Gonzaga, Cagayan

Gonzaga, officially the Municipality of Gonzaga (; ) , is a municipality in the province of Cagayan, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it had a population of 41,680.

History

Pre-Colonial Period and Etymology

The original inhabitants of Gonzaga were Negritos, especially Aeta tribes. The first recorded name of the area was Gampao, an Aeta word meaning 'mountainous,' which was later changed to Wangag ('river').

Spanish Era

In the eighteenth century, groups of Ilocano-speaking immigrants arrived in several waves by sea and land, gradually displacing the Aeta in lowland areas.

Wangag was given ecclesiastical recognition on February 23, 1869, as a ''barrio'' of Buguey. In 1917, the American-controlled Insular Government renamed the settlement Rumang-ay (Ilocano for 'to be progressive'). The following year, it was renamed after the first Filipino Governor of Cagayan, Gracio P. Gonzaga. The town was officially seceded from Buguey on January 1, 1918, via an Executive Order of Governor-General Francis Burton Harrison.

World War II

Days after the Imperial Japanese Attack on Pearl Harbor, the Tanaka Detachment sailed south from Japanese Formosa as a main invasion force against the American-held Commonwealth of the Philippines. They landed on the northern coasts of Luzon, including Gonzaga, on December 10, 1941 at the outbreak of the Second World War in the Pacific.

Geography

Gonzaga is located at the north-eastern part of Cagayan, bordered by Santa Ana to the north-east, Santa Teresita to the west, and Lal-lo to the south.

Gonzaga is from Tuguegarao, from Manila, and from Santa Teresita.

It has a total land area of , the majority of which remains undeveloped. It has large stretches of virgin forests, especially throughout the mountainous areas of the Sierra Madre mountain range. The highest elevation in the municipality is above sea level, located at the Mount Cagua in Barangay Magrafil.

The majority of the municipality's coastline is mostly along the Babuyan Channel to the north, although it is also bounded by the Pacific Ocean to the southeast. The eleven coastal barangays contain a total of of beaches, of mangrove forests and of coral reefs.

Barangays

Gonzaga is politically subdivided into 25 Barangays, including four urban barangays which constitute the Poblacion area. Each barangay consists of puroks while some have sitios.

* Amunitan
* Batangan
* Baua
* Cabanbanan Norte
* Cabanbanan Sur
* Cabiraoan
* Callao
* Calayan
* Caroan
* Casitan
* Flourishing (Poblacion)
* Ipil
* Isca
* Magrafil
* Minanga
* Rebecca (Nagbabacalan)
* Paradise (Poblacion)
* Pateng
* Progressive (Poblacion)
* San Jose
* Santa Clara
* Santa Cruz
* Santa Maria
* Smart (Poblacion)
* Tapel

Climate

Demographics

In the 2020 census, the population of Gonzaga, Cagayan, was 41,680 people, with a density of .

Economy

Gonzaga is primarily an agricultural municipality, with more than half of the workforce employed primarily as either farmers or fishers. Approximately of agricultural land are currently under production, the majority of which are dedicated to rice farming.

Government

Local government

Gonzaga is part of the first legislative district of the province of Cagayan. It is governed by a mayor, designated as its local chief executive, and by a municipal council as its legislative body in accordance with the Local Government Code. The mayor, vice mayor and councillors are directly elected by constituents in polls held every three years.

Elected officials

Local chief executives

In popular culture

The 2012 film '' The Mistress'', starring John Lloyd Cruz and Bea Alonzo, was partly shot in the town.

Education

The Schools Division of Cagayan, a division office and field office of DepEd in the Cagayan Valley region, is responsible for the implementation of the town's education system, ensuring adherence to educational standards set by the government in order to provide quality education for all students. In both public and private elementary schools, including high schools within the municipality. The Gonzaga West District Office oversees all public and private elementary and high schools in the town.

Primary and elementary schools

* Batangan Elementary School
* Cabanbanan Norte Elementary School
* Cabanbanan Sur Elementary School
* Calayan Elementary School
* Callao Primary School
* Caroan Elementary School
* Casitan Elementary School
* Gonzaga North Central School
* Gonzaga South Central School
* Isca Elementary School
* Laoc Elementary School
* Minanga Elementary School
* Pateng Elementary School
* Rebecca Elementary School
* Sta. Clara Elementary School

Secondary schools

* Baua National High School
* Cabiraoan National High School
* CFPJ (Carlito F. Pentecostes, Jr.) National High School
* Gonzaga National High School
* Ipil National High School
* RJDAMA Christian Academy
* Rebecca National High School
* St. Anthony's Academy of Gonzaga, Inc.

Higher educational institutions

* Cagayan State University

Notable personalities

*Juan Ponce Enrile, former Senator and Presidential Legal Adviser
* Lilia Cuntapay, Filipino actress

References

External links

* Philippine Standard Geographic Codebr>Philippine Census InformationOfficial Sangunian Bayan ng Gonzaga Website

{{Authority control

Municipalities of Cagayan