Zamboanga Sibugay is the youngest of the three Zamboanga provinces — carved from Zamboanga del Sur in 2001 — occupying the interior and southern coastal zone of the Zamboanga Peninsula. Its capital, Ipil, is the province's commercial center; the town rebuilt after a deadly armed raid in 1995.
The Sibugay Valley — the river valley that gives the province its name — is one of the more productive agricultural zones of the Zamboanga Peninsula, with rice, corn, and coconut farming sustaining the lowland communities. The forest margins of the Zamboanga range along the provincial borders are Subanen territory. Margosatubig Bay on the Moro Gulf coast provides access to the rich fishing grounds of the southern sea.
The Sibugay River — which gives the province its name — drains a wide agricultural valley that was opened to settler farming communities in the mid-20th century. The valley now produces significant volumes of rice, corn, and coconut. The river itself is the source of water for the agricultural irrigation systems that support the valley's lowland farms.
Zamboanga Sibugay had 661,498 people in the 2024 census, living in 16 towns. Ipil is both the capital and the largest town. The province wraps around Sibuguey Bay, whose mangroves and mudflats form the Sibugay Wetland Nature Reserve, a wetland of international importance under the Ramsar Convention since 2024.
