Antique

Overview
Antique is one of the provinces comprising the island of Panay in Western Visayas.

It has a total land area of approximately 2,522 sq. km. It is bounded on the north and northeast by Aklan, on the east by Capiz, and on the southwest by Iloilo.

On the west is the Cuyo East Pass of the Sulu Sea, part of the vast China Sea. Eighteen municipalities make up the province: fourteen along the coast, three inland, and one on six islets. Coastal towns are Anini-y, Tobias Fornier, Hamtic, San Jose de Buenavista, Belison, Patnongon, Bugasong, Laua-an, Barbaza, Tibiao, Culasi, Sebaste, Pandan, and Libertad. The inland towns are Sibalom, San Remigio, and Valderrama.

Geography
Profiled like a seahorse, Antique is an oversized serrated hemline on the western border of the three-cornered scarf-like land mass that is Panay. It lies between the China Sea to the west and a tall mountain range, 155 kilometers long and 33 kilometers at its widest, to the east, separating it from the rest of Panay.

Population
Per 2000 NCSO Survey, population is placed at 472,822 of which 50.57% are males and 49.43% females.

Language / Dialect
Antiqueños speak Hiniray-a with Indo-Malayan origin. English is widely spoken and understood.

Location and Physical Subdivisions
Antique is one of the provinces comprising the island of Panay in Western Visayas. It is an elongated stretch of land occupying the whole length of western side of the island. It is bounded by the mountains of Central Panay on the East and Cuyo East Pass, as part of China Sea, on the West.

The land area of the province totals to 252,200 hectares. This accounts for about 12.57 percent of the total land area of the Western Visayas Region.

Climate
The climate of Antique is of the first type in which there are two pronounced seasons: dry from November to April and wet the rest of the year. Tha maximum rainfall are from June to September, while February to April are the driest months.

December to January are the cool months while the hot months are April and May. The mean temperature in Antique is 27 degrees centigrade. The relative humidity is high at all times. The north and northeast wind occur from November to May and the southeast wind from June to October. On the average, one tropical typhoon occur once a year in the Province of Antique.

Topography
Antique has a mountainous terrain with 83 percent of its land classified as upland having slope of more than eight percent. The narrow coastal and the interior plains accounts for the remaining seventeen percent of the total land area.

The municipalities with large lowland areas which include Sibalom, San Jose de Buenavista, Hamtic, Culasi, Patnongon and Bugasong. Together with the municipalities of Barbaza and Tibiao account for most of the palay production of Antique.

The municipalities of Valderrama, Bugasong, Laua-an, Tibiao and Culasi account for about 24 percent of the very steep land of the province having slopes greater than 50 percent.

The mountain range stretching from Valderrama in the south to Culasi in the north has peak above 1,900 meters. Other mountain ranges have elevation from 500 to 1,300 meters.

The province is dissected by many river systems, the largest of which is the Sibalom which feeds the largest irrigation system in the province. There are seven major watersheds which are eroded in varying degrees of severity, including that of Sibalom.

Land Classification
About 53 percent of the land area of Antique is classified as alienable and disposable. Although a significant part, 47 percent is still classified as forest land and 53 percent is classified as alienable & disposable.

Land Use
As per survey conducted by Bureau of Soils and Water Management, agricultural land comprises 45,200 hectares or 17.90 percent of the total provincial land. The survey also indicates that the largest category accounting for some 121,400 hectares is not under cultivation and is covered by grasses, mainly cogon and shrubs. It is also reported in the survey that forest land accounts to 118,635 hectares.

Forest Cover
The province has 23,896 hectares of primary and secondary forest, equivalent to 9.5 percent of the provincial area. This natural forest is distributed along the less accessible, mountainous interior of eastern Antique.

Political Subdivision
The province is composed of 18 municipalities, 3 of which are inland, 14 coastal and 1 island municipality. Antique was classified as a 2nd class province as of January, 2002.

Economic Profile
Agriculture
For the year 2000, total production of palay, the primary crop of the province reeached 181,205 metric tons (mt.) or 4,530,125 cavans harvested from 59,662 hectares with an average yield of 3.04 metric tons per hectare. There is a slight increase in production of 2.07% over 1998 yeild. Since their is no significant increase in area harvested.

As to farm type, the average yield per hectare for irrigated lands is 3.38 mt., 2.62 mt. for rainfed farms and 1.76 for upland areas.
As it has been for years, our province had enough stock of this commodity to feed its population. For year 2000, we have a surplus stock of 29,955 mt. or 748,879 cavans of palay.

Copra, also major agricultural product, registered a total production of 12477 mt. during the year posting a decerease of about 20% against 1998 outpuit. The main bulk of copra came from the municipality of Caluya where the area accounts for about 44 percent of the total copra produced in the province. The area planted with coconuts constitute about 34 percent of the total area of the province.

