CARAGA REGION HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHY

The Caraga Region was created through Republic Act Number 7901 on February 25,
1995. The region is composed of five (5) provinces: Agusan del Norte, Agusan del Sur,
Dinagat Island, Surigao del Norte and Surigao del Sur; six (6) cities:
Butuan,Cabadbaran, Bayugan, Surigao,Tandag and Bislig ; sixty-seven (67)
municipalities and 1,308 barangays. Butuan City is the regional center.
History

The history of Caraga can be traced back to the 15th century when explorers
discovered the existence of Kalagans, believed to be of Visayan Origin in one of the
three districts in Mindanao. The word Caraga originated from the Visayan word
Kalagan: Kalag meaning soul or people and An meaning land. The Kalagans have
a long history of being brave and fearless. Thus, the region was called by early
chroniclers as the Land of the Brave and Fierce People.

The Kalagans, called Caragans by the Spaniards occupied the district composed of
the two provinces of Surigao, northern part of Davao Oriental and Eastern Misamis
Oriental. The two Agusan Provinces were later organized under the administrative
jurisdiction of Surigao and became the independent Agusan province in 1914. In 1960,
Surigao was divided as Norte and Sur, and in June 1967, Agusan followed suit. While
Butuan then was just a town of Agusan, the logging boom in 1950s drew business and
businessmen to the area. On August 2, 1950, by virtue of Republic Act 523, the City
Charter of Butuan was approved .

GEOGRAPHICAL LOCATION

Region XIII or the Caraga Administrative Region is the newest region created under
Republic Act No. 7901 approved on February 23,1995. It consists of the provinces of
Agusan del Norte, Agusan del Sur, Surigao del Norte and Surigao del Sur. Its cities are
Surigao and Butuan.

It has a land area of 18,847 sq. kms. Butuan Bay and Surigao Strait surrounds it on the
north, and the Philippine Sea on the east. On the South are the Davao provinces and
Misamis Oriental and Bukidnon on the west.
Its proximity to other growth areas such as the Cagayan - Iligan corridor and the Davao
Gulf Economic Zone is an advantage.

POPULATION

In 2000, its population was 2,076,000 with an increase of 6.42% from its population of
1,942,687. In 1990, there were 947,199 (51%) and 912,982 females.

CULTURAL GROUPS

Majority of the inhabitants of the region are of Visayan lineage. The ethnic residents
include the Manobo, the Mamanwa and other tribes.

It is reported that during the early years of the Caraga region, its inhabitants came from
mainland Asia, followed by Malayans, Arabs, Chinese, Japanese, Spanish and
Americans. Migrants from the Visayan and Luzon provinces later settled in the area.
Most of its inhabitants speak the Cebuano dialect and reside in the rural areas.

CLIMATE

The region in general has no definite dry season. Rainfall occurs throughout the year
with heavy rains from November to January. Storms might occur on the northern and
eastern portions facing the Pacific Ocean. The rest of the region are relatively typhoon-
free.

LAND USE

Forestland in the region accounts for an estimated 71% of its total land area. The rest
are devoted to agriculture and other purposes. Forest cover is decreasing due to
encroachment/poaching.

NATURAL RESOURCES
Rich in natural resources, the region has large tracts of land available for development.
The region is noted for its wood based economy, its extensive water resources and its
rich mineral deposits such as iron, gold, silver, nickel, chromite, manganese and copper.
Its leading crops are palay, banana and coconut.

It has excellent tourism potentials because of its unspoiled and beautiful beaches,
abundant and fresh seafood, ancient and historical landmarks, hot and cold springs,
evergreen forests and balmy weather.

FACILITIES

The entire region is connected by roads from and to the major commercial, trading and
processing centers of Cagayan de Oro and Davao. Butuan City is being developed as
the regional center with modern facilities. There are secondary seaports and airports in
the region. Sea ports are in Nasipit, Agusan del Norte and Lipata, Surigao City. Airports
are in Butuan City, Surigao City, Tandag City and Siargao Islands.

It has an increasing number of telecommunication facilities.

History

The history of Caraga can be traced back to 15th century when explorers discovered
the existence of Kalagans, believed to be of Visayan Origin in one of the three districts
in Mindanao. The word Caraga originated from the Visayan word Kalagan: Kalag
meaning soul or people and An meaning land. The Kalagans have a long history of
being brave and fearless. Thus, the region was called by early chroniclers as the Land
of the Brave and Fierce People.

The Kalagans, called Caragans by the Spaniards, occupied the district that was
composed of the two provinces of Surigao, northern part of Davao Oriental and Eastern
Misamis Oriental. The two Agusan Provinces were later organized under the
administrative jurisdiction of Surigao and became the independent Agusan province in
1914. In 1960, Surigao was divided as Norte and Sur. And in June 1967, Agusan
followed suit. While Butuan then was just a town of Agusan, by virtue of Republic Act
523, the City Charter of Butuan was approved on August 2, 1950.

