Concepcion, officially the Municipality of Concepcion (, ), 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 ...

Iloilo Iloilo ( ; ), officially the Province of Iloilo (; ; ; ), is a province in the Philippines located in the Western Visayas region. Its capital and largest city is Iloilo City, the regional center of Western Visayas and politically independen ...

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 44,633 people. It was the capital of the Comandancia de Concepcion, a unit equivalent to a sub-province headed by a Corregidor, before it was merged with the Province of Iloilo.

History

Concepcion was originally known as ''Bacjawan'', which means "the place of the ''bacjaw'' trees," which used to grow in large numbers along the coast's swampy areas. It was formally founded as a ''pueblo'' (town) in 1855. The town was later renamed to Concepcion, in honor of the first born daughter of Felizardo Azucena, the town's first captain basal, or

gobernadorcillo The (, literally "little governor") was a municipal judge or governor in the Captaincy General of the Philippines, Philippines during the History of the Philippines (1565–1898), Spanish colonial period, who carried out in a town the combined ...

. In 1857, the Comandancia de Concepción (Military District of Concepcion) was created. It was a sub-province in Northern Iloilo composed of the capital town of Concepcion, Ajuy, Balasan (modern-day Batad,

Estancia An estancia or estância is a large, private plot of land used for farming or raising cattle or sheep. Estancias are located in the southern South American grasslands of Chilean and Argentine Patagonia, while the ''pampas'' have historically bee ...

, and Balasan), Lemery, San Dionisio, and

Sara Sara may refer to: People * Sara (given name), a feminine given name People with the given name * Sara Aboobacker (1936–2023), Indian writer and translator * Sara Ahmed (born 1969), British-Australian writer * Sara Allgood (1880–1950), Ir ...

. It was abolished on April 11, 1901, when the Americans took control of the Philippines and established the civil government of Iloilo. In present days, the former Comandancia de Concepción covers the 5th legislative district of Iloilo except for the towns of Barotac Viejo and San Rafael.

Geography

Concepcion is located on the north-eastern part of

Panay Island Panay is the sixth-largest and fourth-most populous island in the Philippines, with a total land area of and a total population of 4,542,926, as of 2020 census. Panay comprises 4.4 percent of the entire population of the country. The City of I ...

(known as the mainland), together with some 16 other, smaller, associated islands. It is bounded on the north by the municipality of San Dionisio, in the south by the municipality of Ajuy, in the west by the municipality of Sara, and in the east by the

Visayan Sea The Visayan Sea is a sea in the Philippines surrounded by the islands of the Visayas. It is bounded by the islands Masbate to the north, Panay to the west, Leyte to the east, and Cebu and Negros to the south. The sea is connected to severa ...

. It has a total land area of 9,702.04

hectares The hectare (; SI symbol: ha) is a non-SI metric unit of area equal to a square with 100-metre sides (1 hm2), that is, square metres (), and is primarily used in the measurement of land. There are 100 hectares in one square kilometre. A ...

.Latoza, Jigger S. (2009
"KALAHI-CIDSS Institutional Mapping in Concepcion, Iloilo: Salient Findings"
''Augustinian Journal'' 12: pp. 33–58, Concepcion is from

Iloilo City Iloilo City, officially the City of Iloilo (; ; ), is a Cities of the Philippines#Legal classification, highly urbanized city in the Western Visayas Regions of the Philippines, region of the Philippines, located on the southeastern coast of th ...

and from

Roxas City Roxas (, ), officially the City of Roxas (Capiznon language, Capiznon/; ), is a Cities of the Philippines#Legal classification, component city and capital of the Provinces of the Philippines, province of Capiz, Philippines. According to the 2 ...

. The largest of the 16 Concepcion Islands is Pan de Azucar at , which has the high Mount Manaphag rising from its center.

Climate

Barangays

Concepcion is politically subdivided into 25

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 ...

