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RX FOR A REGIONAL IDENTITY: MISAMIS REGION

 

Mike Banos

April 12, 2008

Mindanao Gold Star Daily

 

Of the four administrative and one special regions in Mindanao, only Northern Mindanao enjoys the distinction of having a generic moniker.

 

We have the Zamboanga, Caraga, Davao and Socksargen regions, as well as the Autonomous Region for Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).  Note that the people or our region variously known as Region 10, Region X, Northern Mindanao, Amihanang Mindanao or Normin, to mention a few.

 

By October 10, it will be nine years since the Region 10 Tourism Council passed a resolution asking the national government to rename Northern Mindanao as the “Misamis” Region.  The motion was passed following a presentation by then Commissioner Antonio Montalvan II of the Cagayan de Oro Historical and Cultural Commission during the Council’s 5th General Assembly in October 2, 1999 in Gingoog City.

 

Montalvan’s presentation was based on his paper “Resurgence of Identity: The Heritage of Misamis 1818-1945” tracing the Misamis region’s rich cultural and historical heritage from the times of Himologan settlement at the Huluga caves site dating back to the Late Neolithic Age or 377 AD down to contemporary history in World War II when Cagayan de Misamis (as Cagayan de Oro was then known) and Bukidnon became the rallying points for the underground resistance against the Japanese invaders.

 

Montalvan traces the Misamis region’s beginnings during the early 1800s when the Spanish government decided to pacify Mindanao.  The island was made into one province with Zamboanga as its capital.  It was divided into three politico-military districts under the administration of a military governor: the Primero Distrito de Zamboanga, the Segundo Distrito de Misamis and the Tercio Distrito de Surigao.  The largest f these was the Segundo Distrito de Misamis which covered the present day Zamboanga del Norte, the Lanao and Misamis provinces, Camiguin, Bukidnon and the northern portions of Cotabato and Maguindanao.

 

The Misamis district was further divided into four: Partido de Misamis (Ozamiz), Partido de Dapitan (Zamboanga del Norte), Partido de Cagayan (present day Cagayan and Partido de Catarman (Camiguin).  It was named Misamis after its capital town at the mouth of Pangil Bay, now Ozamiz City.  Here the Spanish Jesuit Jose Ducos built the Fuerza Real de la Virgen de Triunfo as a fortress against the Moro raiders who had to pass through the narrow bay in their raids against Spanish and Filipino towns along the coast. 

 

The author further wrote the following significant historical fact which demonstrates the distinctive character of Misamis region in relation to the different periods of Philippine History

 

  1. Partido de Dapitan is where Filipino national hero Dr. Jose Rizal was exiled from 1892-1896. He mentioned further that the “Aguas Potables” (Potable Water) in Balingasag, Misamis Oriental initiated by Jesuit lay brother Juan Costa has been the inspiration of Rizal’s waterworks project in Dapitan. 
  2. Misamis is the only region which actively joined the Katipunan revolt when on September 29, 1896, around 50 Bukidnon lumads stormed and overwhelmed the Spanish garrison of the Fuerza Nueva Victoria in Calaganan (now present day Baloi, Iligan City).

 

  1. Misamis also became the first region to join the new Philippine Republic of Gen. Emilio Aguinaldo when on December 26, 1898, the new Filipino flag was borne aloft in a public demonstration for Philippine independence in the streets of Mambajao, Camiguin and on January 10, 1899, Philippine independence was proclaimed with so much fanfare in Cagayan de Oro.  It was the second time that the Philippine flag was officially raised in Mindanao (the first was in Surigao).

 

  1. Misamis became part of world history when on March 13, 1942, General Douglas MacArthur landed in Macabalan port after escaping from Corregidor Island.  He later stayed in Del Monte compound in Bukidnon  until March 17, 1942 when he and his family and a few of his staff was flown to Australia. A week later, Commonwealth President Manuel L. Quezon and Vice President Sergio Osmena Sr. also used the same route to escape from Corregidor to Australia.

 

  1. Bukidnon became the headquarters of the Philippine government under Manuel A. Roxas during the early years of the war. It was also here where the last US General, Gen. William Sharp surrendered to the Japanese.

 

  1. Oroquieta City was made a base and headquarters of the guerilla forces led by Lt. Gen. William Fertig. The city was then considered as the capital of the entire Free Philippines, perhaps the only time in country’s history when its capital was in Mindanao, in the region then known as Misamis.

 

  1. Finally, the significance of Misamis in pre history through the discovery of the Huluga caves and open site in Cagayan de Oro city in the early 1970’s. A fragment of a skull sent to Scripps Institute in La Jolla, California for carbon dating showed that it dates back to 377 AD.

 

Banos ended his piece with the hope that “perhaps the 6th edition of the Department of Tourisms “Operation: Tunay na Kulturang Pinoy” which concludes today in Cagayan de Oro City can make a case for the regional identity of Northern Mindanao by coming up with a moniker for Mindanao’s so far remaining generic region.