Cagayan Valley

History

Spanish colonial era

During the Spanish era, Cagayan Valley had a larger territory than today, then named Provincia de Cagayan. Then it included the territories of the above-mentioned provinces and the eastern parts of the Cordillera provinces of Apayao, Kalinga, Mountain Province, Ifugao and Benguet, and the north part of Aurora. Historian and missionary Jose Burgues said, "The old Cagayan Valley comprises the province of Cagayan, Isabela and Nueva Vizcaya as well as the military Districts of Apayao, Itaves, Quiangan, Cayapa and Bintangan, plus the area of the Sierra Madre to the Pacific Ocean in the said trajectory." The exception is Palanan, which was established in 1625 by Spanish forces who arrived by ship from the Pacific coastal town of Baler in Tayabas province (now part of Aurora). Thus, Palanan was originally a part of Pampanga, then to Laguna, Tayabas (now Quezon Province; Tayabas became independent from Laguna), and Nueva Ecija, before being transferred to Nueva Vizcaya and finally Isabela. Also, unlike the rest of Cagayan Valley, it was served by Franciscan missionaries from Baler rather than the Dominicans. The population of the town was natively Paranan, then subsequently augmented by local Negritos, migrants from Baler who are Tagalogs and outlaws from Cagayan Valley, with the lingua franca of the settlement being Tagalog as opposed to Ilocano or Ibanag. The Atta or Negritos, the first people in valley, were later moved to the uplands or variably assimilated by the Austronesians, from whom the Ibanags, Itawes, Yogads, Gaddangs, Irayas, Malawegs, and Paranans descended – who actually came from one ethnicity. These are the people found by the Spaniards in the different villages along the rivers all over Cagayan Valley. The Spaniards rightly judged that these various villagers came from a single racial stock and decided to make the Ibanag language the lingua franca, both civilly and ecclesiastically for the entire people of Cagayan which they called collectively as the Cagayanes which later was transliterated to become Cagayanos. Various other peoples, mainly the Ilocanos, Pangasinenses, Kapampangans and Tagalogs, as well as Visayans, Moros, Ivatans, and even foreigners like the Chinese, Indians, Arabs, Spaniards and others were further infused to the native Cagayanes to become the modern Cagayano that we know today.

In 1818, Nueva Ecija annexed the towns of Palanan from Isabela, as well as Cagayan, Nueva Vizcaya, Quirino, Baler, Casiguran, Infanta (formerly called Binangonan de Lampon) and Polillo Islands from Tayabas, and part of Rizal. In the nineteenth and 20th centuries, the prosperity found in tobacco cultivation caused many Ilokano people to settle here, it was only in this large-scale Ilocano settlement that made Ilocano language replace Ibanag as the lingua franca of the region. Ilocano settlers already migrated to Nueva Vizcaya (including present-day Quirino) earlier in 1700s also to work on the tobacco plantations, and later immigrants with skills construct churches and other structures needed for development, as the native Igorot tribes rejected labor imposed by the Spaniards. Tobacco is still a major factor in the economy of Cagayan, though a special economic zone and free port has been created to strengthen and diversify the provincial economy.

During World War II

During World War II, at Balete Pass in Nueva Vizcaya, the retreating Japanese Imperial Army under General Tomoyuki Yamashita dug in and held on for three months against the American and Filipino forces who eventually drove them out; the pass is now called Dalton Pass in honor of General Dalton, USA, who was killed in the fighting.

Martial Law era

Loan-funded government spending to promote Ferdinand Marcos' 1969 reelection campaign caused the Philippine economy to take a sudden downwards turn in the form of the 1969 Philippine balance of payments crisis, which in turn led to social unrest throughout the country. Cagayan Valley became one of the flashpoints of conflict, with many previously-moderate young people joining the armed resistance against Marcos after being radicalized by various crackdowns.

With only a year left in his last constitutionally allowed term as president, Ferdinand Marcos placed the Philippines under Martial Law in September 1972 and thus retained the position for fourteen more years. This period in Philippine history is remembered for the Marcos administration's record of human rights abuses, particularly targeting political opponents, student activists, journalists, religious workers, farmers, and others who fought against the Marcos dictatorship.

