[5] On May 23, 2005, Palawan and the highly urbanized city of Puerto Princesa were moved to the region of Western Visayas by Executive Order No.

103 by then-President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo; for the purpose of promoting efficiency in the government, accelerating social and economic development and improving public services in the provinces covered.

Region IV-B was designated as Mimaropa, which stands for the island provinces belonging to the Southern Tagalog region—Mindoro (Oriental and Occidental), Marinduque, Romblon and Palawan.

1, which organized the provinces into 11 regions as part of Marcos' Integrated Reorganization Plan,[10] Romblon was transferred from Western Visayas to Southern Tagalog.

[11] As of 2014[update], it is not clear whether the transfer of Palawan to Western Visayas is still considered pending by the Philippine government.

As of 2014[update], the National Statistical Coordinating Board of the Philippines continued to list Palawan province as part of the Mimaropa region.

The agriculture, forestry, and fishing sector, which contributed 42.1% to the total regional economy, grew by 9.1% in 2006, accelerating from 3.2% the previous year.

The industry sector, which contributed 38.3% to the region's total economy, was the second largest contributor next to agriculture.

Its decline of 5.4% was largely attributed to the decrease in the mining and quarrying sub-sector, which went down by 15.4% due to the reduced production of natural gas in Palawan.

Some of them are the Bathala Cave, Balanacan Bay, and Tres Reyes Islands in the province of Marinduque; White Island in Mindoro; Fort San Andres, Mount Guiting-Guiting, and Bonbon Beach in Romblon; and the Puerto Princesa Subterranean River National Park and El Nido Marine Reserve Park in Palawan.