Tagbilaran City is a
2nd class
city in the province of Bohol
, Philippines
. It is a component city of the province and
serves as its capital. Tagbilaran lies on the southwestern part of
the province, and has a total land area of 32.7 km², with
about 13 km of coastline.
The city is situated on the south of Cortes
, southwest of Corella
west of the
town of Baclayon
and is about
630 km southeast of Manila
and
72 km south of Cebu
City
.
It is the principal gateway to the island province of Bohol and is
known as the "City of Friendship".
Tagbilaran is awarded by the Institute for
Solidarity in Asia as one of the eight (8) Philippine Dream Cities,
along with the Island Garden City of Samal
, San Fernando, La Union
, Cebu
City, Iloilo
City
, Marikina
, Naga
, Calbayog City
and Surigao
City
. It is also one of the 20 Most Competitive
Cities in the Philippines in 2005 and 2007, and First in the
Quality of Life Category for the same 2 years, awarded by the
Asian Institute of
Management (AIM) Policy Center.
History
A hundred
years before Spaniards
arrived in the Philippines, the settlement of which
eventually became Tagbilaran City was already involved in trading
with both China
and Malaysia
. This early settlement had contact with the
Spaniards in 1565, when the Spanish conquistador
Miguel López de Legazpi and the
native chieftain
Datu Sikatuna pledged
peace and cooperation through the famous blood compact.
(San Jose
de) Tagbilaran was established as a town on February 9, 1742, when it was
separated from the town of Baclayon. The
town was dedicated to St. Joseph the Worker.
Since then it was part
of the province of Bohol
until it
became a chartered city on July 1, 1966 by virtue of Republic Act No. 4660.
The city
was occupied by the United
States
during the Philippine-American War, and by
Imperial
Japan
during World War
II.
Historical events
One of the most important historical events in
Philippine History and immortalized in
canvass by the famous Filipino painter
Juan
Luna is the
Blood Compact between
Datu Sikatuna, a local native
chieftain, and Captain
Miguel López de Legazpi, the
Spanish explorer and colonizer.
It took place in the coast of Bool, now a
district of Tagbilaran, on March 16,
1565, a day after Legazpi and his crew of
conquistadores on four ships chanced
upon the shores of Bool during the course of their trip to the
province of Butuan
from
Camiguin Island because of strong southwest monsoon winds and low
tide. On that day, March 16,
1565,
Captain General Miguel López de Legazpi, with Fray
Andres de Urdaneta and some of his crew
set foot on land for an audience with the local chieftain Sikatuna.
The two bands of different race and creed met a few hundred meters
away from the beach and after a few pleasantries, the Basque
seafarer and the native chieftain of Bool sealed and strengthened
their treaty of friendship in a historic Blood Compact. Sikatuna
and Legazpi each made a cut on the left arm and collected the drop
of blood into a single vessel and mixed with wine. To honor this
treaty of friendship, the late President
Elpidio Quirino established the "
Order of Sikatuna", a presidential award
and decoration conferred upon visiting dignitaries. A historical
marker now stands on the very spot where Sikatuna and Legaspi
perpetrated that famous Blood Compact.
Another significant event that took place during the Japanese
Occupation was the Battle of Ubujan wherein a guerilla unit under
the command of Captain Francisco Salazar,a.k.a. Vicente Cubello,
engaged Japanese troops against overwhelming odds. It was a display
of Boholano bravery against the well-equipped, well-trained
Japanese soldiers.
Political Subdivision
There are 15
barangays comprising
Tagbilaran, with an population of 92,297 for the year
2007 census, with an annual growth rate of 3.6%.
