Profile

Puerto Princesa, which forms part of the Philippine’s last frontier, is a City rich in natural resources. It is the country’s largest City with a total land area of 253,982 hectares. A chain of mountain ranges runs through the entire length of the City, dividing it into two distinct areas – the East and the West Coast. The eastern side, which is facing the Sulu Sea is characterized by thin strand lines bordered by swamplands, following a series of flat plains to hilly terrain.

In the southern portion particularly in the Irawan area, metamorphic rocks of the Inagawan Formation can be found. The area is also partly composed of sedimentary Iwahig Formation, alluvium of unconsolidated gravel, sand, pebbles and silt. Some ultramafic rocks of the Palawan Ophiolite Complex also characterize the area.

Based on the data generated by the Mapping Team of the ECAN Zoning Project using 2005 SPOT5 satellite imageries, about 73% of the total land area Puerto Princesa is still forested with primary forest (7%), secondary forest (52%), limestone forest (1%), and ultramafic forest (13%). Its remaining mangrove forest covers a total area of 5,737 hectares.