Abundant wildlife, jungle mountains, and some white sandy beaches attract many tourists, as well as international companies looking for development opportunities.

The entire length of the island forms a mountain range, with a peak altitude of 2,086 meters (6,844 ft) at Mount Mantalingajan.

This microcontinent also forms the shallow water north of Palawan in the Reed Bank-Dangerous Ground area of the southern South China Sea.

These units are part of the microcontinent ("North Palawan Block") although they are deep marine rocks marginal to the continental crust.

[12] Tectonically, Palawan with the Calamian Islands, is considered to be a north-east extension of the Sunda Plate, in collision with the Philippine Mobile Belt at Mindoro.

The other animal fossils were ascribed to macaques, deer, bearded pigs, small mammals, lizards, snakes and turtles.

The tiger subfossils showed longitudinal fracture of the cortical bone due to weathering, which suggests that they had post-mortem been exposed to light and air.

However, the Philippine brown deer shows significant variation across its range, with populations on Mindanao Island being smaller than those of Luzon.

Thus, it is possible that the overlap between the Luzonese brown deer and the archaeological material is coincidental, and that the fossils could belonged to another species of Cervus that had occurred in Palawan, with the taxonomic classification being unresolved.

However, the Philippine brown deer shows significant variation across its range, with populations on Mindanao Island being smaller than those of Luzon.

Thus, it is possible that the overlap between the Luzonese brown deer and the archaeological material is coincidental, and that the fossils could belonged to another species of Cervus that had occurred in Palawan, with the taxonomic classification being unresolved.

[18] In April 2013, a fishing vessel loaded with illegally poached animals ran aground on a coral atoll off the coast of Palawan Island.

[26] In May 2014, armed forces chief of staff General Emmanuel T. Bautista said that Oyster Bay may be developed into a naval base with United States Navy support.