Motiong, officially the Municipality of Motiong (Waray: Bungto han Motiong; Tagalog: Bayan ng Motiong), is a municipality in the province of Samar, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 15,276 people.[5]
Long before the coming of the Americans, there were already local folks inhabited in Motiong, wherein the place was unnamed at that time.
Some of these people went on sea diving to gather oyster for their daily consumption and the rest barter goods such as rice, corn, cassava, taro, yam tubers, sea foods and abaca fibers to other neighboring barrios and municipalities. There were only few local caravans who are traveling in groups aided in defense against bandits as well as helped to improve economies of scale in trade although, only few people have the means to buy commodities.
One man tried to open one oyster and with great astonishment, he found a lustrous pearl where he called “Mutya”. Believing that the place was full of treasure, the settlers started to name the place “Mutya” which to means “Land of Treasure”.
The bridge near Motiong was once used to ambush the Japanese in World War II.[6]
Mariano Sapetin, Valentin Conge, Simon Tingzon Sr., Claudio Tingzon and Antonio Abalos were few people who persuaded to make Motiong an independent town. The reward of their effort was the House Bill No. 1844 by Congressman Tito V. Tizon which was approved as Republic Act No. 290 on June 16, 1948. It separated into another town the barrios of Motiong, Bayog, Uyandic, Calantawan, Sinampigan, Calape, Bonga, Hinicaan, Caluyahan, Malolobog, and Maypangi, formerly part of the town of Wright.[7] Mariano Sapetin and Antonio Uy were appointed as first mayor and vice mayor respectively.
Motiong is politically subdivided into 30 barangays. Each barangay consists of puroks and some have sitios.
| Climate data for Motiong, Samar | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Mean daily maximum °C (°F) | 27 (81) |
28 (82) |
28 (82) |
30 (86) |
30 (86) |
30 (86) |
29 (84) |
29 (84) |
29 (84) |
29 (84) |
28 (82) |
28 (82) |
29 (84) |
| Mean daily minimum °C (°F) | 22 (72) |
22 (72) |
22 (72) |
23 (73) |
24 (75) |
24 (75) |
24 (75) |
24 (75) |
24 (75) |
24 (75) |
23 (73) |
23 (73) |
23 (74) |
| Average precipitation mm (inches) | 114 (4.5) |
81 (3.2) |
94 (3.7) |
81 (3.2) |
119 (4.7) |
192 (7.6) |
186 (7.3) |
158 (6.2) |
167 (6.6) |
185 (7.3) |
202 (8.0) |
176 (6.9) |
1,755 (69.2) |
| Average rainy days | 18.6 | 14.7 | 16.8 | 17.8 | 22.3 | 25.9 | 27.5 | 26.2 | 26.6 | 27.0 | 24.6 | 22.3 | 270.3 |
| Source: Meteoblue[8] | |||||||||||||
| Year | Pop. | ±% p.a. |
|---|---|---|
| 1903 | 3,352 | — |
| 1948 | 4,480 | +0.65% |
| 1960 | 6,757 | +3.48% |
| 1970 | 9,343 | +3.29% |
| 1975 | 9,448 | +0.22% |
| 1980 | 10,035 | +1.21% |
| 1990 | 12,115 | +1.90% |
| 1995 | 13,177 | +1.59% |
| 2000 | 13,147 | −0.05% |
| 2007 | 13,549 | +0.42% |
| 2010 | 14,829 | +3.34% |
| 2015 | 15,156 | +0.42% |
| 2020 | 15,276 | +0.17% |
| 2024 | 15,887 | +0.95% |
| Source: Philippine Statistics Authority [9][10][11][12] | ||
Poverty incidence of Motiong
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
2000
60.26 2003
73.24 2006
60.60 2009
45.89 2012
42.02 2015
48.46 2018
30.86 2021
29.88 Source: Philippine Statistics Authority[13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20] |
Places adjacent to Motiong | ||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ||||||||||||||||
 Province of Samar | |
|---|---|
| Municipalities | |
| Component cities | |
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