Kalapang

Kalapang is an older form associated with Calapan on Mindoro. The municipal account describes it as a small community linked to neighboring Baco before the establishment of a Recollect parish in 1679. Settlement gathered around the church. By the early eighteenth century, the town occupied a narrow strip between Ibaba and Ilaya, with the church at its center and a river cutting through its developing layout.

In 1733 the district convent moved to Calapan, making it the ecclesiastical center for northern Mindoro. A contemporary missionary account lists Baco, Suban, Ilog, Minolo and Camoron among its dependent communities and identifies the convent with the Holy Child, Santo Niño. The town expanded through the formation of additional barrios during the century. In 1837 the provincial capital moved there from Puerto Galera. These changes trace a specific progression from a community attached to Baco into a parish settlement, regional religious headquarters and finally a provincial administrative center.