New Washington, Aklan

New Washington, officially the Municipality of New Washington (Aklanon: Banwa it New Washington; Hiligaynon: Banwa sang New Washington; Tagalog: Bayan ng Bagong Washington), is a municipality in the province of Aklan, Philippines. According to the 2024 census, it has a population of 49,204 people.

It is known as the "Seafood Capital of Aklan". It is also the home of the National Shrine of Sanduguan, commemorating the heroes who made a blood compact Pacto de Sangre ("Blood Compact" in Spanish) which started the anti-Spanish revolution in the province of Aklan on March 3, 1897; consequently, it is also the home of the Sanduguan Festival, celebrated every March 3, the anniversary of the blood compact.

Established on January 15, 1904, the municipality was named after the first president of the United States, George Washington, as a tribute to the Thomasites, a group of American teachers who in the early 1900s established a new public education system in the Philippines, taught basic education, and trained Filipino teachers with English as medium of instruction. The municipality was formerly called Fonda Lagatic, which was derived from Lagatik River that stretches along some of the municipality's barangays at a length of 9.6 kilometers (6.0 mi).

New Washington is located at 11°38′54″N 122°26′02″E / 11.6483°N 122.4339°E / 11.6483; 122.4339.

According to the Philippine Statistics Authority, the municipality has a land area of 66.69 square kilometers (25.75 sq mi)  constituting 3.66% of the 1,821.42-square-kilometer- (703.25 sq mi) total area of Aklan.

New Washington is bounded by Batan in the east, Kalibo in the west and the Sibuyan Sea on the north. It is 7 kilometers (4.3 mi) from Kalibo International Airport, 9 kilometers (5.6 mi) from the province's capital town of Kalibo, and one and a half (11⁄2) hours away from Boracay Island.

The third type of climate predominates in the locality, season not pronounced. It is relatively dry from February to July and wet the rest of the year.

Of note, to deal with water supply along the long peninsula affected by salt water intrusion and related endemic amoebiasis, New Washington was the site of a unique U.S. Peace Corps-sponsored program to build over 200 low-cost circular water wells using locally produced "curved hollow blocks" made locally using custom wooden forms inspired by a local medical doctor and charismatic social activist Andronico "Andrew" Mendoza. Dr. Mendoza organized families to transport individual pre-cast custom hollow blocks to remote areas; the unique design of the locally designed wells obviated the need for expensive and unwieldy steel bar reinforcement. During the early 1980s, each of the 212 water well was dug and constructed throughout this municipality with voluntary community effort ("bayanihan") and are still in use today and exemplifies the spirit of New Washington.