Alibijaban, also spelled Alibihaban, is an island

barangay The barangay (; abbreviated as Brgy. or Bgy.), historically referred to as ''barrio'', is the smallest Administrative divisions of the Philippines, administrative division in the Philippines. Named after the Precolonial barangay, precolonial po ...

located in the

Ragay Gulf Ragay Gulf is a large gulf in the Bicol Peninsula in Luzon, part of the Sibuyan Sea. It is separated from Tayabas Bay by the Bondoc Peninsula in the west. The gulf covers the provinces of Quezon Quezon, officially the Province of Quezon ...

off the southeastern coast of

Bondoc Peninsula The Bondoc Peninsula (commonly known as BonPen) is a narrow peninsula located in the southeastern part of Quezon Province in Calabarzon Region, southern part of Luzon, Philippines. The peninsula consists of 12 municipalities: Agdangan, Buenavi ...

on the

Philippine The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

island of

Luzon Luzon ( , ) is the largest and most populous List of islands in the Philippines, island in the Philippines. Located in the northern portion of the List of islands of the Philippines, Philippine archipelago, it is the economic and political ce ...

. With a recorded population of 1,738 inhabitants in 2020, Alibijaban is the least populous of the seven barangays that compose the municipality of San Andres, in

Quezon Quezon, officially the Province of Quezon () and historically known as Tayabas, is a Provinces of the Philippines, province in the Philippines located in the Calabarzon Regions of the Philippines, region on Luzon. Lucena, a highly urbanized ci ...

province and is the only one not on the mainland. The island is known for its pristine

mangrove forest Mangrove forests, also called mangrove swamps, mangrove thickets or mangals, are productive wetlands that occur in coastal intertidal zones. Mangrove forests grow mainly at tropical and subtropical latitudes because mangrove trees cannot withsta ...

and

coral reef A coral reef is an underwater ecosystem characterized by reef-building corals. Reefs are formed of colonies of coral polyps held together by calcium carbonate. Most coral reefs are built from stony corals, whose polyps cluster in group ...

s. It is also visited for its white sandy beaches and rich bird life. Its mangrove forest which covers approximately of the island's central and northern portions is protected under the National Integrated Protected Areas System as a

wilderness area Wilderness or wildlands (usually in the plural) are Earth's natural environments that have not been significantly modified by human activity, or any nonurbanized land not under extensive agricultural cultivation. The term has traditionally ...

called the ''Alibijaban Island Wilderness Area''. of waters surrounding it have also been declared a

marine protected area A marine protected area (MPA) is a protected area of the world's seas, oceans, estuaries or in the US, the Great Lakes. These marine areas can come in many forms ranging from wildlife refuges to research facilities. MPAs restrict human activity ...

known as the ''Alibijaban Fish Sanctuary''.

Description

Alibijaban is located in the southwestern end of

approximately from the mainland of Bondoc Peninsula. It is roughly from north to south, and from east to west at its widest point. It is a low-lying island surrounded by a

fringing reef A fringing reef is one of the three main types of coral reef. It is distinguished from the other main types, barrier reefs and atolls, in that it has either an entirely shallow backreef zone (lagoon) or none at all. If a fringing reef grows direc ...

which is interspersed with

seagrass Seagrasses are the only flowering plants which grow in marine (ocean), marine environments. There are about 60 species of fully marine seagrasses which belong to four Family (biology), families (Posidoniaceae, Zosteraceae, Hydrocharitaceae and ...

beds near the shore. The island's central and northern interior are dominated by mangrove wilderness, with most of the population concentrated on two

sitio A ''sitio'' ( Spanish for "site") in the Philippines is a territorial enclave that forms part of a barangay. Typically rural, a ''sitios location is usually far from the center of the barangay itself and could be its own barangay if its popu ...

s on the island's western and southwestern coast facing San Andres and Bondoc Peninsula. Its coastal formations include sandy beaches and rocky shores, particularly in its northeastern side. The island is accessible via motorized

banca Banca may refer to: Places * Bangka Island, an island lying east of Sumatra, part of Indonesia * Banca, Pyrénées-Atlantiques, a commune of the Pyrénées-Atlantiques ''département'', France * Banca, Tasmania, a locality in Tasmania, Australia * ...

from the port of San Andres. It is southeast of

Manila Manila, officially the City of Manila, is the Capital of the Philippines, capital and second-most populous city of the Philippines after Quezon City, with a population of 1,846,513 people in 2020. Located on the eastern shore of Manila Bay on ...

via the

Pan-Philippine Highway The Pan-Philippine Highway, also known as the Maharlika Highway (; ), is a network of roads, expressways, bridges, and ferry services that connect the islands of Luzon, Samar, Leyte, and Mindanao in the Philippines, serving as the country's p ...

and Bondoc Peninsula Road.

