Bacong, officially the Municipality of Bacong, is a

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

in the

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

Negros Oriental Negros Oriental (; ), officially the Province of Negros Oriental (; ), is a province in the Philippines located in the Negros Island. Its capital is the city of Dumaguete, one of the two regional centers of Negros Island Region, with the other b ...

Philippines 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 ...

. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 41,207 people. Bacong was the hometown of the

Visayan Visayans ( Cebuano: ''mga Bisayà'' ) are a Philippine ethnolinguistic family group or metaethnicity native to the Visayas, to the southernmost islands south of Luzon, and to a significant portion of Mindanao. They are composed of numerous di ...

hero of the

Philippine Revolution The Philippine Revolution ( or ; or ) was a war of independence waged by the revolutionary organization Katipunan against the Spanish Empire from 1896 to 1898. It was the culmination of the 333-year History of the Philippines (1565–1898), ...

, Pantaleon Villegas, better known as León Kilat. Bacong is from

Dumaguete Dumaguete, officially the City of Dumaguete (; ; ), is a Cities of the Philippines#Legal classification, component city and capital of the Provinces of the Philippines, province of Negros Oriental, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it h ...

History

Leon Kilat monument and stage at Bacong Town Plaza

Bacong was founded 1801 as a coastal settlement. It is the Province's first town south of the Capital. The famed Church of San Agustin de Hippo and its monastery's construction was started in 1866 by Fray

Leandro Arrúe Agudo Leandro Arrúe Agudo, O.A.R. (born Leandro Arrué de San Nicolás de Tolentino; 1837 –1897) was a Spanish Catholic prelate who served as Bishop of Jaro from 1885 until his death. He was born in Calatayud, Zaragoza, Spain, on 13 January 1837 ...

. two years after he became the town's parish priest in 1864 as part of the

Augustinian Recollects The Order of Augustinian Recollects (OAR) is a mendicant Catholic religious order of friars and nuns. It is a reformist offshoot from the Augustinian hermit friars and follows the same Rule of St. Augustine. They have also been known as the "D ...

missionary work. The monastery now serves a retreat house. The stone churchhouse boasts the Province's tallest belfry and oldest main altar, adorned with gold-leafing and painted friezes. Its choir holds a pipe organ from Zaragoza, Spain, installed in 1898 shortly before the revolution against Spain broke out in Negros Oriental. The only other pipe organ of similar provenance is found in Bohol. With its reasonably well-preserved complex including churchyard and convent (ca 1850), the San Agustin of Hippo Church in Bacong is one of the 26 colonial churches all over the country selected for restoration by the National Commission for Culture and the Arts. Bacong's historical importance is well-monumented: it is the birthplace of Negros Oriental's hero and only Katipunero – General Pantaleon Villegas, aka Leon Kilat, whose birthday is celebrated every July 27. Barrio Isugan was the site of a battle between Filipino and American soldiers. Beginning the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, Japanese Imperial forces were entered and occupied in Bacong in 1942. Filipino soldiers and guerrillas were encounter by the Japanese Imperial forces start the conflicts from 1942 to 1945 during the occupation. When Allied forces liberated in Bacong was fought against the Japanese Occupation until the end in World War II in 1945. The general headquarters of the

Philippine Commonwealth Army The Philippine Army (PA) () is the main, oldest and largest branch of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), responsible for ground warfare. , it had an estimated strength of 143,100 soldiers The service branch was established on December ...

and

Philippine Constabulary The Philippine Constabulary (PC; , ''HPP''; ) was a gendarmerie-type military police force of the Philippines from 1901 to 1991, and the predecessor to the Philippine National Police. It was created by the Insular Government, American occupat ...

was active in 1945 to 1946 in Bacong during and aftermath in World War II. Points of touristic interest are a string of beaches the length of the Bacong shoreline, sinamay hand looms, and the Negros Oriental Arts and Heritage (NOAH) which produces export quality stone craft furniture, jewel boxes and fashion accessories. One of the town's bigger barangays, San Miguel, marks its local fiesta with a unique Sinulog de San Miguel, where the archangel and his heavenly army are depicted battling the forces of evil. Lawmakers have been proposing to transfer the province's airport from the town of

Sibulan Sibulan, officially the Municipality of Sibulan (; ), is a municipality in the province of Negros Oriental, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 64,343 people. Sibulan is from Dumaguete. It is the location of Du ...

to Bacong since 2014, and is still pending final approval as of 2022.

Geography

Barangays

Bacong is politically subdivided into 22

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 ...

s. Each barangay consists of

purok A ''purok'' () is an informal division within a barangay in the Philippines. While not officially considered a local government unit (LGU), a ''purok'' often serves as a unit for delivering services and administration within a barangay. ''Pur ...

s and some have

sitios A ''sitio'' (Spanish language, 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 bar ...

Climate

Demographics

Economy

Education

The public schools in the town of Bacong are administered by one school district under the Schools Division of Negros Oriental. Elementary schools: * Bacong Central School — Roxas Street, West Poblacion * Buntod Elementary School — Buntod * Calangag Elementary School — Calangag * Fausto M. Sarono - Tubod Elementary School — Tubod * Isugan Elementary School — Isugan * Nazario Tale Memorial Elementary School — Banilad * Sacsac Elementary School — Sacsac * San Miguel Elementary School — San Miguel * Timbanga Elementary School — Timbanga * Timbao Elementary School — Timbao High schools: * Buntod High School — Buntod * Ong Che Tee - Bacong High School — Nat'l Highway, Sacsac * San Miguel National High School — San Miguel Private schools: * Bacong Holy Family High School — Nat'l Highway, West Poblacion * Divine Grace International Christian School — Buntis * DLHOH Institute Learning Center — Nat'l Highway, North Poblacion * Shine Bacong Christian Learning Center, Inc. — Combado

Sister Cities

* Gimpo City,

Gyeonggi Province Gyeonggi Province (, ) is the most populous province in South Korea. Seoul, the nation's largest city and capital, is in the heart of the area but has been separately administered as a provincial-level ''special city'' since 1946. Incheon, ...

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the southern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders North Korea along the Korean Demilitarized Zone, with the Yellow Sea to the west and t ...

References

External links

Philippine Standard Geographic Code The Philippine Standard Geographic Code (PSGC) is a systematic classification and coding for geographic areas in the Philippines. It classifies areas based on the country's four levels of administrative divisions: regions, provinces, municipalities ...

br>Philippine Census InformationLocal Governance Performance Management System
{{Authority control Municipalities of Negros Oriental