Also known as: Lalawigan ng Masbate
Masbate is a province in Region V (Bicol Region). Population 911K (PSA 2024 census), 1 city + 20 municipalities, 550 barangays total, land area 4,138.56 km². Provincial capital: Masbate City.
Masbate is a province in Region V (Bicol Region). Its capital is Masbate City.
Masbate had 910,813 residents in the 2024 census (PSA 2024 Census of Population (POPCEN 2024), reference date July 1, 2024). That is the most recent official count. There is no 2026 census result, so any 2026 population figure is an estimate.
Masbate covers 4,138.56 km², per the PSA Philippine Statistical Yearbook figure used on this page.
Masbate has 1 component city and 20 municipalities (21 LGUs under the province), per PSA's Philippine Standard Geographic Code (2Q 2026), and 550 barangays.
Masbate's 1 component city is Masbate City. Its 20 municipalities are Aroroy, Baleno, Balud, Batuan, Cataingan, Cawayan, Claveria, Dimasalang, Esperanza, Mandaon, Milagros, Mobo, Monreal, Palanas, Pio V. Corpuz, Placer, San Fernando, San Jacinto, San Pascual and Uson.
Masbate is a genuine three-island province — Masbate, Ticao, and Burias — geographically part of the Visayan/Sibuyan Sea rather than the Bicol mainland, despite its administrative membership in Region V. Its economy runs on two distinctive industries: cattle ranching, formalized by Executive Order No. 120 (2002), which declared Masbate the 'Rodeo Capital of the Philippines'; and gold mining, via the currently-operating Masbate Gold Project in Aroroy, which produced nearly 200,000 ounces of gold in 2025.
Key industries: Cattle ranching (declared the 'Rodeo Capital of the Philippines'), Gold mining (Masbate Gold Project, Aroroy), Fishing, Coconut
The province's land-use planning foundation traces to its Provincial Environment Code, enacted by Sangguniang Panlalawigan Resolution No. 177-2000 in December 2000, which established the Provincial Land Use Committee still cited as functionally active today — though Nova Gov could not locate a current, publicly documented PDPFP naming specific coverage years. Masbate's waters are also part of the Ticao-Burias Pass Protected Seascape, a 414,000-hectare marine biodiversity area supporting whale sharks, manta rays, dugongs, and the rare megamouth shark.
Key industries: Cattle ranching (declared the 'Rodeo Capital of the Philippines'), Gold mining (Masbate Gold Project, Aroroy), Fishing, Coconut
More on the regulatory framework: CLUP explainer · RA 7160 explainer · SGLG explainer · full glossary. Working a CLUP review cycle? Run the CLUP readiness self-check or see CLUP compliance monitoring.
A three-island province running an active gold mine and a nationally-declared cattle industry, with no current provincial development plan easily found in public records, is exactly the kind of gap a Nova Gov pilot is built to surface and close — particularly given the inter-island logistics a three-island geography adds to routine PPDO coordination.
A gold mine, a nationally-declared cattle industry, and three separate islands to coordinate across -- Masbate's PPDO has a genuinely dispersed planning load. A Nova Gov pilot gives it one dashboard instead of three separate pictures.
Start a Masbate pilot →We build custom software around CLUP, CDP and zoning work, for LGU planning offices and for the planning firms LGUs hire. Free 30-minute workflow call, then a fixed written quote.
See what we build for urban planners →