Negros Island
Negros is one of the many islands of the Visayas, in the central part of the country. The predominant inhabitants of the island region are mainly called Negrenses (locally Negrosanons). As of 2020 census, the total population of Negros is 4,656,893 people.
From 2015 to 2017, the whole island was governed as an administrative region officially named the Negros Island Region, which comprised the highly urbanized city of Bacolod and the provinces of Negros Occidental and Negros Oriental, along with its corresponding outlying islands and islets within a total regional area of 13,350.74 km (5,154.75 sq mi). It was created on May 29, 2015, by virtue of Executive Order No. 183 issued by President Benigno Aquino III. On August 9, 2017, the region was dissolved after President Rodrigo Duterte signed Executive Order No. 38, reverting its constituents to their former regions.
On June 13, 2024, Negros island together with neighboring Siquijor were grouped together under the reestablished Negros Island Region with the signing of Republic Act No. 12000 by President Bongbong Marcos.
History
Precolonial era
Negros was originally called Buglas, an old Hiligaynon word thought to mean "cut off", as it is believed that the island was separated from a larger landmass. It was also known as Mamaylan and Panilougon among the Cebuano-speaking Visayans. Among its earliest inhabitants were the aboriginal Ata, one of several aboriginal Negrito ethnic groups dispersed throughout Southeast Asia that possesses a unique culture. The westernmost portions of the island soon fell under the nominal rule of the Kedatuan of Madja-as from the neighboring islands of Panay and Guimaras, while the easternmost areas were influenced by the Rajahnate of Cebu from neighboring Cebu Island.
Spanish colonization
Upon arriving on the island in April 1565, the Spanish colonizers called the land Negros, after the dark-skinned natives they observed. Two of the earliest native settlements, Binalbagan and Ilog, became towns in 1573 and 1584, respectively, while other settlements of the period included Hinigaran, Bago, Marayo (now Pontevedra), Mamalan (now Himamaylan), and Candaguit (now a sitio of San Enrique).
After appointing encomenderos for the island, Miguel López de Legazpi placed Negros under the jurisdiction of the governor of Oton in Panay. In 1734, however, the island became a military district with Ilog as its first capital. The seat of government was later transferred to Himamaylan until Bacolod became the capital in 1849. In 1865, Negros and its outlying minor islands along with Siquijor was converted into a politico-military province. By the end of the 1700s, Negros Island had 5,741 native families.
In 1890, the island was officially partitioned into the present-day provinces of Negros Occidental and Negros Oriental. The Spanish Governor, D. Isidro Castro y Cinceros, surrendered to the Negros Revolutionaries, led by Aniceto Lacson and Juan Araneta, on November 6, 1898. General Miller appointed Aniceto, Governor of the Island in March 1899.
Negros Revolution and formation of Republic of Negros
From November 3 – 6, 1898, the Negrense peoples rose in revolt against the local Spanish colonial government headed by politico-military governor Colonel Isidro de Castro. The Spaniards decided to surrender upon seeing armed troops marching in a pincer movement towards Bacolod. The revolutionaries, led by General Juan Araneta from Bago and General Aniceto Lacson from Talisay, bore fake arms consisting of rifles carved out of palm fronds and cannons of rolled bamboo mats painted black. By the afternoon of November 6, Col. de Castro signed the Act of Capitulation, thus ending centuries of Spanish colonial rule in Negros Occidental.
In memory of this event, every November 5 is observed as a special non-working holiday in the province through Republic Act No. 6709, signed by President Corazon Aquino on February 10, 1989.
On November 27, 1898, the Cantonal Republic of Negros unilaterally proclaimed independence, but this was short-lived as the territory became a protectorate of the United States on April 30, 1899. The state was renamed the Republic of Negros (Spanish: República de Negros) on July 22, 1899, and eventually dissolved by the United States and annexed by the U.S. Military Government of the Philippine Islands on April 30, 1901.
