Bulan, officially the Municipality of Bulan (Waray Sorsogon: Bungto san Bulan; Waray: Bungto han Bulan; Tagalog: Bayan ng Bulan), is a municipality in the province of Sorsogon, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 105,190 people, making it the most populated town in the province.[5]
One of Bicol's fastest growing economy and primed to be the next city of Sorsogon. Bulan is being groomed to be the next city of the province given its first class municipality status with an estimated population of 120,000, 196 square kilometers land area and an annual regular income of not less than P200M Bulan. The town is said to propose a cityhood bill in the near future.
It is also one of the Top Five Municipalities with the Highest Operating Income in Bicol, ISO Accredited LGU, with Seal of Good Financial Housekeeping from DILG.
Geography
The Municipality of Bulan is located at the south-westernmost tip of the Bicol Peninsula of the island of Luzon. It has an area of exactly 20,094 hectares and is the terminal and burgeoning center of trade and commerce of its neighboring towns. It comprises fifty-five (55) barangays and eight (8) zones and is populated by people of diversified origin.
This municipality is bounded on the north by the Municipality of Magallanes, on the east by the municipalities of Juban and Irosin, on the south by the Municipality of Matnog, and on the west by Ticao Pass. It has a distance of 667 kilometres (414mi) from Manila, 63 kilometres (39mi) from the province's capital Sorsogon City, 20 kilometres (12mi) from the town of Irosin and 30 kilometres (19mi) from the town of Matnog.
Barangays
Bulan is politically subdivided into 63 barangays. Each barangay consists of puroks and some have sitios.
Residents of Bulan are now looking forward to its city hood because of its rapid-economic growth considering the fact that it is cited as the richest municipality in the province and 5th among the 1st class municipalities in Bicol Region with an average annual income of PHP 58.8M (2009). If it happens, Bulan will be the second city in the province and will be the 8th in the region.
Major exports of this town are from its coastal waters, agricultural lands produce rice, copra, abaca fiber. Most of the revenues come from the fishing port of Bulan and businesses.
Development areas
Commercial businesses are heavily concentrated in the town center. The expansion of the commercial area under the Comprehensive Land Use Plan (CLUP) has been approved, stretching from the Poblacion Zone Business District to Zone 7, Barangay Aquino, and extending to Barangay Fabrica. This will form the new Central Business District (CBD) of the town, aimed at alleviating traffic congestion and reducing the burden on commercial establishments in the downtown area. The expansion also includes an 80-meter radius on both sides of the National Highway.
Due to Bulan's rapidly growing economy and revenue, alongside its large population growth, the old and unfinished Bulan airport will start construction soon and will serve as the gateway to the province of Sorsogon.
Bulan port also will undergo rehabilitation so locals would not have to go to Matnog to access the Visayas and Masbate Area.
Growth
Although poverty is still high in Bulan, the government has improve people's lives. Bulan is ranked in the Top 10 richest municipalities out of 107 Municipalities in the Bicol Region, from 5th to 2nd fastest growing as of 2021 with an average annual income of 145.60M (41.91% increase) after Aroroy, Masbate.
Infrastracture
Telecommunications
Bulan has fixed landline phones and fiber internet from BTTI (Bicol Telephone and Telegraph, Inc.). Mobile or cellular networks are Globe, Smart and Dito Telecommunications Companies.
Education
Primary education
Previously, the primary education in Bulan was divided into two Districts, the Bulan North District comprising all the Barangays towards the north coastal Barangays, to the interior land-locked northern Barangays. The Bulan South District comprised the southern Coastal Barangays. Presently, it is now divided into four districts namely, Bulan I, Bulan II, Bulan III, and Bulan IV.
Secondary education
Bulan has many secondary educational institutions. The largest public high school is Bulan National High School. Formerly, it was the Bulan High School/Bulan Vocational High School, before the former was converted into Sorsogon State College Bulan Campus. BNHS has satellite Campuses at Barangays Otavi, Beguin, J.P. Laurel, San Juan Bag-o. There is also a Secondary School in San Francisco, one of the biggest Barangay of Bulan. The San Francisco National High School. On the coastal area, Quezon National High School,[21] is one and only coastal high school in the area. Where students from nearby barangays (Osmeña, Aguinaldo, Sagrada and even Coron-Coron & Sua - part of Municipality of Matnog, use to send their students.
