GEO-PHYSICAL ENVIRONMENT

GEOGRAPHIC LOCATION

    The Municipality of Buenavista is located at the northern tip of Guimaras Island and is one of the five towns comprising the Province of Guimaras. The northern and northwestern parts of the town overlook the Panay Island and the North-eastern portion faces Negros Island. It is two miles away from Iloilo City and four miles from Negros. The Municipality is separated from the former by Iloilo Strait and by Guimaras Strait from the latter.

LAND AREA

    Measuring of approximately 19 kilometers (kms.) at the deepest and having a cross length of about eleven 11 kilometers with a total land area of twelve thousand eight hundred twenty six (12,826) hectares (has.).

Land Area by Barangay in Sq. Km.:

Buenavista, Guimaras

1. Agsanayan 4.59

2. Avila 7.25

3. Bacjao 1.22

4. Banban 2.32

5. Cansilayan 2.98

6. Dagsa-an 3.51

7. Daragan 4.56

8. East Valencia 7.37

9. Getulio 4.91

10. Mabini 1.77

11. Mclain 1.53

12. Magsaysay 0.48

13. Montpiller 1.70

14. Navalas 2.67

15. Nazaret 4.48

16. New Poblacion 2.11

17. Old Poblacion 1.61

18. Piña 3.50

19. Rizal 0.85

20. Salvacion 4.98

21. San Fernando 1.94

22. San Isidro 3.04

23. San Miguel 1.07

24. San Pedro 2.74

25. San Nicolas 3.96

26. San Roque 3.88

27. Sto. Rosario 0.53

28. Supang 1.81

29. Sawang 0.65

30. Tacay 1.71

31. Taminla 3.68

32. Tanag 1.45

33. Tastasan 2.64

34. Tinadtaran 5.38

35. Umilig 2.93

36. Zaldivar 2.61

Political Subdivision

Urban Barangays

• Mclain
• Sto. Rosario
• Rizal
• Salvacion
• New Poblacion
• Tastasan
• Old Poblacion

Rural Barangays

CLIMATE

Buenavista being bounded by the sea on three directions has a mild and cool climate brought about by the accessibility of all parts of the town to sea breeze. It has two pronounced seasons: Dry and Wet. The dry season is caused by dry northwest wind from November to April. The Wet Season is brought by the southwest monsoon, whose humid air brings rain through the rest of the year.

SOIL TYPE

There are six types of soil present in the municipality, namely: Faraon clay, Sara sandy loam, beach sand, San Rafael loam and hydrosol.

The soil types of the Municipality of Buenavista by terrain are: plain, rolling and mountainous. The area of each type of soil is relatively contiguous. The plain type is approximately 4,233 has., that of the rolling type is 3,976 has. and 4,617 has. is of the mountainous type.

MINERAL RESOURCES

Buenavista is endowed with rich mineral deposits. It is found to have iron ore deposit but despite the presence of metallic these ores, no extraction of tangible quantity was initiated. On non-metallic minerals, Buenavista has tons of limestone located on the hills of the northern barangays; Guano located in the caves of Brgys. Tacay, Taminla and Dagsa-an; an undetermined amount of rock phosphate and silica in Brgys. Dagsa-an and Piña, respectively. Traces of shale deposits can be also found in the Municipality. Further, it is believed that more mineral deposits of commercial quantity lie beneath the mountains and rolling plains of the town but remains hidden due to limited survey facilities.

HYDROLOGY

Enumerable creeks and four minor rivers criss-cross the land surface of Buenavista. Mantangingi river, the longest and biggest of the four rivers has for its watershed the highlands of the Southern part of the town, cutting through barangays Tinadtaran, Gaban and Nazaret and draining on the marshland of barangay East Valencia. Taminla and Tacay rivers get their source on the hills of the northern and north-western part of the Municipality then drains on the swamps of barangay Taminla, for Taminla river and Tacay, for Tacay river. The plains of the central part are comprised by barangays San Roque, Tastasan and San Isidro which served as watershed of Daliran river. Due to higher elevation surrounding the central plain, creeks on this part of the town have a peculiar way of going underground through natural tunnels and then join the Daliran river via Daliran cave. Daliran river cuts through Barangay Old Poblacion and drains on Barangay Sto. Rosario, the sea opening of which serves as a local wharf.

TOPOGRAPHY

The Municipality of Buenavista has terrains ranging from plain to steep hills and mountains. The central and north-eastern coastal area is level to very gently level, the north-western part facing the Island of Panay is hilly and the rest form steep hills and mountains.

