Early history

The first inhabitants of Romblon were the Negritos tribes of Panay and the Mindoro Mangyan tribes. The discovery of hanging coffins and artistic material in the caves of the island of Banton demonstrates the existence of a rich and ancient civilization and Aboriginal culture.^[5]

Spanish colonial era

The islands were first visited by Spanish conquistador Martin de Goiti in late 1569, and were thereafter organized by the Spanish into encomiendas. The encomienda of Donblon (Romblon), established on April 24, 1571, was granted to Don Gonzalo Riquel. In the first census done by Spanish navigator Miguel de Loarca in 1582, Romblon Island was shown to have 240 residents engaged in wax gathering.^[6] At this time, Miguel de Loarca recorded the island's name as "Lomlon" or "Doblon".^[7] In the local Visayan dialect, the word means a bird warming an egg in its nest. It was also known as Domblon before the present name was adopted.^[5]

In 1631, during the term of Spanish Governor-General Juan Niño de Tabora, Romblon was established as a pueblo, making it one of the two oldest settlements in the province, the other being Banton located in the north of the province.^[6] In 1635, the island of Romblon was evangelized by Spanish Recollect fathers and became a dependency of the Captaincy General of the Philippines. Their fortified church is the present cathedral of Romblon. It received its first Spanish missionaries in the 17th century. During the 17th and 18th centuries, it was often ravaged by Moros.^[8] Two forts were erected by the Spanish, San Andrés and Santiago.^[9]

It was organized into a Comandancia (a province or district under military control) by the Spanish in 1853.

American invasion era

In 1901, the American occupation saw the establishment of a civilian government in the town.^[10] Ten new barrios were created while three existing barrios were also abolished. These include Aglomiom, which was merged to Sablayan due to its small population, Embarcacion, which was attached again to El Pueblo or Poblacion, and the inland barrio of Cogon, which was reorganized and split into five barrios of Tambac, Ilauran, Macalas, Lamao, and Agbaluto (referred collectively as TIMLA, from their initial letters) while barrio Alfonso XIII was renamed as Li-o.

The 10 additional barrios were Bagacay, Agbudia, Agtongo, Embarcacion, Maria Cristina (renamed as Sawang) and the five TIMLA barrios. Agtongo was created into a separate barrio in 1916, taken from Cajimos. In 1918, those engaged in the maritime industry were designated separately as a distinct barrio known as Embarcacion, which was annexed again to barrio Poblacion or El Pueblo in 1939. Agbudia was the last barrio to be created after being taken from Guimpingan in 1939. Meanwhile, the two barrios Majabangbaybay and Sogod, located in Tablas island, were returned to Badajoz (now San Agustin), and were abolished as independent barrios and attached as sitios of barrio Guinpuc-an (Carmen) in 1901.

Japanese occupation era

Plaque commemorating the landing of American liberation forces in Sawang, Romblon during World War II

During World War II, an American force landed in the island on March 11, 1945, and liberated it from the occupying Japanese forces. By March 18, the entire province was liberated from the Japanese. A monument located near the beach in Sawang commemorates this.

Philippine independence

The Republic of the Philippines became an independent sovereign nation on July 4. i946.sffsd The island barrio of Nagoso was renamed Cobrador in 1960 and the urban barangay of Poblacion was split into four separate barangays, named simply as Barangays 1, 2, 3, and 4 in 1975.^[11]

Cityhood

In the 19th Congress of the Philippines, house bills were filed by various representatives which seeks Romblon including other capital towns of provinces with no current component cities, independent component cities or highly urbanized cities to automatically convert into cities.^[13][14][15]

Barangays

Romblon is politically subdivided into 31 barangays. Each barangay consists of puroks and some have sitios.

Climate

Romblon falls under Type III of the Corona climatic classification system which was devised in 1920. It is characterized by no pronounced wet and dry seasons. Generally, the wet season is from June to November and sometimes extends up to December when the southwest monsoon is predominant. The dry season is from January to May but is sometimes interrupted by erratic rainfall. The annual mean temperature is 27 °C (81 °F), with February as the coldest month with temperatures dropping to 20 °C (68 °F), and May as the warmest month with temperatures reaching up to 35 °C (95 °F). Habagat monsoon winds pass through the province from June to October while northeasterly winds or Amihan blows through the islands from December to February.

By sea

The main transportation link to Romblon is through RORO vessels. Currently, there are RORO vessels from Montenegro Lines, 2GO Travel, Navios Shipping Lines and Starhorse Shipping that dock in the town weekly from the ports of Batangas and Lucena. Travel time usually takes about six to seven hours. RORO vessels also travel directly from Batangas to Odiongan, and from there, travelers can ride a jeepney to the port of San Agustin where they can catch a ferry or motorized outrigger boat to Romblon.^[29]

By air

The closest airport with active airline service is Tugdan Airport in the town of Alcantara in the neighboring island of Tablas. From Alcantara, Romblon can be reached in 3–4 hours by jeepney and an hour by motorized boats or 40 minutes by ferry from San Agustin.

Going around

The island municipality is connected through the circumferential Romblon-Cogon-Sablayan Road as well as through a network of shorter roads. Modes of transportation available throughout the island include jeepneys and tricycles.

Local government

Barangay Capaclan in the municipality hosts the Romblon Provincial Capitol Complex, where the governor, the vice governor, and the Sangguniang Panlalawigan hold office. The municipal government is seated in Barangay II.

Pursuant to Chapter II, Title II, Book III of Republic Act 7160 or the Local Government Code of 1991,^[31] the municipal government is composed of a mayor (alkalde), a vice mayor (bise alkalde) and members (kagawad) of the legislative branch Sangguniang Bayan alongside a secretary to the said legislature, all of which are elected to a three-year term and are eligible to run for three consecutive terms. The incumbent mayor is Gerard Montojo and the vice mayor is Mariano "Anoy" Mateo.^[32]

Barangays are also headed by elected officials: Barangay Captain, Barangay Council, whose members are called Barangay Councilors. The barangays have SK federation which represents the barangay, headed by SK chairperson and whose members are called SK councilors. All officials are also elected every three years.

Elected officials

^a Died in office.
^b Served in acting capacity.
^c Resigned.

Congress representation

Romblon, as a municipality and provincial capital, belongs to the lone district of the province of Romblon. Currently, the town is represented by Rep. Eleandro Jesus F. Madrona in the house of representatives.