Chapter 1

PHYSICAL PROFILE
Brief History of the Province
The name Misamis is believed to have been derived from the Subano word
Kuyamis which is a variety of sweet coconut-the staple food of the early settlers in this
place. During the years the name persisted as an inference of geographical location and
upon the advent of the Spanish settlers, the word Kuyamis easily gave way to the more
conveniently pronounceable but corrupted word Misamis.
The original inhabitants of this area were the Bukidnon who gradually retreated
into the interior following the steady influx of settlers from Cebu and Bohol.
The first Spaniards to arrive in Misamis were the Recollect Missionaries. In
1754, Father Jose Ducor, S.J., built the port of Misamis now (Ozamiz City) as a base for
further offensive against the marauding Muslim from the south. As first constituted,
Misamis formed a part of the bishopric of Cebu. In 1818, it became a Corregimiento,
comprised of four partidos or divisions. In 1850, it expanded further until it covered
almost one fourth of the entire Mindanao Island. During the later half of the 19 th century.
Misamis was one of the six districts of Mindanao and later on one of the seven districts of
Mindanao and Sulu at the close of the Spanish era.
At the outbreak of the Philippine Revolution in 1896, most of the Recollect
Missionaries left the place.

By December 1898, they completely abandoned their

missionary activity in Misamis. The revolutionary government was in power during the
last days of the months of the 20th century. This ended abruptly, however, since after
three brief months of the independence, the American occupation forces took over and
forthwith established civil government on May 15, 1901.
In December 1941, war came to the Philippines and the country was over-run in
less than a month. The Philippine Army capitulated by order but instead organized
guerilla units in the province.

Three of the well-known figures in the resistance

movement were the late Jose Ozamiz who was executed at La Loma Cemetery, Lucas
Naranjo, a former vice governor and Patricio L. Atay, Sr., also a former Vice Governor.
1
/var/www/apps/conversion/tmp/scratch_5/277305626.doc

Except for the tragic Calamba Massacre, the province from 1942 to 1943 was
relatively peaceful since only a negligible contingent of Japanese soldiers were stationed
in the area. After the war, Gideon Quijano was appointed governor of Misamis by
President Roxas. The incumbent governor is (Honorable Ernie D. Clarete who was
elected in the 1998 local elections). Honorable Loreto Leo S. Ocampos who was elected
in May 14, 2001 national and Local Election.

Geographical Location
Misamis Occidental is located near the narrow strip of land linking northwestern
Mindanao, to the northcentral part of the island. Shaped like a collabsible fan or a loaf of
American Bread or the fourth letter in the alphabet, it is bounded on the northeast by the
Mindanao Sea, east by the Iligan Bay, southeast by the Panguil Bay, and the west by the
Zamboanga del Norte and Sur. The fact that three of its boundaries are bodies of water
gives away water life as one of its natural resources and findings as one of its main
industries.

Except along the coastal area, hilly and rolling land characterized the

provincial terrain. Towards the western border, the terrain is particularly rugged. The
province falls between 12303300 to 12305150 east longitude and 800100 an
804015 north latitude.

Political Subdivision
The province consists of fourteen municipalities, including the lately created Don
Victoriano Chiongbian municipality and three cities namely: Ozamiz, Oroquieta and
Tangub. The Provincial capital is Oroquieta City.
Legislative Act No. 3537 passed November 2, 1929 divided the old province of
Misamis into Misamis Occidental. The Occidental comprise the towns of Baliangao,
Lopez Jaena, Tudela, Clarin, Plaridel, Oroquieta, Aloran, Jimenez, and Misamis. The
original nine munipalities of the province grew into the present three cities of Ozamiz,
Oroquieta and Tangub and fourteen municipalities of Aloran, Baliangao, Bonifacio,
Calamba, Clarin, Concepcion, Don Victoriano, Jimenez, Lopez Jaena, Panaon, Plaridel,
Sapang Dalaga, Sinacaban and Tudela with a total number of 490 barangays.

