Palawan is considered the “Last Frontier” of the Philippines. It is the biggest province in the country because of its land area, which measures 14,896.3 square kilometers. The province is located in the Southern Tagalog Region (Region 4) of the Philippines. It is flanked on the western and eastern sides by the South China Sea and by the Sulu Sea, respectively. The farthest point of the island reaches as far as being relatively close to Borneo.
It consists of the Palawan Island, before which the province was named. It also has a few smaller surrounding islands, numbering approximately 1,780. It is subdivided into 23 municipalities and 1 city. Palawan’s only city, Puerto Princesa, is highly urbanized. It is also the capital which can be reached by a two to three-hour flight from Manila through various airline companies.
Palawan is now considered around the world as a premiere tourist destination in the Philippines. It boasts of powdery white sand beaches, virgin rainforests, pristine waters and magnificent geological formations. It has been said that Palawan beaches rival those in Boracay Island in the Visayas and Ilocos Norte’s own Pagudpod beach in Northern Luzon.
Being one of the largest islands in the Philippines, Palawan is home to exotic flora and fauna, including the rare Tamaraw and the Tarsier, which also happens to be the smallest monkey in the world. Various species of deer and wild pigs can also be found here. It is also home to various indigenous ethnolinguistic groups. Palawan is a melting pot of Spanish, Chinese, American and Malay cultures and ethnic diversity, there being Ilonggos, Tagalogs, Ilocanos and Palawan natives sharing the entire island province.
It has several ecological sites, including the famous El Nido Marine Reserve Park, the Calauit Game Preserve and Wildlife Sanctuary and the Coron Reefs in Coron Bay, Busuanga as well as having one of the few remaining virgin rainforests in the country. It is also where the world’s largest pearl, the “Pearl of Lao Tzu”, was found in 1934.
The Puerto Princesa Subterranean River Park and the Tubbataha Reef National Marine Park were declared UNESCO World Heritage Sites and are vigilantly protected by the provincial government.
Palawan was the site from where ancient Chinese Traders and other migrants first arrived in the Philippines. There were then land bridges between Palawan and Borneo. The first civil provincial government was established by the Americans in Palawan, then called “Paragua”, after the 1898 Philippine Revolution, when the Spaniards turned over control of the country by means of a treaty. In 1902, the Americans established civil rule in the northern part of “Paragua”. The province was reorganized to include the southern portions by virtue of the Philippine Commission Act No. 1363 and was renamed “Palawan”.
Palawan is a Philippine island province like no other. Its culture boasts of mixed peoples and traditions, and holds with pride a few of the remaining ecological preserves in the country within its vast land area. Being a premiere tourist destination, the provincial government strives to maintain its reputation as a prime ecological, historical and tourist heritage.
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