There are various private secondary schools. The St. Louise De Marillac School (Formerly Colegio de la Inmaculada Concepcion) a Catholic school run by the Daughters of Charity religious congregation, Immaculate Conception Academy of Bulan (Formerly Immaculate Conception Learning Center) a Catholic School, Saint Bonaventure Academy of Butag, the Southern Luzon Institute-Kenerino Ramirez Asuncion Memorial School (SLI-KRAMS) were the oldest school in Bulan, Solis Institute of Technology, and A.G. Villaroya Technological Foundation Institute.
Aside from the formal education system, a parallel alternative learning system program is incorporated in the education system to provide a viable alternative to the existing formal education structure. It encompasses both the non-formal and informal sources of knowledge and skills such as those acquired at home, the church, media, environment or even the life itself and span the pre-literacy to higher skills continuum.
There are two major existing programs implemented. 1) Basic Literacy Program 2)Accreditation and Equivalency (A & E). ALS implementers such as Mobile Teachers and District ALS Coordinators were the one administer the implementation of the programs. It is intended for Out-of-School Youth and Adults who are unschooled or school drop-out. For more inquiries look for Bulan South and Bulan North Districts ALS implementers.
In 1972, one year before the expected end of his last constitutionally allowed term as president in 1973, Ferdinand Marcos placed the Philippines under Martial Law.[22] This allowed Marcos to remain in power for fourteen more years, during which Sorsogon went through many social and economic ups and downs.[22] Labor unions and protest actions were banned, media outlets were shuttered, the legislature was shuttered, and freedom of expression was generally suppressed. Those who expressed opinions which criticized the government or its policies were accused of being communists and arrested without warrant.[22]
During this time, various citizens of Bulan joined the effort to resist the erosion of democracy, and at least three later became recognized as martyrs of the resistance against the authoritarian regime: Nanette Vytiaco, Liliosa Hila, and Tony Ariado.[23][24]
Ma. Antonia Teresa “Nanette” Vytiaco was a student activist in Manila whose religious convictions led her to return to her hometown of Bulan to do full time work for the political resistance. On November 10, 1972, less than two months after Marcos' declaration of Martial Law, Nanette was found murdered and her body hacked to death with a bolo.[25]
Liliosa Rapi Hilao was a prominent student journalist and activist, the first political prisoner to be killed while in detention during the Marcos dictatorship era.[24]
Antonio "Tony" Ariado was a student activist who protested against the Philippines' participation in the Vietnam war and fought for Sorsogon farmers' rights, who was forced to join the underground resistance against the dictatorship because he was on Marcos' forces' "wanted list" after Marcos declared Martial Law. He was killed when soldiers ambushed him and his group in July 1973.[26]
All three were later honored by having their names inscribed on the wall of remembrance at the Philippines' Bantayog ng mga Bayani memorial.[24]
During contemporary times
BGen. Sharon Gordola Gernale, PAF (Ret) - First woman commandant, Philippine Air Force Flying School and first female secretary of airstaff for the Philippine Air Force (PAF)[27]
Beatrize Maria Mabalay - Gold medalist and Palarong Pambansa record holder for the girls 50-meter breaststroke event, finishing at 34.35 seconds during the Palarong Pambansa in Cebu City on Friday, July 12, 2024.[28]
1 2 3 Magno, Alexander R., ed. (1998). "Democracy at the Crossroads". Kasaysayan, The Story of the Filipino People Volume 9:A Nation Reborn. Hong Kong: Asia Publishing Company Limited.
1 2 3 Malay and Rodriguez (2015). Ang Mamatay nang Dahil sa 'Yo: Heroes and Martys of the Filipino People in the Struggle Against Dictatorship 1972-1986 (Volume 1). Ermita, Manila, Philippines: Historical Commission of the Philippines. ISBN9789715382700. OCLC927728036.
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