2
/var/www/apps/conversion/tmp/scratch_5/277305626.doc

Land Area
The province has a total land area of 1,939.32 square kilometers representing .65
percent of the total land area in the Philippines. The municipality of Don Victoriano has
the biggest land area equivalent to 16.22 percent of the total. The municipality of Panaon
shares the smallest area of only 20.48 square kilometers.

Topography and Land Classification

From the vast tracks of rice land along the coastal areas, twelve municipalities and
three cities are located. The terrain is rising gently towards the hilly and rolling land
westward to Mount Malindang and Mount Ampiro where two municipalities are situated.
The soil in the rugged interior are suited to coconuts which is the chief crop grown in this
province. The second major crop is rice. Other crops like corn, abaca, cacao also thrive
in flat and rolling lands.
Under the present land classification system, lands of public domain with slopes
of more than 18 percent (approximately 10 degrees) are retained for permanent forest
purposes.
Those with 18 percent slope and below classified as alienable and disposable (A
and D) lands.

Those lands may be released for non-forest purposes (agriculture,

industrial and residential) subject to additional conditions such as contiguity of area and
environmental considerations.
As of 1995 about 127,929.54 hectares or 63.20% of the total land area of the
province has been classified as A and D land while the remaining percentage of 34.03
percent accounts for forest lands. Parks and wildlife reserved 53,262 hectares or 71.50%
of the total classified forestlands.

The area for fishpond, Civil Reservation and

Established Timberlands constituted 21,226.46 or 28.50% of the total classified

forestland.

3
/var/www/apps/conversion/tmp/scratch_5/277305626.doc

Soil Type
Soil of the uplands consisting of 64.65% of the total area is composed mostly of
Adtuyon Clay Loam and Guimbaloan Clay Loam. Other types were Adtuyon Loam,
Baliangao Clay Loam, Castella Clay Loam, Jasaan Clay Loam.
The 6.316% of the total area were soil of lowlands which type belongs to Bantog
Clay, Kabacan Clay, Mabini Sandy Loam, Pulopandan Sandy Loam and Quingua Silt
Loam. The miscellaneous type which consist of 28.93% were of Beach Sand, Hydrosol
Mountain soils and a .21% unsurveyed.

Climate and Rainfall

The climate of this province belongs to the fourth type where rainfall is more or
less fairly distributed throughout the year. The rainiest month is November and the driest
month is February. The entire province is outside the typhoon belt, but it is sometimes
affected by freak storms.

General Land Uses

The land uses in the province are classified into agricultural area,
grassland/shrubland areas, wooded or forest areas, wetland areas, and miscellaneous land
uses. The agricultural areas account for 115,487.8 hectares or 59.55 percent of the total
land area of the province while Forestland/Woodland and Grassland/Shrubland areas
extend to 16.67% and 19.80% respectively.

A.

Agricultural Areas
The province has an aggregate agricultural area of 115,487.8 hectares which has

been the object of development for two most important farming systems-the rice based at
the flat-land coastal areas and the coco-based farming system at the upland areas.
Among the agricultural crops, coconut is the most dominant covering about
101,784 hectares or 85.58 percent of the total agricultural areas. Coconut groves are
sparsely intercropped with fruit trees, bananas and rootcrops.

4
/var/www/apps/conversion/tmp/scratch_5/277305626.doc

Paddy rice irrigated rank second among the agricultural crops. It has an estimated
area of 6,209 hectares or 5.22% of total area devoted to agriculture production,
distributed among the cities and municipalities except Concepcion, Don Victoriano,
Calamba and Sapang Dalaga, Plaridel has the largest number of hectares, closely
followed by Bonifacio and Ozamiz City.
Corn is the third most important crop, accounting for 7,030 hectares. Corn is
grown on well-drained areas and along river terraces. Extensive corn areas are found in
the cities of Ozamiz and Tangub. Corn areas are commonly associated with grassland
and shrubland areas as well as in the coconut dominated areas.
Bananas accounted for 1,263 hectares of 1.06 percent of agricultural area.
Banana is planted on well-drained areas and usually under coconut trees. Although most
of the bananas in the province are grown in the backyard and in scale with little or no
care at all, they have contributed as raw material in industries which manufacture banana
crackers and banana chips.
Rootcrops like bananas are alternate staple food for rural households and are
planted in 688 hectares. Fruit trees abound but are scattered in 343 hectares in the
province.

