Magallanes, officially the Municipality of Magallanes (Cebuano: Lungsod sa Magallanes; Tagalog: Bayan ng Magallanes), is a municipality in the province of Agusan del Norte, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 22,293 people.[6]
The municipality was named after the Hispanized surname of the Portuguese-born maritime explorer Ferdinand Magellan. Formerly part of Butuan, Magallanes was created as a municipality on June 21, 1969, through Republic Act 5660.[1]
Geography
According to the Philippine Statistics Authority, the municipality has a land area of 44.31 square kilometres (17.11sqmi)[7] constituting 1.62% of the 2,730.24-square-kilometre- (1,054.15sqmi) total area of Agusan del Norte.
The topography of the land is mostly flat and rolling, surrounded by mountains. Swamps characterize much of the landscape that is situated at the mouth of the two major rivers in the province, the Agusan and Baug Rivers.
The elevation of most of lands is 2 feet (0.61m) below sea level. The town center is in the river delta and has to be kept protected by dikes. The land gradually rises in the north-west to the 99-metre- (325ft) high Mount Taod-oy at barangay Taod-oy and the 162-metre- (531ft) high Mount Panaytayon.
Around 2,834.89 hectares (7,005.2 acres) of Magallanes lands have slope of 0 to 3 percent, 399.28 hectares (986.6 acres) have 8 to 18 percent, 1,497.30 hectares (3,699.9 acres) 18 to 30 percent and 250.53 hectares (619.1 acres) 30 to 50 percent.
Hydrosol, San Miguel Loam, San Miguel Clay Loam, Malalag Silt Loam and Butuan Loam are its soil types. Upper Miocene, Cretaceous-Paleogene and recent sedimentary materials are the rock elements that make up Magallanes lands.
Land use
Of its total land area, 4,109 hectares (10,150 acres) are classified as alienable and disposable.[citation needed] The other 882 hectares (2,180 acres) are forestlands. 149.95 hectares (370.5 acres) or 3 percent is built-up, 92.26 hectares (228.0 acres) of that for social facilities and the other 59.69 hectares (147.5 acres) for roads. Around 3,210.72 hectares (7,933.9 acres) or 64.33 percent of its lands are utilized for agriculture, the other 1,630.33 hectares (4,028.6 acres) or 33.20 percent, for forest use. Four hectares are also being utilized for tourism in special use. Within the agricultural area, 1,727.63 hectares (4,269.1 acres) are under CARP coverage.
Magallanes is generally outside the "typhoon belt". Its climate is, by Philippine classification, Type II. There is no definite dry season in the area. Maximum rain is from November to January. Lying within the eastern coast, the place is within the pathway north-east monsoons, trade winds and storms.
Barangays
Magallanes is politically subdivided into eight barangays.[9] Each barangay consists of puroks while some have sitios.
The town has two plywood manufacturing firms: EMCO (Barangay Santo Rosario) and PSPI (Barangay Marcos), and one safety matches manufacturing firm: JAKA Equities Corp (Barangay Marcos). The three manufacturing plants are all on the main street and operating near the Baug River and Agusan River.
A 2,000-hectare (4,900-acre) of prawn/shrimp farm in Magallanes used to be the Philippines' top exporter of first class prawn/shrimp to Japan, until the entire farm was hit by a white spot disease in 2001 leading to the collapse of the industry.
Tourism
The large branches of the Bitaug was broke according to the residence near at the tree on June 23, 2017
Magallanes celebrates its annual fiesta every third Saturday of October in honor of patroness Nuestra Señora del Rosario, Our Lady of the Rosary, which includes thanksgiving mass, parades and more.
The 'Lisagan Festival' held on Sunday after the fiesta includes street dancing similar to Sinulog Festival and fluvial procession at the Agusan River and Baug River. The town parish doesn't allow major public gathering like disco, live bands and other similar events the night before the fiesta.
Magellan Shrine
Magellan Shrine
Located at Poblacion near the Municipal Hall, the shrine was the site of the 'first' Catholic mass in Mindanao on April 8, 1521. It was believed that the Magellan's Cross in Cebu was also erected here by the explorer Ferdinand Magellan and his men before they sail North. Evidence showed church ruins near the Agusan River.
Agusan River
The Agusan River is the widest and navigable river in Mindanao.
Government
List of mayors
Name
Year of Term
Florentino P. Magallanes
1972-1978; 1986-1987
Francisco M. Herrera
1978-1984
Juanito A. Suacillo
1984-1986
Rosita C. Cumba
1988-1994; 1995
Manuel M. Relampagos
1994; 1995-1998
Carlito C. Cumba
2007-2010
Demosthenes H. Arabaca
2010-2019
Cesar C. Cumba
1998-2007; 2019–present
Infrastructure
Magallanes Coastal Road (Left) and REBAR Sports Center (Right)
The Magallanes Coastal Road (Known as Cuenca Avenue Street) was started on 2019 under municipal mayor Cesar Cumba, Jr. The said project was under the Local Government and it was completed in October 2020. In 2023, the LGU constructs the new coastal boulevard that easily traveled from and to Poblacion. The REBAR Sports Center was located in P-6 Buhang, Magallanes which was opened on October 9, 2020. The said sports center was owned and maintained by the private family, and it has 2 badminton courts, 2 table tennis courts, 2 darts courts and the taekwondo dojang. The Badminton court can be also configured for Rhythmic gymnastics.
PAL Express and Cebu Pacific have daily flights from Manila to Butuan and v.v. Cebu-Butuan-Cebu flights via Cebu Pacific scheduled Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays, and PAL.
There are several major shipping lines serving the Manila and Cebu routes namely: 2Go, Cokaliong, Medallion Transport and PSACC.
The boat ride from Butuan to Magallanes, navigating the Agusan River, takes about 45 minutes.
Land
Bachelor Express and PhilTranCo is the dominant public land transport from Manila and Tacloban passing Surigao, Cabadbaran and Butuan to Cagayan de Oro and Davao. The public mode of transportation within the municipality is by motorcabs and pedicabs. Passenger vans commonly known as V-Hire are also available for Butuan routes.
Notable people
Ronald Barniso - international Taekwondo champion, first of municipality, globally
RJ Rae Arquion - Taekwondo athlete, currently studied at NU
1 2 Census of Population and Housing (2010). "Caraga"(PDF). Total Population by Province, City, Municipality and Barangay. National Statistics Office. Retrieved 29 June 2016.
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