Historic Butuan

Butuan City Festivals

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The Kahimunan Festival is celebrated every third Sunday of January in celebration of the city patron Sr. Sto. Niño. This celebration is the version of the Sinulog festival of Cebu City. Kahimunan is a Lumad term which means "gathering". Cultural festival/tourism consciousness week is a long celebration that lasts from the last week of July up to August 2 in celebration of the Charter Day of Butuan. Abayan Festival is part cultural festival in celebration of St. Anne patroness of Agusan River celebrated every last Sunday of July.Adlaw Hong Butuan is the charter day celebration of Butuan, which includes a thanksgiving mass, motorcade, palagsing festival, street party recognitions of outstanding Butuanons and city government employees night. Butuan celebrates its annual fiesta for the celebration of city patron St. Joseph every May 19 of the year. Many events will be seen such as summer league basketball championship game, thanksgiving mass, and more.

Butuan City Hotels

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Almont Hotel and Inland Resort
J.C. Aquino Avenue
(63) (085) 3415010 / 3425464

Almont Hotel, Inc.
San Jose Street
(63) (085) 3423064 / 8151193

Balanghai Hotel
Brgy. Doongan
(63) (085) 3423064 / 8151193

Luxury Hotel
R.Calo St.
(63) (085) 3425366 / 2252357

Dottie’s Place
J.C. Aquino
(63) (085) 3414579 / 8152649

Hotel Karaga
Montilla Blvd.
(63) (085) 3415405 / 3428387

Embassy Hotel
Montilla Blvd.(
63) (085) 3425883 / 3414948

Emerald Villa
Villanueva St.
(63) (085) 3425376 / 2253141

Butuan Royal
PlazaT. Calo St.
(63) (085) 3426854 / 3425824

Butuan City Highlights

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Diosdado Macapagal Bridge
Crosses over the Agusan River, this state-of-the-art bridge is the longest in Mindanao and even said as the longest road span in the world and Asias first. Its span has a roadway width of 11.4 meters with its main stream ends northeast in Butuan Bay and its southeast upstream reaches as far as the two Davao provinces in Mindanao. The bridge is built for better transportation connecting the bypass roads of the existing Iligan-Cagayan-Butuan City Road and Surigao-Butuan Road.

Agusan RiverThis is the biggest and longest river in Mindanao. A cruise along the river barangays reveals so much in Butuan`s history, culture, art, and people, and as a tribute to the Patroness of the Agusan River Senora Sta. Ana, the Abayan Festival was born – a day long celebration of baroto races and fluvial procession at the Agusan River.

Balangay Shrine Museum
Just 5 kilometers from the City proper lies the graveyard of the Balangay 1 dated 320 A.D. or 1678 years old. This wooden plank-build and edge-pegged boats average 15 meters in length and 3 meters wide across the beam. To date, 9 Balangays have already been discovered in Ambangan, Libertad sites. Three have been excavated and others are still in Situ.

Butuan National Museum
This museum is the repository of historical and cultural materials and artifacts that proves Butuan’s prehistoric existence and rich cultural heritage. There are two exhibit galleries. The Archaeological Hall and Ethnological Hall Specimens of stone crafts, metal crafts, woodcrafts, poteries, goldsmithing, burial coffins, and other archaeological diggings are exhibited. At the Ethnological Hall are exhibits of contemporary cultural materials the Butuanon or every Filipino for matter used for a living.

Mt. Mayapay
Looming Southwest of the Agusan Valley is this majestic mountain plateau, an interesting landmark in Butuan City. It is 2,214 feet above sea level. Mount Mayapay got its name from the ancient Madjapahit Empire. The history behind the Sri-Vishaya period bears much meaning and influence of Butuan’s pre-historic and archeological discoveries.