On February 23, 1995, Republic Act No. 7901, An Act Creating Region XIII To Be
Known As Caraga Administrative Region And For Other Proposes, was signed into law
by President Fidel V. Ramos, constituting the provinces of Agusan del Norte, Agusan del
Sur, Surigao del Norte, Surigao del Sur and the cities of Surigao and Butuan, which
serves as the regional center. On August 24, 2006, Republic Act No. 9355 created a
new province from Surigao del Norte, the Dinagat Islands province which constituted
the fifth province of Caraga.
Location and Size

Caraga Region, situated in the northeast section of Mindanao, is located between 8 00

to 10 30 N. latitude and 125 15 to 126 30 E. longitude. It is bounded on the north by
the Bohol Sea; on the south by the provinces of Davao, Compostela Valley and Davao
Oriental of Region XI; on the west by Bukidnon and Misamis Oriental of Region X; and
on the east by the Philippine Sea and the Pacific Ocean.

The region has a total land area of 18,846.97 km. This represents 6.3% of the countrys
total land area and 18.5% of the island of Mindanao. 47.6% of the total land area of the
region belongs to the province of Agusan del Sur.
The region is characterized by mountainous areas, flat and rolling lands. Mountain
ranges divide Agusan and Surigao Provinces and sub-ranges separate most of the
lowlands along the Pacific Coast. The most productive agricultural area of the region
lies along the Agusan River Basin. The famous Agusan Marsh also sits in the middle of
Agusan del Sur. Among the lakes in the region, Lake Mainit is the widest. It traverses
eight (8) municipalities: Alegria, Tubod, Mainit and Sison in the Province of Surigao del
Norte and Tubay, Santiago, Jabonga and Kitcharao in Agusan del Norte.

Climate

Caraga Region has Type II kind of climate, with no pronounced wet and dry season. It
has been observed that during the months of November to February, occurrence of
heavy rains is usually experienced in the region.

Cultural Groups

The majority of the inhabitants of the region are of Visayan heritage. The province is
also home to several minority groups, totaling 675,722 in 1995, representing 34.7% of
the regions population. Most numerous were the Manobos with 294,284 or 43.55% of
the total population of ethnic minorities. Other cultural groups in the region with
significant population were the Kamayo, Higa-onon, Banwaon, Umayamnon, and
Mamanwa. Most members of these cultural groups reside in the province of Agusan del
Sur.

It is reported that during the early years of the Caraga region, its inhabitants came from
mainland Asia, followed by Malayans, Arabs, Chinese, Japanese, Spanish and
Americans. Migrants from the Visayan and Luzon provinces later settled in the area.
Most of its inhabitants speak the Cebuano dialect and reside in the rural areas.

Language

Cebuano was spoken by 43.79% of the household population in the region. Other
dialects spoken were Surigaonon, spoken by 25.21%; Kamayo, by 7.06% ; Boholanon,
by 5.87%; Manobo, by 4.73%; Butuanon, by 31.9%; Hiligayon, by 2.87%; and other
dialects by 7.20%.

Religion

The 1995 census revealed that the dominant religion in the region was Roman Catholic,
with the population of 1,397,343 or 79% of the total household population in Caraga.
Most numerous in this census were the manobos with 294,284 or 43.55% of the total
population of cultural communities. Most of them reside in the province of Agusan del
Sur. Other cultural communities in the region with significant population were the
Kamayo, Higa-onon, Banwaon, Umayamnon, and Mamanwa. Surigaonon is a local
Philippine language spoken in the province of Surigao del Norte, and some portion of
Agusan del Norte especially in towns near Mainit Lake. It is related to the Butuanon and
Tausug languages.

Natural Resources

Rich in natural resources, the region has large tracts of land available for development.
The region is noted for its wood based economy, its extensive water resources and its
rich mineral deposits such as iron, gold, silver, nickel, chromite, manganese and copper.
Its leading crops are palay, banana and coconut. It has excellent tourism potentials
because of its unspoiled and beautiful beaches, abundant and fresh seafood, ancient
and historical landmarks, hot and cold springs, evergreen forests and balmy weather.