Conservation

Alibajaban has some of the most undisturbed mangrove wilderness in the Philippines. It hosts at least 22 mangrove species and 14 species of birds, including the Tabon scrubfowl, white-collared kingfisher,

jungle crow Jungle crow is a common name that refers to three species of crow A crow is a bird of the genus ''Corvus'', or more broadly, a synonym for all of ''Corvus''. The word "crow" is used as part of the common name of many species. The related term "rav ...

black-naped oriole The black-naped oriole (''Oriolus chinensis'') is a passerine bird in the oriole family that is found in many parts of Asia. There are several distinctive populations within the wide distribution range of this species and in the past the slende ...

Philippine collared dove The Philippine collared dove (''Streptopelia dusumieri'') is a species of bird in the family Columbidae. It was formerly considered a subspecies of the island collared dove (''S. bitorquata''). The species occurs in the Philippines where it is c ...

Asian glossy starling The Asian glossy starling (''Aplonis panayensis'') is a species of starling in the family Sturnidae. It is found in Bangladesh, Brunei, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan (introduced), Cambodia and Thailand. I ...

, chestnut munia,

Philippine pied fantail The Philippine pied fantail (''Rhipidura nigritorquis'') is a medium-size species of bird in the family Rhipiduridae endemic to the Philippines. It was formerly considered conspecific with the Malaysian pied fantail. Description and taxonomy ...

common emerald dove The emerald dove or common emerald dove (''Chalcophaps indica''), also called Asian emerald dove and grey-capped emerald dove, is a widespread resident breeding pigeon native to the tropical and subtropical parts of the Indian Subcontinent and S ...

black-crowned night heron The black-crowned night heron (''Nycticorax nycticorax'') r black-capped night heron commonly shortened to just night heron in Eurasia, is a medium-sized heron found throughout a large part of the world, including parts of Europe, Asia, and Nort ...

common snipe The common snipe (''Gallinago gallinago'') is a small, stocky wader native to the Old World. Distribution and habitat The breeding habitats are marshes, bogs, tundra and wet meadows throughout the Palearctic. In the north, the distribution li ...

. It also supports a number of fruit bats and monitor lizards. Since the establishment on the island of a wilderness

protected area Protected areas or conservation areas are locations which receive protection because of their recognized natural or cultural values. Protected areas are those areas in which human presence or the exploitation of natural resources (e.g. firewood ...

in 1981, the Community Environment and Resources Office (CENRO) under the

Department of Environment and Natural Resources The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR; ) is the Executive Departments of the Philippines, executive department of the Philippine government responsible for the conservation, management, development, and proper use of the cou ...

and Provincial Government of Quezon now administers the area. The island also has the most diverse marine habitat in the region of Ragay Gulf. It is home to at least 30 genera of hard coral dominated by ''

Porites ''Porites'' is a genus of stony coral; they are small polyp stony (SPS) corals. (Also referred to as finger coral or hump coral) They are characterised by a finger-like morphology. Members of this genus have widely spaced calices, a well-de ...

'', ''

Montipora ''Montipora'' is a genus of Scleractinian corals in the phylum Cnidaria. Members of the genus ''Montipora'' may exhibit many different growth morphologies. With eighty five known species, ''Montipora'' is the second most species rich coral genus ...

'' and ''

Acropora ''Acropora'' is a genus of small polyp stony coral in the phylum Cnidaria. Some of its species are known as table coral, elkhorn coral, and staghorn coral. Over 149 species are described. ''Acropora'' species are some of the major reef corals ...

''. Its adjacent waters are visited by

whale shark The whale shark (''Rhincodon typus'') is a slow-moving, filter feeder, filter-feeding carpet shark and the largest known Extant taxon, extant fish species. The largest confirmed individual had a length of . The whale shark holds many records for ...

manta ray Manta rays are large Batoidea, rays belonging to the genus ''Mobula'' (formerly its own genus ''Manta''). The larger species, ''Giant oceanic manta ray, M. birostris'', reaches in width, while the smaller, ''Reef manta ray, M. alfredi'', reac ...

s, and '' pawikans'' (marine turtles). The passage of a municipal ordinance in 2006 prohibited all kinds of fishing in the area.

Tourism

Alibijaban is an emerging backpacker destination. It's fine white sand beach and mangrove forest are few of the reasons why backpackers visit the island. The activities to do include: beach bumming, camping, boating, and snorkeling.

References

External links

* {{Calabarzon attractions Islands of Quezon Barangays of Quezon Wilderness areas of the Philippines