Ferrol, Romblon

:"This article refers to Ferrol, Romblon. For other uses, see Ferrol (disambiguation).Ferrol (coord|12|20|18|N|121|56|19|E|) located in the province of Romblon, the Philippines, is a municipality of the 5th class. [http://www.fallingrain.com/world/RP/54/Ferrol.html] . According to the 2000 census, it has a population of 5,924 people in 1,227 households.

The municipality was named after the city and naval station of Ferrol in Spain in the 16th century as corrugna.

Onhan, together with Hiligaynon and English, is the medium of communication in business and trade.

History

In 1850, Muslim pirates frequently raided the islands of the Visayas and Tablas. During one of their raids in Tablas, they were repulsed and driven by the Spanish Guardia Civil based in Odiongan, one of the settlements in the island. The Spanish Civil Guards chased the pirates until they reach an area about 10 kilometers southwest of Odiongan where the civil guards noticed the resemblance of the bay in the vicinity to that of the bay of Ferrol in the province of La Coruña in Spain. Hence, The area was called Ferrol and the name had been adapted until today.

The Municipality of Ferrol was created in 1978 under P.D. 1492.

Population of Ferrol at Various Time

/a – Part of Odiongan /b - 2007 NCSO Census

Development of Ferrol's Barrios / Barangays:

Ferrol originally was a barrio of Odiongan until 1978 when it was organized into a municipality by then Assemblyman Nemesio Ganan, Jr. as the 16th municipality in the province. The first census showing breakdown on its barrios which was then under pueblo de Odiongan was in 1894 conducted by Spanish authorities reporting a total of 5 existing barrios namely: Visita Ferrol, Agnonoc, Cabacungan, Balili (Bariri) and Can-ero with a combined population of 1,261 (1894). In 1896 there were changes but the total numbers remained at 5 barrios. Changes were noted under visita Ferrol when two new barrios were created out of its territory. These were the new barrios of Tingaray and Lupog while barrio Cabacungan was abolished and merged to barrio Balili or Bariri while the former barrio of Canero was abolished also and fused to the new barrio of Tingaray. Therefore, the existing barrios in 1896 were the following: Visita Ferrol, Agnonoc, Balili, Tingary and Lupog with a combined population of 1,293 as reported the following year of 1897.

Romblon provincial government was established by the Americans in March 16, 1901. Two new barrios were created in 1901, namely: barrio Ginaguman (now spelled Hinaguman) and Tubigon taken from visita Ferrol territory. The American civil government, from 1899-1901, reduced the number of barrio to facilitate the military policy of concentrating the civilian population of the poblaciones. Therefore, three former barrios in Ferrol district were abolished, namely: Balili, Lupog and Tingaray and merged them into barrio Visita Ferrol, while retaining only barrio Agnonoc. Therefore Ferrol district has a total of four barrios in 1903 census, namely: Visita Ferrol, Agnonoc, Ginaguman and Tubigon with a combined population of 1,469. In April 5, 1959, barrio Bunsoran was created barrio of Odiongan under Republic Act No. 2121 taken from Ginaguman while the last barrio to be created was barrio (barangay) Claro M. Recto under R.A. No. 5000 was taken from barangay Malilico, Odiongan in June 17, 1967 with jurisdiction over the following sitios of Bataja, Agtaloto, Tingaray (East Tingaray) and Agdalusan. In 1978, Ginaguman's spelling was corrected to Hinaguman.

When the bill for Ferrol's creation was conceptualized sometime in 1975, the proposal was to constitute all Onhan speaking southern barangays of Odiongan into the proposed municipality. These to include barangays Anahao, Bangon, Malilico, Progreso Este, Progreso Oeste, Rizal, Taboboan, and the 6 barangays which now forms the municipality. In June 11, 1978, the new municipality of Ferrol was approved under Presidential Decree No. 1492 taken from its mother municipality of Odiongan but subject to a referrendum. However, when the referendum was conducted to these affected barangays asking its residents on their willingness to join the new municipality, the result was out of the original 13 proposed barangays, only in 6 barangays won the YES vote and opted to join Ferrol. Today, the municipality is composed of 6 barrios or barangays to-date namely:

Ferrol is politically subdivided into 6 barangays.

* Agnonoc
* Bunsoran
* Claro M. Recto
* Poblacion (Ferrol)
* Hinaguman
* Tubigon

Geography

Ferrol is located on Tablas Island. It is bounded on the north by Odiongan, on the east by the Tablas Strait, on the west by Santa Maria and on the south by Looc. It has a total land area of 3,407 square kilometers. The town has the following soil classification: Laylay Sandy Loam, Laylay Sandy Clay Loam, Tuguis Clay, and Alogpog Clay Loam.

External links

* [http://elgu2.ncc.gov.ph/ferrol/ Municipality of Ferrol - Official Site]
* [http://www.nscb.gov.ph/activestats/psgc/default.asp Philippine Standard Geographic Code]
* [http://www.t-macs.com/kiso/local/ 2000 Philippine Census Information]