HISTORY.    Surigao was formerly known as Banahao. According to Fray Juan San Francisco de San Antonio in his chronicles written in the year 1738. He described Banahao as located at the northern head of Mindanao within which there was a conductive port of ships called Bilang-Bilang.

    Banahao was once part of an old territory that existed in Northeastern Mindanao called "Caraga" named after the people called "Calagans", believed to be of Visayan origin. Later, Caraga became the politico-military district of Surigao with Tandag as its capital. In its original size during the Spanish Era, Surigao was the biggest province in the whole Mindanao with territories including parts of Davao Oriental, Agusan del Norte, Agusan del Sur, Surigao del Sur, Surigao del Norte up to Gingoog river, and Misamis Oriental.

    According to the Philippine Commission Report of 1901, Surigao was ten times bigger the Rhodes Island and three times bigger than Connecticut. Because of repeated attacks by Moro pirates, the provincial capital was within the defensive perimeter of the Spanish naval squadron in Cebu and Ozamis.

    It was February 1, 1752, a year after the town of Siargao (Numancia) was burned by the Moros (Muslim Pirates) that the Recollects' residence was transferred to Surigao. All canonical books were moved from Siargao to Surigao.

    It was through Surigao Strait that the fleet of Ferdinand Magellan after a brief stay at the Island of Homonhon, sailed into the Philippine Archipelago during the epic voyage of discovery and eventual circumnavigation of the world in 1521.

    Likewise it was this famous and historic body of water that the greatest naval battle in history known as the "Battle of Surigao Strait" was fought in World War II. from October 25-26, 1944, between the fleet of Admiral Oldendorf of the U.S. seventh Fleet and that of Admiral Nishimura of the Japanese Imperial Navy.

    Surigao is named after the old province (district) of the same name (Surigao). There are many versions regarding the meaning of Surigao, how this was derived. It was on June 19, 1960, through Republic Act 2786 that Surigao was divided into two provinces: Surigao del Sur and Surigao del Norte. With the division of Surigao into two provinces, the Municipality of Surigao became the capital of Surigao del Norte. It became a chartered city on August 31, 1970. Back to top

THE PEOPLE.    The Surigaonon is basically of rich Malay stock with a sprinkling of Chinese, Japanese and Arab Blood. Glints of European and American culture could also be identified in the Surigaonon Culture. The province has a population of roughly 450,000 and it is hard to distinguish accurately the lines between the stocks. During the later periods, migrants from Luzon and Visayan flocked to the province in a hope for greener pastures. Inspired by the "gold rush", they decided to permanently settle here. This resulted to intermarriages with the natives.

    The people are peace-loving and gentle. The favorable climate makes them non-temperamental. They have the humor of the Visayan, the frugality of the Ilocano, and other traits that still surface. All of which are inherited from their forebears who ventured into this part of the archipelago.

    The people are predominantly Roman Catholics, Spain's lasting legacy. The rest of the population are Aglipayans, Protestants and other religions. Back to top

GEOGRAPHIC LOCATION.  Surigao is located at the Northeastern part of Mindanao 9^o north latitude and 125^o  to 126^o  east latitude. It is bounded by Dinagat islands on the north, mainland of Surigao del Norte on the South, Hinatuan passage on the East, Surigao Strait and Southern Leyte on the west. It belongs to the new region, the Caraga Region, which is composed of 4 provinces and 2 cities. Back to top

POLITICAL SUBDIVISION.  The province is made up of twenty seven municipalities, one city and four hundred thirty four barangays. It is divided into two Congressional Districts. District I comprises the islands of Dinagat, Siargao and Bucas Grande with sixteen municipalities, namely: Basilisa, Burgos, Cagdianao, Dapa, Del Carmen, Dinagat, General Luna, Libjo, Loreto, Pilar, San Benito, San Isidro, Santa Monica, San Jose, Socorro and Tubajon. District II has the mainland municipalities and one city, namely: Alegria, Bacuag, Claver, Gigaquit, Mainit, Malimono, Placer, San Francisco, Sison, Tagana-an and Tubod with Surigao City as its provincial capital.           Back to top

CLIMATE.  Falls under type II with no definite dry season but with a very pronounced maximum rainfall from November to January. It has an average annual rainfall of 3,673.8 mm. based on the 50 year period. The average monthly maxima is 600 mm. on December and January, and monthly minima of about 150 mm. August and September. However, the incidence of rainfall during the same month in different years appears to be highly variable. The average number of rainy days per month is 20 to 25 from November to March and 13 to 18 from April to October. Although open to the Pacific Ocean on the Easter coast, the province is less prone to typhoons than eastern coast, at the further north which is exposed to about seven percent of all those hitting the Philippines. Temperature ranges from a low of 22.6^oC in January to a high of 32.7^oC in May. Back to top

