Daanbantayan, officially the Municipality of Daanbantayan (; ), 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 ...

Cebu Cebu ( ; ), officially the Province of Cebu (; ), is a province of the Philippines located in the Central Visayas region, and consists of a main island and 167 surrounding islands and islets. The coastal zone of Cebu is identified as a ...

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 93,502 people. Daanbantayan celebrates its annual fiesta along with the ''Haladaya Festival'' which starts 21 August and ends with street-dancing on 30 August, in honor of Datu Daya, the legendary founder of the town.

History

The name Daanbantayan was derived from two words: the word "''daan''", which means "old" in Cebuano, and the word "''bantayan''", which refers to a place that served as a look out for Moro raiders during the Pre-Hispanic Philippines. The original site of the town might have been at an elevated vantage point near Punta, in Tapilon. On 8 November 2013, 9 people were killed and 50 injured when Super

Typhoon Haiyan Typhoon Haiyan, known in the Philippines as Super Typhoon Yolanda, was an extremely powerful and catastrophic tropical cyclone that is among List of the most intense tropical cyclones, the most powerful tropical cyclones ever recorded. Upon ...

(Yolanda in Philippines area of responsibility) passed over Daanbantayan.

Geography

Located at the northern tip of

, Daanbantayan is bordered on the north 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 ...

, to the west by

Bantayan Island Bantayan Island is an island located in the Visayan Sea, Philippines. It is situated to the west of the northern end of Cebu, across the Tañon Strait. According to the 2015 census, it has a population of . The island is administratively divi ...

, on the east by the Camotes Sea, and on the south by the town of Medellin. It is from

Cebu City Cebu City, officially the City of Cebu, is a Cities of the Philippines#Legal classification, highly urbanized city in the Central Visayas region of the Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 964,169 people, making ...

Islands and thalassic attractions

There are several small islands/islets and diving spots, with the list below arranged by

latitude In geography, latitude is a geographic coordinate system, geographic coordinate that specifies the north-south position of a point on the surface of the Earth or another celestial body. Latitude is given as an angle that ranges from −90° at t ...

from nearest to farthest from Cebu island: * Chocolate () * Monad Shoal () * Malapascua () * Gato cave & islet () * Maria () * Carnaza ()

Barangays

Daanbantayan is politically subdivided into 20 barangays. 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

Transportation

Ceres Liner (And Sugbo Transit), White Stallion Express (Subsidiary Of Rough Riders) and Cebu Autobus are among the bus companies with regular service to and from Cebu city (North Bus Terminal).

Jeepney A jeepney (), or simply a jeep (), is a type of Public transport, public utility vehicle (PUV) that serves as the most popular means of Transportation in the Philippines, public transportation in the Philippines. Known for its crowded seating ...

tricycle A tricycle, sometimes abbreviated to trike, is a Human-powered transport, human-powered (or gasoline or electric motor powered or assisted, or gravity powered) Three-wheeler, three-wheeled vehicle. Some tricycles, such as cycle rickshaws (for pa ...

s, and trisikads are the main modes of transportation within the town.

Tourism

Daanbantayan is now known for its pristine, white powder-like sandy beaches – one of which is Malapascua Island. With its vast and rich marine resources, it hosts a long string of dive sites offering unique marine life and beauty. As a tourist destination, Daanbantayan stages the Haladaya Festival every year as an added attraction to local vacationers, holidaymakers, Filipino expatriates, and foreign tourists from as far away as North America, South America, and Europe. ;Attractions: St. Rose of Lima Parish Church in Daanbantayan, Cebu.jpg, Sta Rosa de Lima parish church Approaching Gato Islet.jpg, Approaching Gato Islet Malapascua1-AirView.jpg, Malapascua island from the air Malapascua (island), Bounty Beach, Bungalow, Philippines.jpg, Malapascua Island * Municipal hall – built in 1916. * Santa Rosa de Lima parish church – inaugurated on 10 April 1858 and finished in 1886. Its façade is still intact with its original * Town plaza – site of a battle between the so-called Daanbantayan Volunteers and 19 well-armed bandits led by Capitan Berinoin 1898. * San Pedro River - its northern bank has an abandoned Muslim settlement founded by Datu Daya during the pre-Spanish era. * Tapilon point (also known as Punta Sampero) – site of the watchtower of Kandaya, called "daang bantayanan". But there are no remains of the watchtower. * Malapascua Island – is situated across a shallow strait from the northernmost tip of

. This small island is known for its wide white sand beach, Bounty Beach; it has also become known as a superior diving destination. * – a small sharp rocky island rising in the middle of the

, about from Malapascua. The island is home to nesting seabirds, a colony of

flying fox ''Pteropus'' (suborder Yinpterochiroptera) is a genus of megabats which are among the largest bats in the world. They are commonly known as fruit bats or flying foxes, among other colloquial names. They live in South Asia, Southeast Asia, Aust ...

es, soft coral canyons, and rare and unusual

nudibranch Nudibranchs () are a group of soft-bodied marine gastropod molluscs, belonging to the order Nudibranchia, that shed their shells after their larval stage. They are noted for their often extraordinary colours and striking forms, and they have b ...

s. * Monad Shoal – a

seamount A seamount is a large submarine landform that rises from the ocean floor without reaching the water surface (sea level), and thus is not an island, islet, or cliff-rock. Seamounts are typically formed from extinct volcanoes that rise abruptly a ...

known for its thresher sharks, making the shoal popular for recreational divers. The common thresher shark (''alopias vulpinus'') and pelagic thresher shark (''alopias pelagicus'') normally live in depths as deep as , but the shoal offers opportunities to see them in less than 20 metres of water.

References

External links

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