Major Products

Its long stretch of shoreline promises abundance in production of fisheries and aquatic
products. With its large tract of fertile lands, the region has a great capacity in producing
varied commercial crops as well as livestock and poultry. Major agricultural products of
the region are palay, corn, coconut, gold, banana, rubber, oil palm, calamansi, prawns,
milkfish, crabs, seaweeds and mango. Caragas proximity to Cebu and Manila makes it
a favorable shipping point for products to and from these markets. Nasipit Port can
serve as a secondary shipping hub to Cagayan de Oro when traffic volume from other
points in Mindanao increases. With a roll-on, roll-off (RORO) ferry service now in place,
Surigao City serves as a vital transportation link for trucks and buses bound for Luzon.
Regional Economy/ Gross Regional Domestic Product (GRDP)

The region performed fairly well in terms of regional output contributing 8.01% in 1998,
8.25% in 1999 and 8.29% in 2000 to the Mindanao GRDP. The region contributed
1.44% in 1998, 1.48% in 1999 and 1.50% in 2000, to the Philippine economy. In terms
of growth rate, the region accelerated faster and outpaced the other regions in
Mindanao from 1998 to 2000, except for the Southern Mindanao Region which posted a
6.06% increase in 1999-2000. Caraga Region recorded a 5.42% increase during the
same period.
GRDP in 2000 amounted to P14.336 Billion as against the 1999 performance of
P13.599 Billion. The deceleration of the regions economy from 6.03% in 1999 to 5.42%
in 2000 was attributed to the slowdown of the Agriculture, Fishery and Forestry (AFF)
and Services sectors. The improved performance of the Industry sector, from 5.69% in
1999 to 6.69% in 2000, cushioned the effects of what could have been a slowdown of
the regions economy.
From 2001-2003, Caraga Region consistently maintained its performance vis--vis
other regions in Mindanao, Philippines. Caraga posted a 0.9% growth rate compared to
the 9.5% growth rate of Region 12 and the 2.6% growth rate of the Autonomous Region
for Muslim Mindanao (ARMM). Caragas growth rate in 2001-2002 and the 2002-2003
period was the same (0.9%). This was much less than the growth of the population. This
performance was better however than the regions performance in 2000-2001 period,
where the regions economy declined by 1.4%.
The regions contribution to Mindanaos domestic product is 7.58% in 2003. In terms of
per capita income, Caraga has the second lowest per capita income among Mindanao
regions and nationwide. In 2003, the region accounted for 1.35% of the countrys GNP.

Health and Nutrition

All the vital health indicators from 19921997 showed a decreasing trend except for
maternal mortality rate. The crude birth rate decreased from the 1992-1996 five-year
average of 21.02 to 18.71 in 1997. The crude death rate also decreased from 3.60 in
the 19921996 average to 3.0 in 1997. The infant mortality rate increased from an
average of 1.33 in 19921996 to 1.56 in 1997.
All of the leading causes of morbidity from 19921997 were communicable diseases,
and showed a reduction in rates for every 1,000,000 population, except for pneumonia
(836.30 to 1,200.23), diarrhea (1,059.40 to 1,133.11), influenza (655.36 to 926.74), and
malaria (216.80 to 366.5). With regards to the leading causes of mortality, lifestyle-
related diseases like cardiovascular diseases and cancer top the list, replacing the
communicable diseases.
The region is faced with problems of endemic diseases like schistosomiasis and
malaria. Although there was a slight reduction in its prevalence for the past three years,
still Caraga ranked as number two in schistosomiasis cases and number six in malaria
cases nationwide.
Malnutrition rates were posted at 49.25%, of which 34.05% were classified as mildly
underweight, 11.66% as moderately underweight, 1.43% as severely underweight and
3.60% as overweight.
Life expectancy for the region, based on the 1995 census, was 65.73 years old for
males and 70.98 years old for females.
As of 1997, there were 62 hospitals in the region, of which 35 were government and 27
were private. Out of the 27 private hospitals, 20 were primary, 4 secondary and 3
tertiary. Out of the 35 government hospitals, 18 were primary, 14 were secondary and 3
were tertiary. There were 73 main health centers, 489 barangay health stations manned
by 76 doctors, 147 nurses, 35 medical technologists, 45 dental aides, 52 dentists, 608
midwives and 137 sanitary inspectors. All of these were devolved to the local
government units in accordance with the 1991 local Government code.

Foods and Delicacies

Food lovers will delight in the various delicacies, fruits and food from the region.
Mouthwatering kakanin from Butuan city include special bibingka, galapong, ube biko,
tikoy with latik, kalawa ube, cassava buko and galapong ube. Popular fruits as Pomelo,
jackfruits, lanzones different varieties of bananas and even durians could be found here
especially in food festivals celebrated across the region.
In different Trade Fair organized across the region you will find various food items like
Durian ice cream, pure Kalamansi concentrate, crunchy coconut biscuits Salvaro and
Patatas, and the tastiest noodles. Locally called Udong, these noodles, have recently
been exported to Japan because the Japanese reportedly prefer this over their own
noodles. Daing at manggang hilaw with bagoong is a popular side dish particularly in
Agusan del Sur.
Seafood treasures include large crabs, prawns, dried Dalag from Agusan Marsh and
even exotic marine foods as tamilok.