The leaders of the short-lived republic were:
- Aniceto Lacson, November 5, 1898 – July 22, 1899 (to November 27, 1898, in Negros Occidental)
- Demetrio Larena, November 24, 1898 – November 27, 1898 (in Negros Oriental)
- President of the Constituent Assembly José Luzuriaga, July 22, 1899 – November 6, 1899
- Secretary of War Juan Araneta
- Civil Governor Melecio Severino, November 6, 1899 – April 30, 1901
- Secretary of Justice Antonio Ledesma Jayme, November 5, 1898 – July 22, 1899
Commonwealth period
From 1914 to 1927, parts of Western Negros hosted several newly established settlements which became cities connected by railroads constructed to flow towards several "sugar centrals" which were processing the extremely sweet raw sugar canes grown in Negros' volcanic soil and farmed by several "Haciendas". These haciendas littered the countryside as the central sugar mills eventually grew to become full pledged towns and cities: chief among which were Ilog, Hinigaran, La Carlota, Silay, Pulupandan, Bacolod, San Carlos and Bais. Western Negros also saw massive immigration from Panay as the Spanish, Chinese, and French mestizos who administered the Haciendas imported laborers from Panay island to foster the farming of Negros' sugar plantations and thereby displacing the Cebuano speaking natives. The east side of Negros was not as thickly settled but became a center of education as on 9 April 1901, the Second Philippine Commission under the chairmanship of William H. Taft arrived in Dumaguete. Weeks later on 1 May, the civil government under American sovereignty was established, and on 28 August, Dr. David S. Hibbard founded what is now Silliman University the first American school in the Philippines and the entire Asian continent with the help of Meliton Larena as the first Mayor of Dumaguete, as well as Demetrio Larena. Thus, Negros is among the most populous islands in the Philippines and also the one with the most number of component cities.
Post-Commonwealth era
Regions were first formed on September 24, 1972 when the provinces of the Philippines were organized into different 11 regions by Presidential Decree No. 1 as part of the Integrated Reorganization Plan of President Ferdinand Marcos. Negros Occidental was assigned to Western Visayas (Region VI) and Negros Oriental was assigned to Central Visayas (Region VII).
Negros famine
By the time Ferdinand Marcos' second term began, sugar had become a critical Philippine export, responsible for 27% of the county's total foreign exchange earnings. With international sugar prices rising rapidly through the early 1970s, Marcos decided to put domestic and international sugar trading under government control, first through the Philippine Exchange Co. (Philex), and later through the Philippine Sugar Commission (Philsucom) and its trading arm, the National Sugar Trading Corporation (NASUTRA), which were both controlled by Marcos crony Roberto Benedicto.
However, the international price of sugar eventually crashed, dramatically hurting the livelihoods of poor farmers. The NASUTRA monopoly forced many sugar planters into bankruptcy or deep in debt. In 1984, over 190,000 sugar workers lost their livelihood, and about a million sacadas and their families in Negros suffered in what would later become known as the "Negros Famine."
Author John Silva, who was working with Oxfam at the time, visited Negros and later described the living conditions of thousands of starving and malnourished children:
I drove past the provincial hospital where I first saw hundreds of malnourished children on mats on the floors tended by their mothers, and later, we were in the country through cane fields and small towns remembering the skeletal children being weighed and assessed by our medical team.... There were over 100,000 children in various degree of malnutrition and we started a feeding program for 90,000 of them, hoping to save the worst cases.
The famine in Negros sparked a worldwide firestorm. International relief agencies flew in to conduct feeding programs, local NGOs mobilized relief drives, and members of the Catholic Church pitched in to help.
Locally, social tensions were so high that the Catholic Bishop of Bacolod, Antonio Fortich described the conditions on the island as a "social volcano" ready to explode. This was the situation on September 20, 1985, which marked the date of the Escalante massacre, in which paramilitary forces under the command of Marcos-allied Negros Occidental Governor Armando Gustilo gunned down farmers protesting social conditions on the 13th anniversary of the declaration of Martial Law. Between twenty and thirty farmers were estimated to be killed, and thirty more were wounded.
Another consequence of the famine was the dramatic rise of the Marxist-Leninist-Maoist New People’s Army (NPA) presence on Negros island, with Bishop Fortich stating in 1985 that "the NPA has doubled in strength the last year, principally because of the poverty and hunger here."
