Guimaras Island, Philippines

Guimaras Island is an island province of the Philippines located in the Western Visayas region. Among the smallest provinces, its capital is Jordan. The island is located in the Panay Gulf, between the islands of Panay and Negros. To the northwest is the province of Iloilo and to the southeast is Negros Occidental.

The province includes the islands of Guimaras and Inampulugan and many smaller islands.

Guimaras was a sub-province of Iloilo until it was made an independent province on May 22, 1992.

The people of Guimaras are considered as Guimarasnon and their languages are Hiligaynon and Kinaray-a as it was once a sub-province of Iloilo. Hiligaynon is the major language spoken, although the people can understand and speak Tagalog and English.

Guimaras is one of the exotic islands in the Philippines. The originally its name was Himal-us but was changed to Guimaras after the folktale of the lovers named Princess Guima and the slave Aras, who defied tradition for their romance.

Guimaras is home of the renowned and the best export-quality mangoes in the Philippines. Mango plantations with golden fruits are scattered in the island. It is said to grow the sweetest mangoes in the world! Guimaras is so famous proud of its famous sweet mangoes that it explicitly prohibits the import of any other mango product from outside of the island, to protect its own mango crop from disease and genetic degradation.

Aside from mangoes, kalamansi and cashew nuts are also abundant. Moreover, the seas of Guimaras teem with fresh fishes, shellfishes, and lobsters. Guimaras also produces a variety of fresh vegetables and fruits, orchids, and root crops.

The local people are also blessed with among the most beautiful beaches in Visayas. Largely undiscovered, many of the beaches are not heavily populated, especially by foreigners, and thus are still very affordable and pleasant places to relax or to go to snorkeling and fish spotting.

Small and very beautiful, Guimaras Island is just ten minutes by boat from the mainland city of IloIlo City. It has a population of approximately 250,000 but maintains five municipal divisions. Each municipal is very well-funded as can be seen by the numerous and extremely large government offices within each municipal.

The local people live in various forms of housing, ranging from concrete-block houses to beautifully hand-made bamboo houses, that are often rebuilt every two years due to being eaten by termites! Guimaras is an agricultural island and has many tree plantations and has large daily markets where it is possible to buy meats, fruits and of course, fish.