Agusan del Sur
|
|
Agusan del Sur is a landlocked province of the Philippines located in the Caraga region in Mindanao. Its capital is Prosperidad and borders, from the north clockwise, Agusan del Norte, Surigao del Sur, Davao Oriental, Compostela Valley, Davao, Bukidnon, and Misamis Oriental.
Ph_seal_agusandelsur.png
Image:Ph_seal_agusandelsur.png
2000 census—559,294 (45th largest)
Density—62 per km² (7th lowest)
Highly urbanized cities—0
Component cities—0
Municipalities—14
Barangays—314
Congressional districts—1
| Contents |
People and culture
As of 2000, the province has a population of 559,294. This represents an increase of 44,558 persons or 7.96 percent since 1995. The annual population growth rate is 1.79 percent. There are 103,637 households with an average household size of 5.39 persons. The population density is 62 persons per square kilometer with a male to female ration of 107:100.
The dominant religion is Roman Catholicism, comprising 79% of the population. Other major religions include Seventh Day Adventist, Aglipay, Iglesia Ni Cristo, and the United Church of Christ in the Philippines.
Five tribal groups are found in the province: Aeta, Mamanwa, Bagobo, Higaonon and Manobo. The Manobos live along the national highway and river towns towards the boundary with Compostela Valley. The Higaonons live mostly in the western side of Agusan River, generally in Esperanza towards the boundery with Bukidnon.
The Agusan del Sur population is predominantly composed of immigrants from the Visayas. Intermarriages between immigrants and natives have pulled down the percentage of the lumad stock.
Economy
Palm.jpg
Hig.jpg
Elec.jpg
Based on the 1995 census, 75% of the labor force is engaged in agriculture and forestry. Rice, corn and fruits are among the major agricultural crops.
Human resources
Agusan del Sur has a labor force of 287,000 people, mostly in the agriculture and forestry sector. Several colleges, including a university, add to a well educated, highly trainable, English-speaking workforce. The province also keeps abreast of technological developments elsewhere, with some of these educational establishment offering skills development courses in Information Technology.
Agriculture
Rice occupies the largest cultivated area, with 24,385 hectares of irrigated area yielding 4.1 metric tons per hectare, and rainfed rice with an area of about 16,573 yielding 3.0 metric tons per hectare. The province's rice production has the estimated capacity to feed 1,072,456 people -- far more than the provinces population. Ironically, rice insufficiency persists, especially in the upland and hard to reach barangays.
Corn plantations cover 25,525 hectares for both white and yellow corn with a total production of 55,767 MT in 2000 with surplus corn grits of 31,106 MT enough to feed more than 2 million people, four times greater than the province's population.
Banana is another abundant crop covering an area of 12,745 hectares and could be seen everywhere but not in conventional plantation form. Banana chips are also processed in the province.
Oil palm plantation covers 11,800 hectares. The plantation is a Malaysian-Filipino joint venture, with agrarian reform beneficiaries as land owners. Crude oil is processed in the sites of Rosario, and Trento.
Coconut trees are widespread in the province, covering 39,336 hectares.
Poultry and Livestock
Despite of the government's efforts to increase poultry and livestock production, deficits in meat supply persist. Processed poultry and beef are imported from Davao and Cagayan de Oro City.
Fish
Agusan del Sur is highly dependent on Surigao del Sur and other provinces for the supply of marine products. However, the province has abundant supply of fresh water fish like mudfish, catfish and tilapia.
Geography
Political
Agusan del Sur is subdivided into 14 municipalities:
Physical
Land area
In 1976, the province's land area was 8,568 square kilometres, making it the seventh largest province in the country. After claiming the conflicted boundary between Davao, Butuan City and with the creation of Sibagat, Agusan del Sur now has an area of 8966 square kilometres.
The municipalities of Loreto, La Paz, Esperanza, and San Luis are the four largest municipalities in land area comprising almost sixty percent of the provinces total land area. Santa Josefa and Talacogon, also river towns, have the smallest land area.
Forestland constitutes 76% of the total land area or 682,750 hectares while the alienable and disposable constitutes about 24% or 213,750 hectares. Present land use, however showed that settlements and commercial areas already occupy some of the forestlands.
Through the years, the province has lost so much of its forest resources because existing industries are extractive in nature.
Topography
Agusan del Sur is an elongated basin formation with mountain ranges in the eastern and western sides forming a valley, which occupies the central longitudinal section of the land. The Agusan River, which flows from Compostela Valley in the south towards Agusan del Sur in the north, runs almost in the middle of the valley and empties at Butuan Bay. The river has twelve tributaries: Wawa, Gibong and Simulao Rivers in the eastern side and Ojot, Pusilao, Kasilayan, Libang, Maasam, Adgawan, Cawayan, Umayam and Ihaon Rivers in the western side. These tributaries are fed by streams and creeks. The southern half of the province from the municipality of Veruela is an area filled with swamps and lakes, the biggest of which is Talacogon Lake.
Climate
The province is geographically situated below the typhoon belt but is usually affected by depressions forming in the typhoon regions of Visayas and the province of Surigao del Norte. The climate map of the Philippines based on the modified coronas classification shows that the province falls under Type II.
Type II climate has no dry season with very pronounced wet season of heavy precipitation. Maximum rainfall generally occurs from December to January although there is no single dry month. Its average monthly rainfall is 355 mm. and average humidity is 27.15 degree Celsius. Areas characterized by this climate type are generally along or very near the eastern coast thus are open to the northeast monsoon.
