Palawan is a long and narrow island lying southwest and west of the main group of Philippine islands. Palawan is the country’s southeast frontier with Malaysia. It is bounded by the South China Sea to the northwest and by the Sulu Sea to the south. To the south is the island of Borneo and further west is the socialist Republic of Vietnam. Located west of the main Philippine chain of islands, it is approximately 672 kilometers southwest of Manila while its southern tip, the municipality of Balabac, is only 97 kilometers away from Sabah.

The provincial capital is the City of Puerto Princesa, is the chief seaport and airport, is the center of trade, commerce and education.The name Palawan was believed to come from Chinese word “PA-LAO-YU” meaning “The Land of Beautiful Safe Harbor” and a Spanish word PARAGUA which likens the shape of the island to a closed umbrella.

Thick canopies of trees carpet mountain ranges running the length of the mainland. Known the world over as the Philippine’s last ecological frontier and World’s Best Island, the province of Palawan harbors vast tracts of tropical rainforests and a huge expanse of marine wilderness. Palawan probably has more protected areas than any other province in the Philippines. The Calauit Safari Park in Busuanga is home to exotic and endemic species of animals that roam freely in its verdant hills and plains. In the middle of the Sulu Sea lies the Tubbataha Reefs, a pair of coral atolls that was declared a National Marine Park by virtue of Presidential Proclamation No. 306 issued in August 1988. The Tubbataha Reefs is also part of the Coral Triangle considered a supreme marine habitat in Asia.. In 1993, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) named it a World Heritage Site for its highly diverse collection of fishes and other marine life.