LANGUAGES/DIALECT.  The National Census and Statistics Office revealed that out of the total population, 94% speak Cebuano as their mother tongue. This could not be pure because there's Surigaonon dialect which has a unique character. Influence of the Boholano dialect with a strong accent of the Tausog dialect can be traced. A few percentage speak Samar-Leyte (1.79%) and Tagalog while the rest speak one of the several dialects being spoken in the province 0.42% of the people are able to speak English, 30% Filipino and merely 2.2% Spanish. 

     Most of the city residents speak Surigaonon tongue which is a mixture of the Cebuano dialect. Letters L and J are pronounced Y like Bayay for Balay (house) and Sija for siya (he/she). Commercial/trade names however still retain their original pronunciation. Back to top

LAND AND TOPOGRAPHY. Composed of the mainland and two large islands with a total land area of 288,905 hectares. Mainland has a land area of 129,480 hectares, Siargao Island with 65,710 hectares and Dinagat Island with 93,715 hectares (DENR Region III latest update as of 1998). the biggest land area is Claver (32,262 hectares or 11.17%) and followed by Loreto (30,587 hectares or 10.59%). Burgos, on the other hand, has the smallest area equivalent to 0.69% of the provincial land area.

     The mainland portion of the province has a varied terrain ranging from flat, to rugged to mountainous. A mountain range located along the boundary of the municipalities of Tubod, Bacuag and Mainit is Mt. Diwata with an elevation of 750 meters. On the northeastern part of Sison-Placer-Mainit boundary is Mt. Buhangin with an elevation of 664 meters and flanking the western side along the boundary of Mainit-San Francisco is Mt. Tendido with an elevation of 865 meters. Two common mountain range namely: Mt. Satellite having an elevation of 1,016 meters and Mt. Agudo with 1,018 meters above sea level are found in Malimono.

     Adjoining the Municipality of Alegria and the Municipality of Kitcharao in Agusan del Norte is Mt. Kabutan with an elevation of 975 meters. At the southeastern part bordering Surigao del Sur and Municipality of Claver lies Mt. Legaspi with an elevation of 1,170 meters above sea level. The mountainous eastern side of Dinagat Island is dominated by Mt. Redondo and Mt. Kanbinliw in Loreto with elevations reaching over 900 meters.

     The terrain in Siargao Island is predominantly rolling to steep. the highest elevation is 291 meters above sea level located along middle Bucas Island. On the western and southern sides of the island are broad expanse of mangrove swamps and a broad reef flats. The island is proximate to the Philippine 10,700 meters below sea level and considered as the deepest part of the trench. Back to top

POPULATION. Per 1995 NSO survey, the total population is 442,203 with an increase of 3.98% from 425,270 in the 1990 survey. As of 1998, the projected population is 456,758. The number of households increased from 74,830 in 1990 to 83,658 households in 1995. Household size has slightly decreased from 5.6 persons in 1990 to 5.3 in 1995 (same with Caraga's household size) which is considered normal. The number of households comprised 23.07% of the total number of households (362,665) of the entire region. Population density slightly increased from 156 in 1990 to 161 persons per square kilometer in 1995 which is a little bit higher than the region and much lower than the national density (229 persons/km.). Surigao City being the industrial and commercial center and the provincial capital, is the most densely populated. Loreto is the most thinly populated municipality.

     In Caraga Region, the province ranked 4th or the least populated and has the smallest population growth rate among the 4 provinces. It has only 22.52% of the total regional population of almost 2 million or 0.64% of the country's total population of 68,614,162.

     Its annual population growth rate registered at 4.04% during the 1975-80 survey, but dropped to 1.59% in the 1980-90 period. It dropped again to 1.25% during the 1990-1995 survey. Crude birth rate slightly decreased from 21.49 in 1995 to 18.15 in 1996. Declining birth rates free more women from child caring in the process, making them more available for labor market. More women can therefore, be expected to join the labor force. This will, in turn, increase the demand for day care and related services for children.

     Young population in the province is relatively high. There are 71 young dependents for every 100 working population (15-64 years old). In contrast, old dependency ratio (65 &above) was very low with only 7 old dependents to every 100 working population. There are about 78.29% (346,185) of the total population who are young (0-39 years old) of which 40% (175,672) are male and 30% female. 

