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

Tawi-Tawi Tawi-Tawi, officially the Province of Tawi-Tawi ( Tausug: ''Wilaya' sin Tawi-Tawi''; Sinama: ''Jawi Jawi/Jauih Jauih''; ), is an island province in the Philippines located in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM). The capit ...

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 34,243 people.

History

Due to an administrative error in the Treaty of Paris, while the remainder of the Philippines was ceded to the United States, Sibutu and Cagayán de Sulu were retained under Spanish Sovereignty until they were formally ceded to the United States upon the ratification of the Treaty of Washington on March 23, 1901. The municipality was created out of Sitangkai, Tawi-Tawi, by virtue of ''Muslim Mindanao Autonomy Act No. 197'', which was subsequently ratified in a

plebiscite A referendum, plebiscite, or ballot measure is a direct vote by the electorate (rather than their representatives) on a proposal, law, or political issue. A referendum may be either binding (resulting in the adoption of a new policy) or adv ...

held on October 21, 2006. Through ''Presidential Proclamation 691'', October 21, 2024 was declared a special non-working day for the commemoration of the municipality's creation.

Geography

It lies about east of the coast of

Sabah Sabah () is a States and federal territories of Malaysia, state of Malaysia located in northern Borneo, in the region of East Malaysia. Sabah has land borders with the Malaysian state of Sarawak to the southwest and Indonesia's North Kalima ...

Malaysia Malaysia is a country in Southeast Asia. Featuring the Tanjung Piai, southernmost point of continental Eurasia, it is a federation, federal constitutional monarchy consisting of States and federal territories of Malaysia, 13 states and thre ...

. The municipality covers the main island of Sibutu as well as four small uninhabited islands south of the main island, which are, from north to south: Sicolan Calch Island, Sicolan Island, Sicolan Islet, and Saluag Island, the latter being the southernmost island of the Philippines. Sibutu Island is away from Sabah state. People living in Sibutu Island are mostly boat builders. The people also sell seaweeds, firewood and stones. Sibutu Island has an area is . It is an important site for

nature conservation Nature conservation is the ethic/moral philosophy and conservation movement focused on protecting species from extinction, maintaining and restoring habitats, enhancing ecosystem services, and protecting biological diversity. A range of values ...

.Danielsen, Finn & Treadaway, Colin G., 2004: Priority conservation areas for butterflies (Lepidoptera: Rhopalocera) in the Philippine Islands. Animal Conservation, 7, 79-92.

Barangays

Sibutu is politically subdivided into 16

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 ...

. * Ambutong Sapal * Datu Amilhamja Jaafar * Hadji Imam Bidin * Hadji Mokhtar Sulayman * Hadji Taha * Imam Hadji Mohammad * Nunukan * Sheik Makdum * Sibutu (Poblacion) * Talisay * Tandu Banak * Tandu Owak * Taungoh * Tongehat * Tongsibalo * Ungus-ungus

Climate

Demographics

Economy

Poverty Incidence of

References

External links

*
Sibutu Profile at PhilAtlas.com
* Philippine Standard Geographic Codebr>Sibutu Profile at the DTI Cities and Municipalities Competitive IndexNSCB: newly created provinces, municipalities, barangays, converted city
Accessed on March 9, 2006. {{Islands of the Philippines Municipalities of Tawi-Tawi Islands of Tawi-Tawi Island municipalities in the Philippines