In Isabela, protests erupted when Marcos crony Danding Cojuangco managed to block a Spanish-era grant which was supposed to see the return of Hacienda San Antonio and Hacienda Santa Isabel in Ilagan to local farmers, displacing tens of thousands of farmers who were supposed to get those lands back a hundred years after the Spanish accosted them. The Roman Catholic Diocese of Ilagan led efforts to support the farmers in their cause, succeeding in forcing the Marcos administration to finally concede land titles to 4,000 farmers, but earning the ire of the dicatatorship against leading church figures such as Ilagan Bishop Miguel Purugganan, Diocesan Social Action Center researcher Sabino "Abe" Padilla, and the various nuns and lay workers of the Diocese.

Also during that time, logging concessions were awarded to Juan Ponce Enrile, Herminio Disini, and other cronies, leading to the severe degradation of forest cover in the region, which contributed to widespread flooding and other environmental issues that persist today.

Kalinga-Apayao and Ifugao were transferred to the Cagayan Valley region in 1972, and afterwards Ferdinand Marcos imposed a migration policy for Ilokanos into those provinces; the natives of Apayao called Isnag become minority there.

Later 20th Century

After the People Power Revolution in 1986, many of the activists who had joined the underground movement against Marcos decided to "surface", as the new administration of Corazon Aquino released political prisoners and initiated peace talks. However, anti-left sentiment in her new cabinet, which included individuals who had aligned themselves with the Reform the Armed Forces Movement, made the peace process difficult. Negotiations eventually collapsed, and unrest in Cagayan valley persisted.

When the Cordillera Administrative Region was formed in 1987 under Corazon Aquino, the indigenous provinces of Ifugao and Kalinga-Apayao (later divided into the provinces of Kalinga and Apayao) were transferred into the newly formed region.

Contemporary history

During the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) virus reached Cagayan Valley on March 21, 2020, when the first case of the disease was confirmed in Tuguegarao. All provinces have confirmed at least one COVID-19 case, with Batanes being the last province to confirm a COVID-19 case on September 28, 2020.

In November 2020, Typhoon Vamco (known in the Philippines as Typhoon Ulysses) crossed the island of Luzon, causing dam operators from all around the island to release large amounts of water into their impounds as they neared their spilling points. All seven of Magat Dam's gates were opened to prevent dam failure, but the overflow into the Cagayan River and caused widespread floods in Cagayan and Isabela. This event was worsened by the information gap that had developed as a result of the recent shutdown of the ABS-CBN broadcast network, because those areas had previously gotten weather updates primarily from the said network.

Geography

Cagayan Valley is the large mass of land in the northeastern region of Luzon, comprising the provinces of Cagayan, Isabela, Nueva Vizcaya, Quirino, and the Batanes group of islands. It is bordered to the west by the Cordillera mountain range, to the east by the Sierra Madre, to the south by the Caraballo Mountains, and to the north by the Luzon Strait. Politically, it is bordered by the Cordillera Administrative Region to the west, the Ilocos Region to the northwest and southwest, Central Luzon to the south, and Taiwan to the north which shares maritime border from Bashi Channel.

The region contains two landlocked provinces, Quirino and Nueva Vizcaya, which are ruggedly mountainous and heavily forested. Nueva Vizcaya is the remnant of the southern province created when Cagayan Province was divided in two in 1839. They are ethnically and linguistically diverse, with a substrate of Agtas, Negritos who are food-gatherers with no fixed abodes, overlaid by Ilongots and others in a number of tribes, some of whom were fierce head-hunters (they have given up the practice), with the latest but largest element of the population being the Ilocanos, closely followed by the Ibanags.

Administrative divisions

Cagayan Valley comprises five provinces, one independent city, three component cities, 89 municipalities, and 2,311 barangays.

