Quezon (Province)
Also known as: Coconut Capital of the Philippines · The Former Tayabas Province · Land of Mount Banahaw
Definition
Quezon is a Philippine province in the Calabarzon region (Region IV-A). Its capital is Lucena City. Bordering Aurora (north), Camarines Norte and Sur (southeast), Tayabas Bay and Marinduque (south), and Batangas, Laguna, and Rizal (west), it has 39 municipalities and two cities. It is the country’s leading producer of coconut products, the “Coconut Capital of the Philippines.” Elongated around Tayabas Bay, it hosts the mystical Mount Banahaw, the Bondoc Peninsula, and Polillo and Jomalig islands. It was formerly called Tayabas until its 1946 renaming for President Manuel L. Quezon.
Identities
| Source | Identifier |
|---|---|
| Wikipedia | Quezon |
| Wikidata | Q13872 |
| DBpedia | Quezon |
Also Known As
- Coconut Capital of the Philippines
- The Former Tayabas Province
- Land of Mount Banahaw
Examples and Analogies
Quezon is a coconut-and-coastal frontier: a tropical plantation belt that anchors cooking-oil and copra supply chains, while Mount Banahaw functions as a folk-spiritual counterpart to other sacred mountains.
Usage Scenarios
It is referenced in coconut-industry economics (copra, coconut oil, desiccated coconut), religious and folk-spiritual tourism around Mount Banahaw, beach and island tourism (Polillo, Cagbalete, Alibijaban), and Sierra Madre biodiversity conservation.
Strategies
Provincial strategy emphasizes coconut-value-chain upgrading (coconut sugar, virgin coconut oil, geotextile), Pacific-coast nature and ecotourism, farm tourism, and infrastructure (SLEX Toll Road 4, Real and Atimonan port upgrades), plus Polillo and Mount Banahaw protection.
Security and Safety Measures
The provincial PNP coordinates with the Army’s 2nd Infantry Division for security in remote barangays historically affected by insurgency. The PDRRMO manages Pacific-coast typhoon preparedness, Bondoc Peninsula flood control, and the Mount Banahaw-San Cristobal Protected Landscape.
Historical Context
Organized in 1591 as the province of Tayabas, a major timber and copra producer under Spain. Renamed Quezon in 1946 after the late president, who was born in Baler (now Aurora, formerly part of Tayabas). The mid-20th-century coconut boom shaped its political economy.
Challenges and Controversies
Coconut-levy-fund questions affecting smallholder farmers, coastal and forest environmental degradation, illegal logging in the Sierra Madre, controversial coal-fired power plants (Atimonan, Pagbilao), and land-conversion conflicts recur.