Bood Promontory 1st Easter Mass Eco Park
This historic site is where Magellan and his men erected a cross and celebrated the 1st Mass on Philippine Soil on March 31, 1521. It is the highest elevation and promontory overlooking the whole of Butuan bay then. Today, the indigenous “Hadlayati Tree” still abound lording over a Clonal nursery and tree park, and the serpentine Masao River (ElRio de Butuan) amidst fishponds and archaeological treasures.

Banza Church Ruins
This site was one of the old poblacion of the city. The church was built in 1625 by the Recollect Friars was reduced into ashes in 1753 by Moro pirates. What remains of this church is its bell tower banyan (balete) tress. Now enveloped by as the most beautiful church in the region before its destruction. Today, it is the oldest ruin of a stone church in the entire island of Mindanao.

Magellan's Landing Site
Every year on March 31, the city celebrates MAZAUA DISCOVERY DAY” to commemorate a historic milestone, the 1st Easter Mass on Philippines Soil celebrated by Ferdinand Magellan on March 31,1521. No matter what, Butuanon’s proclaim with pride that such historic event took place in butuan not in Limasawa.

Nipa Wine Distillery
“LAKSOY” is local wine made out of indigenous Nipa Palm that abound in Butuan. It goes through the process of fermentation from a crudely made vat only a native Butuanon can ingenuously produce. Laksoy is definitely one of the best tasting local wines in the Island.

Contact

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If you want have suggestions or wants to share an article to promote Butuan City please send your email to ggyphilippines (at) gmail (dot) com

Butuan City Mayors

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ROMULO A. ROSALES- 1948-1950
RODOLFO DUMAGO CALO- 1952-1953(Appointed)1902-1941(Elected)
ZACARIAS PIZARRO- 1953-1955(Appointed) 1955-1959(Elected)
SALVADOR L. CALO- 1959-1963 and 1963-1967
GUILLERMO R. SANCHEZ- 1968-1969
SYLVESTRE M. OSIN- 1969-1971
FIGURADO O. PLAZA- 1971-1986
HORACIO MARCOS V. CALO- Feb.1986-May 1986 (This was the transition period after EDSA-I)
GUILLERMO R. SANCHEZ- 1986-1992(Re-Elected)
DEMOCRITO D. PLAZA- 1992-2000 and 2001-2003
DAISY PLAZA- 2004-2006(First Woman Mayor)
DEMOCRITO D. PALZA- 2007-?(Re-Elected)

The Golden Tara

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In 1917 after a storm and flood, a 21-carat golden figurine of a female deity of Hindu was found by a Manobo woman on a muddy bank of Wawa River, a tributary of the large Agusan River. This ancient figure seated in lotus position weighs nearly 4 pounds which is the earliest known image identified to be an Indian in origin. The image corroborates a single cultural sphere that developed in the archipelagic regions of Southeast Asia during the height of trade between Butuan and the rest of the Sri Vijaya Empire.

The Butuan Boat (Balangay)

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The most well-known historical figure unearthed in Butuan is the Balangay also known as "The Butuan Boat". This historical discovery boasts the name of Butuan City.

This wooden boat was excavated in 1979 in northeastern Mindanao near the city of Butuan at a depth of about two meters and the original boat is said to have a measurement of about fifteen meters long and three meters wide across the beam. These boats were constructed using a very ancient technique. The planks were joined together edge-to-edge with the use of wooden pegs, and the hull is further made strong by bindings of fibre cords through holes in raised lugs on the inside surfaces of the planks - an ancient Southeast Asian method of boat-building. The wood of the boat has been dated to 320 A.D.

Called Balangay, a reference to the smallest political unit in Philippine society, these boats are evidence that early man in the Philippines was seafaring and was relatively technologically advanced. The discovery reveals too that there was already a contact and trade with areas outside of the Philippine islands as shown not only by the artifacts dating to this period that could only have come from other place, but is also suggested by the ability of local peoples in reaching outlying areas through the use of sea-going crafts.

