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Siquijor ( , ), officially the Province of Siquijor (; ), is a Philippines island province (the third smallest in the country, in terms of population and land area) located within the Negros Island Region. Its largest town and capital is the municipality of Siquijor. The province lies south of Cebu, southeast of Negros Oriental, southwest of Bohol, and north of Mindanao.
During the Spanish colonial period of the Philippines, the Spaniards called Siquijor the Isla del Fuego (Island of Fire), due to the glow of fireflies that swarmed the .
Another legend says that a priest who visited the island said to the people, in Boholano dialect, "sequor," meaning "to follow the waves"; the people misheard this, and assumed the island's name to be Siquijor.
Siquijor may have also come from the native word quidjod, meaning "the tide is going out".
Prior to colonization, Siquijor was once called Katugasan, named after the tugas, the Vitex parviflora which abounded the island. The native dwellers of the island used these trees to build posts (Latte stone]]) for their houses because of their strength and durability that could withstand strong typhoons and . Most of the patriarchs of the island used the tugas to make a wooden plow (tukod) to cultivate the rocky soil for farming using mainly male cattle (toro) to pull it through the sticky and hard rocky soil. However, before the discovery of using tugas as the foundations of their houses, the island natives dwelt in caves as shown by the pottery and old tools like stone grinder excavated from the three caves of Sam-ang.
During this time, the people were already in contact with Chinese traders, as seen through archaeological evidence including Chinese ceramics and other objects. The art of traditional healing and traditional witchcraft belief systems also developed within this period. During the arrival of the Spanish, the monarch of the island was Datu Kihod, as recorded in Legazpi's chronicles.
The island, along with the rest of the archipelago, was subsequently annexed to the Spanish Empire. Founded in 1783 under the administration of secular clergymen, Siquijor became the first municipality as well as the first parish to be established on the island. Siquijor was, from the beginning, administered by the Diocese of Cebu. As for civil administration, Siquijor was under Bohol since the province had its own governor. The first Augustinian Recollect priest arrived in Siquijor in 1794. Several years later, a priest of the same order founded the parishes of Larena (initially called ), Lazi (formerly Tigbawan), San Juan (Makalipay), and Maria (). With the exception of Enrique Villanueva, the other five municipalities were established as parishes in 1877. From 1854 to 1892, Siquijor was administered by the politico-military province of Bohol. Later in 1892, it was transferred to Negros Oriental and became its sub-province in 1901.
During this period, Siquijor was briefly governed by Shunzo Suzuki, a Japanese civilian appointed by the Japanese forces until he was assassinated in October 1942 by the guerrilla forces led by Iluminado Jumawanin, of Caipilan, Siquijor. Mamor Fukuda took control of Siquijor from June 1943 until the Japanese forces abandoned the island when the liberation forces came in 1944. In 1943, the Japanese puppet government appointed Sebastian Monera of San Juan as Governor of Siquijor. His administration, however, was cut short when he was executed, presumably by Filipino guerrillas operating in the mountains of Siquijor.
On September 30, 1943, the United States submarine USS Bowfin (SS-287) delivered supplies to the people of Siquijor and evacuated people from the island.Helgason, Guðmundur "Bowfin (SS-287)" Allied Warships uboat.net On February 21, 1945, the destroyer USS Renshaw (DD-499) was escorting a convoy of about 50 landing ships with 12 other escorts, when it was attacked by a Japanese midget submarine off the coast of Siquijor, which caused extensive damage to the ship and killed 19 of the crew.
In mid-1945, local Filipino soldiers and officers under the 7th, 75th, and 76th Infantry Division of the Philippine Commonwealth Army arrived, and alongside recognized guerrilla fighter groups, liberated Siquijor.
Siquijor became an independent province on September 17, 1971, under Republic Act 6398. The move was supported by the people of Siquijor as they have a distinct culture from those of Negros Oriental, while Marcos used the movement as a means to secure support from the people of the island to pave martial law acceptance the following year. The capital, formerly Larena, was transferred to the municipality of Siquijor in 1972 by Proclamation No. 1075, under martial law.
In 2024, Siquijor was transferred from the Central Visayas Region to the Negros Island Region following the signing of Republic Act No. 12000 by President Bongbong Marcos.
With a land area of and a coastline long, Siquijor is the third-smallest province of the Philippines, both in terms of population and land area, after Camiguin and Batanes.
Siquijor is a coralline island, and fossils of the giant clam tridacna are often encountered in the plowed inland fields. On the hilltops, there are numerous shells of the molluscan species presently living in the seas around the island. Siquijor was probably formed quite recently, geologically speaking. The ocean depths between Siquijor, Bohol, and Mindanao are around .
Five of the municipalities have significant rainfall most months of the year, with a short dry season that has little effect. This location is classified as a tropical monsoon climate. The average annual temperature in Siquijor is , with variation throughout the year less than 2 degrees Celsius ( deg F). The precipitation varies between the driest month and the wettest month, with the average rainfall or less.
The municipality of Lazi has a significant amount of rainfall during the year. This climate is classified as a tropical rainforest climate. In a year, the average rainfall is .
Nonetheless, official signage is placed around the island, upon which a portrait of the governor is seen, assuring visitors that "magic" and "witchcraft" does not exist, nor has it ever existed, on Siquijor. It is reported that certain elderly or superstitious individuals, even to this day, view the island as cursed and will not set foot there or utter its name for fear of bad luck. The island's enduring reputation as a site of pre-colonial "magic" and "sorcery" has attracted its fair share of interested visitors, and also has earned it the scorn and condemnation of others, primarily very religious (Catholic Church and other Christianity) groups, who view self-help and "natural" healing to be "blasphemous", as it may be seen as a human attempt to "become" or imitate the works of God.
Besides the mystical attractions, nature abounds on Siquijor, and the many ecological and geographical attractions include pristine beaches, waterfalls, coral reef diving, caves, plant and animal life. The coral reefs ringing the island offer some of the best diving in the Philippines for Snorkeling and Scuba diving divers. Dive courses are conducted by several dive operators on the island, in the formats of PADI, CMAS*, and NAUI. Two of the most popular natural attractions are Cambugahay Falls and the centuries-old Balete tree, a species of Endemism Ficus tree, both located in Lazi. Mount Bandila-an, Siquijor's highest mountain, has a natural park and butterfly sanctuary located at the center of the island in Barangay Cantabon.Map "Tourist Spots: Province of Siquijor" GEOPLAN Cebu Foundation
Siquijor also has an airfield, Siquijor Airport, located near Siquijor capable of handling smaller and mostly airplanes. It does not serve commercial flights.
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