Sablayan (Tagalog pronunciation: [sɐ'blajan]), officially the Municipality of Sablayan (Tagalog: Bayan ng Sablayan), is a 1st class municipality in the province of Occidental Mindoro, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 92,598 people.

It has a total land area of 2,188.80 square kilometers, making it the largest municipality in the Philippines. The Apo Reef, North and South Pandan Islands, and a portion of Mounts Iglit–Baco National Park are part of its jurisdiction. Sablayan Penal Colony, the Philippines' largest penal facility with sprawling lot of 16,190 hectares (40,000 acres) is also located in this municipality.

History

The town used to be called Dongon, a coastal village located currently at Barangay San Nicolas. The first accounts of the baptism of the locals under the Recollects were recorded in 1670. By 1749, Dongon became the biggest pueblo in the whole island of Mindoro in terms of population.

In 1754, the Moro pirates started attacking the town, and almost every year thereafter, until in 1791 when the Moros effectively wiped out the whole population from more than 600 inhabitants to less than 98 people.

In 1814, the inhabitants of Dongon gradually transferred to the village of Sablayan, until Dongon ceased to become a village in 1829. In 1832, the missionary friar Simeon Mendoza de la V. de Ibernalo requested the Spanish government for the exemption of the town's inhabitants from paying taxes so that they could build a stone church, convent and fort at a hilly part of the village. The church that stands today at the town may have been built from 1832 to 1835, and its advocacy was placed under San Sebastian.

Geography

Sablayan is located in the central part of Occidental Mindoro. It is bounded to the north by the municipality of Santa Cruz and the municipalities of Baco, Naujan, Victoria and Socorro all in Oriental Mindoro province; to the east by the municipalities of Pinamalayan, Gloria, Bansud, Bongabong and Mansalay also in Oriental Mindoro; to the south by the municipality of Calintaan; and to the west by the Mindoro Strait.

Sablayan is 87 kilometres (54 mi) from Mamburao.

Barangays

Sablayan is politically subdivided into 22 barangays. Each barangay consists of puroks and some have sitios.

In 1957 the following barrios were renamed: Batasan to Claudio Salgado, Hinaya to Buhay na Bato (Batong Buhay) and Iriron to San Isidro.

Climate

Demographics

Population census of Sablayan

Year	Pop.	±% p.a.
1918	3,078	—
1939	2,861	−0.35%
1948	3,332	+1.71%
1960	12,685	+11.78%
1970	18,256	+3.70%
1975	31,117	+11.29%
1980	36,699	+3.35%
1990	46,546	+2.41%
1995	55,573	+3.38%
2000	63,685	+2.96%
2007	70,506	+1.41%
2010	76,153	+2.84%
2015	83,169	+1.69%
2020	92,598	+2.13%
Source: Philippine Statistics Authority

Economy

Poverty incidence of Sablayan

10 20 30 40 50 2006 46.30 2009 34.82 2012 28.03 2015 28.61 2018 12.84 2021 28.28 Source: Philippine Statistics Authority

Tourism

Pinagpalang Lagusan sa Bakawanan

On April 15, 2024, second placer, Sablayan's Mayor Walter B. Marquez received the P20 million award from the Department of Tourism's Tourism Champions Challenge, for the development of "Pinagpalang Lagusan sa Bakawanan" (Mangrove Forest park). The tourist attraction is a 12-hectare biodiversity with 925-meter mangrove nature conservation boardwalk.

Government

List of former chief executives

Culture

Held once a year the Dugoy Festival is a celebration of the Mangyan culture.