Tagbilaran

Tagbilaran
Tagbilaran
	Flag Official seal of Tagbilaran Seal
	OpenStreetMap
Country	Philippines
Incorporated; • Municipality; • City	;
Barangays	(see Barangays)
Government
• Mayor	Jane Censoria Cajes-Yap
• Vice Mayor	Adam Relson L. Jala
• Representative	Edgardo M. Chatto
• City Council	Members
• Electorate	voters (?)
Highest elevation	449 m (1,473 ft)
Lowest elevation	0 m (0 ft)
Economy
• Poverty incidence	% (?)
Service provider
• Electricity	—
Time zone	UTC+8 (PST)
PSGC	PSGC unknown

Tagbilaran, officially known as the City of Tagbilaran (Cebuano: Dakbayan sa Tagbilaran), is a 3rd class component city and capital of the province of Bohol, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 104,976 people. ^[3]

Encompassing a land area of 32.7 km² (12.6 sq mi), with a coastline of 13 km (8.1 mi) on the southwestern part of the island, the city shares its boundaries with the towns of Cortes, Corella, and Baclayon.

Tagbilaran is the principal gateway to Bohol, 630 km (390 mi) southeast of the national capital of Manila and 72 km (45 mi) south of the regional capital, Cebu City.^[4]

Etymology

According to oral tradition, the name is a Hispanicized form of "Tagubilaan", a compound of tagu, meaning "to hide" and "Bilaan", referring to the Blaan people, who were said to have raided the Visayan Islands. This explanation seems to correlate with the government's explanation. According to the official government website of Tagbilaran, it is said to have been derived from tinabilan meaning shielded, as the town was protected by Panglao from potential invaders.^[5]

History

Aerial view of Tagbilaran, 1937

St. Joseph the Worker Cathedral

Casenas house

A hundred years before Spaniards arrived in the Philippines, the settlement which eventually became Tagbilaran was already involved in trading with China and Malaya. Tagbilaran Strait was the location of the Precolonial kingdom of the Kedatuan of Dapitan. 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, by General Don Francisco Antonio Calderón de la Barca, Governor of the Visayas, who separated it 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.

Sitio Ubos (Lower Town) is Tagbilaran's former harbor site and is considered to be the city's oldest portion, having been a busy trading center since the seventeenth century until the early twentieth century. As such, the place houses the oldest and largest number of heritage houses in Bohol. Sitio Ubos declined as a major port towards the end of the Spanish era when the causeway to Panglao Island was constructed. Since then, the area lost its former glory and its old houses were either demolished or neglected.^[6]

In 2002, in recognition of its cultural and historic significance, Sitio Ubos was declared a "Cultural Heritage Area". Some of the surviving heritage houses to this day include the Rocha–Suarez House, Rocha House, Hontanosas House, Beldia House, and Yap House.^[6]

Historic events

One of the most important events in Philippine history (immortalized on canvas by the famous Filipino painter Juan Luna) was 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 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, 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 from the beach and, after a few pleasantries, the Basque seafarer and the chieftain of Bohol 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 mixed with wine. A marker now stands on the spot where Sikatuna and Legaspi allegedly sealed that famous compact.^[a] To honor this treaty of friendship, president Elpidio Quirino established the "Order of Sikatuna" in 1953, a presidential award and decoration conferred upon visiting dignitaries.

Tagbilaran was occupied by Imperial Japanese forces on May 17, 1942, after the fall of the Philippines during World War II.

During the Japanese occupation, the municipal government of Tagbilaran, whose mayor at the time was Manuel Espuelas, moved from the Poblacion to Tiptip.^[7] Another significant event was the Battle of Ubujan wherein a guerrilla unit under the command of Captain Francisco Salazar (aka Vicente Cubello) engaged Japanese troops against overwhelming odds.^[8]

2013 earthquake

An earthquake with magnitude 7.2, with an epicenter near Sagbayan, Bohol, struck Bohol on October 15, 2013. Tagbilaran received four fatalities and 21 injuries, and damage to buildings, including the seaport, airport, and city hall.

Geographic

Climate

Climate data for Tagbilaran City (1981–2010)
Month	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	Year
Average high °C (°F)	31.1 (88.0)	31.6 (88.9)	32.4 (90.3)	33.3 (91.9)	33.5 (92.3)	32.9 (91.2)	32.5 (90.5)	32.8 (91.0)	32.8 (91.0)	32.4 (90.3)	32.0 (89.6)	31.4 (88.5)	32.4 (90.3)
Daily mean °C (°F)	26.8 (80.2)	27.1 (80.8)	27.6 (81.7)	28.5 (83.3)	29.0 (84.2)	28.7 (83.7)	28.4 (83.1)	28.7 (83.7)	28.6 (83.5)	28.2 (82.8)	27.8 (82.0)	27.2 (81.0)	28.0 (82.4)
Average low °C (°F)	22.6 (72.7)	22.5 (72.5)	22.8 (73.0)	23.6 (74.5)	24.4 (75.9)	24.4 (75.9)	24.3 (75.7)	24.5 (76.1)	24.4 (75.9)	24.0 (75.2)	23.6 (74.5)	23.0 (73.4)	23.7 (74.7)
Average rainfall mm (inches)	101.0 (3.98)	79.6 (3.13)	76.6 (3.02)	67.5 (2.66)	81.5 (3.21)	128.2 (5.05)	126.7 (4.99)	116.3 (4.58)	126.5 (4.98)	176.3 (6.94)	178.9 (7.04)	153.6 (6.05)	1,412.6 (55.61)
Average rainy days (≥ 0.1 mm)	14	11	11	9	10	15	15	13	14	18	18	16	164
Average relative humidity (%)	83	81	79	78	79	81	82	80	81	83	85	84	81
Source: PAGASA^[9]

Barangays

There are 15 barangays comprising Tagbilaran, with a population of 104,976 for the year 2020 census, ^[3] and an annual growth rate of 1.56%. However, 44% of the city's population reside in the four urban districts where trade and commerce are also concentrated.

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