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.[2][5]
Quezon City was the designated regional center of Southern Tagalog,[1] 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.
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.[6]
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.[7] 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.[8] Aurora was finally separated from Quezon as an independent province in 1979, and added to Southern Tagalog.[9]
Partitioning
Region IV or Southern Tagalog was divided into Calabarzon and Mimaropa, upon the issuance of Executive Order No. 103, dated May 17, 2002, by then-President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. Additionally, the province of Aurora was moved to Region III (Central Luzon), the physical location of the province.[3][4] The total separation of Aurora from Quezon & transfer of Aurora to Central Luzon were the fulfillment of the wishes and prayers of the residents of the original Municipalities of Baler and Casiguran to be truly independent from Quezon Province for the first time & to reform the original La Pampanga since the Spanish occupation.[10][11][12][13]
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.
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.
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.
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; Kapampangan and Pangasinan in Batangas, Cavite, Mindoro and Palawan; Maranao and Maguindanao in many parts of the region especially in urban areas.
Notes
^and briefly as Region IV-A, when it became a sub-region of Metro Manila