HISTORY OF SAMAL ISLAND
IR 001
Elsie Joy D. Licarte, LPT
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Analyze this picture and look closely, what manner this picture talks about?
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Learning Objectives:
At the end of the lesson the students should be able to;
1. Know the history of Samal Island and;
2. Describe its current development in relation with its neighbouring region, and
3. Know the economic state of the Island. 3
Early Beginnings
• Samal, Davao del Norte
Samal, officially the Island Garden City of Samal (Tagalog: Pulong Harding Lungsod ng Samal, Cebuano:
Pulong Harding Dakbayan sa Samal) or sometimes called IGaCOS, is a 4th class city in the province of Davao
del Norte, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 116,771 people.
It is made up of Samal Island and the smaller Talikud Island in the Davao Gulf, from the merger of former
municipalities of Samal, Babak, and Kaputian.
Samal is a part of the Metropolitan Davao area and is two kilometers away from Davao City, the largest city
and the primary economic center of Mindanao.
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Etymology
• The name Samal was derived from the Sama-Bajau peoples, the natives who were the first
inhabitants of the island. The first datu in the island was Datu Taganiog, a native of what is now
Peñaplata, today the governance center of the city. In the past, the people of the island name a
place about what was the said place known for.
• For example, the name Peñaplata is said to be derived from the word "piña" or pineapple
because of the abundance of pineapple in the area; this, however, is folk etymology, for peñaplata
literally means "rock of silver" in Spanish. Tagpopongan is the first barangay in the island which
name was from the word "tagpo" or meet. It was so called owing to the fact that this place was
chosen by the datus as their meeting place. The word Samal was also known before because it
was commonly used as surname by datus.
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Davao del Norte Davao del Norte is one of the regions that
created District XI or Davao Locale. It has
three cities namely; Island Garden City of
Samal, Panabo and Tagum City and it has 8
Municipalities namely; Asuncion, B.E. Dujali,
Carmen, Kapalong, New Corella, San Isidro,
Sto. Tomas and Talaingod. Davao del Norte
has the more prominent segment of the
locale's populace and assets. This study
focuses one (1) of the municipality and now
city of Davao Del Norte, which is the Island
Garden City of Samal (s).
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• ISAMAL tribe was ruled by a king locally known as the “DATU” before the Americans
came in 1900’s. One the last ones to rule the island was a tribal chief known as Datu
Taganiog who run the “MALIBASA” a small coastal village which later known as
“PEŇAPLATA”.
• Datu Taganiog was so respected and honored by the villagers and other people on the
island. When the Datu died in January 28, 1948 the village was named Malibasa which
means “honorable” in their local dialect which is later known as Peñaplata.
• ISAMALS headed by their tribal leader Datu Taganiog were known to live in perfect
harmony as peace-loving people for many years.
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• During the American occupation when the governor-general was creating and
organizing the entire Philippine archipelago into districts and towns, the whole Samal
Island was set up as “district municipality”. This district was composed of the main
island of Samal and smaller island and islets of Talicud, Cruz, Ligid, Malipano and
Arboles (or Sanipahan).
• To run the affairs of the island, the American colonizers set up functions for a district
president and vice-president as well as town councilors whose term of office depends
on the trust and confidence of the provincial governor named by the Americans as the
appointing officer at that time.
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Official Founding of the Municipality
• The time came on July 8, 1948, when the entire island itself becomes part of the newly
created municipality of Samal; it was the official founding of the municipality. Five
years later in 1953, the municipality of Babak was created from Samal, marking the
political division of the island between the two municipalities. Now came the political
division of the island between the three municipalities, when the municipality of
Kaputian was created from the island in 1966. In this period, the living qualities
between these three municipalities became low and extremely rural.
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City Conversion
• The city was created through Republic Act No. 8471 on January 30, 1998. This
act paved the way for the dissolution and merger of the three former
municipalities of Samal, Babak, and Kaputian into one local government unit
by turning them into districts, now officially named as IGaCoS,The Island
Garden City of Samal. The first City Mayor was Rogelio P. Antalan, who later
served for three consecutive terms from 1998 to 2007.
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Important People, Events and dates of Samal
• July 8, 1948 – an Executive Order 151 was finally created Samal as a regular
municipality by formerly Philippine President Elpidio Quirino.
• Apolonio Mahinay – Samal Island’s first top official, a district mayor re- appointed
by the provincial governor Miranda, a position he held earlier when the island town
was first created. He held on to this top position until the last day of December
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1951 after losing the mayoralty position to Simplicio Obenza during the November
election of 1951.
