Butuan City, Philippines

By James Barcelona

Tourist Attractions

Kahimanan Festival

The Kahimunan Festival is celebrated every third Sunday of January in celebration of the city patron Sr. Sto. Niño. This celebration is a Butuanon version of the Sinulog festival of Cebu City. Kahimunan is a Lumad term which means "gathering".

Balangay Festival

Balangay Festival. Butuan celebrates its annual fiesta, the Balangay Festival, for the celebration of the city patron St. Joseph every whole month of May, with the exact feast day of St. Joseph on May 19. The city holds many events such as summer league basketball championship games, thanksgiving mass, and more.

Balangay Festival

Butwaan Festival

 Butwaan Festival. The newest festival is a feast day celebration of St. Joseph, patron of Butuan, which is held every 19th of May. This was created last 2013 as replacement to Balangay Festival during the specific date. Both festivals will still celebrates the feast of St. Joseph with Butwaan focus on the Church activities while Balangay will focus on the city government activities.

Abayan Festival

 Abayan Festival

The Abayan Festival, a part of the Cultural Festival, is held in celebration of St. Anne, patroness of Agusan River, which is celebrated every last Sunday of July.

 Palagsing Festival

Palagsing Festival

“Palagsing” is a local delicacy popularly made in Banza, one of the old poblacion of Butuan City. The popularity of making Palagsing in Banza is attributed to the abundance of Lumbiya (Metroxylon sagu Rottb.) where Unaw or lumbiya starch is harvested from the Palm Tree. Another popular ingredient is young coconut meat taken from coconut trees. The mixture of unaw, young coconut and brown sugar make palagsing moist and chewy. They are delicately wrapped by banana leaves and are boiled for 30 minutes to create the soft consistency of palagsing. The Palagsing Festival usually held on Adlaw Hong Butuan Celebration every 2nd day of August.

Adlaw Hong Butuan

 Adlaw Hong Butuan

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.

Natural Attractions

Agusan River

The Agusan River is the widest and most navigable river in Mindanao. Natives who live on the banks of this river pay tribute to their Patroness, Senora Sta. Ana (Saint Anne) every last Sunday of July in the Abayan festival.

Agusan River

Man-made Attraction

Ramon Magsaysay Bridge

The old Magsaysay Bridge in Butuan, an arched-type steel bridge built during the early sixties spans the mighty Agusan River. For years this bridge serve as a lone vital conduit of the city to the rest of Mindanao island until its new more modern pair came at the city’s southern side. The bridge links the main urban center to eastern suburbs of Baan and Ampayon.

Ramon Magsaysay Bridge

 Balangay Boats

Balangay Boats

The Balangays (or Balanghai) are ancient boats that were found in Butuan. They were excavated in the Balangay Shrine, across the Masao River from Bood Promontory. They played a major role in Butuan because Butuan was, and still is, a port city. Since its discovery, the Balangays have become an icon of Butuan. The Kaya ng Pinoy, Inc. recreated the Balangay boats and have sailed it as part of their project, the Balangay Voyage. So far they have only sailed around Southeast Asia. They are planning to sail around the world.

Balangay Shrine Museum

Balangay Shrine Museum

The Balangay Shrine Museum, located in Brgy. Libertad, lays the graveyard of the Balangay 1 dated 320 A.D. or 1688 years old. The Balangay shrine museum is located at Balanghai, Libertad, Butuan City. This wooden plank-build and edge-pegged boats measured an average of 15 meters in length and 3 meters wide across the beam. To date, 9 Balangays have already been discovered in Ambangan, Libertad. Three have been excavated and others are still in Site.

 National Museum (Butuan City Branch)

National Museum Butuan

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, potteries, goldsmith, 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.

Guingona Park

Guingona Park

Guingona Park is the native name used for that park. Due to changes of government, however, that resulted in change of name to Rizal Park. This came about because it was contended that Rizal went there and that they named the park after him. Recently, the government of Butuan City headed by Mayor Amante reconstructed the Park and put the name back to Guingona, as it was he who donated the said park some decades past.

Bood Promontory Eco - Park

Bood Promontory Eco Park

This historic hill is believed to have been the site where Magellan and his men celebrated the first Catholic Mass on Philippine soil and erected a cross when he landed in Mazaua on March 31, 1521. The highest elevation nearest the seaside village of present day Masao, Bood is a wooded area located at a bend in the Masao River (El Rio de Butuan), overlooking Butuan Bay and ancient Butuan as well as the serpentine Masao River. Today, the indigenous Hadlayati tree still abound lording over a clonal nursery and tree park, amidst fishponds and archaeological treasures. According to the chronicles of Spanish historian Pigafetta, the event took place in the afternoon of March 31, 1521 after the Easter Mass was celebrated in the morning of the same date. Two Butuanon brother kings attended these Easter ceremonies. Pigafetta also noted the surrounding fields and balanghai boats on the bay that could be seen from the hill. The eco-park was established to provide the people of Butuan and its visitors a place to rekindle the past amidst a relaxing natural setting.

BUTUAN CITY (Dakbayan hong Butuan) and often referred to as Butuan City, is a highly urbanized city in the Philippines. The city is the regional center of the Caraga Region. It is located at the northeastern part of the Agusan Valley, 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 and to the northwest by Butuan Bay. According to the 2010 census, it has a population of 309,709 people.

Butuan City was the capital of the province of Agusan del Norte until 2000, when Republic Act 8811 transferred the capital to Cabadbaran City.

Etymology

The name “Butuan” is believed to have originated from the sour fruit locally called batuan. Other etymological sources say that it comes from a certain Datu Buntuan, a chieftain who once ruled over areas of the present-day city.

Geography

Butuan City has a land area of 81,662 hectares (201,790 acres), which is roughly 4.1% of the total area of the Caraga region.

The existing land use of the city consists of the following uses: agriculture areas (397.23 km2), forestland (268 km2), grass/shrub/pasture land (61.14 km2) and other uses (90.242 km2). Of the total forestland, 105 km2 is production forest areas while 167.5 km2 is protection forest areas.

The forestland, as mentioned earlier, comprised both the production and protection forest. The classified forest is further specified as production forest and protection forest. In the production forest industrial tree species are mostly grown in the area. The protection forest on the other hand, is preserved to support and sustain necessary ecological performance. Included in this are the watershed areas in Taguibo, which is the main source of water in the area,

The city is endowed with swamplands near its coastal area. These swamp areas are interconnected with the waterways joined by the Agusan River. Most of the swamplands are actually mangroves that served as habitat to different marine species.

Filling material needs of the city are extracted usually from the riverbank of Taguibo River. Others are sourced out from promontories with special features and for special purpose.

The fishing ground of Butuan is the Butuan Bay of which two coastal barangays are located. It extends some two kilometers to the sea and joins the Bohol Sea. These are the barangays of Lumbocan and Masao.