A large sea bay and island on the indented Pacific coast of Luzon, consisting of predominantly coral shore with pockets of intertidal mudflat and mangrove in the smaller bays. In many places, the nearshore corals have died and have been covered with silt to form sandy flats. The island of Alabat (33 km long) has an extensive mangrove fringe along its southwest shore, with several hundred hectares of intertidal mudflats exposed at low tide. Large portions of the original mangrove forest have been degraded or completely destroyed for the construction of fish and shrimp ponds. The average tidal rise and fall is about l.25m. During the
invasion of the Philippines in
World War II,
Japanese forces landed on three locations: Mauban, Plaridel (then
Siain) and Atimonan. By Christmas Day, 1941 they were in Pagbilao where Palsabangon Bridge (Km. 143.332) was blown almost in the face of the pursuing Japanese. == References ==