Bulalacao

Bulalacao, officially the Municipality of Bulalacao (Template:Langx, Hiligaynon: Banwa sang Bulalacao), is a municipality in the province of Oriental Mindoro, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 44,366 people.Template:PH census

It is formerly known as San Pedro.

History

Precolonial period

Ma-i was a medieval state first recorded in Chinese documents, such as the History of Song and the Zhu Fan Zhi (1225) by Zhao Rukuo. Ma-i was described to be located north of Borneo, and were highly competitive in the trade with China. While the location of Ma-i remains disputed, most historians agree that it was located in Mindoro, specifically at the Mauhaw River around Bulalacao according to William Henry Scott. This is corroborated by Spanish records, such as the account of Juan Francisco de San Antonio, called the "Chronicas de N.S.P. Francisco en las Islas Filipinas, China y Japon 1738", where Chapter 36 of the book is called "De la Provincia y Isla de Mait o Mindoro" (The Province of the Island of Mait or Mindoro), showing that the term 'Mait' and 'Mindoro' were once interchangeably used.

Historical records from the National Archive of the Philippines has shown Bulalacao engaging in Barangay network trade alliance with neighboring polities. Colonial documents point to this fact. Evidence shows that Nicolas Contreras, the Panginoon Basal of Bulalacao, along with his vassal maginoo, entered into alliances with the Panginoon of Mansalay and their maginoo, in trade agreements with the Spanish colonial government in Manila.

Since at least the 1700s, Bulalacao has been ruled by the Contreras clan as the Panginoon Basal. The clan is one of a few Filipino families with clear descent from ancient maginoo lineage.

Spanish to early American period

In the early 19th century, Datu Calido of Panay was in control of Bulalacao. Following the expansion of the settlement, it was ruled by the capitanes. They were Gabriel Contreras as Gobernadorcillo, with vassal datus: Paigao, Jacinto Pajado and Narciso Pandino. They ruled the area until the arrival of Lieutenant Morris in 1903. In 1906, the settlement became a township, which included Paclasan, Mansalay, Mangaring, and the islands of Caluya, Sibay and Semirara.

Modern period

On May 7, 1995, re-electionist Mayor Guillermo Salas was assassinated a day before the 1995 election by Rodel Gonzales of the Mangyan tribe; Gonzales eventually surrendered to authorities five days later, confessing to the crime.

Geography

Bulalacao is located at the southernmost tip of the province and is from the provincial capital Calapan and from Roxas.

Barangays

Bulalacao is politically subdivided into 15 barangays. Each barangay consists of puroks and some have sitios.

• Bagong Sikat
• Balatasan
• Benli (Mangyan Settlement)
• Cabugao
• Cambunang (Poblacion)
• Campaasan (Poblacion)
• Maasin
• Maujao
• Milagrosa (Guiob)
• Nasukob (Poblacion)
• Poblacion
• San Francisco (Alimawan)
• San Isidro
• San Juan
• San Roque (Buyayao)

Transportation

Bulalacao has a port that serves as a gateway from Mindoro to Caticlan in Malay, Aklan. FastCat operates in the port.

See also

• List of renamed cities and municipalities in the Philippines
• List of political families in the Philippines

External links

• Bulalacao Profile at PhilAtlas.com
• Bulalacao, Oriental Mindoro official website Template:Webarchive
• [[[:Template:NSCB detail]] Philippine Standard Geographic Code]
• Philippine Census Information
• Local Governance Performance Management System