Cabucgayan

Cabucgayan (IPA: [kɐbʊk'gaɪɐn]), officially the Municipality of Cabucgayan (Bungto han Cabucgayan; Lungsod sa Cabucgayan; Bayan ng Cabucgayan), is a 5th class municipality in the province of Biliran, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 21,542 people. The town's populace predominantly speaks Waray.

History
Cabucgayan derived its name from the snail called bukgay. In the Waray-Waray language, to make a singular noun into a plural noun, the article ka is added before the word and the article an after the word. Kabukgayan, therefore, means a place where there are many snails.

This municipality was created on September 29, 1949, when President Elpidio Quirino issued Executive Order no. 271.

Geography
Cabucgayan is located at the south-eastern section of Biliran Island, and is approximately 19 km south from Caibiran, 33 km away from the provincial capital Naval, and 118 km away from Tacloban, the provincial capital of Leyte. Cabucgayan is bound on the north by Caibiran, east by the Villareal Bay, south by Carigara Bay, and west by the municipality of Biliran

According to the Philippine Statistics Authority, the municipality has a land area of 54.19 km2 constituting 10.11% of the 536.01 km2 total area of Biliran.

Barangays
Cabucgayan is politically subdivided into 13 barangays. Each barangay consists of puroks and some have sitios.

Climate
It belongs to the two types of climate, Type II and Type IV. It is characterized by pronounced rainfall periodically accompanied by trade winds and storms during the months of January, June, July, November and December while the minimum monthly rainfall occurs in February, March, April and May.

The total land area dedicated to agriculture is 2905 ha or 59.63% of the total land area. The three major forest products are timber, rattan and wild abaca.

Demographics
In the 2020 census, Cabucgayan had a population of 21,542. The population density was undefined PD/km2.