Dinagat, officially the Municipality of Dinagat ( Surigaonon: ''Lungsod nan Dinagat''; ceb, Lungsod sa Dinagat; tl, Bayan ng Dinagat), is a 5th class

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

in the

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

Dinagat Islands Dinagat Islands (Cebuano language, Cebuano: ''Mga Pulo sa Dinagat''; Surigaonon language, Surigaonon: ''Mga Puyo nan Dinagat''; Kabalian language, Kabalian: ''Mga Puyo san Dinagat''; Waray language, Waray: ''Mga Purô han Dinagat''; Filipino lang ...

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 10,621 people. 360° view of White Beach, Dinagat

History

Founded under the order of Governor-General Manuel Crespo as a

pueblo In the Southwestern United States, Pueblo (capitalized) refers to the Native tribes of Puebloans having fixed-location communities with permanent buildings which also are called pueblos (lowercased). The Spanish explorers of northern New Spain ...

in April 25, 1855, the municipality is the oldest of the whole province. Settlers from

Leyte Leyte ( ) is an island in the Visayas group of islands in the Philippines. It is eighth-largest and sixth-most populous island in the Philippines, with a total population of 2,626,970 as of 2020 census. Since the accessibility of land has be ...

Bohol Bohol (), officially the Province of Bohol ( ceb, Lalawigan sa Bohol; tl, Lalawigan ng Bohol), is an island province of the Philippines located in the Central Visayas Regions of the Philippines, region, consisting of the island itself and 75 m ...

, and Surigao built their homes along the coast of what is now the

poblacion ''Poblacion'' (literally "town" or "settlement" in Spanish language in the Philippines, Spanish; ) is the common term used for the administrative center, central, downtown, old town or central business district area of a Philippines, Philippi ...

of the town. According to sources, the first families to settle in the town were Ga, Ventura, Ecunar, Gealogo, Jarligo, Geraldino,Ensomo, Gier, and Eviota. However the pueblo is on constant risk of being attacked by Moro pirates from mainland Mindanao. It even reached to the point that they managed to steal the

bell A bell is a directly struck idiophone percussion instrument. Most bells have the shape of a hollow cup that when struck vibrates in a single strong strike tone, with its sides forming an efficient resonator. The strike may be made by an inter ...

of the Immaculada Concepion

Parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one or m ...

, the only church in the town then, and dumped it in a

well A well is an excavation or structure created in the ground by digging, driving, or drilling to access liquid resources, usually water. The oldest and most common kind of well is a water well, to access groundwater in underground aquifers. The ...

situated on what is now

sitio A ''sitio'' (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 barangay if its popul ...

Busay in Barangay New Mabuhay. But the Moro pillaging was eventually stopped by the first

gobernadorcillo The ''gobernadorcillo'' (, literally "little governor") was a municipal judge or governor in the Philippines during the Spanish colonial period, who carried out in a town the combined charges or responsibilities of leadership, economic, and judic ...

of the town, Pedro Ga Ventura, along with his brother Leon through e''stukada'' or

fencing Fencing is a group of three related combat sports. The three disciplines in modern fencing are the foil, the épée, and the sabre (also ''saber''); winning points are made through the weapon's contact with an opponent. A fourth discipline, s ...

using ''linantip'', a variety of bolo. They were considered by local historians as the first hero of the whole province. The population of the town began to rapidly grow after

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. The local economy flourished and birth rates were high with more people coming from Surigao coming to the town to settle down. Elementary and secondary schools were built in the area and later on ports and improved infrastructures were also built in the town. The town became more populous than ever after the foundation of the

Philippine Benevolent Missionaries Association The Philippine Benevolent Missionaries Association, Inc. (PBMA) is a non-sectarian and non-profit charitable religious fraternal organization for men and women in the Philippines founded by Ruben Edera Ecleo Sr. (December 9, 1934 – December 20, ...

, headed by the Ruben Edera Ecleo Sr, which also served as a mayor of Dinagat from 1963 to 1987. The influx of settlers, mostly PBMA members, caused a rapid rise in population. However, many of those settlers did not live at the town centre, rather at Sitio Puyangi, which would become the Municipality of

San Jose, Dinagat Islands San Jose, officially the Municipality of San Jose (Surigaonon language, Surigaonon: ''Lungsod nan San Jose''; ceb, Lungsod sa San Jose; tl, Bayan ng San Jose), is a 4th class municipality of the Philippines, municipality and capital of the Phil ...

today. Due to their areas being developed, Barangay San Jose, Matingbe, Jacques, Aurelio, Mahayahay, San Juan, Don Ruben Ecleo, Justiniana Edera, Santa Cruz, Cuarenta, Wilson and Luna was separated from the original territory of Dinagat to form the new municipality of San Jose on November 15, 1989, under Republic Act No. 6769. The town became a part of the province of Dinagat Islands in December 2006, when the province was created from

Surigao del Norte Surigao del Norte ( Surigaonon: ''Probinsya nan Surigao del Norte''; ceb, Amihanang Surigao; Tagalog: ''Hilagang Surigao''), officially the Province of Surigao del Norte, is a province in the Philippines located in the Caraga region of Mindanao. ...

by Republic Act No. 9355. However, in February 2010, the Supreme Court ruled that the law was unconstitutional, as the necessary requirements for provincial land area and population were not met. The town reverted to Surigao del Norte. On October 24, 2012, however, the Supreme Court reversed its ruling from the previous year, and upheld the constitutionality of RA 9355 and the creation of Dinagat Islands as a province.

