Onuk is a small island off Balabac at the southern tip of Palawan, known for a wide sandbar that appears and disappears with the tide, backed by shallow, clear water over coral.
The surrounding reef holds giant clams and is a regular spot for sea turtle sightings, and the sand is noted locally as some of the finest and whitest in the Balabac group.
The island is privately held, so visiting groups arrange entry through the barangay beforehand. Balabac itself is remote, reached only by a long sea crossing from the Rio Tuba or Bataraza area, which keeps visitor numbers low.
- Best time
- March to May, the short calm-sea window for the Balabac crossing
- Getting there
- By van from Puerto Princesa city to Rio Tuba or Bataraza, then a long outrigger boat crossing to Balabac and on to Onuk Island; permission from the local barangay is needed before landing
- Where
- 8.016° N, 117.211° EOpen in Google Maps
Onuk Island and Balabac
Keep scrolling and they travel past. Press one to see it whole.
Balabac, the town
Balabac is a group of some 36 islands off the southern tip of Palawan, separated from Sabah in Malaysia by the Balabac Strait. Leaving aside the disputed Spratlys, it is the westernmost point of the Philippines.
On Balabac Island stands the Cape Melville Lighthouse, built by the Spanish in 1892 and one of the oldest lighthouses in the country.
The local government
- Mayor
- Shuaib Astami
- Vice mayor
- Al-Hazni Astami
- Municipality of
- Balabac
- PSGC code
- 1705304000
- Barangays
- 20
- Land area
- 581.6 km²
Elected on 12 May 2025 for the term to 30 June 2028, named as on the ballot, from the count COMELEC released (via Rappler); checked 9 November 2026. An official can be suspended or replaced during a term, so the town hall has the last word.
In an emergency
Call 911Balabac’s disaster office (MDRRMO): 0951-084-0255
From the provincial emergency page, checked 8 November 2026. Every emergency number
Its people and its past
The islands' first name, Molbog, came from the Molbog people; Balabag, meaning crosswise, after the lie of the main island, later became Balabac.
The islands belonged to the Sultanate of Brunei and later to Sulu before Spain claimed them in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.
Balabac is home to the Philippine mouse-deer, or pilandok, which is found only in the Balabac islands. Balabac, Palawan - Wikipedia
Also around Balabac
heritage
Cape Melville Lighthouse
A Spanish-period lighthouse built in 1892 at the southern end of Balabac Island.
Palawan's southern jewel - Philstarbeach
Punta Sebaring
A beach at the southernmost tip of Bugsuk Island, one of Balabac's larger islands, with white sand stretching into a long sandbar.
Palawan's southern jewel - Philstarbeach
Mansalangan Sandbar
A sandbar in Balabac surrounded by a wide expanse of shallow turquoise water.
Palawan's southern jewel - Philstarisland
Patawan Island
An islet in Balabac with low-lying greenery, a sandbar and pink-tinted sand.
Palawan's southern jewel - Philstarisland
Canimeran Island
A Balabac island lined with coconut trees and pink-tinted sand; locals call it Patongong Dos, after the larger neighbouring island of Patongong.
Palawan's southern jewel - Philstar