LAND RESOURCES

General Land Uses

Built-up area refers to a contiguous grouping of ten (10) or more structures occupying a sizeable land area whose dominant land use characteristics resemble that of a settlement. Settlements have lined out along the highways especially in areas identified as urban barangays. Residential Subdivisions are developing toward this direction thus, the demand of additional space allocation for this particular land use. Buenavista has a total existing built-up area of 124.0720 hectares. The increase in land of about 75.1937 hectares mainly due to conversion of agricultural land to different non-agri/urban uses is expected along seven (7) urban barangays, most especially in Brgys. New Poblacion & Mclain considered which are as the Urban Core of the municipality.

Agricultural lands cover 7,983.0288 hectares or 62.24% of the total municipal land area of Buenavista. A total of 1923.50 hectares are planted with food crops such as rice, corn, rootcrops and vegetables. Commercial crops such as Coconut, Mango, Citrus, Banana and Coffee occupy a total area of 2,179.77 hectares. Some of these agri-lands are marginal lands located in upland areas and these are utilized for poultry and livestock raising, orchard, bamboo and nipa plantation. Encroachment of other non-agri uses into these lands can hardly be avoided with respect to property rights exercised by land owners on conversion.

Forestlands are those lands of public domain which have been classified as such and declared as needed for forestry purposes. Buenavista has a total forest land of 2,757 hectares or 21.50% of the total Municipal Land Area and these are located in barangays Zaldivar, Sawang, Dagsa-an, Taminla, Tacay and portion of New Poblacion. An Integrated Social Forestry Project is located in Barangay Dagsa-an, and a Naval Reserve are located along Brgy. Zaldivar and portion of Brgys. Magsaysay and Sawang. Likewise, these forest lands include all other areas whose slope category are 18% and above.

Grassland/Pasture occupy a total of 1,371.9715 hectares or 10.70% of total municipal area, vast track of grasslands are located in barangays Avila, East Valencia, Piña, Salvacion, Tinadtaran and small fractions of these lands are scattered all over the entire municipality. Maintenance of these areas within then next ten (10) years remain an open options for the municipality in order to support the livestock and poultry industries in Buenavista or to be utilized as areas for urban expansion along Barangay Salvacion.

Based on 1998 DA records, the municipality has 395.75 hectares of fishponds and these are located in barangays Getulio, San Miguel, Avila, East Valencia, Taminla, Sto. Rosario, Rizal, Old Poblacion, Navalas, Tanag and Umilig. Mangrove, Swamps and Marshes occupy 60.0296 hectares and these are located in barangays Getulio, Montpiller, East Valencia, Tacay, Navalas and San Miguel.

Urban Land Uses

The urban areas covers seven (7) barangays with a total land area of 1,428.5119 hectares. At present, existing residential area occupy 85.6596 hectares with the present household density of 43 households per hectare of residential area, it is projected that there will be additional new households of 1,030 by year 2010. Having an average lot size of 232 sq.m./household, there is a need of additional 41.1568 hectares to accommodate the new households within the planning period. The municipality also hopes to accommodate proposed residential subdivision projects in barangays Mclain, New Poblacion, Sto. Rosario, Old Poblacion and other Urban Areas. In compliance with the provision of RA 7279, otherwise known as the Urban Development and Housing Act of 1992, the municipality identified portion of Barangays Salvacion and New Poblacion as the site of socialized housing comprising an area of five (5) hectares for future beneficiaries to occupy the said area. This project will give access to low income families to own a house and lot and aims to provide for the increasing land requirements for housing.

SEA GRASS ECOSYSTEM

Seagrass beds were found at more or less 200 m from the shore of East Valencia-Mampay boundary, East Valencia-Avila boundary, Avila, Avila-Umilig and Umilig-Bacjao boundary. These areas are bordered with thin strips of mangroves. After the muddy flats, seagrass beds are found. Out of the 13 existing seagrass species found in the Philippines, seven species were found in Buenavista and these are: Cymodocea rotundata, Cymodocea serrulata, Halodule uninervis, Syringodium isoetifolium Thalassodendron ciliatum, Enhalus acoroides and Thalassia hemprichii.

CORAL REEF

Among those identified as coral reef covered areas is Brgy. Montpiller. The area is a reef flat typified by corals of submassive and massive lifeforms that start to thrive at about 300 m from the shore. Some corals are still healthy, but ,most are in stressed condition indicated by the heavy mucous secretion. Small portions of bleached corals were also observed. There are at least 14 genera of corals found in the area. These are Goniastrea, Porites, Pocillopora, Montipora, Goniopora, Favia, Favites, Galaxea, Lobophyllia, Tubipora, Symphyllia, Merulina, Diploastrea, and Calaustrea.

© 2007 Municipality of Buenavista Guimaras