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Southern TagalogTimog Katagalugan
Former region of the Philippines
1965–2002
Location within the Philippines
Capital	Quezon City (Regional center)
Population
• 2000	11,793,655
History
• Established	1 January 1965
• Disestablished	17 May 2002
Political subdivisions	11 provinces at the time of partitioning Aurora Batangas Cavite Laguna Marinduque Occidental Mindoro Oriental Mindoro Palawan Quezon Rizal Romblon
Succeeded by Calabarzon Mimaropa
Today part of	Central Luzon Calabarzon Metro Manila Mimaropa

Southern Tagalog (Filipino: Timog Katagalugan), designated as Region IV, was an administrative region in the Philippines that comprised the current regions of Calabarzon and Mimaropa, the province of Aurora in Central Luzon, and most of the National Capital Region. It was the largest region in the Philippines in terms of both land area and population. After its partition on May 17, 2002, Southern Tagalog continues to exist as a cultural-geographical region.

The region was bordered by Manila Bay and the South China Sea to the west, Lamon Bay and the Bicol Region to the east, the Tayabas Bay, Sibuyan Sea, and Balabac Strait, where it shared a maritime border with Sabah, Malaysia, to the south, and Central Luzon to the north.

History

Southern Tagalog was the largest region in the Philippines in terms of both land area and population. The 2000 Census of Population and Housing showed the region having a total of 11,793,655 people, which comprised 15.42 percent of the 76.5 million population of the country at that time.

Quezon City was the designated regional center of Southern Tagalog, but Lucena was the former Government Center of Southern Tagalog, and is still host to most of the branches of governmental agencies, businesses, banks, and service facilities in the region.

The former region covered the area where many reside; the two other majority-Tagalophone regions are the National Capital Region and Central Luzon.

On September 7, 1946, Republic Act No. 14 changed the name Tayabas to Quezon; both Quezon City & Quezon Province were named in honor of Manuel L. Quezon, the Commonwealth president who was born in Baler, which was one of the province's towns.

In June 1951, the northern area of Quezon (specifically, the towns of Baler, Casiguran, Dilasag, Dingalan, Dinalungan, Dipaculao, Maria Aurora and San Luis) was made into the sub-province of Aurora. Aurora was named of the president's wife, Aurora Quezon, also a native of Baler. One obvious reason for creating the sub-province was the area's isolation from the rest of Quezon Province: there were no direct links to the rest of the province and much of the terrain was mountainous and heavily forested, which made the area relatively isolated, and its distance from Quezon's capital Lucena. Aurora was finally separated from Quezon as an independent province in 1979, and added to Southern Tagalog.

Partitioning

Southern Tagalog was divided into Calabarzon and Mimaropa, upon the issuance of Executive Order No. 103, dated May 17, 2002, by President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. Additionally, the province of Aurora was moved to Region III (Central Luzon), the physical location of the province. The complete separation of Aurora from Quezon and its transfer to Central Luzon fulfilled the long-held wishes and prayers of the residents of the original municipalities of Baler and Casiguran, allowing them to be truly independent from Quezon Province for the first time and to restore the original La Pampanga from the Spanish era. Many residents and government leaders of Aurora, however, rejected the executive order that transferred Aurora to Central Luzon, because the order was an "avoidance of the historical, geographical and emotional ties of Aurora to the rest of Southern Tagalog, particularly Quezon province, thus also of the memory of Manuel Quezon, and with that, Aurora residents have "consistently and publicly" identified themselves with Quezon; but based on geography, the province is more accessible by land from Nueva Ecija.

Administrative divisions

Provinces

Camarines Norte and Camarines Sur, which are under Bicol Region, are sometimes considered part of Southern Tagalog recently, as there has been a language shift in recent years to Tagalog, which is more common native language, from being historically Bikol-speaking provinces.

Cities

Southern Tagalog region had 13 chartered cities prior to its partition.

