Jabonga, Agusan del Norte
Encyclopedia
Jabonga is a 4th class municipality in the province of Agusan del Norte, Philippines
Philippines
The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...
. According to the 2000 census, it has a population of 20,501 people in 3,742 households.
Jabonga lies within the grid 90 degrees 18 minutes to 9 degrees 23 minutes north latitude and 125 degrees 43 minutes east longitude. Its boundaries are Kitcharao and Surigao del Norte to the north; Butuan Bay to the west; Tubay and Santiago to the south; Surigao del Sur to the east. It is 59.7 km from Butuan City.
It has a total land area of 29,300 hectares of plain to rolling and hilly lands. Among the municipalities, Jabonga ranks first in total area and number of farms (464) which are mostly owned by individuals. It has one of the 36 crop storage facilities of the province.Its major crops are coconut, rice, corn, timber and both fresh and sea-water fish.
Barangays
Jabonga is politically subdivided into 15 barangayBarangay
A barangay is the smallest administrative division in the Philippines and is the native Filipino term for a village, district or ward...
s.
- Baleguian
- Bangonay
- A. Beltran (Camalig)
- Bunga
- Colorado
- Cuyago
- Libas
- Magdagooc
- Magsaysay
- Maraiging
- Poblacion (Jabonga)
- San Jose
- San Pablo
- San Vicente
- Santo Niño
Legend of Jabonga
Jabonga traces its origin to a village formerly occupied by Negritoes and a few Christian immigrants led by a Manobo Negrito meztizo Angelecio Montante, also called Agaras. The village became known as “Celopan”, a name derived from the bamboos growing along the bank of the river that were made into smoking pipes.Sometime during the middle part of the nineteenth century, the increasing number of inhabitants who were joined by other Christian immigrants from other places transferred to a new settlement in the present site of Colorado. By this time, The Spanish government was already sending missionaries to all parts of the island and the group that went up the Kalinawan River reached the settlement of Colorado, a name derived from the word “Colorado” meaning colored, because of the white spotted arms of Domingo Mondoy, the brave settler who dared to face the newcomers. Proceeding upstream, the missionaries reached Celopan and seeing a native inside a hut, the floor of which was just one meter above the water, they asked him what the place was called. Thinking that the Spaniards were referring to the hut, he answered “Habongan”. Thus, Celopan was renamed “Habongan” which was later became Jabonga.