Sipalay, officially the City of Sipalay, is a 4th class component city in the province of Negros Occidental, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 72,448 people. It is the top tourist destination in the province of Negros Occidental.

History

Sipalay's history can be traced back to the undated time of early settlements of the native Tumandok who discovered the lowland plains very fertile, arable and fully vegetated by trees. The areas was well dissected by river tributaries, which accounted for the fertility of the lowland. During the Spanish era, the area was further discovered and developed by sailing adventurers from the neighboring island of Panay, being the group who resented the Kintos System enacted by the ruling Spaniards by then. Growth and development flourished as Chinese merchants came to barter their wares with staple food, particularly rice, which was commonly called by the settlers as paray and by the Chinese, due to the difficulty of pronouncing r, as palay which was the word to have been popularly associated with the place. Thus the area came to be known as Sipalay. At the advent of the American regime, Sipalay was a full pledge barrio of the Municipality of Cauayan. In the early 1920s the political structure was already in place. During the World War II, Sipalay was made an emergency town and after the war. On November 20, 1948, then President Elpidio Quirino signed Executive Order No. 185 proclaiming Sipalay as a town. The official inauguration of the town was on December 20, 1948. On November 8, 1963, Mayor Genaro Alvarez Sr. was about to run for a third term in the 1963 election when he was stabbed to death by an assailant, with his vice mayor Jesus Alejano Sr. briefly succeeding him. Alvarez's wife Mercedes, a former beauty queen, ran for mayor in his stead, winning the election by a wide margin. On January 3, 1988, former mayor Rodrigo Chua was running once again in the 1988 mayoral election when he was assassinated during a political rally in Barangay Mambaroto, being fatally shot in the chest by a lone gunman suspected to be from the New People's Army. His sister, Soledad Chua Montilla, ran in his stead and won.

Cityhood

The conversion of Sipalay into a component city of the Province of Negros Occidental followed in 2001 after the ratification of Republic Act No. 9027. In October 2019, Vice Mayor Oscar Montilla was found guilty of corruption by the Fourth Division of the Sandiganbayan for neglecting to implement a suspension order against five city officials in 2005 while he was mayor. The Sandiganbayan later upheld its decision in January 2020, and Montilla was thus imprisoned and perpetually disqualified from holding public office.

Geography

Sipalay's distance from Bacolod is 170 km and 171 km from Dumaguete, the capital of Negros Oriental. Public utility vehicles plying the southern Negros route pass by this city. Those coming from Negros Oriental can either exit through Kabankalan City via Mabinay or through Dumaguete via Hinoba-an.

Barangays

Sipalay City is politically subdivided into 17 barangays. Each barangay consists of puroks and some have sitios.

Climate

Demographics

Major languages are Hiligaynon, followed by Cebuano with English and Tagalog being used as second languages.

Government

List of mayors

Economy

Infrastructure

Transportation

Airline company Air Juan offers services from Cebu, Iloilo and Puerto Princesa via the Sipalay Airport.

Tourism

The city is known for its tourist destinations. An example of it is the now-defunct Maricalum Mining Corporation which happens to be one of the largest mining companies in the country. It now has a park dedicated for viewing the whole mine from atop. It also boasts beautiful pristine beaches being a seaside city. Widely dubbed as the uncommercialized New Boracay of Negros, foreign and local tourists flock its beaches the whole year round not only for swimming but for diving as well.

Notable personalities