• Antipolo
• Batangas City
• Calapan
• Calamba
• Cavite City
• Lipa
• Lucena
• Puerto Princesa
• Quezon City
• San Pablo
• Tagaytay
• Tanauan
• Trece Martires

Cities that were recently added after the partition (all of these are located in Southern Tagalog mainland or Calabarzon):

• Bacoor
• Biñan
• Cabuyao
• Calaca
• Carmona
• Dasmariñas
• General Trias
• Imus
• San Pedro
• Santa Rosa
• Santo Tomas
• Tayabas

Demographics

Languages

The native languages of Southern Tagalog are:

• Alangan, spoken in the interior of Mindoro.
• Asi, spoken in Romblon and Marinduque.
• Buhid, spoken in the interior of Mindoro.
• Calamian Tagbanwa, spoken in Palawan.
• Chavacano, spoken in parts of Cavite.
• Cuyonon, spoken in Palawan.
• Hanunoo, spoken in the interior of Mindoro.
• Hiligaynon, spoken in eastern parts of Palawan, southern parts of Romblon and Mindoro. There are also significant speakers in Cavite, Laguna, Rizal, Quezon, Batangas and southern parts of Mindoro where the language is not native.
• Kinaray-a, spoken in eastern parts of Palawan, southern parts of Romblon and Mindoro. There are also significant speakers in Cavite, Laguna, Rizal, Quezon, Batangas and southern parts of Mindoro where the language is not native.
• Iraya, spoken in the interior of Mindoro.
• Malay, spoken in south Palawan.
• Manide, spoken in Quezon.
• Molbog, spoken in south Palawan.
• Onhan, spoken in Romblon.
• Palawano, spoken in Palawan.
• Ratagnon, spoken in south Mindoro
• Romblomanon, spoken in Romblon.
• Tadyawan, spoken in the interior of Mindoro.
• Tagalog, spoken in Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal, Quezon, Occidental Mindoro, Oriental Mindoro, Marinduque, Romblon, and Palawan. It is the regional lingua franca, mostly as Filipino.
• Tausug, spoken in southwestern Palawan. There are also significant speakers in other parts of Southern Tagalog especially in urban areas where the language is not native.
• Tawbuid, spoken in the interior of Mindoro.

Other native languages spoken in Southern Tagalog are Hatang Kayi, also named as Sinauna, a Central Luzon language spoken in Tanay, Rizal and General Nakar, Quezon (this is related to Kapampangan and Sambalic languages), the Manide language in east Quezon and a small portion in north Quezon, the Umiray Dumaget language in north Quezon and a small area in central Quezon, and the Inagta Alabat language on Alabat Island. The languages not native to the region are: Ilocano in Quezon, Laguna, Rizal, Cavite, Batangas, Mindoro, and Palawan (Aurora & Quezon have the largest concentration of Ilocano speakers when Aurora was part of Southern Tagalog, the statistics now exclusively belong to Quezon); Bikol in Quezon, Batangas, Cavite, Laguna, Rizal, and Marinduque; Cebuano in Rizal, Batangas, Cavite, and Quezon (especially in the remote parts of San Andres and San Francisco, the southernmost municipalities both located in the Bondoc Peninsula); Kapampangan and Pangasinan in Batangas, Cavite, Mindoro and Palawan; Maranao and Maguindanaon in many parts of the region especially in urban areas.

Notes

1. and briefly as Region IV-A, when it became a sub-region of Metro Manila
2. ^ De facto capital
3. ^ De jure capital; Seat of government
4. ^ Highly urbanized city
5. Several municipalities of Rizal were partitioned to form Metro Manila on November 7, 1975.
6. Annexed into Metro Manila; highly urbanized city

