Esperanza, Masbate

People in the 1970s to early 1990s were heavily dependent on the water resources in the so-called Kapayawan, which means "deep well". It is the only safe water source for the majority of the people living in the area. In 2000, Esperanza was finally connected to the electricity grid supplied by MASELCO which benefited 80% of the households in the area.

In 2006, President Gloria Arroyo defined Esperanza to be the most accessible town in Masbate going to Samar, Leyte and Cebu. That is the primary reason why the National Government constructed the port to serve as a roll-on/roll-off (RORO) gateway. The RORO vessels coming from Masbate docks at the RORO Port located at Barangay Polambato, Bogo, Cebu.

Esperanza is about Four (4) hours land travel South from Masbate City, the last municipality in the south located between Placer in north-west and Pio V Corpus in southeast and considered as among the smallest in the island. Esperanza was initially one of the barangays of the town of Placer.

In early 1915, a group of first settlers [Conag, Arabis, Pelayo and Serafin families] sailed from northern Cebu using their paddled banca and settled the place. The settlers actively cultivated the area into a productive agricultural community, developing the place until eventually called “Halabangbaybay”. Halabangbaybay means [Long Beach], due to its elongated shoreline and white fine sand. Halabangbaybay at that era was a green-mountainous forest community. It was not recognized as a barrio or even a mere sitio.

In the 1940s, Halabangbaybay became a sitio of the barrio Alegria in Cataingan. Soon after, it was converted into a barrio named Esperanza as a barangay of Placer in 1948 (the year the barrio Placer was separated from Cataingan and constituted as its own municipality) and Pablo M. Conag served as the “teniente del Barrio”. The name Esperanza means "Hope" in reference to the first group of migrants in 1915 who hoped for a better life by settling on the present day area of Esperanza.

In the mid-1950s, Lawyer Alfonso E. Conag [One of the sons of Felimon Serafin Conag] initiated vigorously and pursued for the conversion of Esperanza into an independent municipality. Esperanza officially became an independent municipality on by virtue of Executive Order No. 337 of May 7, 1959.[6]

On July 2, 1959, the set of municipal officials started to hold office and Santos Edem Conag, the eldest son of Felimo Serafin Conag, became the first elected mayor.

As of August 1, 2007, Esperanza has a total population of 16,834 according to National Statistic Office data.

In the 2020 census, the population of Esperanza, Masbate, was 17,534 people,[4] with a density of 260 inhabitants per square kilometre or 670 inhabitants per square mile.

Esperanza beach

In Esperanza, the two main modes of transport are via motor-tricycles along the main road or by walking along the beaches. Pedicabs are also available for transport along the beachfront path. Other means of transportation include mountain bikes, quad bikes, and motorbikes, all of which can be rented.

To explore around the island's coast, motorized bancas and sailing paraws are available for rent. These are outrigger canoes and are a common sight in waters around the island. The sailing paraw is a narrow hulled boat with outriggers on either side and with passengers sometimes seated on a trampoline platform between the outrigger supports. These are extremely fast off the wind but can be unwieldy for inexperienced sailors.

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• Philippine Standard Geographic Code
• Philippine Census Information
• Local Governance Performance Management System