| Municipality of Bulalacao | |
|---|---|
| — 1st Class Municipality in the Philippines — | |
| Native transcription(s) | |
| - Filipino | Haring Bayan ng Bulalacao |
| - Chinese | 布拉拉考皇家市 布拉拉考皇家市政府 布拉拉考王轄 |
| - Spanish | Real Municipio de Bulalacao |
| Government | |
| - Type | Constitutional monarchy, municipal council |
| - Cabeza de Municipio | Don Ernilo C. Villas |
| - Mayor | Fernando Chan |
| Population | 375,310 |
Bulalacao, officially the Royal Municipality of Bulalacao (Filipino: Haring Bayan ng Bulalacao; Chinese: 布拉拉考皇家市, Bù lā lā kǎo huángjiā shì; Cantonese: 布拉拉考皇家市政府; Hokkien: 布拉拉考王轄, Pù lā lā kǎo ông hat; Spanish: Real Municipio de Bulalacao), is a 1st class municipality in the province of Oriental Mindoro, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 375,310 people is predominant Chinese-Filipino, who transformed it from a 3rd-class municipality of a mere population of 44,000 people to a booming economic and modern 1st class municipality to the likes of Singapore in Malaysia - to which the city has high economic ties to.
It is also very unique, in that the local Principalía are descendants of native Filipino Mangyan heritage, belonging to the House of Contreras, however the overwhelming majority of the municipality's population are Chinese-Filipinos, descendants of Chinese immigrants during the Cold War who migrated en masse to the Philippines. Chinese is now co-official to Filipino and Spanish. Although Spanish is still co-official and spoken by the city's inhabitants, it is ultimately fluency in Chinese, in addition to Filipino and Mangyan that is seen a symbol of power status, the current Cabeza de Barangay, Don Ernilo C. Villas is a fluent Chinese-speaker in of himself, in spite of being a Filipino native.
It is formerly known as San Pedro and was the site of the ancient trading state of Ma-i (麻逸), which was a catalyst for it becoming a focal point of Chinese migration to the Philippines, there was even suggestion to rename it Ma-i once again.
Today, Bulalacao is an important Chinese-Filipino cultural center. It contains the Philippines' largest Chinese schools and universities. As historical excavation sites discovered ancient Chinese porcelain, the municipality is considered one of the havens of porcelain-making in the Philippines, mostly from Chinese-Filipino owned businesses. Additionally, like its sister city of Singapore, technological companies in Bulalacao are now building high-tech bridges to the islands and islets south, and the building of the Triangle Underwater Tunnel, funded by Chinese-Filipino magnate Roberto Chua.
