Nabua, officially the Municipality of Nabua (Rinconada Bikol: Banwāan ka Nabua; Tagalog: Bayan ng Nabua), is a 1st class municipality in the province of Camarines Sur, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 86,490 people.
Nabua is the mother town of Iriga City, Buhi, Bato, Balatan, Bula and Baao in Camarines Sur. Nabua has five districts: Antacudos, Binoyoan, Caobnan, Lupa and Sabang.
Nabua is home of the modern kuntaw, and jota rojana.
Past mayors
Atty. Fernando "Fer" Simbulan | 2007–2010, 2019–2022, 2022-present
Delia "Del" Castro-Simbulan | 2010–2013, 2013–2016, 2016–2019
Etymology
The municipality of Nabua traces the historical origin of its name way back during the Spanish colonial era. It was said that in 1571, an Augustinian friar named Alonzo Gimenez reached one of the rancherías called "Lupa" which was then under Datu Panga from Borneo. The good friar found persons inside the said rancheria cutting coconuts. He was offered to partake the inside shoot of coconut which the natives called “boa." Immediately, Fray Alonzo tagged the place as “Nabua” pronounced with his Spanish Accent. From that time onward, this place become popularly known as "Nabua."
In another version, the historian Fray Felix Huerta claimed that the name came from the story that the original sitio of the town was in the shape of a young coconut embryo surrounded by five rancherias named Lupa, Antacodos, Sabang, Caobnan, and Binoyoan. Others believed otherwise and said it was centrally located in the middle of said rancherias, thus closely resembling "boa." For a time, the town was called “Nabobowa" but years of long usage shortened and corrupted it to the present name.
History
In 1578, a group of Franciscan missionaries led by Fray Pablo de Jesus and Fray Bartolome Ruiz put up a church in Antacodos where they placed a big cross. These missionaries soon merged the villages of Lupa, Antacodos, Sabang, and Binoyoan into one place.
In a research mission to Spain funded by the municipality, it was learned that Nabua was officially established as a municipality on July 25, 1569.
Based on the 1734 Murillo Velarde map, one of the earliest cartographic maps of the Philippine archipelago, the town is identified as "Nava"—a Spanish name indicating a "level piece of ground." This is probably the apt description of the place at that time, and until the present time, a flat terrain stretching from the shores of the lakes of Bato and Baao and nestled in the plains between Mt. Asog and the mountains of Bula and the then Pantao.
Geography
The municipality of Nabua ranges approximately 123.25–123.39° east longitude and 13.35–13.42° north latitude. It is bounded on the north by the municipality of Baao and Bula; on the south by the municipality of Bato; on the east by Iriga City; and on the west by the municipality of Balatan. The municipality is an established growth center in the southeast part of Camarines Sur or the midsection of Bicol River Basin Area. It is located along the Legazpi–Iriga–Naga–Daet Growth Corridor or LINDGC. Nabua is from Pili and from Manila.
Climate
The municipality of Nabua possesses a climate belonging to the 4th type wherein rainfalls are more or less evenly distributed throughout the years. Its rainfall is classified as Type B or humid which is characterized by rains well or evenly distributed throughout the year with at most three dry months. General wind direction prevailing the municipality is from northeast to southwest at an average velocity of eight knots.
The municipality has a dry, a cold, and a wet season. From June to November, the town experiences heavy rains. The cold season comes every December to February. Then, from March to May, the dry season commences.
Land
The municipality of Nabua is one land mass containing a total land area of 8,854.4193 hectares. This total land area distributed among the 42 barangays, nine of which are considered as urban barangays, namely, San Antonio (Poblacion), San Esteban, San Francisco, San Juan, San Luis, San Isidro, San Miguel, San Nicolas, San Roque (Poblacion) and 33 are considered as rural barangays. Among the urban barangays, San Antonio (Poblacion) has the biggest land area of 234.1798 hectares while San Luis has the least land area of 2.1746 hectares. In the rural barangays, La Purisima has the largest land area as well as in the entire municipality of 428.1501 hectares while San Roque Madawon has the smallest land area of 76.3228 hectares.