Pilar Municipality

Pilar Municipality

Photo Credit: Pilar Municipality Facebook

pilar municipality, camotes islands

Pilar Municipality belongs to Camotes Island, Cebu Province, the Philippines. The municipality is ranked a 5th municipal income class.

Pilar is one of the four major islands comprising Camotes Islands of Cebu. It is located contiguous with Ponson Island. The other islands are Pacijan Island, Poro Island, and Tulang Island.

Pilar Municipality is an island which is about 10 kilometers long and 3.7 kilometers wide (Wikipedia). It is protruding dominantly over the Camotes Sea like a bowling pin or a typical camote root crop.

Based on the 2016 electoral roll, Pilar Municipality has over eight thousand registered voters, which entails that over 70% of the locals are 18 years old and above.

Language
Residents of Pilar also use  Cebuano (Bisayan) language but with some accents similar to Boholanons of Bohol Province, a famous neighboring island of Cebu Province. Pilaranons speak English and Tagalog as they also learn them at schools.

land and climate features

Pilar has a total land area of almost 4 thousand hectares (3,776 Has.) according to Cadastral Survey. The arable area is 190 hectares. It has a classified forest, reservation and timberland (about 300 Has.) and an unclassified forest land or wilderness of around one thousand acres.

National parks and playgrounds, residential, commercial (and commercial) composed the small portions of the island.

Topographically, Pilar Municipality features a gently rising slope from its coastline towards its mountains which is typical of most islands.

Road Network and Infrastructures
There are municipal roads and barangay roads that are mostly navigable by cars, motorbikes and some roads by trucks and heavy vehicles. Some roads are concrete but mostly are asphalted ones.

So far, the island has no airport and only reachable by ferries and another mode of water vehicles including pump boats or the one locally called ‘bangka.' 

Public Schools and Other Structures
Pilar has many public elementary schools and a few high schools, but there is no college. You can also find a public market, multi-purpose buildings and open spaces for public activities, such as recreation areas and centers.

transportation

Similar to that available transportation on the whole island of Camotes, Pilar Municipality has jeepneys, pedicabs, Vans, motorbikes, tricycles and trisikads available. However, you cannot find a bus as there seems to be no need to have it around.

For communications, most residents are now using the modern technology – cellular phones.

However, you can still post your mails through the local post office.  You can send your packages through local branches of delivery services.
There is a municipal water system that supplies for home use water to all residents.

Barangays of Pilar

Pilar Municipality is composed of small political units called ‘barangay.' When visiting the place, you might need to know the name of the barangay where you can find your destination.

Here are the barangays:

Biasong, Cawit, Dapdap, Esperanza, Imelda, Lanao, Lower Poblacion, Moabog, Montserrat, San Isidro, San Juan, Upper Poblacion, Villahermosa

Cawit beach is perfect for beach activities including an overnight camping.

financial and business establishments

You cannot find banks but only local area cooperatives. However, you can find lending and financing institutions which are mostly privately-owned businesses, such as pawnshops.

Sari-Sari Stores are the omnipresent small business you can find in the municipality.

Of course, you can also find many eateries (small restaurants, café) and some fresh fish and meat retailers, general merchandise, service and repair shops, tailoring and clothes shops, hardware and lumber stores, pharmacies, bake shops, gas stations, among other small sources of income among small business people.

products and other resources

The municipality is producing various resources as sources of income among its residents. There following are some of the most common ones: corn, seashells, roots crops (including camote), coconut products, fish, among others.

Most residents support their daily living through farming, fishing, and skill necessary jobs such as carpentry, mechanics and repair works.

Now, if you love traveling and seeing new and exciting places, let me introduce some of them in the following sub-section.

pilar travel destinations

The following sites are only examples, and others are still being discovered or developed.

Bandera
Cave in Esperanza
Naukban Lagoon
Pamugsay Festival Seaside Chapel
Town Plaza
Mangroves of Pilar
Pilar Wharf’s Sunset View
Festivals per Barangay

It is a common practice among barangays in the Philippines. For Pilar, it has festival per barangay which are based on their sources of livelihood mostly.

Here they are:

• Upper & Lower Poblacion – Pamugsay Festival
• Villahermosa – Corn Festival
• Dapdap – Orchid Festival
• Imelda – Vegetable Festival
• Lanao – Kite Festival
• Biasong – Cassava Festival
• Cawit – Beach Festival
• Moabog – Fishing Festival
• Montserrat – Coconut Festival   
• San Isidro – Root Crops Festival
• San Juan – Banana Festival

Just pick your choice and join the festivities.

If you travel the place and discover something worth seeing or exploring, please let us or the public know by sharing your newly-discovered site and information.

getting to pilar municipality

If you are coming from Cebu City, you only need to get to Danao City’s Port – about an hour or so by public transports.

From the port of Danao, you can board a ferry that goes to specific places on Camotes Islands. Please, click the following page link to find out more about boat/ferry schedules and other necessary details – Danao Port Ferries.

Thank you for visiting this site. Have a wonderful day and amazing travels!

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