Geography

The municipality is generally hilly with towering mountainous in eastern side part and islands outlying in the western part.

Plain In geography, a plain is a flat expanse of land that generally does not change much in elevation, and is primarily treeless. Plains occur as lowlands along valleys or at the base of mountains, as coastal plains, and as plateaus or uplands ...

areas are located within the vicinity of different creeks and rivers that flow to the western coast (majority of the plains are located in Magsaysay, Cayetano, and Wadas) and are used for agricultural purposes with products being

rice Rice is the seed of the grass species ''Oryza sativa'' (Asian rice) or less commonly ''Oryza glaberrima ''Oryza glaberrima'', commonly known as African rice, is one of the two domesticated rice species. It was first domesticated and grown i ...

maize Maize ( ; ''Zea mays'' subsp. ''mays'', from es, maíz after tnq, mahiz), also known as corn (North American and Australian English), is a cereal grain first domesticated by indigenous peoples in southern Mexico about 10,000 years ago. Th ...

, and

cassava ''Manihot esculenta'', common name, commonly called cassava (), manioc, or yuca (among numerous regional names), is a woody shrub of the spurge family, Euphorbiaceae, native to South America. Although a perennial plant, cassava is extensively ...

. The

or the town centre is located on the western end of the Dinagat

Peninsula A peninsula (; ) is a landform that extends from a mainland and is surrounded by water on most, but not all of its borders. A peninsula is also sometimes defined as a piece of land bordered by water on three of its sides. Peninsulas exist on all ...

separated by the Dinagat Bay on the north and Awasan bay on the south. It has many pockets of

beaches A beach is a landform alongside a body of water which consists of loose particles. The particles composing a beach are typically made from rock, such as sand, gravel, shingle, pebbles, etc., or biological sources, such as mollusc shells ...

on its coast mainly on the islands of Cab-Ilan and Cabayawan but beaches are also spotted in White Beach, Wadas, and Gomez. La isla Calaveras (Pulo), an island near Tagbuyakhaw, was used as a

mass grave A mass grave is a grave containing multiple human corpses, which may or may not be identified prior to burial. The United Nations has defined a criminal mass grave as a burial site containing three or more victims of execution, although an exact ...

for people killed by brutal Japanese occupiers during

. But now it became an attraction for beach goers.

Mangroves A mangrove is a shrub or tree that grows in coastal saline or brackish water. The term is also used for tropical coastal vegetation consisting of such species. Mangroves are taxonomically diverse, as a result of convergent evolution in several ...

dominate the

deltas A river delta is a landform shaped like a triangle, created by deposition of sediment that is carried by a river and enters slower-moving or stagnant water. This occurs where a river enters an ocean, sea, estuary, lake, reservoir, or (more rarel ...

and

wetlands A wetland is a distinct ecosystem that is flooded or saturated by water, either permanently (for years or decades) or seasonally (for weeks or months). Flooding results in oxygen-free (anoxic) processes prevailing, especially in the soils. The ...

of the coasts and are prevalent in New Mabuhay, Wadas, Magsaysay, and Cayetano.

Aquaculture Aquaculture (less commonly spelled aquiculture), also known as aquafarming, is the controlled cultivation ("farming") of aquatic organisms such as fish, crustaceans, mollusks, algae and other organisms of value such as aquatic plants (e.g. lot ...

is lively as it has many protected fish sanctuaries in the bay.

Barangays

Dinagat is politically subdivided into 12

barangay A barangay (; abbreviated as Brgy. or Bgy.), historically referred to as barrio (abbreviated as Bo.), is the smallest administrative division in the Philippines and is the native Filipino term for a village, district, or ward. In metropolitan ...

s. * Bagumbayan * Cab-ilan * Cabayawan * Cayetano * Escolta (Poblacion) * Gomez (with Tagbuyakhaw as a

) * Justiniana Edera * Magsaysay * Mauswagon (Poblacion) * New Mabuhay * Wadas * White Beach (Poblacion)

Climate

The town generally experiences dry season from April to October along with wavy seas due to the Habagat (Southwestern Monsoon) and wet season from November to March.

Demographics

Economy

Gallery

References

External links

Dinagat Profile at the DTI Cities and Municipalities Competitive Index
* Philippine Standard Geographic Code {{Authority control Municipalities of Dinagat Islands