CHAPTER 1

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II. LOCATION
Cuyo Archipelago or Cuyo Islands is a group of about 45 islands lying to the
northeast of the Philippine island of Palawan. It lies south of Mindoro and between
Northern Palawan and Panay. It is centered on the largest island of the archipelago,
Cuyo Island, with an area of 22 square miles (57 km2) and about 9 miles (14 km) long.
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Geologically, the islands are related to the main island of Palawan. They are
positioned on the western edge of the Luzon Arc. Cuyo island is volcanic. The northern
islands of Quiniluban seem to be uplifted coral atolls, although the heights of some of
the peaks strongly suggest volcanic uplift. There have been plans before to establish
the Cuyo Archipelago as a separate province from Palawan, just like what happened
when Batanes became independent from Cagayan province. Many other islands of the
group are purely corallian.
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III. DEMOGRAPHICS
POPULATION

Table 1:Population Cencus of 17 Barangays in Cuyo

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Economy

Table 2: Annual Regular Revenue of Cuyo

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Households

Table 3: Household Population of Cuyo

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Population by Age Group
According to the 2015 Census, the age group with the highest population in Cuyo
is 10 to 14, with 2,687 individuals. Conversely, the age group with the lowest population
is 75 to 79, with 283 individuals.
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Table 4: Population by age group of Cuyo

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Historical Population

Table 5:Historical Population

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Religion
• Christianity
In the early years of the 19th century, the resurgence of pre-Hispanic native
religion among the Cuyunon despite 200 years of Catholic indoctrination greatly
bothered Cuyo’s parish priest, Father Pedro Gilbert de Santa Eulalia. The priest noted
the still widespread worship of the souls of ancestors and the prevalence of rituals of the
babaylan (priest or shaman) or babaylana (priestess). This was cause for worry since
the Cuyunon were considered among the most Christianized in the islands.
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Language
Cuyonon is a regional Bisayan language spoken on the coast of Palawan and the
Cuyo Islands in the Philippines. Cuyonon had been the lingua franca (language used for
communication) of the province of Palawan until recently when migration flow into the
region rapidly increased. 43% of the total population of Palawan during the late 1980s
spoke and used Cuyonon as a language. Later studies showed a significant decrease in
the number of speakers due to an increase in Tagalog-speaking immigrants from
Luzon. The Cuyonon language is classified by the Summer Institute of Linguistics as
belonging to the Central Philippine, Western Bisayan, Kuyan subgroup. The largest
number of speakers live in the Cuyo Group of Islands, which is located between
Northern Palawan and Panay Island.
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Way of Life

Agriculture is the island’s main occupation. Cuyo’s swidden yields have tended to be
unsubstantial. The Cuyunon system of planting upland rice and other produce employs
long-fallow and short-fallow methods. The long fallow method is rarely practiced
because of the pressure of market forces to be more productive. Short fallow is
commonly practiced because it can be completed within nine months. In a short period,
farmers burn, plant, weed, and harvest. Other swidden crops include sorghum, yam,
taro, sweet potato, arrowroot, and ginger. To augment swidden agriculture, the
Cuyunon practice agroforestry by planting edible trees such as coconut, banana,
mango, cashew, jackfruit, avocado, coffee, tamarind, soursop, pomegranate, papaya,
jackfruit, and citrus.
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Political System
 The municipality of Magsaysay was created on 1 January 1964 through Republic
Act 3426. This fifth-class municipality, including the islets to where it extends, has a total
land area of 49.47 square kilometers. It consists of eight mainland barangays and three
island barangays: Alcoba, Balaguen, Canipo, Cocoro, Danawan, Emilod, Igabas,
Lacaren, Los Angeles, Lucbuan, and Rizal. As of 2010, Magsaysay had a total
population of 11,965.