Demographics

Languages

Ilocano is the main lingua franca (orally) of the region. Other languages include Ibanag and Ivatan, the main language of Batanes. The use of Tagalog and English also serve as the region's language in education, governance, tourism, popular culture, and commerce inside and outside the region.

Economy

The province of Isabela and the city of Santiago are notably the most progressive province and richest city in the region, respectively. Isabela was the 9th richest province in the Philippines in 2021, being the only province from the region to be included in the list.

The city of Tuguegarao is the center of excellence in education, commerce, trade and culture and as the economic center of the region, the city continuously aims for outstanding performance and competence in administration, citizen participation, community and economic development, cultural arts, education, fiscal management, infrastructure, intergovernmental cooperation, planning, public safety, recreation and leisure services, social services, and technology. Its economy gradually shifted from agriculture to secondary/tertiary economic activities such as trading, commerce and services. The shift was ushered by city's role as the Regional Government Center and Center of Commerce in Northern Luzon.

Tuguegarao City was included to be one of the digital cities for 2025 to sustain the rapid growth of the Information Technology and Business Process Management and to promote development in the city. The program (Digital Cities 2025) was created through a partnership between the DICT, the IT and Business Process Association of the Philippines (IBPAP), and Leechiu Property Consultants (LPC).

Cauayan is a component city in the province of Isabela. It is nicknamed the “Ideal City of the North” and is the host city for the proposed Isabela Special Economic Zone and the Regional Agro-Industrial Growth Center.[56] Cosmos Bottling Corporation, later acquired by San Miguel Corporation, manufactures soft drinks in the city, and Mega Asia Bottling Corporation operates a plant for the RC Cola brand. Several multinational companies also have regional sales offices there.[57][58]

Ilagan is a component city and the capital of the province of Isabela. The city is the Corn Capital of the Philippines and has been considered as the Primary Growth Center of Region 2. Most of the industries in the city are agri-based. Over the past decades, there has been a great number of local investments in poultry and hog raising. There are several poultry contract growers and small and medium scale hog raisers in the city. Other support facilities, warehouses and small and big rice mills, strategically located in the different barangays of the city to address the storage needs of farmers during the harvest season. Of all cities in the country, Ilagan ranks as the top producer of corn. As an agriculture-based city, it produces ample supply of corn, rice, vegetables and legumes. Fruits like the banana are year-round products especially in the mountainous areas of the city. Ilagan also produces seasonal fruits such as mangoes and pomelo. Commerce and trade is considered to be the city's second economic-based income. It is also the hub of the Coca-Cola FEMSA Philippines, Inc., one of the industrial complexes in the region.

Agriculture

Cagayan Valley being the country's second largest region in terms of land area. As of 2022, Cagayan Valley region remains to be the top producer of corn in the whole country and second in rice production. Isabela is now dubbed as the top producer of Corn in the Philippines and the Rice Granary of the North.

Trade and industry

In 2014, retail giants like Robinsons Land and SM Prime opened its pioneer malls in the region, the Robinsons Place Santiago and SM City Cauayan in Santiago City and Cauayan respectively. The two retail companies further strengthened their presence in the region with the opening of SM Center Tuguegarao Downtown in 2017 and Robinsons Place Tuguegarao in 2018, both are located in the region's capital, Tuguegarao City. In 2022, SM Prime opened SM City Tuguegarao, its third in the region and second in Tuguegarao City.

In 2018, Vista Land and Life Scapes, Inc. announced the establishment of its first high-end mall in the region that is Vista Mall Santiago in Santiago City, and they are also putting up Vista Mall in Tuguegarao City it will be second on the region after Vista Mall Santiago.

Aquaculture and fishing industry

On January 11, 2008, the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) stated that tilapia (species of cichlid fishes from the tilapiine cichlid tribe) production grew and Cagayan Valley is now the Philippines' tilapia capital (Saint Peter's fish).

