San Fernando, officially the Municipality of San Fernando (; ), is a

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality' ...

in the

province A province is an administrative division within a country or sovereign state, state. The term derives from the ancient Roman , which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire, Roman Empire's territorial possessions ou ...

Bukidnon Bukidnon (), officially the Province of Bukidnon (; ; ; Bukid language, Binukid and Higaonon language, Higaonon: ''Probinsya ta Bukidnon''), is a landlocked Provinces of the Philippines, province in the Philippines located in the Northern Mindan ...

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 63,045 people.

History

The natives of Bukidnon known as Tigwahanons and Matigsalugs were the original inhabitants of this area. They settled along the fertile river valleys of the Tigwa and Salug rivers. These people were

nomadic Nomads are communities without fixed habitation who regularly move to and from areas. Such groups include hunter-gatherers, pastoral nomads (owning livestock), tinkers and trader nomads. In the twentieth century, the population of nomadic pa ...

by nature and subsisted mainly by

hunting Hunting is the Human activity, human practice of seeking, pursuing, capturing, and killing wildlife or feral animals. The most common reasons for humans to hunt are to obtain the animal's body for meat and useful animal products (fur/hide (sk ...

and eating forest products but they also maintained small plots of

corn Maize (; ''Zea mays''), also known as corn in North American English, is a tall stout Poaceae, grass that produces cereal grain. It was domesticated by indigenous peoples of Mexico, indigenous peoples in southern Mexico about 9,000 years ago ...

and root crops in places where they built their temporary shelters. They have a

feudal Feudalism, also known as the feudal system, was a combination of legal, economic, military, cultural, and political customs that flourished in Middle Ages, medieval Europe from the 9th to 15th centuries. Broadly defined, it was a way of struc ...

type of government headed by a political chieftain known as "

datu ''Datu'' is a title which denotes the rulers (variously described in historical accounts as chiefs, sovereign princes, and monarchs) of numerous Indigenous peoples throughout the Philippine archipelago. The title is still used today, though no ...

", who also acted as their religious leader and armed forces chief. San Fernando was formerly part of the municipalities of Maramag and

Malaybalay Malaybalay City, officially the City of Malaybalay (Bukid language, Binukid: ''Bánuwa ta Malaybaláy''), is a Cities of the Philippines#Legal classification, component city and capital of the Provinces of the Philippines, province of Bukidnon, ...

. Pursuant to Executive Order No. 347 of President Carlos P. Garcia dated July 29, 1959, the Malaybalay barrios along the Tigua River and the Maramag barrios along the Salug River were separated from their mother towns to create the Municipality of San Fernando. During the reign of Gov. Teodoro Oblad and Cong. Cesar Fortich, a proposal was submitted to the defunct Congress for the creation of this district into municipality. On June 18, 1966, San Fernando was created into a municipality under R.A. 4789 and was named in honor of Fernando Damasco, the father of former Gov. Catalino Damasco. The first set of government was installed at Barangay Namnam, approximately 48 kilometers away from Valencia City. The government resettlement program for

Mindanao Mindanao ( ) is the List of islands of the Philippines, second-largest island in the Philippines, after Luzon, and List of islands by population, seventh-most populous island in the world. Located in the southern region of the archipelago, the ...

during the 1960s and 1970s attracted immigrants from

Luzon Luzon ( , ) is the largest and most populous List of islands in the Philippines, island in the Philippines. Located in the northern portion of the List of islands of the Philippines, Philippine archipelago, it is the economic and political ce ...

and the

Visayas The Visayas ( ), or the Visayan Islands (Bisayan languages, Visayan: ''Kabisay-an'', ; Filipino language, Filipino: ''Kabisayaan'' ), are one of the three Island groups of the Philippines, principal geographical divisions of the Philippines, a ...

. The arrival of the migrants, attracted by the town's rich agricultural potential, created more settlements in the area and contributed much in the development of the area. The original occupants of the town, the Tigwahanon and the Matigsalug, were then replaced by these lowlanders or "dumagats". Only few natives remained in the lowland and the majority of them settled in the interior and mountainous areas of the municipality. On July 27, 1970, the municipal council passed a resolution transferring the seat of government from Namnam to Barangay Halapitan. Halapitan - The present town of Halapitan used to be an abaca farm of Victoriano Bantug who served as mayor in the 1970s. Mr. Tamin, a teacher in Namnam used to drop by at Mr. Bantug's house in present Halapitan on his way to Malaybalay, thus the word "Hapit", or drop by. Talangihon which is now Comawas was the loading dock for bamboo rafts as inhabitants sail along Tigoa River connecting Pulangui River onto Lumbayao. Mr. Bantug eventually distributed lands to newcomers and eventually the name Halapitan stayed on " Hapitanan".

Geography

San Fernando is located in the southeast portion of the province of

. It is bounded in the north by Malaybalay City and Cabanglasan, in the east by the municipality of Talaingod, Davao del Norte in the south by

Davao City Davao City, officially the City of Davao, is a City of the Philippines#Legal classification, highly urbanized city in the Davao Region, Philippines. The city has a total land area of , making it the List of Philippine cities and municipalities ...

and North Cotabato province; and in the west by

Quezon Quezon, officially the Province of Quezon () and historically known as Tayabas, is a Provinces of the Philippines, province in the Philippines located in the Calabarzon Regions of the Philippines, region on Luzon. Lucena, a highly urbanized ci ...

and Valencia City. The municipality's

Poblacion ''Poblacion'' (from Spanish '' población'', meaning "population"), sometimes abbreviated as Pob., is a term used in the Philippines to refer to the administrative center, downtown, old town, or commercial area of a city or municipality. It ...

is from Valencia City and from Malaybalay City.

