The Mystery of Malasimbo’s Name

For many years, I have wondered where the name Malasimbo came from. It is the name of the beautiful mountain that stands tall in Puerto Galera, Oriental Mindoro. Tourists know it for the famous Malasimbo Music and Arts Festival, and locals admire it as part of our town’s natural beauty. But what does the word really mean?

Surprisingly, “Malasimbo” has no clear meaning in Tagalog or Filipino. Even our local leaders and elders say that it has always been called that—but no one really knows why. It is not a common word, and it does not appear in most Filipino dictionaries.

Some say the word might come from the Tagalog prefix “mala-”, which means “like” or “similar to.” This makes people guess that “simbo” might have been an old word, maybe something that described a mountain or a shape. One interesting idea is that it may be connected to the Spanish word “simborio,” which means a dome or a round roof. Since Mount Malasimbo is dome-shaped, maybe the early settlers called it “mala-simborio” – or “like a dome.” Over time, it might have shortened into Malasimbo.

Another theory is that the word might come from the Mangyan languages, spoken by our indigenous brothers and sisters in the mountains. However, no one has found a meaning for Malasimbo in any known Mangyan language yet. It might be a very old word whose meaning has already been lost.

We may never know the exact meaning of Malasimbo, but its mystery adds to the charm of the mountain. Whether it came from an old Spanish word, a forgotten indigenous term, or simply from the imagination of our ancestors, it continues to live in our hearts as a symbol of Puerto Galera’s beauty, history, and culture.