Friday, October 31, 2008 Roa: Subject--History By Paulita R. Roa Past Speaks
History is a very fascinating subject but to many it is a boring one. This is probably because of the way this subject is presented that is why it is often viewed as dull and tedious.
However, there are many ways of promoting history that can ignite the interest of people and spur them to learn more about our past.
One way of doing it is through a question and answer method done in story form.
This is a big help to students for they can easily understand and appreciate our history sans the burden of having to memorize dates and names. After all, history is the story of our people from the ancient times to the present.
I am presenting to you the early history of Cagayan de Oro and other interesting trivia in a Q and A form and tell me what you think about it.
1. What is the origin of the name Cagayan?
Cagayan comes from an ancient or proto-Philippine word Carayan which means river.
2. What are the places in the Philippines that are named Cagayan?
There are four places namely Cagayan Valley in Luzon, Cagayancillo in the Visayas, Cagayan de Tawi-Tawi or Sulu, and Cagayan de Oro in Mindanao.
3. Who are the Kagayanens?
The Kagayanens are a group of people living in Cagayancillo island who claims their ancestors came from Northern Mindanao.
4. What is the oldest name of our city?
The oldest name is Kalambagohan or Malambagohan to the Manobos. It means a place full of lambago trees.
5. What is a lambago tree?
The lambago belongs to the hibiscus family and have golden yellow flowers. It can grow to more than 12 feet and used to be found by the hundreds along the riverbanks.
6. What are the other names of our city?
When the Spaniards first came here in 1622, it was already known as Cagayan. During the early years of Spanish colonial rule, the town was called "Cagayan el chico" or Little Cagayan. It was perhaps used to distinguish it from the great Cagayan Valley in Luzon. In 1871, the town was officially called "Cagayan de Misamis" when it became the capital town of the Misamis Province or the 2nd District of Mindanao. Under the American colonial government, the town was simply called "Cagayan."
7. What comprise the Misamis Province or the 2nd District of Mindanao?
The present day provinces of Misamis Oriental, Misamis Occidental, Bukidnon, Camiguin, and Iligan all the way to Dapitan.
8. Who gave the city the name "Cagayan de Oro" and why?
Representative Emmanuel N. Pelaez authored House Bill No. 54, "An Act Creating the city of Cagayan de Oro" in 1949. He appended "de Oro" to Cagayan in recognition of the fact that since the pre-Hispanic period, gold has been found in the hills and rivers that is now part of the city.
9. What are the official initials of our city?
"CdeO" are the official initials of Cagayan de Oro. This is contained in City Ordinance No. 10962-2008.
10. What are the oldest barangays of the city?
Iponan, Gusa, and Agusan are the oldest barangays of the city.
11. What is the oldest known settlement of the Kagay-anons?
The fortress of Himologan located in Cagayan territory is the oldest known settlement. According to the 1681 Recoletos Journal, Himologan was situated on top of a cliff by the river. The exact location of this fortress is unknown to this day.
12. Who lived in Himologan and what kind of people were they?
Datu Salansang, the ruler of Cagayan and his people occupied the fortress though some also lived outside the fortress. They were of Manobo stock who could have, at that time, inter-married with the people from the seafaring Visayan tribe since it was noted that the dialect they spoke was similar to the Cebuano dialect.
13. Who were the first Spaniards who came to Cagayan and how did they come to know of the place?
In 1622 two Augustinian Recollect missionaries, Fray Juan de San Nicolas and Fray Francisco de la Madre de Dios who were stationed in Caraga, heard about a people that lived in a territory called Cagayan who were considered the most peaceful inhabitants of Mindanao. Eager to convert them to Christianity, the priests decided to sail to Cagayan with the help of Dona Madalena Bacuya (or Baluyot in some Spanish records) who was a new convert from Butuan.
14. Who was Dona Madalena Bacuya?
Dona Madalena was the grandmother of Datu Salansang. She was a well-respected noble lady who lived in Butuan. Fr. Francisco Combes, S.J., in his book "Historia de Mindanao y Jolo y sus adyacentes" in 1667, traced the genealogy of her family. Dona Madalena was the daughter of Datu Pagbuaya of Dapitan. He pledged loyalty to the Spaniards of Miguel Lopez de Legazpi's expedition in 1565. The Datu also had a son named Manooc who, after his baptism, became known as Pedro Manuel Manooc who is considered the founder of Iligan.
It was through the intervention of Dona Madalena that her grandson, Datu Salansang, allowed the missionaries to live in the Himologan fortress and work in his territory. Datu Salansang later became the first convert of his people.
