Mimaropa

History

MIMAROPA Region, together with CALABARZON, were officially created with the partitioning of Region IV (Southern Tagalog) into the two regions on 17 May 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.

On 23 May 2005, Executive Order 429 was issued, moving the province of Palawan to the region of Western Visayas, 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 19 August 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.

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

On 17 July 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.

Languages

Tagalog is widely spoken in the region. In Marinduque, the language is spoken with a unique blend of Bicolano and Visayan languages. Aside from Tagalog, there are other major languages being used by the people in different provinces and localities. Hiligaynon is spoken and understood in Palawan and Romblon.

In the interior of Mindoro, various languages are spoken by Mangyans, and they include Iraya, Alangan, Tawbuid, Hanunoo, Tadyawan, Buhid, and Ratagnon. The latter is a Visayan language with fewer than three speakers. Romblon, being near the Visayas, has three main languages that belong to Visayan language family namely, Romblomanon, Asi, and Onhan. Palawan has its own set of native languages such as Cuyonon, Calamian Tagbanwa, and Palawano that are spoken by significant numbers of people.

Economy

In 2007, Mimaropa's economy surged by 9.4%, making it the fastest growing region in the country in that year. It was aided by robust growth in the industrial sector which grew by 19.1% from -6.1% in 2006. 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 palay, corn, 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

Mimaropa comprises 5 provinces, 1 highly urbanized city (Puerto Princesa), 1 component city (Calapan), 71 municipalities and 1,458 barangays.