However, 41% of the entire population reside in the 4 urban
districts where trade and commerce are concentrated.
| Barangay |
Population |
Barangay |
Population |
| Bool |
4,929 |
Poblacion 1 (1st District) |
3,323 |
| Booy |
7,896 |
Poblacion 2 (2nd District) |
5,856 |
| Cabawan |
1,150 |
Poblacion 3 (3rd District) |
6,511 |
| Cogon |
17,266 |
San Isidro |
4,500 |
| Dao |
6,772 |
Taloto |
6,176 |
| Dampas |
7,210 |
Tiptip |
3,956 |
| Manga |
6,081 |
Ubujan |
4,875 |
Mansasa |
5,396 |
|
|
Economy
The city of Tagbilaran has that relative advantage as Bohol's main
business capital and center of governance, education and
transportation. It is on this climate that commerce and trade is
very promising in the city, nonetheless, business activities also
thrives in port towns (e.g.
Tubigon
, Talibon
, Jagna
) known to be
growth centers of the province.
Many residents of Tagbilaran are considerably moneyed, but when it
comes to business development, they become investment-shy. It is
observable that dollar earners and entrepreneurs would rather save
and bank their money rather than invest them for business endeavor.
In the light of this situation, the inflow of investments from
foreign investors are steadily pouring in to finance business
ventures especially in the area of tourism.
The two local food delicacies,
Peanut Kisses and
Edelweiss torta, were started and promoted by the Alvarez
family.
Tagbilaran, considering its size as a small city of
32.7 km
2., has 23 banking institutions with several
branches each.
This is due to the "thriftiness" attitude of
Bol-anons and remittances from Overseas
Foreign Workers who hail from Tagbilaran City and other towns in
Bohol. The average household income is P
141,028.00/annum in 12,876 households.
Island City Mall
St.Joseph the Worker Cathedral
Banking Institutions
Major Shopping Centers
- Island City Mall
- BQ (Bohol Quality) Mall
- Alturas Supermarket
- Plaza Marcela
- Shoppers' Mart
Tourism
Bohol Tropics Resort Club
The city is a start-off point to Bohol province's attractions: the
Chocolate Hills, white sandy beaches, dive spots, heritage sites
and old stone churches. Home to several hotels, resorts, and
restaurants, the city has recently become a venue for national
conventions.
Notable hotel accommodations in the city:
Festivals
The
Sandugo Festival is celebrated
annually in Tagbilaran and the rest of Bohol in July. It
commemorates the Blood Compact between
Miguel López de Legazpi and
Datu Sikatuna.
Transportation
CPG Avenue, Tagbilaran City
The city
is about an hour's flight from Manila.
The
Tagbilaran
Airport
serves three airlines: Cebu
Pacific which operates three daily flights, Philippine Airlines, with three flights
daily and the new Zest Airways
operating one flight daily to Manila.
The Tagbilaran port serves boats plying the busy Cebu-Bohol sea
traffic and southwards to port cities in Mindanao.
A fastcraft ferry
ride from Cebu
would take
about 1.5 hours.
Transportation within the city consists of tricycles, multicabs,
jeepneys, buses and taxis. Multicabs and jeepneys ply the longer
routes while taxis are usually used for out-of-town travel.
Schools and Universities
Colleges and universities
Holy Name University, Tagbilaran
City
Secondary schools
Elementary Schools
Private:
- Bohol International Learning Center (BILC)
- Grace Christian Military School
- Royal Christian School
- St. Therese Elementary School, Mansasa
- Victoriano D. Tirol Advanced Learning Center (VDT)
Public:
- Bool Elementary School
- Booy Elementary School
- Cabawan Elementary School
- City Central Elementary School
- City East Elementary School
- Cogon Elementary School
- Dampas Elementary School
- Dao Elementary School
- Holy Trinity School
- Manga Elementary School
- Mansasa Elementary School
- San Isidro Elementary School
- Taloto Elementary School
- Tiptip Elementary School
- Ubujan Elementary School
Pre-elementary schools
- Bohol International Learning Center (BILC)
- Prodigy Discovery Playschool
- D M L Montessori School
- Grace Christian School
- Holy Trinity Foundation School
- Merne Graham Montessori School
- Royal Christian School
- St. Therese Kindergarten School
- Victoriano D. Tirol Advanced Learning Center
Notes
External links
Tagbilaran City Flag
(IHMS)
Wikis
Quiz
Map
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