The City of Calapan

The City of Calapan - capital of the Province of Oriental Mindoro, Philippines is the progressive trading and commercial hub and the administrative center of the MIMAROPA Region.

With its picturesque backdrop, it houses the empowered citizenry which emerged from simplicity to being a regional and national renowed city. It's vital role in the Strong Republic National Highway (SRNH), a bus-and-ferry route that links Manila with various points in the south, opens greater oppurtunities for lasting and sustained socio-economic development.

While the city continues to gear towards greater urbanization, it never forgets its agricultural and rural beginnings, evidenced by the dominance of the agricultural and rural beginnings, evidenced by the dominance of the agricultural sector, thus, its dual character as a city is put in an accolade: "An Agropolis City of the South" - giving its visitors a perfect but rare harmony of the vibrancy of an urban center and a calm and unwinding mistique of a rural gateway.

A Spaniard Augustinian recollect priest, Fr. Diego dela Madre de Dios founded Calapan City as a parish in 1679. Human settlements had been established around the parish church and it continued to grow, and later become the beginning of a small town and village. Its gradual development and strategic lacation paved the way for its eventual selection as the seat of administrative power and the capital of the whole province of Mindoro during the latter years of the Spanish colonization.

There are many stories as to where the name Calapan was taken. One of which is that the name Calapan was taken from the word "kalap" which means to gather logs. It was originally pronounced as "Kalapan" which according to an old Tagalog dictionary, was a synonym for "sanga" or branch. It could then refer to the settlement of Kalapan as a branch of its adjoining mother town, the Municipal of Baco. The name was later hispanized as Calapan.

From the last decades of the Spanish era to the 21st century, Calapan has continuosly played its significant role as the center of commerce, industry, higher education, religious activities and the financial hub of Oriental Mindoro.

The year 1998 marked a milestone when the Municipality of Calapan was converted into a component city by virtue of Republic Act No. 8475 on March 21, 1998 through a plebiscite which Calapeños had overwhelmingly ratified. Since then Calapan has witnessed significant strides of development in commerce and industry, infrastracture and in basic social services.

Today, the City of Calapan stands as the progressive gateway not only to the island of Minodoro but also to the southern part of the Philippine archipelago through the opening of the SRNH.