Negros Island Region
The movement for a single-island region started in the 1980s when officials of both provinces proposed a one-island, one-region unit. Negros Occidental and Negros Oriental are the only provinces in the Philippines situated in the same island but belonging to two different administrative regions with regional offices located in neighboring Panay and Cebu. The movement to unite the two provinces in Negros island was sustained in the 1990s and 2010s.
The campaign for the creation of a region in Negros had gains when President Benigno Aquino III directed the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) to study the establishment of a new region. with the government agency later endorsing the move. NEDA affirmed by saying that its studies show that the proposed region is economically viable.
On May 29, 2015, President Aquino signed Executive Order 183, which created the Negros Island Region. It separated Negros Occidental and its capital Bacolod from Western Visayas (Region VI) and Negros Oriental from Central Visayas (Region VII) to form the island region, which made the total number of regions of the Philippines into 18.
Dissolution and reestablishment
On August 9, 2017, President Rodrigo Duterte signed Executive Order No. 38, revoking the Executive Order No. 183 signed by (former) President Benigno Aquino III on May 29 of 2015, due to the reason of the lack of funds to fully establish the NIR according to Benjamin Diokno, the Secretary of Budget and Management. Its dissolution upset the NIR regional officials and provoked strong negative reactions from the Negrenses.
On June 13, 2024, Negros island together with neighboring Siquijor were grouped together under the reestablished Negros Island Region with the signing of Republic Act No. 12000 by President Bongbong Marcos.
Demographics
Year | Pop. | ±% p.a. |
---|---|---|
1990 | 3,182,180 | — |
1995 | 3,459,433 | +1.58% |
2000 | 3,695,811 | +1.43% |
2010 | 4,194,525 | +1.27% |
2015 | 4,414,131 | +0.98% |
2020 | 4,656,945 | +1.06% |
Source: Philippine Statistics Authority |
Geography
Negros is the second largest island in the Visayas (after Samar) and the fourth largest of the Philippines, with a total land area of 13,309.6 square kilometres (5,138.9 sq mi). It is located between the islands of Panay and Guimaras to the west and Cebu to the east, with Siquijor located on the toe of the island and the islands of Bantayan to the north. Politically and linguistically, Negros is divided into two provinces: Negros Occidental and Negros Oriental.
This division of the island, which roughly follows the mountain range in the center of the island, corresponds to the two related linguistic groups. The western half (Occidental) is home to the Hiligaynon Visayan-speaking population while the eastern half (Oriental) is home to the Cebuano Visayan-speaking population. Together, they are all called Negrenses.
Kanlaon Volcano, located in the central-northern part of the island is the third most-active volcano in the Philippines and overlooks bordering communities and the city of Bacolod to the west. It is the highest peak of the whole island and of the Visayas. Other notable peaks on the island are Mount Silay and Mount Mandalagan in Negros Occidental and Mount Talinis (also known as Cuernos de Negros) in Negros Oriental. There are also lakes that dot the island, among the most notable are the Balinsasayao Twin Lakes in Negros Oriental.
The volcanic activity in Negros is harnessed into electricity through two geothermal power plants in the island. One is located in Palinpinon of Valencia in Negros Oriental and the other is in Mailum of Bago in Negros Occidental, but was eventually shut down.
Administrative divisions
The island of Negros is composed of 2 provinces, 1 highly urbanized city, 19 component cities, 38 municipalities and 1,219 barangays. Prior to the re-establishment of the Negros Island Region, Negros Occidental was designated as part of Western Visayas and Negros Oriental was designated as part of Central Visayas.
Province or HUC | Capital | Population (2015) | Area | Density | Cities | Muni. | Barangay | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
km | sq mi | /km | /sq mi | ||||||||||
Negros Occidental | Bacolod | 56.6% | 2,497,261 | 7,802.54 | 3,012.58 | 320 | 830 | 12 | 19 | 601 | |||
Negros Oriental | Dumaguete | 30.7% | 1,354,995 | 5,385.53 | 2,079.36 | 250 | 650 | 6 | 19 | 557 | |||
Bacolod | † | — | 12.7% | 561,875 | 162.67 | 62.81 | 3,500 | 9,100 | — | — | 61 | ||
Total | 4,414,131 | 13,350.74 | 5,154.75 | 330 | 850 | 19 | 38 | 1,219 | |||||
† Bacolod is a highly urbanized city; figures are excluded from Negros Occidental. |
Bacolod is the most populous city on the island and the center of the Bacolod Metropolitan Area (which also contains the cities of Talisay and Silay), as well as the 19th most populous city of the whole Philippines, while Dumaguete is the most densely populated city in the whole region.
