Misamis Oriental


Misamis Oriental is a province located in the region of Northern Mindanao in the Philippines. Its capital and provincial center is the city of Cagayan de Oro, which is governed independently from the province.

History

Around the 10th Century, the area of what is now Misamis Oriental was under the Indianized Kingdom called the Rajahnate of Butuan.
In the 16th century, Muslims from Malaysia came and then displaced the non-Muslim Lumads northwards as they came to control most of Mindanao, the inhabitants were converted into Islam. As part of Mindanao, the people of the territory were obliged to pay tribute to Muslim rulers.

Province of Cebu

Misamis Oriental shared a history with Misamis Occidental of being part of the Province of Cebu during the Spanish colonial era. In 1818, Misamis was carved out from Cebu to become a separate province with Cagayan de Misamis as its capital, and was further subdivided into partidos or divisions: Partido de Cagayan, Partido de Catarman, Partido de Dapitan, and Partido de Misamis. The new Misamis province was part of the districts of Mindanao during the later part of the 19th Century, with its territory spanning from Dapitan to the west, Gingoog to the East, and as far as Lanao and Cotabato to the south.
Misamis is one of the Spanish-controlled territories vulnerable to Moro raids. The Fuerza de la Concepcion y del Triunfo in Ozamiz was built as a Spanish military installation and one of the staging points in their expeditions against Moros. A fort in Balo-i in present-day Lanao del Norte was also constructed in 1891 on the orders of General Valeriano Weyler in its renewed campaign against the Maranaos. The Fuerza de San Miguel in Iligan was also built, serving as a muster point for Spanish forces in their campaigns in Lanao.

Misamis province

With the organization of the Department of Mindanao and Sulu in 1917, Misamis lost a territory covering Iligan and coastal towns along Iligan and Panguil bays to become part of the Lanao province, making the remaining western and eastern territories of Misamis isolated to each other. Highland areas south of Cagayan de Misamis down to Malaybalay area were carved out to become a sub-province of Bukidnon in 1914, then eventually a full province in 1917.
Legislative Act. No. 3537 approved on 2 November 1929, divided the province of Misamis into two due to the lack of geographic contiguity. It was not until a decade later, on 28 November 1939, that the division between Misamis Oriental and Misamis Occidental was implemented by Act. No. 3777. When Misamis Oriental separated, Don Gregorio Pelaez became its first governor.

World War II

In 1942, at the onset of World War II in the Philippines, Japanese soldiers landed in Misamis Oriental to occupy the region.
Combined American and Philippine Commonwealth forces along with recognised guerrilla fighters liberated Misamis Oriental in 1945.

Modern history

Subsequent creations of new local government units occurred after the war. Lagonglong was a barangay of Balingasag when it was chartered to become a separate municipality in 1949, achieving full municipality status in 1959.
The island of Camiguin was part of the province, and in 1958 it was made into a sub-province. The island eventually separated from Misamis Oriental and achieved regular province status in 1966, with Mambajao as its new provincial capital.
In May 2014 it was reported that an area in Barangay Lapad in Laguindingan, Misamis Oriental, in northern Mindanao, was declared a heritage site. Oyster fossils older than 200,000 years were discovered, according to Balita Pilipinas. Property owner, Raul Ilogon, told Balita Pilipinas that they had been seeing the fossils for 20 years thinking that they were ordinary rocks.

Geography

Located in Northern Mindanao, the province borders Bukidnon to the south, Agusan del Norte to the east and Lanao del Norte to the west. On the north is the Bohol Sea with the island-province of Camiguin just off its northern coast.
Misamis Oriental occupies a total land area of. When the independent city of Cagayan de Oro is included for geographical purposes, the province's land area is.
Misamis Oriental, as a coastal province, is dominated by two bays to the north; the Macajalar and the Gingoog Bay. The central portion of the province features several rivers originating from the highlands of Bukidnon, such as the Cagayan.

Administrative divisions

Misamis Oriental comprises 23 municipalities and 2 component cities, which are organized into two legislative districts and further subdivided into 424 barangays. The provincial capital, Cagayan de Oro, is a highly urbanized city that is administered independently from the province.

Demographics

The population of Misamis Oriental in the was people, with a density of. When Cagayan de Oro City is included for geographical purposes, the province's population is 1,564,459 people, with a density of.

Language

is the primary spoken language of the province, with the vast majority claiming it to be their mother tongue. Many are fluent in English, which is mainly used for business and in the academe. Maranao is also spoken among the Maranao communities within the province. Other languages that may be heard in the province include Higaonon and Subanon.

Religion

predominates in the province with roughly 68% of the population. Other Christian denominations compose most of the minority religions that forms 9% of the Population with 28% belongs Iglesia Filipina Independiente while Islam has a small but steadily increasing number.

Economy

The province is host to industries such as agricultural, forest, steel, metal, chemical, mineral, rubber and food processing. It is home to the 30 square kilometre PHIVIDEC Industrial Estate and the Mindanao International Container Port, all in Tagoloan. Del Monte Philippines, which exports pineapples all over the Asia-Pacific region, has a processing plant in Cagayan de Oro.
On January 10, 2008, Hanjin Heavy Industries and Construction Company of South Korea inked a contract to build a $2 billion shipyard building complex at Villanueva, Misamis Oriental with the PHIVIDEC Industrial Authority. It is bigger than Hanjin's $1 billion shipyard complex in Subic and Olongapo which will hire 20,000 Filipinos to manufacture ship parts. The government declared the 441.8-hectare project site an economic zone.

Government

Executive officials

Members of the [Sangguniang Panlalawigan]

— 1954-1961
February 1, 1988 - February 2, 1998