Nasipit, Agusan del Norte, Philippines

By James Barcelona

Tourist Attractions

St. Michael Parish

The old inside shot of Saint Michael Parish in Nasipit now it is repainted into yellow color.

It is located at the heart of the town, it was built by MSC or Dutch Priests during 60’s. Nowadays, the church was renovated and makes it as good as it is. Recently the altar of the church was constructed on its new image. When, Rev. Fr. Gaby Avelino took the helm as the Parish Priest there were many developments one of this is the new look of the altar.

Town's Fiesta Celebration. Nasipit celebrates its annual fiesta every 29th of September in honor to the town’s patron saint, St. Michael, the Archangel, which includes thanksgiving mass, parade and week before the day of fiesta activities.

Araw ng Nasipit. Araw ng Nasipit (Day of Nasipit), the day celebrated the anniversary of the townhood of Nasipit from 1929 after it was a barrio of Butuan.

Transportation

Municipality of Nasipit can be access through the Mindanao PAN Philippine highway.

Air: Bancasi Airport of Butuan and Laguindingan Airport of Cagayan de Oro. PAL and Cebu Pacific have daily flights from Manila to Butuan and v.v. Cebu-Butuan-Cebu flights via Cebu Pacific scheduled Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays, and PAL.

Sea: Through the Port of Nasipit. There are several major shipping lines serving the Manila and Cebu routes namely: 2GO Travel, Carlos A. Gothong shipping lines, Philippine Span Asia Carrier Corporation and Cokaliong Shipping Lines Inc.

Land: Nasipit can be reached by riding jeepney, van, multicabs and buses from Butuan in 45 minutes and 4 hours to 5 hours by bus from Cagayan de Oro city. The public mode of transportation in Nasipit is by tricycle similar in Butuan City.

Nasipit is a third class municipality in the province of Agusan del Norte, Philippines. According to the 2010 national census, it has a population of 40,663 people.

The Port of Nasipit is the major seaport or base port in the province of Agusan del Norte. The Philippine Ports Authority PPA assigned PMO Nasipit as an International Base port.

History

The recorded history of Nasipit can be traced back to as early as 1880s when it was declared as a pueblo by the Spanish colonizers. According to townsfolk, its name may derived to an incident where a native, immediately after being bitten by a crab, was asked the name of the place by an immigrant. Misunderstanding the question, the native answered “na-si-pit” meaning bitten by a crab. Since then, the town became known as Nasipit.

Nasipit was officially separated from the municipality of Butuan on August 1, 1929. It became a municipality by virtue of Executive Order No. 181 issued by Acting Governor General Eugene Gilmore of the U.S. Army. A proposal to change its name to Aurora was initiated by former Governor Teofisto Guingona Sr. but due to the strong opposition from townsfolk, the name Nasipit was retained.

In 1949 the barrios of Carmen, Tagcatong, Cahayagan and San Agustin, formerly part of this municipality, became the town of Carmen by virtue of Republic Act No. 380 which was approved on June 15, 1949.

Geography

Nasipit lies in the northwestern part of the province. It is bounded in the east and south by the municipality of Buenavista, in the west by the municipality of Carmen, and in the north by Butuan Bay.

It is 24 kilometres (15 mi) west of Butuan City and is 175 kilometres (109 mi) northeast of Cagayan de Oro City. It is accessible by sea through the inter-island vessels docking in the Nasipit International Seaport, to destinations such as Manila, Cebu, Bohol, and Cagayan de Oro.