. There are 11 barangays which are island barangays, and the rest are located in the mainland of Panay Island. * Aglosong * Agnaga * Bacjawan Norte * Bacjawan Sur * Bagongon * Batiti * Botlog * Calamigan * Dungon * Igbon * Jamul-awon * Lo-ong * Macalbang * Macatunao * Malangabang * Maliogliog * Nińo * Nipa * Plandico *

Poblacion ''Poblacion'' (from Spanish '' población'', meaning "population"), sometimes abbreviated as Pob., is a term used in the Philippines to refer to the administrative center, downtown, old town, or commercial area of a city or municipality. It ...

* Polopińa (

Bulubadiangan Island Bulubadiangan Island (variously Bulobadiangan island or Bulubadiangan Islet) is a privately owned island in northeastern Iloilo, Philippines. It is part of barangay Polopińa, Concepcion, Iloilo, Concepcion. The Sandbar Island Beach Resort on Bulu ...

) * Salvacion * Talotu-an * Tambaliza ( Pan de Azucar Island) * Tamis-ac

Demographics

In the 2020 census, the population of Concepcion, Iloilo, was 44,633 people, with a density of .

Economy

The primary industry of the people of Concepcion is in fishing. The

, where Concepcion is situated, is one of the most prolific in fish production and provides a significant proportion of fish in the region. In 2007, the number of registered fishermen stood at 7,957. Fishing is followed second by farming, with much of it being

subsistence farming Subsistence agriculture occurs when farmers grow crops on smallholdings to meet the needs of themselves and their families. Subsistence agriculturalists target farm output for survival and for mostly local requirements. Planting decisions occ ...

. The principle cash crops are rice, corn and vegetables, along with bamboo and coconuts. Poultry and livestock are raised for local consumption. Poverty incidence was extremely high in the early 21st century, with 87% of the population being below the government poverty line in 2000, with a reduction to 47% in 2004.Staff (2006
"Eradicating Poverty Completely by 2020 - Concepcion, Iloilo"
Galing Pook Foundation, last accessed 12 October 2010 A contributing factor was the rapidity of population growth in the municipality, with a growth rate of 2.76% in 2002, or four babies being born every day in the municipality.

Education

There is one institution of higher learning in the municipality,

Northern Iloilo State University Northern Iloilo State University (NISU) is a state university in the Philippines located in Western Visayas at the province of Iloilo. It is mandated to provide higher and advanced education and training in the fields of education, industrial tec ...

(NISU: Concepcion), which offers

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Medieval Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six years ...

s in fisheries and agriculture, as well as a

master's A master's degree (from Latin ) is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional prac ...

public administration Public administration, or public policy and administration refers to "the management of public programs", or the "translation of politics into the reality that citizens see every day",Kettl, Donald and James Fessler. 2009. ''The Politics of the ...

Tourism

Concepcion is a host to beautiful islands with white sand beaches and sandbars. Among them are Bulobadiangan Island, Agho Island, and Pan de Azucar.

Culture

The annual Tampisaw Festival, held the fourth week of April on four of the islands, attracts tourism.

Notable personalities

Paulino Alcantara Paulino is a surname and a masculine given name. It is a Spanish and Portuguese form of the Roman family name ''Paulinus'', which was itself derived from the Roman family name Paulus meaning "small" or "humble" in Latin. People with the given n ...

(1896-1964), Filipino footballer for

FC Barcelona Futbol Club Barcelona (), commonly known as FC Barcelona and colloquially as Barça (), is a professional Football club (association football), football club based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top flight of ...

Concepcion Power Station

The Concepcion Power Station is a 270-megawatt (MW) coal-fired power plant located by the coast of Barangay Nipa, Concepcion, Iloilo. The plant is sponsored by the Palm Concepcion Power Corporation (PCPC), a subsidiary of real estate company A Brown Company. Currently Unit 1 of the station has begun operating since August 2016 while Unit 2 is planned for 2019.Concepcion Power Station
Sourcewatch. Retrieved February 7, 2017

References

External links

Official Homepage
*

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 ...

Philippine Census Information

Local Governance Performance Management System
{{Authority control Municipalities of Iloilo