Romblon: The Marble Country of Southeast Asia

Map of Romblon

Map of Romblon

“Marble Country” – Romblon is called as such because of its immense deposits of marble all through out Southeast Asia. It is part of the MIMAROPA region located south of Marinduque and Quezon, east of Mindoro, north of Aklan Capiz, and west of Masbate.


Romblon is the capital city of Romblon province. It is one of the three largest islands located in the province along with Tablas, the largest, and Sibuyan, the easternmost island.

There are different mountains and volcanoes located in Romblon which makes it a mountainous region. Mount Guiting-Guiting is the highest elevation which is in Sibuyan island.

September to January is not the season of vacation in Romblon for the heaviest rainfall occurs in these months. So if you want to explore the province, tourists should be there by March or April.


Visayans, Negritos, and May-as are some of the inhabitants in the Romblon province. Though it is part of the Southern Tagalog, majority of the residents are Visayans which make it Visayan as their language. But Tagalog is widely known, too, same as English which is used as a medium for business transactions.

Three native languages that the people use in Romblon include Romblomanon or Ini, Bantoanon or Asi, and Inunhan or Onhan.


Because of its bountiful lands, Romblon is basically an agricultural site for planting copras and rice. Also, there are several crops that are being grown in this island. Some of them are coconut, corn, banana, some root crops, and even fruit trees.

Fishing is also one of the means of living of the residents in Romblon. The fishes acquired in its vast bodies of water are being distributed into near provinces like Batangas and Quezon.

Another thing that makes the people of Romblon busy is mining. Being the Marble Country in Asia, marbles are basically one product obtained in the mining grounds of Romblon. Aside from marble, the islands are rich in granite, nickel, silica, mercury, zinc, copper, silver, limestone, sulfide, ores, kaolin, clay, magnesium, and quartz. Some of the miners also got a hold of gold in some gold panning sites.