimaropa

Mimaropa comprises 5 provinces, 1 highly urbanized city (Puerto Princesa), 1 component city (Calapan), 71 municipalities and 1,460 barangays.

•  †  Regional center

Province or HUC		Capital	Population (2020)[22]		Area		Density		Cities	Muni.	Barangay
					km2	sq mi	/km2	/sq mi
Marinduque		Boac	7.4%	239,207	952.58	367.79	250	650	0	6	218
Occidental Mindoro		Mamburao	16.3%	525,354	5,865.70	2,264.76	90	230	0	11	164
Oriental Mindoro		† Calapan	28.1%	908,339	4,238.40	1,636.46	210	540	1	14	426
Palawan		Puerto Princesa	29.1%	939,594	14,649.70	5,656.28	64	170	0	23	367
Romblon		Romblon	9.6%	308,985	1,533.50	592.09	200	520	0	17	219
Puerto Princesa	†	—	9.5%	307,079	2,381.02	919.32	130	340	—	—	66
Total				3,228,558	29,620.90	11,436.69	110	280	2	71	1,460
†  Puerto Princesa is a highly urbanized city pursuant to Presidential Proclamation No. 1264;[23] figures are excluded from Palawan.

Governors and vice governors

Province	Image	Governor	Political Party		Vice Governor
Marinduque		Presbitero J. Velasco, Jr.		PFP	Adeline Angeles
Occidental Mindoro		Eduardo Gadiano		PFP	Anecita Diana Apigo-Tayag
Oriental Mindoro		Humerlito Dolor		PDP	Ejay Falcon
Palawan		Victorino Dennis M. Socrates		Aksyon	Leoncio Nacasi Ola
Romblon		Jose Riano		PFP	Armando Gutierrez

Notable people

Main pages: Marinduque § Notable people, Oriental Mindoro § Notable people, Category:People from Palawan, Puerto Princesa § Notable personalities, and Romblon § Notable people