References

1. ^ "Map of the Philippines". Philippine Country Guide. Archived from the original on July 17, 2006. Retrieved March 14, 2020.
2. ^ "Southern Tagalog: Biggest Region in the Philippines". Philippine Statistics Authority – Philippine Statistics Authority. Philippine Statistics Authority. January 2, 2003. Archived from the original on December 8, 2017. Retrieved November 1, 2014.
3. ^ "Executive Order No. 103: Dividing Region IV into Region IV-A and Region IV-B, Transferring the Province of Aurora to Region III and for Other Purposes". Philippine Statistics Authority – National Statistical Coordination Board. Archived from the original on May 29, 2009. Retrieved November 1, 2014.
4. ^ Executive Order No. 103, s. 2002 (May 17, 2002), Dividing Region IV into Region IV-A and Region IV-B, transferring the Province of Aurora to Region III and for other purposes, retrieved May 1, 2023
5. World Geography Affected by World Upheavals. Goodwill Trading Co., Inc. p. 95. ISBN 9715740413.
6. Republic Act No. 14 (September 7, 1946), An Act to change the name of the province of Tayabas to Quezon – via Chan Robles Virtual Law Library
7. Republic Act No. 648 (June 14, 1951), An Act Creating the Subprovince of Aurora, Which Shall Comprise the Municipalities of Baler, Casiguran, Dipaculao and Maria Aurora, Province of Quezon, archived from the original on April 24, 2016, retrieved April 4, 2016 – via Chan Robles Virtual Law Library
8. Baler For All Time by Edgardo Angara
9. Batas Pambansa Blg. 7 (November 21, 1978), An Act Separating the Sub-Province of Aurora from the Province of Quezon and Establishing It as an Independent Province, archived from the original on March 3, 2016, retrieved April 4, 2016 – via Chan Robles Virtual Law Library
10. "Aurora, Philippines – History". www.aurora.ph. Archived from the original on February 8, 2017. Retrieved February 7, 2017.
11. "Tantingco: The Kapampangan in Us". Archived from the original on January 23, 2024. Retrieved January 23, 2024.
12. What is the Kapampangan Region?
13. [https://www.language-and-society.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/Ariel-49-61.pdf The Language Shift from the Middle and Upper Middle-Class Families in the Kapampangan Speaking Region]
14. Philippine Daily Inquirer. "EO attaching Aurora to C. Luzon assailed". aurora.ph. Sen. Edgardo Angara, Rep. Bellaflor Angara Castillo and Ricky Avanceña, grandson of the late President Manual Quezon, sought the scrapping of the executive order that transferred Aurora to Central Luzon... Angara, who hails from Aurora, called the order a "discretion of the historical, geographical and emotional ties of Aurora to the rest of Southern Tagalog, particularly Quezon province, but also of the memory of our first President, Manuel Quezon. Aurora the birthplace of the late President and his wife Doña Aurora Aragon, was a sub- province of Quezon until 1951... The province located on the eastern tip of Luzon and which faces the Pacific Ocean, is more accessible by land from Nueva Ecija, one of the Central Luzon's Provinces. It is one of the 20 poorest provinces in the country. However, Angara said Aurora residents have "consistently and publicly" identified themselves with Quezon.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)

v t e   Administrative divisions of the Philippines
Capital	Manila (National Capital Region)
Island groups	Luzon Visayas Mindanao
Regions	Administrative I – Ilocos Region II – Cagayan Valley III – Central Luzon IV-A – Calabarzon Mimaropa – Southwestern Tagalog Region V – Bicol Region VI – Western Visayas VII – Central Visayas VIII – Eastern Visayas IX – Zamboanga Peninsula X – Northern Mindanao XI – Davao Region XII – Soccsksargen XIII – Caraga Region CAR – Cordillera Administrative Region NCR – National Capital Region NIR – Negros Island Region Autonomous BARMM – Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao
Provinces	Abra Agusan del Norte Agusan del Sur Aklan Albay Antique Apayao Aurora Basilan Bataan Batanes Batangas Benguet Biliran Bohol Bukidnon Bulacan Cagayan Camarines Norte Camarines Sur Camiguin Capiz Catanduanes Cavite Cebu Cotabato Davao de Oro Davao del Norte Davao del Sur Davao Occidental Davao Oriental Dinagat Islands Eastern Samar Guimaras Ifugao Ilocos Norte Ilocos Sur Iloilo Isabela Kalinga La Union Laguna Lanao del Norte Lanao del Sur Leyte Maguindanao del Norte Maguindanao del Sur Marinduque Masbate Misamis Occidental Misamis Oriental Mountain Province Negros Occidental Negros Oriental Northern Samar Nueva Ecija Nueva Vizcaya Occidental Mindoro Oriental Mindoro Palawan Pampanga Pangasinan Quezon Quirino Rizal Romblon Samar Sarangani Siquijor Sorsogon South Cotabato Southern Leyte Sultan Kudarat Sulu Surigao del Norte Surigao del Sur Tarlac Tawi-Tawi Zambales Zamboanga del Norte Zamboanga del Sur Zamboanga Sibugay
Cities	List of cities in the Philippines
Municipalities	List of cities and municipalities in the Philippines
Barangays	Lists of barangays by province Poblacion
Other subdivisions	Puroks Sitios List of primary LGUs Legislative districts Metropolitan areas Special Geographic Area
Proposed	Formally proposed provinces Autonomous regions Cordillera
Historical	Former provinces Sub-provinces Regions Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao Southern Tagalog

• States and territories established in 1965
• States and territories disestablished in 2002
• Former regions of the Philippines
• Tagalog
• 1965 establishments in the Philippines
• 2002 disestablishments in the Philippines
• History of Calabarzon
• History of Mimaropa