Agutaya

Agutaya, officially the Municipality of Agutaya (), is a municipality in the province of Palawan, Philippines. According to the , it has a population of people.

An island municipality, it is the eastern part of the Cuyo Archipelago in the Sulu Sea, and covers several islands, including its namesake Agutaya Island, which is the second largest island of the Cuyo archipelago,

History

Precolonial and Spanish era

Oral history suggested that Agutaya may have existed in precolonial times. After the Spanish conquest, Agutaya was an independent barrio of Cuyo, with its officials appointed by the gobernadorcillo of Cuyo. To Christianize the Agutayanens, they built a church in 1683 called the Church of St. John the Baptist, which turned into a parish in 1692. One of the most important things that happened during this period were the Moro attacks, most notably in 1636, forcing the Spanish authorities to remodel the church into a fort. It was headed by the townspeople and the encomendero Antonio de Rojas, and started the construction in 1700, completing it in 1748. Since then, it was known as the Agutaya Fort or the Baluarte de San Juan Bautista. The church was used as the town's evacuation and emergency center during World War II.

Revolutionary era

In 1898, Emilio Aguinaldo became the President of the First Philippine Republic. To secure his control over Palawan, he sent General Esteban Kausapen to Palawan to liberate the region from Spanish control. He first entered Agutaya from Mindoro where the people offered no resistance, but the Spanish priest fled to Cuyo. No lives nor property were destroyed and Kausapen's authority collected tribute from the people in the form of rice, cows, pigs, and chickens. Some Agutayanos joined as soldiers.

Native sailboats used to be unable to sail to and from the nearby island of Cuyo (only 20 miles away), due to the strength of the monsoon, either the Northwest monsoon in wintertime, or the Southwest monsoon in summer.

Volcano

Agutaya is an inactive volcano, ASL, located at , in the province of Palawan in the Philippines.

Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) lists Agutaya as inactive.

Barangays

Agutaya is politically subdivided into 10 barangays. Each barangay consists of puroks and some have sitios.

Abagat (Poblacion)
Algeciras
Bangcal (Poblacion)
Cambian (Poblacion)
Concepcion
Diit
Maracañao
Matarawis
Villa Fria
Villa Sol

Climate

Demographics

In the 2024 census, the population of Agutaya was 13,351 people, with a density of .

Languages

Agutaya is home to a specific language, called the Agutaynen language, spoken by 10,000 people overall. Today, half of its speakers live in Agutaya, while the rest live in other communities of Palawan. Tagalog and Cuyonon are also widely spoken.

Economy

Education

The Agutaya Schools District Office governs all educational institutions within the municipality. It oversees the management and operations of all private and public, from primary to secondary schools.

Primary and elementary schools

Agutaya Central School
Algeciras Elementary School
Concepcion Elementary School
Diit Elementary School
Maracañao Elementary School
Matarawis Elementary School
Sea and Hills Adventist Refuge School
Villa Fria Elementary School
Villa Sol Elementary School