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• July 7, 1971 – Simplicio Obenza died, Vice-mayor Felix Solamo took over the top post,
however Solamo lost his mayoralty seat to Obenza’s son Galileo in the November
national elections ten years later.
• Executive Order No. 586 – was created in recognizing the robust economic growth of
Babak, President Elpidio Quirino officially established Babak as another town or
municipality.
• July 18, 1966 – KAPUTIAN the southern portion of the island was organized and
established as another new municipality by the late President Ferdinand Marcos under
Republic Act 4745.
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• 1960 – 70% of the entire population of Samal district were the migrants
and traders from Cebu island in the central Philippines and the rest were
the ISAMALS, the original inhabitants at 22% while 8% were migrants
from the islands of Bohol, Panay, Leyte and Luzon in the northern
Philippines who eke out their living as traders, framers and fishermen.
Some of these migrants included Muslim tribes coming from far-of
provinces in Mindanao who lived off the island by farming or fishing in
the Davao Gulf and living along the coastal villages of Samal.
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ISAMAL FESTIVALS
• Pangapog Festival One of the biggest and most colorful festivals in
the island of Samal. It’s a festival of thanks giving for a bountiful
harvest and overflow of blessings for the island. The festivals comes
alive in Samal during the last week of August and islanders call their
festival “MADAYAW, HUGWAY Festival” of Samal.
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ISLAND GARDEN CITY OF SAMAL (IGaCoS)
Base on the website of Island Garden
City of Samal, there are two main Islands in
IGACOS, Samal Island and Talicud Island
which is situated at the Southern point. The
population Average Annual Growth Rate is
1.58 percent while its population density is four
persons per hectare. IGACOS enjoys an
evenly distributed rainfall throughout the year
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• and a typhoon free climate, which make it ideal for agricultural production. The trend
of population in the Island Garden City of Samal is increasing. As a result, the
government is now facing an uncontrolled population problem on the utilization of its
limited resources such as employment, food, education, health, nutrition and other.
The trend of population of the city had a formidable growth rate of 1.58 percent for
the year of 2015 Philippine Statistics Authority census official survey result totaled to
104,123. In 2017, the City Health Office Survey Result totaled population accounted
to 114,716. It is noted that males dominated females for about 59,083 in terms of
population.
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Data on Population by age group based on CHO 2017, the
highest number of populations is between 5 to 9 years. In
relation to the city's economic activities, agriculture has a
great contribution in the island's economy. Basically, 90
percent of the total land area is devoted to coconut, corn,
and other crops
production. About 71.12 percent is developed for
agricultural production while 18.96 percent remains idle
which mean that there is still more space for agricultural
production.
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Among the city's majorcrops,
coconut is the highest with 29,050 hectares
planted. The coconut is processed into
copra and sold to neighbouring city
particularly Davao City. Among the three,
mango is considered in One Town One
Product Program of the local government
and the city will be known for its Fresh
Mango and
other related products. About 18.96% of the land area remains idle which means that there is still
more space for agricultural production. Few years passed, the production ofmango, banana and
cassava has been increasing.
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The increase of production indicates
more area will develop for agricultural crop
plantation, and its potential to add up the
volume of agricultural production in the
coming years. These are directly sold in the
nearby market particularly in Davao City.
Aside from farming and fishing, livestock
production is given fullsupport from the local
government. The City Veterinary Office is
tasked to monitor and ensure animals'
physical condition. Being a
coastal city having an extensive coastline of 118.5-kilometer-long and thirty-one or sixty
seven percent of the forty-six barangays are coastal, fishing is one of the sources of living
of its residents. 19
The Island Garden City of
Samal is considered as one of the
most promising tourist destinations in
the country for its inimitable beauty
and unspooling natural attraction
such as white sand beaches, crystal
waters, religious and historical
attractions, caves, mountains,
forests, view decks and falls the
island can offer. Total Tourists Arrival
in 2014 accounted to 422,787-day
tour tourists and 256,605 overnight tourists. Island tour is available for tourists who wish
to view Samal Island by water. 20
IGACOS programs
and projects are a big help
in economy’s growth of the
island, while tourism has
an impact on the economy
as it creates jobs, as well as
promotes local culture and
products, tourism mustalso
be sustainable, i.e., it
should account for impacts
on the environment. Sustainable addresses present needs of visitors, the tourism
industry, the environment and host communities, without compromising the ability of
future generations to meet their own needs (WCED, 1987) 21
Quote and Image Slide
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“Those that fail to learn from history are
doomed to repeat it”.
- Winston Churchill
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THANK YOU FOR LISTENING!!! 23
