Batanes, officially the Province of Batanes, is an archipelagic province in the Philippines, administratively part of the Cagayan Valley region. It is the northernmost province in the Philippines, and the smallest, both in population and land area. The capital is Basco, located on the island of Batan and also the most populous in the province.
Basco, officially the Municipality of Basco, is a 5th class municipality and capital of the province of Batanes, Philippines. In the 2020 census, it had a population of 9,517 people.
Batan Island is the main island of Batanes, an archipelagic province in the Philippines. It is the second largest of the Batanes Islands, the northernmost group of islands in the Philippines.
Itbayat, officially the Municipality of Itbayat,, is a 5th class municipality in the province of Batanes, Philippines. In the 2020 census, it had a population of 3,128 people.
Mavulis Island is the northernmost of the Batanes Islands and the northernmost island in the Philippines. It is part of the archipelagic province of Batanes. The island is uninhabited but it is guarded by the military. It is also frequently visited by local fishermen for fishing adventures.
Basco Airport is an airport serving the province of Batanes in the Philippines. It is located in the provincial capital, Basco. It is one of two airports in the Batanes Islands, the other being Itbayat Airport.
The Batanic languages are a dialect cluster of the Austronesian language family. They are spoken on Babuyan Island, just north of Luzon; three of the Batanes Islands, between the Philippines and Taiwan; and on Orchid Island of southern Taiwan.
The Ivatan people are an Austronesian ethnolinguistic group native to the Batanes and Babuyan Islands of the northernmost Philippines. They are genetically closely related to other ethnic groups in Northern Luzon, but also share close linguistic and cultural affinities to the Tao people of Orchid Island in Taiwan.
The Batanes National Science High School, formerly the Batanes National High School, is a public science high school in the Philippines, recognized by the Department of Education. It is in Basco, the provincial capital of Batanes, and had an enrollment of 1,112 students in school year 2022–2023. The current principal is Carmen C. Noguera.
Pacita Barsana Abad was an Ivatan and Filipino-American artist. Her more than 30-year painting career began when she traveled to the United States to undertake graduate studies in Spain. She exhibited her work in over 200 museums, galleries and other venues, including 75 solo shows, around the world. Abad's work is now in public, corporate and private art collections in over 70 countries.
Basco Lighthouse is a lighthouse in the town of Basco in Batanes, the northernmost province in the Philippines. Located in Naidi Hills in Barangay San Antonio, the lush green hills and the open sea provide a beautiful backdrop for the lighthouse. The place can easily be reached by a 1.2-km hike from the Port of Basco.
South Phoenix Airlines is an airline operating in the Philippines. The airline was formerly known as South Phoenix Airways. The company mainly provides charter flights to different destinations and also operates non-scheduled services. Plans to start flights with a BAe Jetstream 41 are also ongoing.
WCC Aviation, Inc., operating as Sky Pasada, is an airline based in Binalonan, Pangasinan, Philippines owned and operated by the Guico family. Founded in 2010, it primarily serves the northern Luzon provinces of Batanes, Cagayan and Isabela as well as the city of Baguio from its hub at Binalonan Airport.
Air Republiq Airlines is an airline in the Philippines running unscheduled flights to the northern Philippines.
Silvino Artemio Barsana Agudo, also known as S.B. or Binong, was a Filipino businessman, lawyer, World War II veteran, and public servant. He was the governor of Batanes province from 1968 to 1971.
Ijangs are the terraced hillfort settlements of the Ivatan people built on hill tops and ridges in the Batanes Islands of the Philippines. These high rocky formations can serve as fortress or refuge against attacking enemies for the Ivatan people.
Typhoon Meranti, known in the Philippines as Super Typhoon Ferdie, was one of the most intense tropical cyclones on record. Impacting the Batanes in the Philippines, Taiwan, as well as Fujian Province in September 2016, Meranti formed as a tropical depression on September 8 near the island of Guam. Tracking to the west northwest, Meranti gradually intensified until September 11, at which point it began a period of rapid intensification. Continuing to rapidly intensify, it became a super typhoon early on September 12, as it passed through the Luzon Strait, ultimately reaching its peak intensity on September 13 with 1-minute sustained winds of 315 km/h (195 mph). Shortly afterwards, it passed directly over the island of Itbayat. Meranti passed to the south of Taiwan as a super typhoon, and began weakening steadily as a result of land interaction. By September 15, it struck Fujian Province as a Category 2-equivalent typhoon, becoming the strongest typhoon on record to impact the province. Upon moving inland, rapid weakening ensued and Meranti became extratropical the next day, dissipating shortly afterwards after it passed to the south of the Korean Peninsula.
The 2019 Batanes earthquake was a magnitude 6.0 earthquake which struck Batanes, Philippines on July 27, 2019. It was preceded by a 5.4 magnitude foreshock. Nine people were killed by the combined effects of the earthquakes.
Tataya are traditional small fishing boats, with or without outriggers of the Ivatan people in the Philippines. They are generally round-hulled and powered by rowers or sails made from woven pandanus leaves. They have several variants based on size and island of origin. The term tataya can also be used for all traditional boats in the Batanes Islands in general, similar to the term bangka in the rest of the Philippines.
Local elections were held in Batanes on May 9, 2022, as part of the 2022 Philippine general election. Voters will select candidates for all local positions: a town mayor, vice mayor and town councilors, as well as members of the Sangguniang Panlalawigan, a vice-governor, a governor and a representative for the province's at-large congressional district in the House of Representatives.