Negros Occidental contains 13 cities (12 component and one highly urbanized) and 19 municipalities, which are further subdivided into 601 barangays. It has the most number of chartered cities amongst all the provinces of the Philippines. Although Bacolod serves as the capital, it is governed independently from its corresponding province as a highly urbanized city. Negros Oriental comprises six cities and 19 municipalities, subdivided further into 557 barangays.
City | Population (2015) | Area | Density | City class | Income class | Province | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
km | sq mi | /km | /sq mi | |||||
Bacolod | 561,875 | 162.67 | 62.81 | 3,500 | 9,100 | Highly urbanized | 1st | Negros Occidental |
Bago | 170,981 | 401.20 | 154.90 | 430 | 1,100 | Component | 2nd | Negros Occidental |
Bais | 76,291 | 319.64 | 123.41 | 240 | 620 | Component | 3rd | Negros Oriental |
Bayawan | 117,900 | 699.08 | 269.92 | 170 | 440 | Component | 2nd | Negros Oriental |
Cadiz | 154,723 | 524.57 | 202.54 | 290 | 750 | Component | 2nd | Negros Occidental |
Canlaon | 54,509 | 170.93 | 66.00 | 320 | 830 | Component | 4th | Negros Oriental |
Dumaguete | 131,377 | 33.62 | 12.98 | 3,900 | 10,000 | Component | 2nd | Negros Oriental |
Escalante | 94,070 | 192.76 | 74.43 | 490 | 1,300 | Component | 4th | Negros Occidental |
Guihulngan | 95,969 | 388.56 | 150.02 | 250 | 650 | Component | 5th | Negros Oriental |
Himamaylan | 106,880 | 367.04 | 141.71 | 290 | 750 | Component | 3rd | Negros Occidental |
Kabankalan | 181,977 | 697.35 | 269.25 | 260 | 670 | Component | 1st | Negros Occidental |
La Carlota | 64,469 | 137.29 | 53.01 | 470 | 1,200 | Component | 4th | Negros Occidental |
Sagay | 146,264 | 330.34 | 127.54 | 440 | 1,100 | Component | 3rd | Negros Occidental |
San Carlos | 132,536 | 451.50 | 174.33 | 290 | 750 | Component | 2nd | Negros Occidental |
Silay | 126,930 | 214.80 | 82.93 | 590 | 1,500 | Component | 3rd | Negros Occidental |
Sipalay | 70,070 | 379.78 | 146.63 | 180 | 470 | Component | 4th | Negros Occidental |
Talisay | 102,214 | 201.18 | 77.68 | 510 | 1,300 | Component | 4th | Negros Occidental |
Tanjay | 80,532 | 276.05 | 106.58 | 290 | 750 | Component | 4th | Negros Oriental |
Victorias | 87,933 | 133.92 | 51.71 | 660 | 1,700 | Component | 1st | Negros Occidental |
Economy
Negros is noted for being the nation's prime producer and exporter of sugar. Sugarcane plantations abound in the agricultural areas of the island. The island also produces cotton and hardwood. Sugar is the biggest industry in the island, followed by organic agricultural products and gamefowl breeding. Its principal sugar-growing region is located in the north and west of the island, stretching from northwest along the coasts of the Visayan Sea and Guimaras Strait, which is one of the nation's principal lowland areas in the Visayas. Negros is now aiming to be the prime producer of organic agricultural produce in Asia.
Sugar refining has many by-products such as acetylene, fertilizers and rum. Fishing is the major industry based in Cadiz. There are also a number of fishponds and prawn farming has become a major industry. Bacolod City is the center of commerce and finance in Negros. It is where oil companies, factories, bottling plants, allied industrial businesses, steel fabrication, power generation, agri-businesses, prawn culture and other aqua-culture ventures are found. By November 2016, Negros generated a total net worth of ₱14.355 billion, placing its provinces among the richest in the country.