Caluya, together with Pandan, account for more than half (51%) of the total provincial figure in terms of area planted, number of bearing trees, nuts production and copra yield. FisheryBy the end of the year, preliminary data for the Bureau of Agricultural Statistics (BAS) reported tthe fishery and marine products totalling 35,706 metric tons. The aquaculture sector yield the highest production during the inclusion of seaweeds in this sector.

Livestock and Poultry
Livestock and poultry raising in the province is through backyard or commercial system of production. Data from Bureau of Agricultural Statistics (BAS) revealed that from 1,595,577 heads of livestock and poultry in 1998, the number drooped to 1,428,266 in 2000, a decrease of 20%.

Forestry
Forest products include bamboo, rattan, buri, bariw, nito, log, charcoal, abaca, herbal vines and plants, wild flowers and others. These forest resources are of undetermined quantity, and are used as raw materials in construction industry, furniture and handicraft, herbal medicine, ornaments and other accessories.

Trade, Commerce and Industry
Major products shipped out of the province are palay, rice, copra, muscovado sugar, legumes, fruits & vegetables, livestock, fish & fish preparations and seaweeds. Manufacture items like native gifts, toys and housewares found their way in major cities of the country and abroad.

Principal mined products exported include coal, marble, silica, copper and gemstones.Main goods entering the province are construction materials, dry gooods, groceries, canned and bottled products, fertilizers and others.

The capital town of San Jose de Buenavista is the center of business hub mushroomed in the area. Potential growth areas include the towns of
Culasi, Pandan and Sibalom.

Banks and Other Financial Institutions
As of 2000, Antique has a total of 10 rural banks, five (5) private commercial banks and three (3) government banks; the Development Bank of the Philippines while Land Bank of the Philippines have branches at San Jose de Buenavista and Pandan, Antique.

There are also 101 multi-purpose cooperatives operating in the province of which 25 are strong and 96 are considered weak as assessed by the CDA Provincial Office.

Establishments
An establishment is an economic unit which engages under a single ownership or control. Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) classifies establishments as manufacturing, trade and service.

For the year 1998, 14 manufacturing establishments were reported. Such manufacturing establishments are making hollowblocks, wood furnitures, steel/wood, packed foods, metal craft, thresher, soap and sidecar. Service establishments totalled to 117 and a total of 294 trade establishments.

Mineral Resources
The mineral resources, metallic and non-metallic that abound the province are coal, marble, copper, gold, limestone, silica gemstone and others. An indication of oil deposit was recently discovered at Maniguin Island in Culasi.

Investment Opportunities
Investment opportunities with bright prospects in the province are the following:
Muscovado sugar industry
Seaweed processing
Marble processing
Gemstone and semi-precious stone processing
Coco oil mill
Livestock and poultry processing
Food Processing
Marine products processing
Furniture, handicraft, metalcraft
Fiber extraction/processing/weaving
High value crop production
Feed/Feed Milling

Coconut-based products.
Antique is one of the country's major coconut producers. Records of the Philippines Coconut Authority shows that Antique produced 79 millions nuts in 1995 with the big bulk of supply provided by the municipalities of Caluya, Pandan in the north and Sibalom in the south. The province's coconuts are converted into copra and further processed into coconut oil.

Muscovado.
Antique has been known to produce 60%-80% of the country's requirement of muscovado in 1970. Muscovado is moist, brown sugar, contains minerals beneficial to the body such as calcium and magnesium. In Antique, muscovado is produced through a chemical-free process which is favored by health-conscious consumers. Aside from this, cane agriculture is 100% pesticide-free with animal use of fertilizers. Eighty-five percent of Region 6's supply comes from Antique. Government will infuse funds to upgrade the mills and facilities to improve productivity and quality.

Bricks and pottery production.
Raw materials for brick and pottery production are abundant in Antique specifically in Tibiao, Sibalom, Laua-an. These raw materials are mostly surface deposits which make them easy to quarry. Appropriate and highly skilled technical production facilities can lead to mass production to meet the growing demand for clay-based product.

Gifts, toys and houseware.
Many Antique craftsmen are skilled in the art of making high-value lightweight handicrafts using local materials. This industry is not very capital-intensive and has a short payback period. These products already have an established market in Japan, the US and Europe.

Fish processing.
Inland fishing and aquaculture account for 36,193,365 metric tons offish production. There are 416,230 hectares of brackish water fishpond available. Total fishpond production is 26 metric tons of prawns, shrimps and rnilkfish. Eighteen deep-sea fishing operators haul an annual catch of 4,642 metric tons.

Gemstone processing.
The production of fashion accessories made of semiprecious stones has gained momentum in Antique. More capital and better technology are required to sustain the upward trend.

