Cagayan de Oro (CDO), officially the City of Cagayan de Oro, is a highly urbanized city in the Northern Mindanao region of the Philippines. According to the 2024 census, it has a population of 741,617 people, making it the 10th most populous city in the Philippines and the most populous in Northern Mindanao.
It serves as the capital of the province of Misamis Oriental wherein it is geographically situated and grouped under the province by the Philippine Statistics Authority, but governed administratively independent from the provincial government and also the largest city of that province. It also serves as the regional center and business hub of Northern Mindanao, and part of the growing Metropolitan Cagayan de Oro area, which includes the city of El Salvador, the towns of Opol, Alubijid, Laguindingan, Gitagum, Lugait, Naawan, Initao, Libertad and Manticao at the western side, and the towns of Tagoloan, Villanueva, Jasaan, Claveria and Balingasag at the eastern side.
Cagayan de Oro is located along the north central coast of Mindanao island facing Macajalar Bay and is bordered by the municipalities of Opol to the west, Tagoloan to the east, and the provinces of Bukidnon and Lanao del Norte to the south of the city.
Cagayan de Oro is also famous for its white water rafting or kayaking adventures, one of the tourism activities being promoted along the Cagayan de Oro River.Cagayan De Oro Travel Guide
Etymology
The name Cagayan de Oro (lit. River of Gold) can be traced back to the arrival of the Spanish Augustinian Recollect friars in 1622, the area around Himologan (now Huluga), was already known as "Cagayán". Early Spanish written documents in the 16th century already referred to the place as "Cagayán". Variations of this word—karayan, kayan, kahayan, kayayan, kagayan and kalayan—all also mean river.
The region of Northern Mindanao, which included Cagayan de Oro, was granted as encomienda to a certain Don Juan Griego on January 25, 1571. It was then former Vice President of the Philippines Emmanuel Peláez who appended "de Oro" to Cagayan.
The name "Cagayan" is shared by other places in the Philippines; these include the province of Cagayan in Cagayan Valley, northern Luzon–in which is said to have similar reference with Cagayan de Oro as they refer to their respective rivers with the same name (one being the longest in the Philippines), the Cagayan Islands in the northern Sulu Sea, and the former Cagayan de Sulu, currently named Mapun, an island in Tawi-Tawi.
History Prehistoric period The Cagayan de Oro area was continuously inhabited by Late Neolithic to Iron Age Austronesian cultures. The oldest human remains discovered was from the Huluga Caves, once used as a burial place by the natives. A skullcap sent to the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in 1977 was dated to be from between 350 and 377 AD.
The caves have yielded numerous artifacts, but most areas have been badly damaged by guano collectors and amateur treasure hunters. Associated with the cave is the Huluga Open Site, believed to be the site of the primary pre-colonial settlement in the region identified as "Himologan" by the first Spanish missionaries. The site is located about eight kilometers from present-day Cagayan de Oro.
Early historic period The discovery of a grave site in 2009 uncovered remains of Song dynasty (960–1279 AD) celadon ware and Sukhothai period (1238–1347 AD) Sangkhalok ceramic ware, in addition to body ornaments and stone tools. It indicates that the region was part of the ancient maritime trading network of Southeast Asia. Skulls recovered from the sites show that native Kagay-anons practiced artificial cranial deformation since childhood as a mark of social status, similar to skulls from archeological sites in neighboring Butuan.
The Huluga Open Site was extensively damaged in 2001 to give way to a bridge project by the local administration. It was the source of controversy when a team from the University of the Philippines-Archaeological Studies Program dismissed the archeological importance of the site by declaring it as a "camp-like area" and not a settlement and thus not worthy of heritage protection under the laws. It was alleged by local conservationists that the UP-ASP team were influenced by the local government so the bridge project could continue. The site is still not protected and continues to be quarried, despite protests by local historians and archeologists.
Colonial period
Spanish period The Himologan settlement was still occupied by the time the Europeans made contact. In 1622, two Spanish Augustinian Recollect missionaries reached the settlement and described it as being inhabited by a mixed stock descended from Lumad and sea-faring Visayans ("Dumagat"). They described the men of the settlement as being tattooed like other Visayans and the women as being ornamented with intricate jewelry, some of which were golden. They also identified them as animists, practicing traditional anitism, though they paid tribute to Muhammad Kudarat, the sultan of the Islamized Sultanate of Maguindanao to the south.
The original Lumad inhabitants of Cagayan de Oro (and Misamis Oriental in general) are the Higaonon people whose name means "people of the coast", from the Higaonon word higa, meaning "coastal plain" or "shore". They resisted the Spanish Reducciones policies and were displaced by more incoming Dumagat migrants (mostly Visayans) during the Spanish colonial period. Most Higaonon moved to the interior highlands of Misamis Oriental and northern Bukidnon.
In 1626, Fray Agustín de San Pedro persuaded the chief of Himologan, Datu Salangsang, to transfer his settlement down the Cagayan River, to the present-day Gaston Park. De San Pedro later fortified the new settlement against Sultan Kudarat's raiders.
