Bohol

Bohol is an island province of the Philippines located in the Central Visayas region, consisting of Bohol Island and 75 minor surrounding islands. Its capital is Tagbilaran City. With a land area of 4,117.3 square kilometers (1,589.7 sq mi) and a coastline 261 kilometers (162 mi) long, Bohol is the tenth largest island of the Philippines.  To the west of Bohol is Cebu, to the northeast is the island of Leyte and to the south, across the Bohol Sea is Mindanao.

The province is a popular tourist destination with its beaches and resorts. The Chocolate Hills, numerous mounds of limestone formation, is the most popular attraction. The island of Panglao, located just southwest of Tagbilaran City, is famous for its diving locations and routinely listed as one of the top ten diving locations in the world. Numerous tourist resorts dot the southern beaches and cater to divers from around the world. The Philippine Tarsier, considered the second-smallest primate in the world, is indigenous to the island.

Boholanos refer to their island homeland as the "Republic of Bohol" with both conviction and pride. A narrow strait separates the island of Cebu and Bohol and both share a common language, but the Boholanos retain a conscious distinction from the Cebuanos. Bohol's climate is generally dry, with maximum rainfall between the months of June and October. The interior is cooler than the coast.

It is the home province of Carlos P. Garcia, the fourth president of the Republic of the Philippines (1957-1961) who was born in Talibon, Bohol.

Native languages

The main language spoken in Bohol is Boholano which is a dialect of Cebuano. Tagalog, Chinese, and English are also spoken by many of the residents. The minority Eskayan language is also taught in community schools in Biabas (Guindulman), Taytay (Duero) and Lundag (Pilar) but has no mother-tongue speakers.

Location

Bohol is an island province in the Visayas. It lies southeast from Cebu across Bohol Strait and southwest from Leyte, separated by the Camotes Sea and Canigao Channel. Bohol is also located north of Mindanao with Bohol Sea between them. The main island is surrounded by about 73 smaller islands, the largest of which are Panglao Island facing Tagbilaran City in the southwest and Lapinig Island in the northeast.

Near Carmen can be found the major tourist draw of the province, the Chocolate Hills. The more than 1,200 uniformly cone-shaped limestone hills were named that way because in the summer, the grass growing on the hills turn brown, making the landscape look like it had chocolate mounds all over. The Chocolate Hills are found on the provincial seal of Bohol.

Geography

Mainland Bohol is oval-shaped, having a gentle rolling terrain, ideal for commercial and industrial site development. Bohol's mountainous interior is home to rare and endangered flora and fauna. At certain points, hills drop steeply to the coast from a maximum elevation of 870 meters (2,850 ft) above sea level. The interior uplands are fit for agro-forestry and high value agricultural production. The central and northern lowlands have also fertile grounds and abundant water supply. Over a hundred caves have been identified, the biggest of which is found in the eastern part which makes Bohol ideal for spelunking adventures.

Hills dominate the island of Bohol. Two ranges run roughly parallel on the northwest and the southeast. An interior plateau is dominated by limestone hills. In Carmen, Batuan and Sagbayan, these hills form near perfect cones in great numbers and are collectively referred to as the Chocolate Hills. The Chocolate Hills in Carmen, Bohol are considered one of Philippine's natural wonders and Bohol is often referred to as the Jewel of the Philippines. They are hills made of limestone left over from coral reefs during the ice age when the island was submerged. They turn brown during the summer, hence their name.

White sandy beaches dot the coast of the island. The sand is often of such high quality that it is exported to other beaches in the world. The most well known of these beaches are in Panglao Island, and there, numerous islets have similar, yet untouched and pristine beaches.

There are four main rivers that run through Bohol with Loboc River being the most famous for its river cruises, running from the center of the island to the southeastern coast. The largest, Inabanga River, runs in the northwestern part of the province. The Abatan River in the southwest, and Ipil river in the north.

Numerous waterfalls and caves are scattered across the island, including the beautiful Mag-Aso falls in Antequera. Mag-Aso means smoke in the native tongue. The water is cool and often creates a mist in humid mornings which can hide the falls.

Airport

Development programs at the Tagbilaran Airport involve the extension of the runway length to 2,500 meters, to handle the A320's that will serve the direct route to Manila. The small Fokker 50 planes that used to fly the Manila-Tagbilaran route have been phased out and are now replaced by Philippine Airlines' as well as Cebu Pacific's Airbus A319s . Improvement of the ramp area will soon accommodate bigger aircraft and a modern airport building will also be constructed.

Though a number of national flag carriers are already servicing the Tagbilaran City Airport, a proposed international airport (see Panglao Island International Airport) has been planned on the nearby Panglao Island to accommodate bigger aircraft and handle larger volumes of passengers and tourists to the province. The said International Airport in Panglao is built-up with controversy. Accordingly, lands located in the right-of-way (ROW) owned by the private sectors that were bought cheap are being sold expensively and are giving the project a slight glitch. Thus, creating further issues and delays.

Seaports

The Tagbilaran City Wharf, now called the Tagbilaran City Tourist Pier, has port facilities such as:

265.8 meters — berth length and 2 dedicated berths for fast boats
2 roro ramps, 1,820 m² storage area
average cargo handling capacity of 49,000 tons accommodating 10 to 20 footer vans
container traffic of 5,142 TEUs

There are 9 daily ship calls to Cebu, 5 being fastcraft ferry trips. Daily passenger traffic is approximately 4,000. Other regular destinations are Manila (four times a week), Cagayan de Oro City, Dumaguete, Dipolog, Iligan, Larena, Plaridel and Ozamiz City. There are other smaller ports that cater to Cebu and northern Mindanao routes. The Port of Tubigon, the busiest among the smaller ports offers more than ten daily bnbb round trips plying the Cebu-Bohol route. The Catagbacan Port in Loon serves the roll-on roll-off services between Cebu and Bohol for those who have vehicles plying this route. The Port of Jagna offers services that ply between Bohol to Cagayan and Camiguin (with roll-on, roll-off) route. The other ports are Ubay, Talibon, Getafe, Buenavista, and Clarin.