Seaweed culture and processing. To date, 3,500 persons are engaged in seaweed farming in an area of 3,000 hectares. Total land suitable for seaweed culture is about 5,000 hectares. Total seaweed production per month is approximately 600 to 800 tons, enough to supply a medium-scale processing plant.

Cutflowers.
Antique, like most of the region's provinces, has suitable land and climate for cutflower production. Demand for cutflowers from both the local and export markets is growing exponentially.

Pina weaving. Antiquenos weave and embroider very fine pina cloth. Few other provinces can produce this fabric which has a very upscale market because it is beautiful, as well as expensive to produce. The province needs better technology in processing and sustaining pina plantations. Presently, four cooperatives in Antique support the sector's development.
Tourism and resort potentials.
The province has considerable tourism potential. The long unspoiled and sparsely populated coastline of Antique provides opportunities to develop a number of facilities for tourism. The province has white-sand beaches, hot spring pools and majestic waterfalls. Adventurers can also explore various caves or go climbing up Madja-as mountain which locals have shrouded in legend.

A. Product
· MuscovadoMuscovado industry is composed of firms involved in sugar cane farming and muscovado milling. The miller make their mills available to other sugar cane farmers who have no mills for the processing of canes into muscovado sugar.

The major product produced by these farmers is muscovado sugar. The grade of muscovdao is dependent on the quality of sugar cane and the skill of "maestro", the person in charge of cooking.

B. Key players
· There are 144 single proprietors engaged in muscovado processing. These firms own muscovado mills, which serve as common service facility of sugar cane farmers within their area.

C. Market
· Domestic

D. Opportunities
· New technology on cane cultivation

History
The province passed through several historic periods namely: Pre-Spanish Period, Spanish Occupation, Philippine Revolutionay Government, American Occupation, Commonwealth (transition period), Japanese Occupation, and Philippine Independence.

History reveals that in the early time, ten datus from Borneo with their families, followers and slaves landed in Panay at a place called Sinogbuhan near the present site of the town of Miag-ao, Iloilo.

The Borneans found the place inhabited by Negritos living under the rule of Marikudo from whom the Borneans under Datu Sumakwel purchased the island for one gold sadok and one gold necklace. The island was later divided into three "sakops" namely: Hamtik, Aklan and Irong-Irong. In later times, Hamtik became Antique, Aklan became Capiz and Irong-Irong became Iloilo. Hamtik was placed under the superior datu named Sumakwel, who found a place known as Malandog, the first Malay settlement in the Philippines.

The Pre-Spanish natives of Antique had tribal government ruled by chieftains. They traded with neighboring countries like China and Malaya. They had their civilization blended with Negrito, Indonesian and Malay cultures enriched by cultural influence from India, China and Japan.

It is believed that the Spaniards found their way to Antique immediately after they established themselves in Oton, Iloilo. The Antiquenos resisted the invasion but in the end accepted Spanish rule, Christianity, the Spanish Colonial System and at the same time absorbed the social, cultural and educational system of the Spaniards. Antique then was created into a politico-military province in 1780 with the town of Hamtik as its first capital. In 1796, Antique, then known as Provincia de Bugason was given an independent status as a province. Later, the provincial government was established in Bugasong but was transferred to San Jose de Buenavista where it has remained since then.

Later on, the Antiquenos became tired of Spanish rule. They joined other Filipinos in their determination to have national independence which was established in Malolos, Bulacan on January 23, 1899 when Spanish rule in the Philippines was overthrown by the Americans. But this revolutionary government ended on April 19, 1901, with the capture of Gen. Emilio Aguinaldo and his taking oath of allegiance to the United States of America.

The Antiquenos enjoyed the noble policy of American occupation because self-government was given to them. During this period of our history, our political leaders joined in the achievement of Philippine Independence as promised by the Jones Law. The Tydings-McDuffie Law was passed by the United States Congress which provided for a ten-year transition period under the Commonwealth of the Philippines.

Hence, a constitutional convention was called to draft the constitution of the Philippines. Antiquenos elected the late Ramon Maza and the late Angel Salazar Sr. as their Con-con delegate in 1934. The Commonwealth lived until the Japanese Occupation.

Antique experienced many untold hardships during the Japanese Occupation. Many Antiqenos evacuated to the mountains and joined the guerilla movement. The Japanese stayed nearly four years.
Out of the ashes of the Pacific War emerged the Republic of the Philippines.

Manuel Roxas was the last President of the Commonwealth and the first President of the Republic. Atty. Emigdio Nietes was Antique's first Congressman under the Republic. Antique was able to produce the most powerful congressman in the Philippines in the name of Tobias A. Fornier who held the position of the Chairman of House Committee on Appropriations.

From this time on, a lot of things occured and changed in the province.