LAST UPDATED: October 16, 2020

LOCATION AND POLITICAL SUBDIVISION

Mercedes is one of the twelve (12) municipalities of Camarines Norte. It lies along the eastern part of the province. The northern part of the municipality is facing the Pacific Ocean while the eastern part is bounded by San Miguel Bay. Its neighboring towns are Daet and Basud, located on its western part. Lanot, one of the coastal barangays of Mercedes serves as the boundary of Camarines Norte and Camarines Sur in the south.
The municipality is composed of twenty six (26) barangays. Nine (9) barangays are located in the mainland, three (3) are island barangays, and the rest are coastal barangays.
Most of the barangays of the municipality are located along the coast of San Miguel Bay. There are seven (7) islands in the municipality, namely: Canimog, Apuao Pequeña, Apuao Grande, Canton, Malasugui, Caringo and Quinapaguian.

LAND AREA

         The municipality of Mercedes has a total land area of 17,369 hectares or 173.69 square kilometers. It is roughly 7.49% of the province’s total land area, and 0.97% of the region’s total land area. (Table 1)

         The combined area of Barangay Poblacion and Barangay San Roque, which are considered urban barangays constitute about 397.26 hectares or 2.29% of the municipal area. Other barangays that comprise the rural areas constitute about 16,971.74 hectares or 97.71%. The largest barangay is Barangay Colasi with an area of 2,551.80 hectares or 14.69% of the municipal area, while the smallest is Barangay 6 with an area of only 3.49 hectares which is 0.02%. (Table 2)

         Moreover, the municipality’s municipal water covers around 53,850.731 hectares and its shoreline excluding offshore island is around 95,074.307 meters as delineated by the NAMRIA.