Geographical & Physical Characteristics

LOCATION

Quezon province is the second largest in size in Southern Tagalog and sixth largest province in the Philippines. It has boundaries extending as far as the province of Aurora in the north and Camarines Sur in the south.

It is bounded on the north by the province of Aurora, on the west by the province of Laguna and Rizal, on the southwest by the province of Batangas and on the southeast by Camarines Norte and Camarines Sur. Tiaong is the first town via the Manila South Road about 89 kilometers from Metro Manila, while Lucena City the province's capital is about 137 kilometers by road and 183 kilometers by railroad.

LAND AREA

QUEZON 870,660 1,242

Table 1: Land Area by Municipality, Political Subdivisions and Number of Barangays

1st District

2nd District

3rd District

4th District

SOURCE: Department of Environment and Natural Resources and National Statistics Office. The province has a total land area of 870,660 hectares or 8,706.6 square kilometer (18.6% share in Region IV). The municipality of General Nakar with a total area of 130,000 hectares is almost as big as the province of Rizal. The smallest municipality is Plaridel with a total area of 3,302 hectares.

POLITICAL SUBDIVISION

The province has 40 municipalities which is divided into four (4) political districts and one urbanized city, the City of Lucena. It has 1,242 barangays, with Lopez having the most number of barangays at 95 while Jomalig has only 5 and Patnanungan with only 6 barangays.

TOPOGRAPHY

The Sierra Madre runs along the entire length of the province with Mount Banahaw, an active volcano, towering about 7,382 feet above sea level as the most prominent peak of the range. Other mountain peaks within the range from 1,500 to 6,000 feet above sea level, can be found in the Bondoc Peninsula with Polillo Island, Jomalig, and Alabat Island with an altitude of about 1,000 feet.

SLOPES

Generally, the province's topography is characterized by rugged terrain with few plains, valleys and swamps. Only narrow strips of land along the coast and river valleys are suitable for growing crops. The undulating inlands along the coast are well drained. The province is very narrow averaging about 30 kilometers on its width.

Slope of the province ranges from 3 to 18% slopes and above. The topography of the area permits prime agricultural activities in the province.

CLIMATE

The climate of Quezon is classified as second, third and fourth type.

The second type of climate, which is characterized by no dry season with very pronounced maximum rain period, is from November to January.

The third type of season is not very pronounced, relatively dry from November to April and wet during the rest of the year. The maximum rain periods are not very pronounced with very short dry season lashing only from one to three months. Southern Quezon belong to this type of climate.

The fourth type is characterized by a more or less even distribution of rainfall throughout the year. Regions of the northern and southern portion of the province fall in this type.

SOILS

The soil of Quezon is classified based on relief into three district groups; namely, (1) soils of the plains and valleys, (2) soils of the uplands, hills and mountains, and (3) miscellaneous land type.