A photograph taken in 1892 of Cape Melville Lighthouse on the southern point of Balabac Island, built in 1892.
Balabac Island is the southernmost island of the Palawan province, and therefore the westernmost undisputed island in the Philippines, only about 50 kilometers (31 mi) north from Sabah, Malaysia, across the Balabac Strait.
Administratively, the island forms the main part of the municipality of Balabac and is divided into 14 barangays (the other six barangays of the municipality are on other nearby islands):
Agutayan
Catagupan
Indalawan
Malaking Ilog
Melville
Pasig
Rabor
Salang
Poblacion I
Poblacion II
Poblacion III
Poblacion IV
Poblacion V
Poblacion VI
Demography
The Molbogs, a Muslim ethnolinguistic group, are concentrated on the island. Their livelihood includes farming, fishing and barter trading with the nearby Mapun and Sabah market centres.