Dumaguete City

Dumaguete, officially the City of Dumaguete (Cebuano: Dakbayan sa Dumaguete) or simply Dumaguete City, is a 3rd class city in the province of Negros Oriental, Philippines. According to the 2015 census, it has a population of 131,377 people.

It is the capital and most populous city of the province of Negros Oriental. The city is nicknamed The City of Gentle People.

Dumaguete is referred to as a university city because of the presence of four universities and a number of other colleges where students of the province converge to enroll for tertiary education. The city is also a popular educational destination for students of surrounding provinces and cities in Visayas and Mindanao. The city is best known for Silliman University, the first Protestant and American university in the country and in Asia. There are also 18 public elementary schools and 8 public high schools. The city's student population is estimated at 45,000.

Dumaguete attracts a considerable number of foreign tourists, particularly Europeans, because of easy access from Cebu City in Central Visayas, the availability of beach resorts and dive sites, the attraction of dolphin and whale watching in nearby Bais City. Dumaguete is listed 5th in Forbes Magazine's "7 Best Places to Retire Around the World". The Philippine Retirement Authority a government agency under the Department of Tourism has named the city as the Best Place to Retire in the Philippines for 2018.

The power source of the city comes from the geothermal power plant in Palinpinon, Valencia. The city has redundant fiber optic lines and is a focal point for telecommunications. It is the landing point for fiber optic cables linking it to the whole Visayas, Manila (the capital of the nation) and cities south of Luzon, as well as to other cities north of Mindanao. Scholars have been pushing for the city's inclusion in the tentative list of the Philippines for future UNESCO World Heritage Site nomination.