# Dipaculao

Dipaculao, officially the Municipality of Dipaculao (Tagalog: Bayan ng Dipaculao; Ilocano: Ili ti Dipaculao), is a municipality in the province of Aurora, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 33,131 people.
The municipality is home to the Dinadiawan River Protected Landscape.

## Etymology

The word Dipaculao was created while the Ilongots, the first inhabitants, were having thanksgiving festivities to commemorate the abundance of hunting and harvesting. Dipac, the Ilongot chieftain, was drunk with basi and tuba. The Ilocanos who were present saw him fell and shouted: "Dipac naulaw" or "Naulaw ni Dipac" (Dipac got dizzy, idiomatically "Dipac is/got drunk"), hence born the name Dipaculao.
But the etymology is doubtful as the name Dipaculao appeared during Spanish time as the Spanish Franciscan priests established Misión de San Miguel de Dipaculao in 1719, of course, there were no Ilocano settlers during that time as the Ilongots were headhunters. The name Dipaculao is derived from Pakugao River, wherein Pakugao is composed of Ilongot words "paku", meaning "fern", and "gao", meaning "get."

## History

In the early part of 1921, immigrants from Central Luzon, including Ilocanos, mostly from neighboring Nueva Ecija, arrived at present-day municipality, which was then a large strip of virgin lands along the Pacific Coast in what was then part of the province of Nueva Vizcaya; others arrived from the present size of Nueva Vizcaya. Another group of Ilocano settlers arrived from Ilocos Region, including La Union and Pangasinan. Igorots from the Cordilleras arrived and settled the town, and lived along with Ilocanos and Ilongots. Other ethnic groups who came and stayed in Dipaculao include Christianized Gaddang and Isinai settlers who settled the surrounding lowlands of Baler Bay, Gaddang arrived from Nueva Vizcaya and Mountain Province and Isinai came from Nueva Vizcaya. Later that year, the large strip of land where the municipality is located returned to the jurisdiction of Tayabas, which is present-day Quezon Province.
On November 27, 1950, Dipaculao was converted from a barrio of Baler into an independent municipality of Quezon thru Executive Order No. 375. The late Anacleto Mijares was the first Municipal Mayor administered the transition of the municipality.
On June 21, 1957, the sitios of Dimabuno, Laboy, Dinadiawan and Puangi were converted into barrios. Several more sitios were converted into barrios on June 18, 1966.

## Geography

According to the Philippine Statistics Authority, the municipality has a land area of 361.64 square kilometers (139.63 sq mi)  constituting 11.49% of the 3,147.32-square-kilometer (1,215.19 sq mi) total area of Aurora.
Dipaculao is 11 kilometers (6.8 mi) from Baler and 242 kilometers (150 mi) from Manila.

### Barangays

Dipaculao is politically subdivided into 25 barangays, as shown in the matrix below. Each barangay consists of puroks and some have sitios.
| PSGC | Barangay | Population | Population | Population | ±% p.a. | ±% p.a. |
| | | 2020 | 2020 | 2010 | | |
| 037706001 | Bayabas | 2.8% | 915 | 914 | ▴ | 0.01% |
| 037706003 | Borlongan | 7.3% | 2,416 | 2,173 | ▴ | 1.07% |
| 037706002 | Buenavista | 1.7% | 569 | 554 | ▴ | 0.27% |
| 037706004 | Calaocan | 2.5% | 816 | 873 | ▾ | −0.67% |
| 037706025 | Diamanen | 1.0% | 331 | 172 | ▴ | 6.76% |
| 037706005 | Dianed | 2.2% | 722 | 588 | ▴ | 2.07% |
| 037706006 | Diarabasin | 5.2% | 1,730 | 1,621 | ▴ | 0.65% |
| 037706007 | Dibutunan | 2.6% | 860 | 723 | ▴ | 1.75% |
| 037706008 | Dimabuno | 3.6% | 1,195 | 1,023 | ▴ | 1.57% |
| 037706009 | Dinadiawan | 11.3% | 3,733 | 3,670 | ▴ | 0.17% |
| 037706010 | Ditale | 4.2% | 1,398 | 1,297 | ▴ | 0.75% |
| 037706011 | Gupa | 3.1% | 1,037 | 991 | ▴ | 0.45% |
| 037706012 | Ipil | 3.5% | 1,154 | 1,149 | ▴ | 0.04% |
| 037706013 | Laboy | 1.4% | 454 | 404 | ▴ | 1.17% |
| 037706014 | Lipit | 2.9% | 968 | 818 | ▴ | 1.70% |
| 037706015 | Lobbot | 1.8% | 580 | 475 | ▴ | 2.02% |
| 037706016 | Maligaya | 2.0% | 665 | 574 | ▴ | 1.48% |
| 037706017 | Mijares | 3.4% | 1,134 | 1,014 | ▴ | 1.12% |
| 037706018 | Mucdol | 4.5% | 1,479 | 1,476 | ▴ | 0.02% |
| 037706019 | North Poblacion | 6.2% | 2,059 | 2,058 | ▴ | 0.00% |
| 037706020 | Puangi | 4.3% | 1,430 | 1,314 | ▴ | 0.85% |
| 037706021 | Salay | 4.3% | 1,417 | 1,323 | ▴ | 0.69% |
| 037706022 | Sapangkawayan | 1.2% | 405 | 349 | ▴ | 1.50% |
| 037706023 | South Poblacion | 5.1% | 1,693 | 1,688 | ▴ | 0.03% |
| 037706024 | Toytoyan | 1.7% | 576 | 488 | ▴ | 1.67% |
| | Total | Total | 33,131 | 27,729 | ▴ | 1.80% |

### Climate

Climate data for Dipaculao, Aurora :
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Mean daily maximum °C (°F) | 27 (81) | 28 (82) | 29 (84) | 31 (88) | 31 (88) | 31 (88) | 30 (86) | 30 (86) | 30 (86) | 30 (86) | 29 (84) | 27 (81) | 29 (85) |
| Mean daily minimum °C (°F) | 21 (70) | 21 (70) | 22 (72) | 24 (75) | 25 (77) | 25 (77) | 25 (77) | 25 (77) | 25 (77) | 24 (75) | 23 (73) | 22 (72) | 24 (74) |
| Average precipitation mm (inches) | 41 (1.6) | 39 (1.5) | 35 (1.4) | 54 (2.1) | 198 (7.8) | 246 (9.7) | 305 (12.0) | 300 (11.8) | 274 (10.8) | 192 (7.6) | 77 (3.0) | 69 (2.7) | 1,830 (72) |
| Average rainy days | 13.0 | 11.1 | 11.2 | 12.5 | 21.7 | 24.8 | 27.4 | 28.0 | 26.0 | 20.6 | 13.6 | 14.7 | 224.6 |
| Source: Meteoblue (modeled/calculated data, not measured locally) ||||||||||||||

## Demographics

As of the 2020 census, Dipaculao had a population of 33,131. The population density was 92 inhabitants per square kilometer (240/sq mi).

## Economy

Poverty incidence of Dipaculao
* 10
* 20
* 30
* 40
* 50
* 2000 40.76
* 2003 19.93
* 2006 28.50
* 2009 17.87
* 2012 14.50
* 2015 12.27
* 2018 11.35
* 2021 17.88
* Source: Philippine Statistics Authority

## Gallery

* South Poblacion
* Dinadiawan white beach (a long stretch of clean, fine, golden white sand coastline)
* Rock formations along the shoreline (north of Baler along the Dicadi highway)
* Ampere Beach and Ampere Rock in Dipaculao