     The province's median age is 13.04, which means that half of the populations are below 13 years old and the other half above this age. Back to top

LABOR AND EMPLOYMENT. The province registered some 251,497 persons in the working age of 15 and above based on the 1990 NSO survey. Of the total persons belonging to the working age, 148,402 persons or 59% were in the labor force while 103,095 or 41% were considered not in the labor force. Of those in the labor force 134,023 or 90% were employed while 14,379 or 10% were unemployed. Generally, more men were employed accounting 73.14% while women employees were only 26.85%. Likewise, unemployment registered 62.81% for women, slightly higher than men, which posted 37.19%. It was noted that employment for both sexes was heavy between ages 15 up to 34 and was declining at age 35.

     NSO data indicated that population distribution involving 15 years old and above was almost equal in both urban and rural areas (49.77% urban, 50.23% rural). Urban - based workers accounted for 26.54% or 66,764 while rural-based reached to 67,259 or 26.74% of the total working age of the province. In both areas male employees consistently outnumbered their women counterpart (urban: 69.11% male, 30.89% female; rural: 77.16% male, 22.84% female).

     Labor force survey show urban-based workers' participation to stand at 49.82% as against rural-based 50.19%. Among the major industry groups, Agriculture, Fishery and Forestry exhibited the highest employment with 71,696 or 53.50% while Electricity, Gas and Water was the lowest posting 0.32%

     Labor force participation in 1980, 1985, 1990 and 1995 indicated men's participation rate consistently exceeded that of women. In 1995, participation rate was 71% for men and 38.6% for women. Projections for year 2000 indicated that province total labor force would reach 238,328 with a corresponding participation rate of 71.1% for men and 39.9% for women. 

     Employment rates in 1990 showed males to be dominant with 94.8% employment rate (98,032 employed) as against women's participation rate of 79.9% (35,991 employed). On the other hand, women exhibited a higher unemployment rate of 20.1% over men's 5.2%. Employment rate for both sexes was highest in Surigao mainland at 91.4%. Siargao and Dinagat Islands posted identical employment rate at 89%. In Siargao and Dinagat however, unemployment rate was higher at 11% compared to mainland's 8.6%. Back to top

HOUSEHOLD INCOME AND EXPENDITURES. Some 18,419 families were earning a yearly average family income of P25,611.00 and spent an average of P25, 501.00. A small number of 480 affluent families were earning yearly an average of P261,053.00 and spent only around P73, 018.00. On the average, considering all income classes, a family in the province exhibited an average yearly income of P47, 556.00 and yearly expenditures of P40,427.00.

     In 1994 NSO data, a total of 98,180 families posted an average per capita income of P10,539.00 and average per capita expenditure of P8,746.00. In particular, the highest per capita income class (P50,000.00 and over) displayed a P74,376.00 average per capita income, while that of the lowest class (under P2,500.00) per capita income was only P2,034.00.

     On sources of income, 43,023 families (44%) were engaged in various entrepreneurial activities such as crop farming and gardening (16%), fishing (15%) and wholesale and retail (7%). About 33,931 families (35%) were wage and salary earners and 21,226 or 21% were dependent of other sources like crop sharing and cash-receipts, support, assistance and relief from domestic source. 

     Distribution of family expenditures revealed that food consumed at home posted the highest expenditure (57.6%). This is followed by rent/rental value of occupied dwelling units (7%) and fuel, light & water (5.1%).       Back to top

MINERAL RESOURCES.  Mineral deposits are large in the province. Metallic reserves registered a total of 375,448,563 metric tons. Nickel posted a 53.58% share of the total reserves or 201,153,200 metric tons and followed by Gold having a deposit of 79,190,858 metric tons or 21.09% share. As of 1999, there were no existing permitees for Manganese and Bauxite Minerals.

     For the non-metallic, silica topped the list, which had 329,756,077 metric tons, or 51.46% of the total reserves while Limestone deposits has 310,977,403 metric tons. As of 1999 there were no existing permitees for Guano and Phosphate. 

     There are 8 major mining firms operating in the province which employed a total of 2,012 persons. Taganito Mining Corporation is the top exporter of Nickel and its by- product which totaled to 499,754 metric tons with a corresponding value of P381,199,409.30.

     Hinatuan Mining Corporation is also one of the largest exporters of Nickel. As of 1999, a total of 253,868 metric tons with a corresponding value of P92, 698,640.40 was exported by HMC.

     On the other hand, Manila Mining Corporation is the top exporter for Gold - 819.079 metric tons with a value of P288 699,710.00 and Silver - 2,586 metric tons with a value of P4,269,029,00 was exported in 1999. Back to top