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Bayawan is located about 100 kilometres (62 mi) from the provincial capital Dumaguete City and near the provincial border with Negros Occidental. It is a coastal city with a land area of 69,908 hectares (172,750 acres), the largest in the province. Mabinay bounds it to the north, Tanjay City and Bais City to the east, Sta. Catalina to the southeast and Basay to the west and it also shares a boundary with Kabankalan City of Negros Occidental on the northwest.
Bayawan used to be known as New Tolong, and only had its modern name starting 1952.
Bayawan City has two distinct climate seasons: the dry season, well pronounced in the months of January to May; and the wet season, in the months of June to December.
Bayawan became a chartered city in December 2000. It boasts its distinction as a "Character City" (International Association of Character Cities) and a pioneer "Healthy City" (DOH certified) in the Philippines. Recently, the Asian Institute of Management recognized the city as "one of the Top 10 Best Cities to Live In in the Philippines (Small Cities Category)" under its Competitive Cities Survey 2007.
History
It was in 1751 when the Spanish friars first established their settlement. 116 years later, Tolong Nuevo (Bayawan’s former name) had existed as early as 1868 as part of Tolong Viejo (now the Municipality of Sta. Catalina). It was not until 1872 when she was formally organized as a pueblo.In 1953, the name Tolong Nuevo was changed to Bayawan, by virtue of Republic Act 694 as approved by the 3rd congress of the Philippines, consigning the name “Tolong” into obscurity and deep oblivion soon slowly to be forgotten by the succeeding generations.
Bayawan, after meeting all of its requirements for its cityhood, became a city in December 23, 2000 via plebiscite that was set by the COMELEC.
Geography
Bayawan City has a land area of 699.08 km², one of the largest in the Visayas. This accounts for 13% of the province's land area. Mabinay bounds it to the north, Santa Catalina to the east, Tanjay City to the southeast, Basay to the west, and it also shares a boundary with Kabankalan City of Negros Occidental on the northwest. The coastline is 15 km west to east, with 7 coastal barangays.Bayawan City is subdivided into three development zones:
The urban area constitutes only 2.3% (15.73 km²) of the city's total area and contains the main institutional, commercial and central business district of the city. It functions as the main economic hub, while economic growth nodes are established in strategically located barangays in the hinterlands.
The sub-urban area is about 14.7% (102.6 km²) of the total area and is set to contain the agro-industrial zones, industrial zones and human settlements. The existing industrial activity (lime plant), the establishment of saw mills, and the identified industrial zones in the area show the natural pattern of development. Residential zones are considered in the sub-urban area to provide settlements for the people in the commercial center and in the industrial zones.
The rural area accounts for 83.1% of the total land area and is basically agricultural. However, some barangays are identified to contain a high level of commerce, trade and agro-processing industry being the economic growth nodes of the city. These growth nodes are singled out due to their strategic geographic location while other rural barangays are mainly agricultural production areas.
Economy
Bayawan is more of the rural setting than urbanized with only 2.25% of its total land area as urban area. The city is basically agricultural and its economy sits on an agricultural platform. Revenues from land farming, livestock production, aqua-culture activities and marine fishing are a major income contribution of the City. In 2000, the assessment of City Agriculture Office (CAO) indicated that agricultural production was valued at Php 2.3 Billion; 91.4% of which came from crop production, 7.9% from livestock production, and 0.7% from fisheries.On a general scale, the City is not yet self-sufficient since its local revenue is only 12% of the total revenue and 88% comes from its Internal Revenue Allotment (IRA) (Year 2000 Data).
The City however has several investment opportunities especially in the field of agro-industry and processing as well as in the processing of marine products. The vast agricultural resources and the LGU’s thrust on agricultural development opens avenues of investing in feed mills, palm oil mills, rice mills, corn mills, storage and other farming and post harvest facilities and equipment. Besides agri-industries, the trading and auction markets are already well established in the hinterland barangays especially in Dawis and Kalumboyan. Moreover, the fishery industry and aqua-culture also offers wide business opportunities especially in the establishment of the proposed fishing port.
Another window for investors is in the transportation system. With the opening of the Bayawan-Kabankalan Road Network, more transport facilities will be required. The City is already recognized as a transport hub in South Negros, and will be enhanced further with improvement of the road network. Along with this, various other business opportunities may just come out and be needed in the near future.
Current employment in the City is considered very poor since there are still very limited employment opportunities. Mostly, the people in the city are engaged in self-employment activities such as farming, fishing, trading or buying & selling activities. Resident professionals in the City are in abundance however they are most often forced to migrate seeking employment opportunities. The City of Bayawan however is expected to reduce if not reverse this trend. In the two-year period of City, investor’s influx has been noticeably positive. As investors come in, the employment status should improve.
Education
Bayawan City has three college schools, the Negros Oriental State University (formerly NONAS), Bayawan College and Southern Tech College. The high schools include the private school St. Augustine Academy and the public school Bayawan National High School. Bayawan City Science and Technology Education Center is a recently opened high school and elementary school for gifted students. Public elementary schools are also scattered to serve the barangays that are located in rural areas. Nursery education is provided by day-care centers located in each urban barangay.Environment
Bayawan has one of the most barren mountains in the province. The Department of Environment & Natural Resources (DENR) have classified that 72.7% and 27.3% (198.05 km²) of the total land area of Bayawan as A&D (alienable and disposable) and as forestlands respectively. However, recent assessment of land use utilization shows that only 17.8% of the total land area is used as forestlands. From these, it can be deduced that a large portion of the land area supposedly classified as forestlands are cultivated and unsuitably used. This situation can be attributed to the improper settling and farming practices of the people in the hinterlands. There are uncontrolled and unmonitored conversions of classified forestlands through slash and burn practices, then cultivation by the people in all parts of the upland barangays. The more unfortunate part of the situation is that these lands have or in the process of application for land titles (ownership).The haphazard conversion and cultivation of the forestlands and denudation of the forest cover have resulted to the perennial problem of flooding in both upland and lowland barangays during rainy season. Its adverse effects include the severe siltation of the three rivers in the city and loss of soil fertility in the hinterlands due to soil erosion and landslides. In addition, some springs has become intermittent (no water flowing during dry season) because of the destruction of their watersheds.
In terms of sanitary sewerage and solid waste disposal, only the urban barangays have established sewerage in the city, however, the system drains directly into the rivers or directly into the sea without wastewater treatment. Other households utilize backyard septic tanks for their wastewater disposal. Solid wastes are collected by the LGU in the urban barangays and dumped into an open dumpsite in Barangay Banga. In anticipation for more solid wastes in the future as development spins in the city, a new dumping site was acquired in Barangay Nangka.
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