| Flag Size: | 120x80px | ||
| Seal Size: | 100x80px | ||
| Image Map1: |
| ||
| Pushpin Map: | Philippines | ||
| Pushpin Label Position: | left | ||
| Pushpin Map Caption: | Location within the | ||
| Subdivision Type: | Country | ||
| Subdivision Name: | Philippines | ||
| Subdivision Type1: | Region | ||
| Subdivision Type2: | Province | ||
| Nickname: | Heart of Mindoro | ||
| Subdivision Type3: | District | ||
| Established Title: | Founded | ||
| Established Date: | 1906 | ||
| Parts Type: | Barangays | ||
| Parts Style: | para | ||
| P1: | (see Barangays) | ||
| Leader Name: | Walter B. Marquez | ||
| Leader Title1: | Vice Mayor | ||
| Leader Name1: | Edwin N. Mintu | ||
| Leader Name2: | Leody F. Tarriela | ||
| Leader Title3: | Councilor | ||
| Leader Name4: | voters (electorate_point_in_time}}|) | ||
| Elevation Max M: | 2518 | ||
| Elevation Min M: | 0 | ||
| Area Rank: | 1st | ||
| Population Density Km2: | auto | ||
| Population Blank1 Title: | Households | ||
| Timezone: | PST | ||
| Utc Offset: | +8 | ||
| Postal Code Type: | ZIP code | ||
| Demographics Type1: | Economy | ||
| Demographics1 Title2: | Poverty incidence | ||
| Demographics1 Info2: | % | ||
| Demographics1 Title3: | Revenue | ||
| Demographics1 Title4: | Revenue rank | ||
| Demographics1 Title5: | Assets | ||
| Demographics1 Title6: | Assets rank | ||
| Demographics1 Title7: | IRA | ||
| Demographics1 Title8: | IRA rank | ||
| Demographics1 Title9: | Expenditure | ||
| Demographics1 Title10: | Liabilities | ||
| Demographics Type2: | Service provider | ||
| Demographics2 Title1: | Electricity | ||
| Demographics2 Title2: | Water | ||
| Demographics2 Title3: | Telecommunications | ||
| Demographics2 Title4: | Cable TV | ||
| Blank1 Name Sec1: | Native languages | ||
| Blank2 Name Sec1: | Crime index | ||
| Blank1 Name Sec2: | Major religions | ||
| Blank2 Name Sec2: | Feast date | ||
| Blank3 Name Sec2: | Catholic diocese | ||
| Blank4 Name Sec2: | Patron saint | ||
Sablayan (in Tagalog pronounced as /sɐ'blajan/), officially the Municipality of Sablayan (Tagalog: Bayan ng Sablayan), is a 1st class municipality in the province of Occidental Mindoro, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 92,598 people.
It has a total land area of 2,188.80 square kilometers, making it the largest municipality in the Philippines. The Apo Reef, North and South Pandan Islands, and a portion of Mounts Iglit–Baco National Park are part of its jurisdiction. Sablayan Penal Colony, the Philippines' largest penal facility with sprawling lot of is also located in this municipality.
The town used to be called Dongon, a coastal village located currently at Barangay San Nicolas. The first accounts of the baptism of the locals under the Recollects were recorded in 1670. By 1749, Dongon became the biggest pueblo in the whole island of Mindoro in terms of population. In 1754, the Moro pirates started attacking the town, and almost every year thereafter, until in 1791 when the Moros effectively wiped out the whole population from more than 600 inhabitants to less than 98 people.
In 1814, the inhabitants of Dongon gradually transferred to the village of Sablayan, until Dongon ceased to become a village in 1829.[1] In 1832, the missionary friar Simeon Mendoza de la V. de Ibernalo[2] requested the Spanish government for the exemption of the town's inhabitants from paying taxes so that they could build a stone church, convent and fort at a hilly part of the village. The church that stands today at the town may have been built from 1832 to 1835, and its advocacy was placed under San Sebastian.
Sablayan is located in the central part of Occidental Mindoro. It is bounded to the north by the municipality of Santa Cruz and the municipalities of Baco, Naujan, Victoria and Socorro all in Oriental Mindoro province; to the east by the municipalities of Pinamalayan, Gloria, Bansud, Bongabong and Mansalay also in Oriental Mindoro; to the south by the municipality of Calintaan; and to the west by the Mindoro Strait.
Sablayan is from Mamburao.
Sablayan is politically subdivided into 22 barangays. Each barangay consists of puroks and some have sitios.
In 1957 the following barrios were renamed: Batasan to Claudio Salgado, Hinaya to Buhay na Bato (Batong Buhay) and Iriron to San Isidro.[3]
On April 15, 2024, second placer, Sablayan's Mayor Walter B. Marquez received the P20 million award from the Department of Tourism's Tourism Champions Challenge, for the development of "Pinagpalang Lagusan sa Bakawanan" (Mangrove Forest park). The tourist attraction is a 12-hectare biodiversity with 925-meter mangrove nature conservation boardwalk.[4]
Held once a year the Dugoy Festival is a celebration of the Mangyan culture.