Barangays

San Fernando is politically subdivided into 24

barangay The barangay (; abbreviated as Brgy. or Bgy.), historically referred to as ''barrio'', is the smallest Administrative divisions of the Philippines, administrative division in the Philippines. Named after the Precolonial barangay, precolonial po ...

s. Each barangay consists of

purok A ''purok'' () is an informal division within a barangay in the Philippines. While not officially considered a local government unit (LGU), a ''purok'' often serves as a unit for delivering services and administration within a barangay. ''Pur ...

s while some have

sitios A ''sitio'' (Spanish language, Spanish for "site") in the Philippines is a territorial enclave that forms part of a barangay. Typically rural, a ''sitios location is usually far from the center of the barangay itself and could be its own bar ...

Topography

About eighty percent of the municipality's area is mountainous. The Pantaron Mountain Range (Central Cordillera of Mindanao) forms part of the natural border between the municipality and the Davao provinces in the west while the Aga Mountains between Valencia City and Quezon. The Tigwa River valley occupies the northern and central parts of the municipality while the Salug River valley is found in the southern part of the municipality.

Bodies of water

The municipality has two major river systems: Tigwa River and Salug River. The Tigwa River is a tributary of the Pulangi River, which empties into the Mindanao River in

Cotabato City Cotabato City, officially the City of Cotabato (Maguindanao language, Maguindanaon: ''Kuta nu Kutawatu'', Jawi alphabet, Jawi: ; Cebuano language, Cebuano: ''Dakbayan sa Cotabato''; ), is a Cities of the Philippines#Legal classification, inde ...

. The Salug River is a tributary of the Davao River that empties into Davao Gulf in the south.

Climate

Demographics

In the 2020 census, the population of San Fernando, Bukidnon, was 63,045 people, with a density of . The municipality had a total population of 50,207 people in 2010, up from 40,165 in 2000, with 71 persons per square km.

Economy

The municipality is predominantly agricultural with

as the major product followed by

rice Rice is a cereal grain and in its Domestication, domesticated form is the staple food of over half of the world's population, particularly in Asia and Africa. Rice is the seed of the grass species ''Oryza sativa'' (Asian rice)—or, much l ...

and abaca.

Rattan Rattan, also spelled ratan (from Malay language, Malay: ''rotan''), is the name for roughly 600 species of Old World climbing palms belonging to subfamily Calamoideae. The greatest diversity of rattan palm species and genera are in the clos ...

banana A banana is an elongated, edible fruit – botanically a berry – produced by several kinds of large treelike herbaceous flowering plants in the genus '' Musa''. In some countries, cooking bananas are called plantains, distinguishing the ...

bamboo Bamboos are a diverse group of mostly evergreen perennial plant, perennial flowering plants making up the subfamily (biology), subfamily Bambusoideae of the grass family Poaceae. Giant bamboos are the largest members of the grass family, in th ...

vegetables Vegetables are edible parts of plants that are consumed by humans or other animals as food. This original meaning is still commonly used, and is applied to plants collectively to refer to all edible plant matter, including flowers, fruits, ...

and root crops are also produced in the municipality.

Government

The municipality is administered by the Municipal Mayor together with the

Vice Mayor The deputy mayor (also known as vice mayor and assistant mayor) is an elective or appointive office of the second-ranking official that is present in many local governments. Duties and functions Many elected deputy mayors are members of the loca ...

and the

Sangguniang Bayan The Sangguniang Bayan () is the local legislative branch of the municipal governments in the Philippines. It is responsible for passing ordinances and resolutions for the administration of a municipality. Its powers are defined by the Local Go ...

. The mayor is the local chief executive officer of the municipality while the Sangguniang Bayan (or SB) serves as the local legislative arm as mandated by the Local Government Code of the Philippines of 1991. Under the Mayor's Office are the following offices: Municipal Planning and Development Office, Municipal Civil Registrar's Office, Municipal Engineering Office, Municipal Accounting Office, Municipal Treasurer's Office, Municipal Assessor's Office, Municipal Social Welfare and Development Office, Municipal Agriculture Office and Municipal Budget Office. These offices are mandated to deliver the basic

social services Social services are a range of public services intended to provide support and assistance towards particular groups, which commonly include the disadvantaged. Also available amachine-converted HTML They may be provided by individuals, private and i ...

to the inhabitants of the municipality. The Sangguniang Bayan is headed by the Vice Mayor, acting as its presiding officer, and eight (8) regular Sangguniang Bayan members. They formulate laws and ordinances relevant to the municipality. San Fernando has twenty-four (24) barangays headed by a Punong Barangay together with seven (7) regular Sangguniang Barangay members. 25 Barangays including Langasihan.

Transportation

The municipality has a total road network of . The municipality can be reached by bus, jeepneys and habal-habal or motorcycles.

References

External links

* Philippine Standard Geographic Codebr>2007 Official Philippine Census Information
{{Authority control Municipalities of Bukidnon Populated places on the Rio Grande de Mindanao Political divisions established by Philippine executive order