B.

Grassland/Shrubland
Grassland areas cover about 38,387.2 hectares or 19.80% of the total area of the

province. Talahib (Sacchrum spontaneum and cogon Imperata cylindrica) are dominant
grasses.

They occur on logged-over areas, abandoned kaingin, in the rolling and

mountainous terrain and small patches in the lowland which are at present not
incultivation in all municipalities and cities.
Shrub occupies an approximate area of 17,091 hectares or 8.81% of total area of
the province. They occur on areas before reaching the forested areas. Like grasses, they
occur also on logged-over area and abandoned kaingin.

5
/var/www/apps/conversion/tmp/scratch_5/277305626.doc

C.

Wetland Areas
The total area of the wetland in the province is estimated to be 4,583.4 hectares or

2.36% of the province. These include mangrove swamp forest, fishponds and lake.
Mangrove swamp forest trees that are usually found are Avicennia afficinales
(Piyapi), Rhizophora spiculata (bakhaw), Calophylum inophylum (pitaog), Xylocarpus
granatum (Tabigi), Ceriops tagal (Tangal), Sonneratia alba (Pagatpat).
Mangrove swamp forest are usually made up of thick stands of medium-sized and
even-aged trees. Normally they are free from undergrowth other than seedlings and are
characterized by the presence of roots above the surface of the ground. Depending upon
the species these may take the form of erect roots, knees high crop roots, or mere swollen
roots with side branches extending along the surface of the ground. These peculiar roots
are one of the distinguishing characteristic of the mangrove swamp forest trees.
Mangrove swamp forest accounts for 3.28% hectares where 2,557 are tree type
mangroves and 730 hectares are palm type mangrove (nipa).
Some 1,276 hectares of mangroves/swamplands are being developed for
fishponds especially for bangus and prawn production. The province has one lake, Lake
Duminagat, on top of the mountain with 16 hectare area. The lake is the object for ecotourism for domestic and foreign tourist.

D.

Forestlands or Woodlands
Forestland area is about 32,323.8 hectares or 16.67% of the total land area of the

province. It is located at the Midwestern portion of the province, particularly at Mt.

Malindang, Mt. Ampiro and other mountain ranges of the province.
Some of the diptocarp species that are found in the area are Almon, Apitong,
Bagtikan, Red Lawa-an, White Lawa-an, Mangasinoro, Mayapis and Tanguile. Some of
the non diptocarp are Almasiga, Bakan, Dongon, Lati, Igem, Gubas, Ilang-ilang, Katmon,
Lumbayao, Lokinai, Maka-asim, Malakawayan, Nito, Taluto and White Nito. Among
species are Antipolo and Narra.
The Mt. Malindang, which covered 53,262 hectares when proclaimed as Forest
Reserve for Wildlife Sanctuary by virtue of R.A. 6266 on June 19, 1971. The area which
6
/var/www/apps/conversion/tmp/scratch_5/277305626.doc

reduced to 31,896 hectares, has several river tributaries and is a watershed. These are
several endangered wildlife species found, there such as Philippine Deer, Rafona Horn
Bill, Giant Scope Owl, Philippine Eagle and several rare species of flora.

E.

Areas for Miscellaneous Land Uses

Built-up areas which consist of residential, commercial and industrial areas, have

a total area of 2,504 hectares. Airport-airstrip, 44 hectares, kaingin, 322 hectares and
beachland, 648 hectares. Built-up land category is associated with fruit trees, vegetables
and coconut trees.

7
/var/www/apps/conversion/tmp/scratch_5/277305626.doc