History
The Agusan Valley was settled by a variety of cultural communities like the Manobos, Mamanwas and Higaonons. Archeological excavations in the lower Agusan valley plains have uncovered evidence of strong relationships between the region and the Southeast Asian states. A golden image of Javan-Indian design unearthed in the 1920s and molten jars uncovered in Prosperidad are indications that the region had commercial and cultural ties with the coast.
The Jesuits established a mission in Linao, in the vicinity of present day Bunawan in 1614. However, mission work was hampered by the hostility of the surrounding Manobo tribes. At the height of the power of the Sultanate of Maguindanao in the mid-17th century, the Manobos of the Agusan Valley were in alliance with Sultan Kudarat. Linao was attacked several times during the 1629 Caraga Revolt and the 1649 Sumuroy Revolt.
Towards the second half of the 19th century, the Jesuits resumed missionary work in the upper Agusan region. Missionary work was interrupted by the Philippine Revolution when the Jesuits either fled or were arrested by revolutionaries. During the American occupation, lumbering became an important activity in Agusan del Sur. Visayan migrants settled in the cleared plains, pushing indigenous communities farther into the mountainous slopes.
The territory of Agusan del Sur was governed as part of the province of Caraga during most of the Spanish period. In 1860, it was placed under the comandancia of Butuan, a district of the province of Surigao. In 1914, the province of Agusan was created by the American government. Agusan was divided into Agusan del Norte and Sur in 1967 by Republic Act 4979.
The province of Agusan del Sur was born on June 17, 1967 under Republic Act No. 4969 providing for the division of the province of Agusan into Agusan del Norte and Agusan del Sur. In January 1970 the first set of provincial officials assumed office after the provincial election of November, 1969. The same law provided that the capital of Agusan del Sur shall be the municipality of Prosperidad. The Government Center has been set up in Barangay Patin-ay.
Hon. Rufino C. Otero was elected as the first Provincial Governor and Honorable Democrito O. Plaza the first Congressman in the election of November 1969. The term of office of Congressman Democrito O. Plaza would have continued until December 1983 had it not for the proclamation of Martial Law on September 21, 1972, which in effect abolished the Congress. When the Interim Batasang Pambansa was convened in 1978 after almost a decade of absence under the martial Law, Hon. Edelmiro Amante represented the province in the National Assembly.
Cultural history
Agusan derived its name from the local dialect, "agasan", meaning "where the water flows", referring to the great river splitting the land and meandering south to north in a 250-kilometer rush to Butuan Bay. Agusan River - the third largest in the country - served as highway for the Spanish colonizers in gaining access to inner north-eastern Mindanao.
The history of Agusan del Sur is essentially linked with that of its sister province, Agusan del Norte, for most of their historical existence, they were but one province under one governor or under one local civil government.
Agusans pre-hispanic cultural history is traced back to the great influence of the Majapahit Empire through the discovery of an eight-inch (200 mm) tall image of a woman in pure gold at Maasam, Esperanza in the early 1920s and molten jars unearthed at Bah-bah, Prosperidad. The aborigines of Agusan del Sur are the ancestors of the present day Mamanwas, who were driven to the hinterlands by waves of Malay immigrants. These immigrants, in turn, sought the protection of the interior jungles because of the forays and the constant raids of "moro" pirates. The "moros" being sea-faring people confined themselves to the coastal areas, where they started their settlements.
Highlights
Agcap.jpg
The Provincial Capitol
Gibong River
The Gibong River is a stretch of water with a view of unharmed vegetation in its banks. The river is the only gateway to Binaba Falls. It is also the source of water supply irrigating some 6,000 hectares of rice fields of three municipalities in the province.
Binaba Falls
The Binana Falls is situated in the heart of a jungle-like food of the mountain, with clear waters emitting from the springs, cascading on the boulders of lime rocks. The falls offer a very refreshing bath after a fifteen-minutes ride on a motor-banca from the mini wharf of Prosperidad town passing thru Gibong River.
Bega Falls
Called to be the haven of beautiful ladies according to legend, Bega falls has the ambiance of forest breeze that will surely ease up tired visitors and tourists after an hour hike from an access road. Exotic hanging ornamental plants can also be seen in its vicinity and along the way.
Tugonana Falls
The name derived from the word "Tugon" meaning a promise, Tugonan waterfalls in Barangay San Lorenzo of Prosperidad Town offers a natural wonder where one will surely promise to come back after a visit. The towering trees on its vicinity with wild ornamental plants and orchids hanging on branches, one could have dreamed having gone to paradise.
Agusan Marsh
Agusanmrsh.jpg
Agusan Marsh is one of the most ecologically significant wetlands in the Philippines. Found in the heart of Mindanao's Agusan Basin, this vast expanse of marsh covers an area roughly the size of Metro Manila. It contains nearly 15 percent of the nation's fresh water resources in the form of swamp forests.
During the rainy season, when the water rises to create large lakes, vast number of ducks come to Agusan Marsh to nest. In the dry months, thousands of birds come from as faraway as Japan, China and Russia to escape the chilly winter winds of Northern Asia. Over 200 individual species have been known to spend at least part of the year in the marsh, making it one of Asia's most important transit points for wild birds.
In the very heart of the marsh is a semi-permanent lake where thousands of hectares of lily pads, hyacinths and other hydrophytic plants spread out like an enormous green quilt. In the dark tea-colored waters live untold numbers of catfish, carp, soft-shell fresh water turtles, and crocodiles.
The tiny community of mostly ethnic Manobos have made their permanent homes deep within the marsh, living on floating homes. The small houses made of bamboo and nipa lashed to hard wood logs, freely rise or fall with the level of the marsh itself. The marsh provides virtually everything the Manobos need.
External links
- The Official Website of the Provincial Government of Agusan del Sur (http://www.agusansur.gov.ph)