Production supply grew 37.25% since 2003, with 14,000 metric tons (MT) in 2007. The recent aquaculture congress found that the growth of tilapia production was due to government interventions: provision of fast-growing species, accreditation of private hatcheries to ensure supply of quality fingerlings, establishment of demonstration farms, providing free fingerlings to newly constructed fishponds, and the dissemination of tilapia to Nueva Vizcaya (in Diadi town). Cagayan Valley is one of the largest tilapia producing regions in the country, with Isabela as the leading producer. The development of the tilapia farming industry in the province came about with the water supply provided by the Magat Reservoir for irrigating rice fields. The high demand for food fish in the region was also a contributing factor. Based on the data from the Bureau Fisheries and Aquatic Resources in 2020, there are about 1,000 hectares of freshwater ponds in Isabela, producing around 16,000 metric tons of tilapia a year.

Cagayan's coastline is one of the longest in the country having almost 73% of Cagayan Valley Region's coastal seaboards. This is aside from the large rivers and their tributaries, lakes, creeks and streams which are also rich fishing and aquaculture grounds. Untapped coastal fishing grounds stretch from the towns of Santa Praxedes in the west to Santa Ana on the east, on its northern coast facing the Babuyan Channel; and from Santa Ana down to Peñablanca on its eastern coast facing the Philippine Sea. Despite this endowment, the province's fish production is not even enough to supply and sustain its own fish requirements. Deep sea fishing is not a common occurrence in the province – thus, foreign poachers are the ones reaping the bounties of its seas. Cagayan's deep seas are known for species like tuna, tuna-like fishes, hairtail, snapper, scad, slipmouth, mullet, grouper, shrimp, squid, and lobsters. The inland waters are used primarily by subsistence fishermen. Few privately operated fishponds and fish cages contribute to the overall fish supply of the Province.

The coastal waters of Isabela are big sources of marine life that could supply the fish requirements of the region, according to a study commissioned by the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR). The study stated that Isabela waters are rich in untapped fisheries and marine resources and also has extensive sea grass beds and coral reefs that are home to variety of fish species which include sardines and mackerel and have sizable chunks of oceanic tunas, which thrive throughout the year. The fishing ground has 238 marine fish species. High species diversity could be an indication that the habitat is still good and undisturbed.

Citrus industry

Cagayan Valley is positioned to become the country's Citrus Capital through a program undertaken by the Nueva Vizcaya State University (NVSU) with funding from the Philippine Council for Agriculture, Aquatic and Natural Resources Research and Development of the Department of Science and Technology (DoST-PCAARRD). The country's domestic supply of citrus is currently insufficient to meet local demand, according to DoST-PCAARRD, due to "high incidence of pest and diseases, poor orchard management, and low adoption of improved management practices, among many other factors." The NVSU's citrus research and development program includes yield improvement, setting up a gene bank, and value chain analysis. It targets a 233% increase in yield – from 4.5 tons per hectare ha (t/ha) to 15 t/ha – and a 60% reduction in post-harvest losses from 25% to 10% by 2019. The targets are part of the Citrus Industry Strategic S&T Program (ISP) of DoST-PCAARRD. By the end of 2017, the program team is expected to produce value chain maps for calamansi, orange, and pomelo in the region; characterize fifteen species for the database system of the gene bank study; improve NVSU and Municipal Agriculture Office (MAGRO) citrus nurseries producing 10,000 and 2,000 budded seedlings, respectively; establish new 1-hectare orchard with planting materials from NVSU; and generate data on the description of local citrus pests and diseases.

Infrastructure

Roads and Bridges

Pigalo Bridge - The Pigalo Bridge traverses over the Cagayan River in Angadanan, Isabela. This bridge connects the two municipalities of Angadanan in the northeast, and San Guillermo in the southwest. The proposed construction of the Pigalo Bridge approaches the span of about 450 lin. meters across the river. The project officially started on April 10, 2017, and was completed on April 29, 2019.

Buntun Bridge - Buntun Bridge, built over three administrations from 1960 to 1969, connects the Municipality of Solana and the City of Tuguegarao, crossing the Cagayan River. It is among the longest bridges in the Philippines. The bridge extends 1,369 m (meters) in length.