Esperanza, officially the Municipality of Esperanza ( ceb, Lungsod sa Esperanza; tgl, Bayan ng Esperanza), is a 1st 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 ...

of Agusan del Sur,

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 59,353 people.

History

The municipality of Esperanza was founded on September 11, 1953, per Executive Order No. 611 signed and approved by President

Elpidio Quirino Elpidio Rivera Quirino (born Elpidio Quirino y Rivera; ; November 16, 1890 – February 29, 1956) was a Filipino lawyer and politician who served as the sixth president of the Philippines from 1948 to 1953. A lawyer by profession, Quirino enter ...

.Executive Order No. 611, s. 1953, ORGANIZING THE MUNICIPAL DISTRICTS OF ESPERANZA, CONCORDIA, MAYGATASAN, MAASIN, NUEVO TRABAJO, REMEDIOS, NUEVO SIBAGAT, GUADALUPE, BAKINGKING, BAYLO, BUNAGUIT, SAN LUIS, STA. INES, VERDU AND MILAGROS, ALL OF THE PROVINCE OF AGUSAN, INTO A MUNICIPALITY TO BE KNOWN AS THE MUNICIPALITY OF ESPERANZA
/ref> It duly then began its functions as an independent municipality on September 27, 1953, when its first town officials were appointed. Esperanza was the oldest town in northern Agusan del Sur. It was also the largest town in the province by land area until several municipalities were created out its territories in the late 20th century, namely: Las Nieves,

San Luis San Luis (Spanish for "Saint Louis") may refer to: Places Argentina * San Luis Province * San Luis, Argentina, capital of San Luis Province Belize * San Luis, Belize, in Orange Walk District Colombia * San Luis, Antioquia, a town and municipality ...

Sibagat Sibagat, officially the Municipality of Sibagat ( ceb, Lungsod sa Sibagat; tgl, Bayan ng Sibagat), is a 1st class municipality in the province of Agusan del Sur, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 33,957 people. L ...

, and Bayugan which later turned into a city and has far surpassed its mother town in terms of economy and population.

The Golden Tara

In July 1917, a flood and storm swept through Agusan del Sur in Barangay Cubo of Esperanza. After the storm, a

Manobo The Lumad are a group of Austronesian indigenous people in the southern Philippines. It is a Cebuano term meaning "native" or "indigenous". The term is short for Katawhang Lumad (Literally: "indigenous people"), the autonym officially adopte ...

woman named Bilay Ocampo was on the banks of the muddy Wawa River where she eventually found a figure where it washed up from the river. The 21-karat gold figure dating to around 850 to 950 C.E. weighs and depicts a woman sitting in the lotus position in

Buddhism Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and gra ...

, is ornamented with jewelry on her body, and wears a headdress. This figure turned out to be a representation of the

Bodhisattva Tara Tara ( sa, तारा, ; bo, སྒྲོལ་མ, ), Ārya Tārā, or Shayama Tara, also known as Jetsun Dölma (Tibetan: ''rje btsun sgrol ma'') is an important figure in Buddhism, especially revered in Tibetan Buddhism. She appears as a f ...

. Now known as the "Golden Tara", after its discovery, it was handed to the former Deputy Governor Bias Baclagon then it was passed to the Agusan Coconut Company, because of a debt. It was then being sold and was purchased for by the wife of American Governor-General Leonard Wood, Faye Cooper-Cole, who was the curator of

Chicago Field Museum The Field Museum of Natural History (FMNH), also known as The Field Museum, is a natural history museum in Chicago, Illinois, and is one of the largest such museums in the world. The museum is popular for the size and quality of its educational ...

’s Southeast Asian department. They then donated the Golden Tara to the Field Museum in

Chicago, Illinois (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

, United States where it is currently held in the Grainger Hall of Gems. Dr.

H. Otley Beyer Henry Otley Beyer (July 13, 1883 – December 31, 1966) was an American anthropologist, who spent most of his adult life in the Philippines teaching Philippine indigenous culture. A.V.H. Hartendorp called Beyer the "Dean of Philippine ethnolo ...

, known as the father of Philippine Archaeology and Anthropology, tried to encourage the government to buy the artifact however all attempts failed due to lack of funds.Golden Tara - ''The Official Website of the Provincial Government of Agusan del Sur''.
/ref> Another historical claim has it that when Bilay Ocampo found the Golden Tara, she decided to keep it as a doll. However she was told to give it over to Baclagon because they believed it was a ''

diwata ''Anito'', also spelled ''anitu'', refers to ancestor spirits, nature spirits, and deities in the indigenous Philippine folk religions from the precolonial age to the present, although the term itself may have other meanings and associati ...

''. Because of this, it was previously called ''Buwawan ni Baclagon'' or ''Ginto ni Baclagon'' (both translates to "Gold of Baclagon"). However, according to Bilay's granddaughter, Constancia, the Golden Tara wasn't handed over but it was stolen from her grandmother. The question of the validity of the purchase of the Golden Tara and whether it was acquired legally if it was in fact originally stolen from Bilay remains a debate of history. The Golden Tara remains exhibited in the Grainger Hall of Chicago Field Museum (now known as the Field Museum of Natural History) up to the present time and reports has it that the Philippine government has plans to continue its negotiations in re-acquiring the figure. According to UP scholar Dr. Juan Francisco, he described the golden statue as, "One of the most spectacular discoveries in the Philippine archaeological history."

Geography

According to the

Philippine Statistics Authority The Philippine Statistics Authority (Filipino: ''Pangasiwaan ng Estadistika ng Pilipinas''), abbreviated as PSA, is the central statistical authority of the Philippine government that ''collects, compiles, analyzes and publishes statistical inf ...

, the municipality has a land area of constituting of the total area of Agusan del Sur.

Climate

Barangays

Esperanza is politically subdivided into 47

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 ...

Demographics

In the 2020 census, Esperanza had a population of 59,353. The population density was .

Economy

References

External links

Philippine Standard Geographic Code 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 ...

{{Authority control Municipalities of Agusan del Sur