Poro, officially the Municipality of Poro ( ceb, Lungsod sa Poro; tgl, Bayan ng Poro), is a 4th class

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...

in the

province A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman '' provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions ou ...

Cebu Cebu (; ceb, Sugbo), officially the Province of Cebu ( ceb, Lalawigan sa Sugbo; tl, Lalawigan ng Cebu; hil, Kapuroan sang Sugbo), is a province of the Philippines located in the Central Visayas region, and consists of a main island and 16 ...

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 26,232 people. Poro, along with the municipality of Tudela, is located on

Poro Island Poro Island (Filipino: Pulo ng Poro) is an island in the province of Cebu, located east of Cebu Island and west of Leyte Island. Two municipalities, Poro and Tudela, are located on Poro Island. It is one of the four Camotes Islands along with Pac ...

of the

Camotes Islands Camotes Islands is a group of islands in the Camotes Sea, Philippines. Combined area is . The island group is located east of Cebu Island, southwest of Leyte Island, and north of Bohol Island. It is from Cebu City and is part of Cebu. Accordi ...

. Poro is bordered to the north by the Province of

Leyte Leyte ( ) is an island in the Visayas group of islands in the Philippines. It is eighth-largest and sixth-most populous island in the Philippines, with a total population of 2,626,970 as of 2020 census. Since the accessibility of land has be ...

in the

Camotes Sea The Camotes Sea is a small sea within the Philippine archipelago, situated between the Central Visayan and the Eastern Visayan regions. It separates Cebu from Leyte hence is bordered by Cebu to the west, Leyte to the east and north, and Bohol ...

, to the west is by the island of Pacijan Island With the town of

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

, to the east is the town of Tudela and to the south is the

The patronal

feast A banquet (; ) is a formal large meal where a number of people consume food together. Banquets are traditionally held to enhance the prestige of a host, or reinforce social bonds among joint contributors. Modern examples of these purposes i ...

of Poro is celebrated on the third Friday of January, in honour of the

Santo Niño de Cebu Santo (' saint' in various languages) may refer to: People * Santo (given name) * Santo (surname) * El Santo, Rodolfo Guzmán Huerta (1917–1984), Mexican wrestler and actor * Bob Santo or Santo, stage name of Ghanaian comedian John Evans Kwad ...

Geography

Barangays

Poro comprises 17 barangays:

Climate

Demographics

Etymology and languages

The town's name is derived from the Waray-Waray word ''puro'' meaning "island". This how Camotes Island is called by Warays and Leyteños. Before the first municipality to be established in Camotes, ''puro'' meant the name of all the islands. Aside from Cebuano, Waray, Tagalog, and

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

, the townsfolk also speak the local

Porohanon language Porohanon is a regional Bisayan language spoken in the Camotes Islands in the province of Cebu in the Philippines. Its closest relatives are Hiligaynon, Capiznon and Masbateño; it is barely intelligible with Cebuano though it shares 87% of ...

. Also known as Camotes Visayan, the language is mutually intelligible with other Visayan languages (e.g. Cebuano) spoken in the rest of the Camotes Islands, Cebu, other parts of the Visayas, and Northern Mindanao. The town is home to the ''Porohanon language'', one of the most endangered languages in the Visayas. The language is only used in the Poro islands. The language is classified as distinct from Cebuano by the

Komisyon ng Wikang Filipino , logo = , logo_width = , logo_caption = , seal = Komisyon sa Wikang Filipino (KWF).svg , seal_width = , seal_caption = , formed = 1937 (first formation)1991 (reformed) , preceding1 ...

and is vital to the culture and arts of the

Porohanon people Poro Island (Filipino: Pulo ng Poro) is an island in the province of Cebu, located east of Cebu Island and west of Leyte Island. Two municipalities, Poro and Tudela, are located on Poro Island. It is one of the four Camotes Islands along with ...

. Porohanon is distinguished by the way the locals substitute // sounds with //, for instance Cebuano ''maayong buntag'' ("good morning") vocalised as ''maazong buntag'' in Porohanon. (Possibly occasions too a handover from the ''

yeísmo ''Yeísmo'' (; literally "Y-ism") is a distinctive feature of certain dialects of the Spanish language, characterized by the loss of the traditional palatal lateral approximant phoneme (written ) and its merger into the phoneme (written ), ...

'' phenomenon in

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...

.) Other dialectical variations include the Porohanon ''ara dira'' instead of the standard Cebuano ''na-a diha''.

Economy

References

External links

* Philippine Standard Geographic Code {{Authority control Municipalities of Cebu