Facts
Marinduque Island
Marinduque is a heart shaped island, located exactly in the middle of the Philippines found in Region IV-B in the MIMAROPA (Mindoro, Marinduque, Romblon, Palawan) region of Luzon. MIMAROPA has been making its way in the spot light as an accelerating prime tourist destination in South Luzon.
The island of Marinduque is 95,925 hectares or about 370 square miles making it the 13th largest island in the Philippine archipelago. It has 6 municipalities totaling of 218 barangays. Municipalities include Boac as its capital, Buenavista, Gasan, Mopog and Sta Cruz (being the largest municiapility with 24, 665 hectares).
Agriculture is the driving force of this island’s economy. Coconut is their primary crop and palay secondary. Other plantations include Corn, banana, vegetables, root crops, coffee, cacao, mango and peanuts.
Dialects
The original dialect of Marinduquenos is Tagalog. Since the island is geographically located near Visayas region, a trace of Visayan can be heard as well as Bicolano. Locals can also understand Filipino and English.
Moriones Festival
Marinduque is well known for its famous Moriones festival which is celebrated a whole week, beginning on Holy Monday and ending on Easter Sunday. This festival is characterized by colorful costumes and Morions (masks) replicating the faces of Romans during Jesus’ crucifixion. It is a pantomime play of the story of a Roman centurion, Longinus, who had one blind eye. During Jesus’ crucifixion he was the soldier who pierced the side of Chirst. As he did this the Blood of Christ spurted forth and came in contact with his blind eye, and from then on he was able to see. Witnessing and experiencing a miracle he then converted to Christianity.
Growing population
According to the National Statistics Office, population in Marinduque has increased approximately 8.1% in 5 years alone! From the year 1995 to October of 2000, there was an increase of 17,482 persons totaling to 217,392, where the Municipality Sta. Cruz holds 28% of this population holding the largest number of people inhabiting its place of 60,055. As projected by the NSO by the year 2010 population of Marinduque would reach 224, 301 with a projected steady increase of 1.8% each year.
(all facts and figures are acquired from the National Statistical Coordination Board Fact Sheet of Marinduque )
Communication
For telecommunications, there is the presence of Philippine Long Distance Telephone (PLDT) located in Boac, Gasan and Mogpog while Digital Telecommunications Philippines (DIGITEL) have operations present in the municipalities of Boac and Sta Cruz.
For Mobile Phone Providers, there are cell sites located in Boac, Mogpog,Gasan, Buenavista, Torrijos and Sta. Cruz from the three pioneers of today’s mobile telecommunications: Smart, Globe, and Sun Cellular.
Internet is already available provided by PLDT, DIGITEL, and SMART.
Cable TV is present in the municipalities of Boac, Gasan, Mogpog, Torrijos, Buenavista, and Sta. Cruz. The cable TV providers for Boac and Gasan are Marinduque CATV and Luck 7 Skycable. GR CATV Services provides cable tv for the municipalities of Torrijos, Mogpog, Buenavista and Sta. Cruz.
Roads
The development of infrastructure in the island of Marinduque is already present and currently widening its reach. As of the year 2004 there is a total of 227.602 kilometers of roads, including barangay roads, provincial roads and newly opened roads.