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

Camarines Sur Camarines Sur (; ), officially the Province of Camarines Sur (Central Bikol language, Bikol: ''Probinsya kan Habagatan na Camarines''; ), is a Provinces of the Philippines, province in the Philippines located in the Bicol Region on Luzon. Its ca ...

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 26,742 people. Magarao is part of the Metro Naga Urban Area.

History

Magarao derived its name from a species of thorny wild bush locally known as ''garao-garao'', which abundantly grows in the area. This type of plant no longer exists today as it was believed that the inhabitants of Magarao hindered its growth and propagation because of its thorny appearance. It was a group of missionaries from the

Order of Friars Minor The Order of Friars Minor (commonly called the Franciscans, the Franciscan Order, or the Seraphic Order; Post-nominal letters, postnominal abbreviation OFM) is a Mendicant orders, mendicant Catholic religious order, founded in 1209 by Francis ...

who founded the town in 1570, although missionary work continued only in the year 1690.

How Magarao became a municipality

Magarao was first founded in 1570 and was named Garaoon from 1570 until 1800 when it was renamed Magarao. In 1802 the municipality was absorbed by Quipayo and was downgraded into a "visita. Calabangueños, Bomboneños, Magaraoeños fought for independence in 1897 until 1899 when the United States colonized the Philippines. Magarao was merged with Barangay Bombon in Calabanga and became a city in 1901 and was known as Magarao-Bombon shortly until 1903 when it was downgraded into a municipality. In 1949 Magarao Bombon ceased to exist as both municipalities separate.

Geography

Barangays

Magarao is politically subdivided into 15

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 ...

. * Barobaybay * Bell (

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 ...

) * Carangcang * Carigsa * Casuray * Monserrat (

) * Ponong * San Francisco (

) * San Isidro (

) * San Juan (

) * San Miguel * San Pantaleon (

) * Santa Lucia (

) * Santa Rosa * Santo Tomas (

)

Climate

Demographics

In the 2020 census, the population of Magarao was 26,742 people, with a density of .

Languages

Bicol is widely spoken in the town, while Tagalog, Hiligaynon, Bisaya, and Ilocano are used immigrants. Tagalog is being used by locals as

lingua franca A lingua franca (; ; for plurals see ), also known as a bridge language, common language, trade language, auxiliary language, link language or language of wider communication (LWC), is a Natural language, language systematically used to make co ...

when communicating with non-Bicolanos.

Religion

Residents of Magarao are predominantly

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

. Barangay Santa Lucia holds an annual

novena A novena (from , "nine") is an ancient tradition of devotional praying in Christianity, consisting of private or public prayers repeated for nine successive days or weeks. The nine days between the Feast of the Ascension and Pentecost, when the ...

to its

patron saint A patron saint, patroness saint, patron hallow or heavenly protector is a saint who in Catholicism, Anglicanism, Eastern Orthodoxy or Oriental Orthodoxy is regarded as the heavenly advocate of a nation, place, craft, activity, class, clan, fa ...

, Lucy of Syracuse, nine days before her feast on 13 December. Villagers bring the saint's image in procession every morning of the novena at the

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 ...

, a celebration that attracts devotees from other parts of the

Bicol Region The Bicol Region, designated as Region V, is an administrative region of the Philippines. It comprises six Provinces of the Philippines, provinces, four on the Bicol Peninsula (the luzon#Southeastern Luzon, southeastern end of Luzon): Albay, Ca ...

. Hymns to the saint, known as the ''Gozos'', as well as the Spanish version of the

Ave Maria The Hail Mary or Ave Maria (from its first words in Latin), also known as the Angelic or Angelical Salutation, is a traditional Catholic prayer addressing Mary, mother of Jesus, Mary, the mother of Jesus. The prayer is based on two biblical pa ...

, are chanted during the dawn procession, which is followed by a

Mass Mass is an Intrinsic and extrinsic properties, intrinsic property of a physical body, body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the physical quantity, quantity of matter in a body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physi ...

Economy

At present, Magarao belongs to the municipality bracket although there are improvements being made by the local government to hasten its developmental stage. The town, through the initiative of its local officials, allows its constituents to engage into worthwhile activities by providing for them training and seminar workshops on various livelihood projects like ceramics training, papermaking, handicrafts and other community-based industries. This was made possible due to the combined efforts made by the local government of Magarao and the provincial government of Camarines Sur through the Provincial Livelihood Training, Research and Development Program (PLTRD) The program is geared towards providing community-based industries, identifying projects for product development and skills training and also conducting seminar and workshops for the various livelihood projects. The residents of Magarao has immersed themselves in opportunities which would not just serve benefits for them but would obviously boost their town's economic condition.

Infrastructure

Communications

Internet providers include Globe, Smart, TNT, PLDT in the town. Telephone company is BayanTel and other local telephone companies.

Power

Power and electricity is supplied by the Camarines Sur Electric Cooperative II (CASURECO II).

Roads

Most roads are

pave PAVE is a United States Air Force program identifier relating to electronic systems. Prior to 1979, Pave was said to be a code word for the Air Force unit responsible for the project. ''Pave'' was used as an inconsequential prefix identifier fo ...

d. The main road is both

d and

asphalt Asphalt most often refers to: * Bitumen, also known as "liquid asphalt cement" or simply "asphalt", a viscous form of petroleum mainly used as a binder in asphalt concrete * Asphalt concrete, a mixture of bitumen with coarse and fine aggregates, u ...

ed.

Rural areas In general, a rural area or a countryside is a geographic area that is located outside towns and cities. Typical rural areas have a low population density and small settlements. Agricultural areas and areas with forestry are typically descri ...

are mostly

gravel Gravel () is a loose aggregation of rock fragments. Gravel occurs naturally on Earth as a result of sedimentation, sedimentary and erosion, erosive geological processes; it is also produced in large quantities commercially as crushed stone. Gr ...

or dirt roads Calabanga-Naga road or Northbound road goes through town.

Transportation

Coastal barangays are served by bancas that ply from the

wharf A wharf ( or wharfs), quay ( , also ), staith, or staithe is a structure on the shore of a harbour or on the bank of a river or canal where ships may dock to load and unload cargo or passengers. Such a structure includes one or more Berth (mo ...

near Naga City to the barangays of Ponong, Barobaybay and Carigsa along the Bicol River and in the estuarine areas.

Water utility

Water is provided by Metro Naga Water District (MNWD).

Gallery

File:Facade of magarao church 2.jpg, alt=, Saint Anne Parish Church File:Magarao Fire Station.jpg, alt=, Magarao Fire Station File:Heritage House in the road.jpg, alt=, A heritage house in Magarao File:Senakulo Semana Santa Magarao.jpg, alt=, Senakulo during Holy Week

References

External links

* Philippine Standard Geographic Codebr>Philippine Census InformationOfficial Site of the Province of Camarines Sur
{{Authority control Municipalities of Camarines Sur Metro Naga