Sikatuna, officially the Municipality of Sikatuna (; ), 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 ...

Bohol Bohol (), officially the Province of 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 minor surrounding islands. It is home to Bohola ...

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 6,906 people. The town of Sikatuna, Bohol celebrates its feast on June 12–13, to honor the town patron Saint Anthony De Padua.

Etymology

The town is named after

Datu Sikatuna Datu Sikatuna (or ''Catunao'') was a Datu or chieftain of Bo-ol in the island of Bohol in the Philippines. He made a blood compact ('' sanduguan'') and alliance with the Spanish explorer Miguel López de Legazpi on March 25, 1565 at Hinawanan Ba ...

, the ancient chieftain of Bohol, although there is no evidence he lived in the area.

History

Sikatuna was formerly a part of the towns of

Baclayon Baclayon, officially the Municipality of Baclayon (; ), is a municipality in the province of Bohol, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 22,461 people. It is the home town of actor Cesar Montano, and physicist Cae ...

and Alburquerque. While part of Baclayon, Sikatuna was known as barrio Cambojod. Once Alburquerque became a town, Sikatuna was made a part of its new territory and given the name Cornago. Sikatuna became its own town in 1917. The ten barangays that now comprise Sikatuna were taken from three neighboring old municipalities: Alburquerque, Loboc, and Balilihan. In the original municipal ordinance converting barrio Cornago into a municipality, the municipal boundary was defined as barrio Cornago plus four northern barrios of Alburquerque: Libjo, Abucay Sur, Abucay Norte, and Can-agong. However, Senator Jose A. Clarin helped increase the territorial boundary by taking two barrios from Loboc: Cambuac Sur and Cambuac Norte; and two barrios from Balilihan: Badiang and Bahay-bahay. Cornago was divided into Poblacion I and Poblacion II.

World War II

During the

Japanese occupation of the Philippines The Japanese occupation of the Philippines (Filipino language, Filipino: ''Pananakop ng mga Hapones sa Pilipinas''; ) occurred between 1942 and 1945, when the Empire of Japan, Japanese Empire occupied the Commonwealth of the Philippines during Wo ...

, Japanese forces established a garrison at the municipal building and installed a puppet mayor. During this time, Sikatuna became a haven for evacuees, both from neighboring towns and from nearby

Cebu Cebu ( ; ), officially the Province of Cebu (; ), is a province of the Philippines located in the Central Visayas region, and consists of a main island and 167 surrounding islands and islets. The coastal zone of Cebu is identified as a ...

. The most famous evacuee was Don Mariano Jesus Cuenco who, after the war, became Senator and later, Secretary of Public Works. In 1945, Sikatuna was entered by Philippine Commonwealth Army soldiers and Boholano guerrillas fought against the Japanese Imperial forces during the Second Battle of Bohol.

Geography

Located from

Tagbilaran Tagbilaran, officially the City of Tagbilaran (; ), is a Cities of the Philippines#Legal classification, component city and capital of the Provinces of the Philippines, province of Bohol, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a popu ...

, it has a total area of , making it the smallest municipality in Bohol.

Barangays

Sikatuna politically subdivided into 10

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 and 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 ...

. Currently, Barangay Poblacion I is classified as urban and the rest are rural.

Climate

Demographics

Economy

References

External links

Philippine Standard Geographic Code The Philippine Standard Geographic Code (PSGC) is a systematic classification and coding for geographic areas in the Philippines. It classifies areas based on the country's four levels of administrative divisions: regions, provinces, municipalities ...

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{{Authority control Municipalities of Bohol