Dinagat Islands is an island group comprising a province in the Philippines, located on the south side of Leyte Gulf in the province of Surigao del Norte. Leyte is to the west, across Surigao Strait, and Mindanao is to the south. Dinagat is about 60 km from north to south.

Best known for its great rock climbing sites and white sand beaches, it is the country's 81st and newest province and the fifth in the Caraga Region.

The province, situated almost entirely on Dinagat Island, is a Shangri-La of adventurers. Its caves, rock formations and mountain lakes provide a perfect ambience for the thrill seeker and highly-strung individuals. It is also the seat of the greatest and historic Battle of Surigao Strait during the World War II and the entry point of the American Liberation forces before the momentous return of Gen. Douglas MacArthur in Leyte.

It is known as one of the holiest sites on the islands in the Pre-christian native religion where the God of Hurricanes was persuaded to relent his attacks on the islands by Da the god of peace.

Capital: San Jose
Founded: December 2, 2006
Population:
2000 census—106,951 ()
Density—133.3 per km² ()
Area: 802.12 km² ()
Dinagat Islands is divided into 7 municipalities.

City/Municipality No. of
Barangays Area
(km²) Population
(2000) Pop. density
(per km²)
Basilisa (Rizal) 27 26,489
Cagdianao 14 12,886
Dinagat 12 9,883
Libjo (Albor) 16 16,610
Loreto 10 8,751
San Jose 12 25,532
Tubajon 9 6,800

god, they need to stop making new provinces. i say they reformat it so that the philippines only has like 12.

I agree with that. I think the gov't must merge some of the provinces instead of breaking up and making a new one. This way a province will have more resources.

the pimp province is next! what!

lol Why do they keep making provinces? Cultural or language difference?

Blame it on those politicians whose term are about to end, so instead of retiring from politics, they file a bill creating a province. This way these last termer corrupt politicians could stay in power, and could steal more money. And also blame it on the people who get fooled by these corrupt politicians.

These politicians theory is that the larger the area of a province, the harder to manage. This was their campaign slogan when they tried to split Isabela into two province, but the people of Isabela didn't get fool by these politicians, so they voted against splitting their province.

Expect more provinces to be created in the near future. Probably next year there will be a new province. Either Polilo Islands, or Bondoc peninsula.

Or perhaps Palawan would be divided into three separate provinces. Palawan was once made of three separate provinces: Castilla (Taytay), Asturias (Puerto Princesa), and Balabac (Prinsepe Alfonso), but U.S. merged these provinces into what is now Palawan.

Also, remember when a politician from Quezon City whose term is about to end wanted Novaliches to secede from Quezon City, and form the City of Novaliches, unfortunately the people of Novaliches and the whole Quezon City voted against it.

Novaliches is already a separate town even during the time of Spanish era way back in 1840's

At first Novaliches was part of Caloocan then province of Rizal when Quezon City was created in 1930's they cut the town into two parts Caloocan and Quezon City . Quezon City hold the larger bulk of the Novaliches area while Caloocan holds the North Western part of Novaliches.

Novaliches Cityhood Movement was made even before Dante Liban ends his term because people believe that Novaliches was historically a separate town or municipality and just wanted to regain its status as a separate city of municipality .

People of Novaliches voted in favor of separating with Quezon City but Quezon City folks are not in favor meaning district 1,3,4 but district 2 where Novaliches is located ,people voted in favor of separation with Quezon City. The northern half of the city is often called Novaliches and contains the areas of Fairview and Lagro.


The northern district is called Novaliches and is primarily residential. Its eastern portion is covered by the La Mesa Dam Watershed. The La Mesa Dam supplies much of northern Metro Manila's water supply. Adjacent to the watershed is the La Mesa Eco-Park, where you can stroll and unwind to Metro Manila's only forest space. Also located in the park are convention centers, picnic areas, swimming pools, an orchidarium, and a large lagoon for boating activities. It was also the site of the rowing and dragon boat events for the SEA (South East Asian) Games. Rowing is regularly done here.

Premier malls have been built recently in this area such as SM City Fairview, Robinsons Place Novaliches, Fairview Center Mall, colleges like FEU (Far Eastern University)-NRMF, AMA Computer College Fairview Campus, National College of Business and Arts (NCBA), Montessori College; high schools like St. Theresa's School of Novaliches, Sacred Heart Academy of Novaliches, Our Lady of Lourdes School of Novaliches, Little Merry Hearts Montessori Center, Holy Child Academy, and many others.

Various SMEs (small to medium enterprises) are also booming in Novaliches, with offices and services offering health care, money transfer, software development, online buy and sell, and many others.

The name Novaliches probably came from the surname of a Spanish governor general, Marquis de Novaliches. The town was once part of Rizal province before being ceded to Quezon City in the 1940's. This district is among the largest in the city, having shared boundaries with the two sections of Caloocan City, Valenzuela City, San Jose del Monte City in Bulacan and Montalban, Rizal. The oldest part of the city is in the town center, aptly named Novaliches Bayan. But because of population growth the density of people gradually widened reaching up the edge of the La Mesa Reservoir (Lagro and Fairview).

In 1999, a plebiscite was held among the voters of Quezon City to determine the cityhood of Novaliches. The proposed creation of "Novaliches City" would have resulted in the secession of 15 barangays from Quezon City. At the plebiscite's end, votes that were against the separation heavily outnumbered those that were in favor.


Map of Quezon City showing the hudge chunk of Novaliches which includes the famous La Mesa Dam. This does not include Caloocan parts .