Belison
' (), officially the ' (, ; ; ), is a in the province of , . According to the , it has a population of people. Making it 18th most populous, the smallest municipality in the province of Antique and the smallest in Panay island in both area and population. Belison is the smallest (in area and population) and the youngest municipality in the province of Antique. History. Belison () was merely a barangay in the larger municipality of Patnongon, adjacent to the north. Belison barangay leaders and Manila-based s (; ‘Belison residents’) mapped out a petition requesting the national government to make Belison an independent town. The petition  was brought to Malacañan Palace on March 10, 1961, and through "Presidential Executive Order No. 421" signed by President Carlos P. Garcia, Belison was declared a municipality - the smallest and the youngest in the Province of Antique. During World War II, Japanese war submarines and other marine craft found the shores of Belison easy entry points to Panay, and invaded the Western Visayas in that location. People still tell of the fear created by these foreign intruders, and also of the bravery of those who decided to resist, creating rebel strongholds in the mountainous areas above the municipality. When the  Japanese air raids would bomb Belison and the nearby communities, families from all around fled to "Guinobatan Cave", high in the hills of barangay Buenavista. And when the American forces came, they too used the smooth sea landing in Belison, bringing relief food supplies to s, and troops to attack the Japanese occupying forces. They often used local homes in the area to hide in while planning their strategies for assault against the enemy, and enlisted the help of brave men and women to carry out their plans. Geography. Belison is from the provincial capital, San Jose de Buenavista. According  to the Philippine Statistics Authority, the has a land area of constituting of the total area of Antique. The municipality is bounded on the east by San Remigio, southeast by Sibalom, south by San Jose de Buenavista, north by Patnongon, and west by the Cuyo East Pass. Barangays. Belison is politically subdivided into 11 barangays, each with a duly constituted government unit known as the barangay council headed by the barangay captain. The Poblacion, seat of the municipal government, is an urban barangay. The other 10 are considered rural. Demographics. In the , had a population of . The population density was  . Religion. Nine (9) of the leading Christian religious dominations in the Philippines established their presence in the town. Most s are of Aglipayan ancestry. Economy. Agriculture continues to be the heartbeat of the town. More than half of its land is riceland, while the rest are planted to corn, coconut, sugar cane and other production like vegetables and peanuts. Government. Municipal seal. The Belison municipal seal was created to commemorate the agricultural heritage of the town, in order to preserve the legacy of the original settlers in the region. It depicts three mainstay agricultural activities: Surrounding the great triangle are  eleven stars – one representing each barangay in the town. The largest star at the bottom is for the Poblacion. Their strength lies in their connectivity to one another, and in their closeness to the traditions of the past.