Calayan, officially the Municipality of Calayan (; Ivatan: ''Kavahayan nu Calayan''; Ibanag: ''Ili nat Calayan''; ), 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 ...

Cagayan Cagayan ( ), officially the Province of Cagayan (; ; ; isnag language, Isnag: ''Provinsia nga Cagayan''; ivatan language, Ivatan: ''Provinsiya nu Cagayan''; ; ), is a Provinces of the Philippines, province in the Philippines located in the Cag ...

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 17,410 people. Calayan is home to the

Calayan rail The Calayan rail (''Aptenorallus calayanensis'') is a flightless bird of the rail, moorhen, and coot family (Rallidae) that inhabits Calayan Island in the Philippines. It is the only member of the genus ''Aptenorallus''. Though well known to na ...

, a flightless bird identified as a separate species in 2004 and

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...

to Calayan Island.

History

The municipality's name in the

Ibanag language The Ibanag language (also ''Ybanag'' or ''Ibanak'') is an Austronesian language spoken by up to 500,000 speakers, most particularly by the Ibanag people, in the Philippines, in the northeastern provinces of Isabela and Cagayan, especially in Tu ...

literally means "''where laya (

ginger Ginger (''Zingiber officinale'') is a flowering plant whose rhizome, ginger root or ginger, is widely used as a spice and a folk medicine. It is an herbaceous perennial that grows annual pseudostems (false stems made of the rolled bases of l ...

) abounds''". While Calayan was officially conquered by the Spanish starting in 1619, authorities were only able to maintain a sporadic presence in the area due to its isolated location. It was taken over by the Americans in 1900. In the 1920s, it was briefly placed under the jurisdiction of Aparri after a clerk ran off with the municipal treasury's funds.

Geography

Calayan is located in the

Luzon Strait The Luzon Strait (Tagalog: ''Kipot ng Luzon'', ) is the strait between Luzon and Taiwan. The strait thereby connects the Philippine Sea to the South China Sea in the western Pacific Ocean. This body of water is an important strait for shipp ...

north of

Luzon Island Luzon ( , ) is the largest and most populous island in the Philippines. Located in the northern portion of the Philippine archipelago, it is the economic and political center of the nation, being home to the country's capital city, Manila, a ...

and south of

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The main geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, also known as ''Formosa'', lies between the East China Sea, East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocea ...

via

Bashi Channel The Bashi Channel () is a waterway between Mavulis Island of the Batanes Islands, Philippines and Orchid Island of Taiwan. It is a part of the Luzon Strait, with the Pacific Ocean to the east, and is between the East China Sea and the South Chin ...

. The town is composed of four of the five major islands of the

Babuyan Islands The Babuyan Islands ( ), also known as the Babuyan Group of Islands, is an archipelago in the Philippines, located in the Luzon Strait north of the main island of Luzon and south of Taiwan. The archipelago consists of five major islands and thei ...

namely: Calayan,

Camiguin Camiguin, officially the Province of Camiguin (; ; Kamigin: ''Probinsya ta Kamigin''), is an island province in the Philippines located in the Bohol Sea, about off the northern coast of mainland Mindanao. It is geographically part of Region ...

, Dalupiri and

Babuyan Island Babuyan Island (sometimes called Babuyan Claro or ''Curuga Mabuyan'', the clear-sighted) is the highest and northernmost island in the Babuyan Islands in Luzon Strait north of Luzon Island in the Philippines and also directly south of Taiwan via ...

. Calayan Island is the largest of the Babuyan Islands.

Fuga Island Fuga Island is an island and barangay located north of Luzon and is part of the Babuyan Islands, which is the second-northernmost island group of the Philippines. Barangay Fuga Island is one of the 42 barangays under the jurisdiction of the mun ...

, the fifth island within the Babuyan Islands, is part of

Aparri Aparri (ibanag language, Ibanag: ''Ili nat Aparri''; ; ), officially the Municipality of Aparri, is a municipality of the Philippines, municipality in the Philippine Province, province of , Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a ...

municipality despite being closer to Claveria. Calayan Island is located about west-south-west of Babuyan Island off the north coast of the Philippines and belongs to the Babuyan Islands group in the China Sea. The island is hemmed between Aparri and

Batanes Batanes, officially the Province of Batanes (; Ilocano: ''Probinsia ti Batanes''; , ), is an archipelagic province in the Philippines, administratively part of the Cagayan Valley region. It is the northernmost province in the Philippines, an ...

islands and it is larger than the Fuga Island, which is away. It is the second district in the province of Cagayan and its 29th municipality. Calayan is situated from the provincial capital

Tuguegarao Tuguegarao ( or ), officially the City of Tuguegarao (; ; ; ), is a 2nd class Cities of the Philippines#Legal classification, component city and capital of the Provinces of the Philippines, province of Cagayan, Philippines. According to the 2020 ...

, and from the country's capital city 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 ...

Barangays

Calayan is politically subdivided into 12

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 while 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

Weather conditions are generally wet with heavy rainfall occurring during November and December. The cold winds are the northerly and north-easterly winds. The island is also affected by

typhoon A typhoon is a tropical cyclone that develops between 180° and 100°E in the Northern Hemisphere and which produces sustained hurricane-force winds of at least . This region is referred to as the Northwestern Pacific Basin, accounting for a ...

s. Calayan Island publishes

tide table Tide tables, sometimes called tide charts, are used for tidal prediction and show the daily times and levels of high and low tides, usually for a particular location. Tide heights at intermediate times (between high and low water) can be approxi ...

s and solunar tables, daily forecasts for high tides and low tides, other fishing-related data such as the

lunar phase A lunar phase or Moon phase is the apparent shape of the Moon's directly sunlit portion as viewed from the Earth. Because the Moon is tidally locked with the Earth, the same hemisphere is always facing the Earth. In common usage, the four maj ...

, tidal coefficient, sun and moon rising and setting times, hours of maximum fish activity and weather conditions. This data is also useful for all fishing operations in the Calayan Island, apart from navigation of other commercial and transport vessels.

Demographics

In the 2020 census, the population of Calayan was 17,410 people, with a density of .

Economy

Local government

Calayan is part of the second legislative district of the province of Cagayan. It is governed by a mayor, designated as its local chief executive, and by a municipal council as its legislative body in accordance with the Local Government Code. The mayor, vice mayor, and the municipal councilors are elected directly by the people through an election that is held every three years.

Elected officials

Members of the Municipal Council (2022-2025)

Education

The Schools Division of Cagayan governs the town's public education system. The division office is a field office of the DepEd in

Cagayan Valley Cagayan Valley (; ), designated as Region II, is an Regions of the Philippines, administrative region in the Philippines. Located in the northeastern section of Luzon, it is composed of five Provinces of the Philippines, Philippine provinces: ...

region. The Calayan West District Office governs the public and private elementary and high schools throughout the municipality.

Primary and elementary schools

* Cabudadan Primary School * Calayan Central School * Caniwalan Elementary School * Dadao Elementary School * Dalupiri Elementary School * Dibay Elementary School * Dilam East Primary School * Dilam Elementary School * Magsidel Elementary School * Pilid Elementary School

Secondary schools

* Calayan High School * Calayan High School - Dibay Extension * Calayan High School - Dilam Extension

References

External links

* Philippine Standard Geographic Code {{Authority control Babuyan Islands Municipalities of Cagayan Island municipalities in the Philippines