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Places & Legends
How the Philippines, its island groups and its regions got their names.
- films
- 22
- regions
- 18
- minutes
- 21
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More from Places & Legends
In the PSA's order. Each film leads to its place in the Atlas.
Cagayan Valley
Cagayan Valley: the cave and the giant province
A foot bone found in Callao Cave in 2007 led to Homo luzonensis, a human species named in 2019. The valley above was once one province covering all of northeast Luzon.
This Happened Here
Central Luzon
Central Luzon: capitals on the move
Bacolor, Malolos, San Isidro and Cabanatuan each served as a capital of the Philippines between 1762 and 1899, before the government moved on to Tarlac.
The Map Moved
CALABARZON
CALABARZON: every name was something else
CALABARZON is made of five province names, and most of them changed. Batangas was Kumintang, then Taal; Quezon was Kalilayan, then Tayabas. Cavite's hook story is told as a tradition.
Why It's Called That
MIMAROPA
MIMAROPA: the region that spells its islands
MIMAROPA is an acronym of its islands. In 2005 one order moved Palawan to Western Visayas and another froze it; a 2016 law named the region the Southwestern Tagalog Region.
Why It's Called That
Bicol Region
Bicol Region: the day Mayon moved a town
Tradition says Bicol is named for a bending river. On 1 February 1814 Mayon buried Cagsawa; the town moved to Daraga, and in 1914 the Bicol Region made a pilgrimage to the ruins.
Why It's Called That
Western Visayas
Western Visayas: ten datus, two rivers
Legend says ten Bornean datus bought Panay for a golden hat. Iloilo, Aklan and Antique tell the legend with two different landing rivers, and its best-known book was finished in 1904.
This Happened Here
Negros Island Region
Negros Island Region: the region that came back
Created in 2015, revoked in 2017 and re-created by law in 2024 with Siquijor, the Negros Island Region carries a name a 1975 tax decree had already used. Its island was once Buglas.
The Map Moved
Central Visayas
Central Visayas: the gift found again
In 1521 Magellan gave Cebu's queen a wooden image of the Child Jesus. In 1565 one of Legazpi's soldiers found an image of the Child Jesus in a Cebu house, judged evidently the same.
This Happened Here
