About Misamis Occidental
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BRIEF HISTORY

Legislative Act No. 3537 passed on November 2, 1929 divided the old province of Misamis into Misamis Occidental and Misamis Oriental. The Occidental comprised the towns of Baliangao, Lopez Jaena, Tudela, Clarin, Plaridel, Oroquieta, Aloran, Jimenez, and Misamis.

The original nine (9) municipalities of the province of Misamis Occidental grew into the present three cities of Ozamiz, Oroquieta and Tangub and the fourteen (14) municipalities of Aloran, Baliangao, Bonifacio, Calamba, Clarin, Concepcion, Don Victoriano, Jimenez, Lopez Jaena, Panaon, Plaridel, Sapang Dalaga, Sinacaban and Tudela with a total of 490 barangays.

The name “Misamis” is believed to have been derived from the Subano word “Kuyamis” which is a variety of sweet coconut – the staple food of the yearly settlers in this place. During the years the name persisted as an inference of geographical location and upon the advent of the Spanish settlers, the word “kuyamis” easily gave way to the more conveniently pronounceable but corrupted word “Misamis”.

GEOGRAPHY

Misamis Occidental is located near the narrows strip of land linking northwestern Mindanao to the north central part of the island. It is bounded on the northeast by the Mindanao Sea, east by the Iligan Bay, southeast by the Panguil Bay and west by Zamboanga del Norte and del Sur. The fact that three of its boundaries are bodies of water makes fishing as one of its main industries.

Except along the coastal area, hilly and rolling lands characterize the provincial terrain. Towards the western border, the terrain is particularly rugged. The province falls between 6 and 9 degrees east longitude.The province has a total land area of 2,024.18 square kilometers representing 65 percent of the total land area of the Philippines.

Tudela has the biggest land area equivalent to 13.8 percent of the total province area. The municipality of Panaon shares the smallest area of only 46.80 square kilometers.

CLIMATE

The climate belongs to the Fourth type where rainfall is more or less fairly distributed throughout the year. The average rainfall in the past twenty years was recorded at 182.5 millimeters. The rainiest months are November and December; the driest are February, March and April. The entire province is outside the typhoon belt, but it is sometimes affected by freak storms.

LANGUAGE/DIALECT

Cebuano, Tagalog, Subano and English

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