Bombon, Camarines Sur

Bombon, officially the Municipality of Bombon (Banwaan kan Bombon; Bayan ng Bombon), is a 4th class municipality in the province of Camarines Sur, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 17,995 people.

History
Like any other municipalities in the province, the town of Bombon also started as a mere barrio or "visita". It was dependent on the town of the ancient Quipayo for nearly 240 years, now a mere barangay of Calabanga town. It finally gained its independence during the arrival of the Americans on February 11, 1900. This taste of freedom was, however, momentary for after the establishment of the Civil Government occurred in the Philippines in the year 1903, Bombon was ceded to the municipality of Calabanga.

The municipality of Bombon also became a barrio of Magarao, now another town in the second district. For more than forty years of waiting, it was finally given its proclamation as a town by virtue of Executive Order (EO) 251 dated July 27, 1949 signed by the then President Elpidio Quirino. Appointed officials are Jose Buenagua Sr, Mayor; Juan Nale, Casiano Aburro, Manuel Rojo, and Julian Sumangid, Councilors. Jose Buenagua Jr went on to be the Provincial Engineer of Albay. Jose Jr now resides in Scottsdale AZ. He had also two daughters, Irene Buenagua Fernandez and Lydia Buenagua Guerrero, both retired teachers, and three other sons, Salvador, Melchor, and Diogenes Buenagua who are all still residing in Bombon. The acquired independence continued permanently and it served well its constituents. Foundation Anniversary celebrated every August 13.

In 1993, by EO no. 102 of President Fidel V. Ramos, Bombon was included in the creation of the Metro Naga Development Council together with Bula, Calabanga, Camaligan, Canaman, Gainza, Magarao, Milaor, Minalabac, Ocampo, Pamplona, Pasacao, Pili, and San Fernando, all in the province of Camarines Sur.

"Bombon" was once an old name of Taal Lake in Batangas illustrated in a 1885 antique map. Batangas was first came to be known as Bombon also.

The Leaning Bell Tower, dubbed as the country's own version of Italy 's Leaning Tower of Pisa, found in this municipality serves as a major historical attraction.

Barangays
Bombon is politically subdivided into 8 barangays. Each barangay consists of puroks and some have sitios.
 * Pagao (San Juan)
 * San Antonio
 * San Francisco
 * San Isidro (Poblacion)
 * San Jose (Poblacion)
 * San Roque (Poblacion)
 * Santo Domingo
 * Siembre

Demographics
In the 2020 census, the population of Bombon, Camarines Sur, was 17,995 people, with a density of undefined PD/km2.

Literacy rate

 * 97.75% in both rural as well as urban areas
 * Almost half of the population 5 years and older have reached elementary grade and about 25.8% have finished high school

Work and labor force

 * 15 years and older - about 3,590 or 55% are in the active labor force while the remaining 45% are schooling, disabled, or home caretaker
 * Majority (3,590) of the population in the active force are gainfully employed with only 158 as unemployed
 * Agriculture and its complementary industries are the major sources of employment

Languages

 * 98% of the population considers Bikol as their first language
 * Tagalog: 1.67%
 * English language as second language

Religion

 * Approximately ninety five percent (95%) of the population is Roman Catholics
 * 5% subdivided into the different modern sects of religion such as the Iglesia ni Cristo, UCCP, Aglipay, Born Again, Jehovah's Witnesses, Seventh Day Adventist and other forms religious affiliation

Housing
of concrete and semi-permanent materials
 * 71% of the total housing units are considered single dwelling and it is mostly made-up
 * Shanties or "barong-barong" accounts to about 29% of the total number of housing units

Economy
Due to its extreme proximity to Calabanga's town proper usually Bombonenos go to Calabanga for trade and buying while leaving the town behind.

Despite staying as a fourth class municipality more developments are happening in town, this was made possible by the local government of the town, including the government of Camarines Sur. Being strategically located in two booming municipalities the town of Calabanga in the north and Naga City to the south the town itself is already a small growing municipality. Its proximity to Naga City is also one of the reasons why there are developments in Bombon.

Agricultural sector

 * Major Crops:
 * Active agricultural area: About 3,978.7580 hectares
 * Mostly planted with rice either irrigated, rainfed or upland rice
 * Irrigated paddy rice has an estimated area of about 1,028.75 hectares while rainfed and upland rice occupies about 564.87 and 33 hectares, respectively
 * Corn areas comprise 38.75 hectares and sugarcane has 118.18 hectares
 * Livestock and Poultry Production
 * As of 1999, area has an estimated animal population of about 6,374 heads
 * 3,740 or 59% are poultry and 2,634 or 41% are livestock
 * Chicken has an aggregate number of 2,567 and ducks with 1,053 heads
 * Major livestock raise is swine with 1,850 heads while carabao and sheep/goat have 176 and 203 heads, respectively

Health

 * Health facilities consist of the following:
 * 1 Rural Health Unit
 * 1 barangay station

Education
● 7 Public Elementary School

- Bombon Central School

- San Roque Elementary School

- San Francisco Elementary School

- Sto. Domingo Elementary School

- Pagao Elementary School

- San Antonio Elementary School

- Siembre Elementary School

● 2 Public Secondary High School

- Sulpicio A. Roco Memorial High School (formerly San Jose Barangay High School)

- Siembre High School

Protection and security

 * Current police ratio to the population is 1:1,363