In 1738, Spanish dominance was felt in Cagayan de Oro. When Misamis gained the status of province in 1818, one of its four districts was the Partidos de Cagayan. In 1871, the "Partidos" became a town and was made a permanent capital of Misamis. Of which there were 38 Spanish-Filipino families.
On February 27, 1872, Governor-General Carlos María de La Torre issued a decree declaring Cagayan the permanent capital of Segundo Distrito de Misamis. During this era, the name of the town was known as Cagayan de Misamis.
In 1883, the town became a seat of the Spanish government in Mindanao for the provinces of Misamis Oriental, Misamis Occidental, Bukidnon and Lanao del Norte.
The Spanish authorities surrendered to Misamis governor Jose Roa and municipal mayor Toribio Chavez, both appointees of President Emilio Aguinaldo. With the Fiesta Nacional of January 10–11, 1899, their independence was celebrated as the Philippine flag was raised for the second time in Mindanao. At that time, the town joined the Aguinaldo government in the second time it was declared.
American period
Spain's cession of the Philippines to the United States through a peace treaty in 1898 mainly caused opposition from residents of then Cagayan de Misamis. Their involvement in the Philippine–American War was prompted by the presence of the Americans, who had invaded the municipality on March 31, 1900, and whom they fought against thrice since then.
Resistance fighters lost in the early battles. On April 7, Gen. Nicolas Capistrano led an attack in the town center, on the garrison of the U.S. 40th Infantry Regiment under Col. Edward Godwin, but were repulsed with heavy losses. On May 14, the positions of the 1st Company of El Mindanao Battalion in Agusan Hill was attacked by a military unit under Col. Walter Elliot, with 38 members including their commander, Capt. Vicente Roa, killed.
On June 4, the said battalion, under Col. Apolinar Velez and Lt. Cruz Taal, repulsed the U.S. 35th Regiment during the Battle of Makahambus Hill; marking the Americans' first defeat in the war.
After the troubled years, peace finally brought back the economic activities to normality under the guidance of the United States. Consequently, from a purely farming-fishing area, Cagayan de Oro emerged into a booming commerce and trade center, attracting migrants from Luzon and Visayas to settle in the area.
Americans gave the Philippines its independence on July 4, 1946.
Japanese period and second American period On May 3, 1942, American and Philippine forces fought heroically against invading Japanese forces from Panay. Unable to resist the overwhelming and the better supplied Japanese, the allied forces retreated to more defensible positions outside the city. The Japanese burned most of the city and took up residence at the Ateneo de Cagayan University, now Xavier University Grade School and used the ferry crossing near San Agustin Church. In addition, the Japanese also established at least three (likely more) "comfort stations" in the city, where enslaved local girls and teenagers were forced by Japanese soldiers into sexual slavery, which included routine gang-rapes and murders.
The Japanese army implemented a scorch-earth policy. Filipino and American guerrilla forces fought back during this occupation and American planes bombed both the university and San Agustin church on October 10, 1944. The Japanese were never able to successfully move outside the city for any length of time due to the constant pressure and attacks from the Philippine resistant movement. Combined American and Free Philippine forces landed in Cagayan de Oro on May 10, 1945, three years and 7 days after the Japanese occupation.
During this period the Japanese committed many atrocities against the local population of Cagayan de Oro, as they did throughout the Philippines. Colonel Fumio Suzuki and two hundred of his men escaped capture during the liberation of the city and withdrew into the mountainous jungle. They were caught two years later; only 38 survived, by cannibalizing the Higaonon tribal people. At least 70 people were eaten.
A Cagayanon, the physician Antonio Julian Montalvan, was a member of an espionage team working for the return of Gen. Douglas MacArthur to the Philippines. Later, he became part of a Manila spy network. He was captured, tortured and decapitated by the Japanese.
Former municipalities as oldest barangays Iponan, Gusa and Agusan, the city's oldest barangays, were once municipalities during the colonial period.
Iponan and Agusan, along with Bayug, Gompot (Balingasag), and Tagoloan, were among the visitas established by the Recollect missionaries in Cagaiang (city's former name) in 1674. The two were under Partido de Cagayan as the then-undivided Misamis was partitioned into four partidos in 1818.
Iponan was made into a separate parish in 1833. The three became visitas of then Cagayan de Misamis, which became the new provincial capital in 1871.
Gusa was established as a barrio in 1771, and shortly, became a municipality. Original settlers were Bukidnons, as well as few Manobos and Moros, who came from barrio Lapasan and town of Cagayan; but the increase of immigrants later resulted in all of the natives leaving the area. At the time of the American occupation, during the Philippine–American War, in 1901, Gen. Nicolas Capistrano chose to meet there twice with the American military officials for a peace conference, held in Julian Gevero's residence, eventually ending the year-long war. However, due to decrease of population following the evacuation of residents during the war, and the town's short distance from Cagayan, Gusa was reverted to a barrio, being part of Agusan.