Today this historical figure, Balangay 1 lays at the Balangay Shrine Museum in Ambangan, Libertad five kilometers east of the city proper and so far, nine (9) balangays have been documented to exist. The National Museum excavated three of these boats while the rest are still waterlogged in specific sites in Butuan City.

The Raising of Flag in Mindanao

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The first formal hoisting of the Philippine flag in Mindanao was done on January 17, 1889 in Butuan City. Here, Gov. Wenceslao Gonzales of the Tercio Distrito of Surigao, Fr. Francisco Nebot, S.J., and the principal president of Butuan formally lowered the Vatican flag and officially raised the Philippine flag accompanied by the playing of the Himno National de Filipinas by the local bands of Butuan, Tubay and Cabadbaran. Historical accounts hold that with the impending victory of the Philippine Revolution throughout the country, emissaries of the Revolutionary Government of General Emilio F. Aguinaldo led by Wenceslao Gonzales proclaimed the Philippine Republic in Mindanao during the event. This historic act which took place in Butuan, then military capital of the province of Surigao, marked the end of colonial rule in this part of the archipelago, and was fittingly carried out with the hoisting of the Philippine flag, a first in all of Mindanao.

Historic Butuan

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The City of Butuan is the regional center of Caraga Region, Philippines.it is located in the northern part of Mindanao sprawling across the Agusan River. It is bounded to the north, west and south by Agusan del Norte, to the east by Agusan del Sur.

The name “Butuan” is believed to have originated from the sour fruit “Batuan”. Other etymology sources say that it comes from a certain “Datu Buntuan”, a chieftain who once ruled over Butuan.
It is said that before there was Philippines, there was already Butuan. The evidence to prove this fact is the discovery of 9 balangays (the Butuan Boat) and other archeological remains found in the vicinities of Butuan City, particularly in Ambangan, Libertad near the old El Rio de Butuan and Masao River which reveal much about Butuan’s history.

By 11th century, Butuan was the center of trade and commerce in the Philippines. Butuan was already in contact with China. The Chinese Song Shih (Song History) has recorded the first appearance of the Butuan Tributary mission at Chinese Imperial Court on 17 March 1001 AD and described Butuan (P’u-tuan) as a small country in the sea that had a regular connection with Champa ( a kingdom in Central Vietnam) and intermittent contact with China. The numerous jars/artifacts [Chinese (tenth to fifteenth centuries AD), Khmer/Cambodian (ninth to tenth centuries AD), Thai (fourteenth to fifteenth centuries AD) Pre-Thai Satingpra (900-1100 AD) and Haripunjaya (800-900 AD), pre-trade Vietnamese (eleventh to thirteenth centuries AD) and Persian (ninth to tenth centuries AD)] dug within the vicinities of Ambangan, Archeological Site, in Libertad well attest to the historical account that Butuan traded with the Chinese and Southeast Asia countries in the past.

Geomorphic History of The Balanghai Site

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Approximately 2 million years ago, the area of preset-day Butuan City was entirely covered by sea. The Agusan River that flowed from the Diwata mountain range empted directly to Butuan Bay and had carried with the sand, silt and clay. These formed a delta which expanded and transform in the area from a marine environment to a coastal plain. Swamps, marshes, streams and estuary were formed.

The growth of the delta divide the direction of the flow of Agusan River and created a new river in the western part of Butuan City. This is the Masao River that serves as the direct source of freshwater for the estuary.

During the 9^th and 10^th century A.D. the estuary became an ideal and important sanctuary for seafarers. Settlements existed along the estuary shorelines. However this estuary slowly changed into a swampy and marshy environment. Sand, silt and clay blanked the estuary with the floodwaters of the Masao River.

Time and floods created a widespread blanket of sand, silt and clay forming a wide coastal plain in the entire Butuan City area. The present flood behavior of Agusan and Masao Rivers indicate that they still reach the height sufficient enough to flood Butuan City.