Cagayan de Oro City Charter Day in the Philippines Date in the current year: June 15, 2024

Cagayan de Oro is a highly urbanized city located in the Philippine region of Northern Mindanao and the capital of the Province of Misamis Oriental. Its name means “River of Gold”. The place was referred to as “Cagayan” as early as the 16th century, and the epithet “de Oro” was added to its name by Filipino public servant and politician Emmanuel Pelaez in the mid-20th century.

The first Europeans to arrive in the area were Spanish missionaries from the Order of Augustinian Recollects in 1622. They reached a local settlement that they identified as “Himologan”, located about five miles from present-day Cagayan de Oro, and made contact with the locals. Four years later, they persuaded the chief (Datu) of Himilogan to relocate the settlement down the river, to the current site of Cagayan de Oro.

In 1818, the Spanish colonial administration made Misamis a corregimiento (administrative region) consisting of four partidos (divisions): Partido de Cagayan, Partido de Catarman, Partido de Dapitan, and Partido de Misamis. In 1871, Cagayan officially became a town and received the name Cagayan de Misamis. In 1883, it was designated as the seat of the Spanish colonial government on the island of Mindanao for four provinces: Misamis Occidental, Misamis Oriental, Lanao del Norte, and Bukindon.

During the Philippine Revolution and the Philippine-American War, the residents of Cagayan de Misamis fought against the Spanish and the Americans, respectively, but eventually the town fell under the American rule alongside the rest of the Philippines. In 1942, Cagayan de Misamis was occupied by the Japanese who implemented a scorched-earth policy and burned most of the town. Combined American and Philippine forces liberated Cagayan de Misamis three years after the occupation.

Talks of converting Cagayan de Misamis into a city began in 1949, largely thanks to local Congressman Emmanuel Pelaez (future Vice President of the Philippines). The Congress supported the initiative, and the municipality of Cagayan de Misamis was officially granted the status of a chartered city and renamed Cagayan de Oro on June 15, 1950. The anniversary of this event is now celebrated as Cagayan de Oro City Charter Day.

During the Marcos dictatorship, Cagayan de Oro was a center of political opposition. Large protests took place in the city during the 1986 People Power Revolution; when Marcos was finally ousted, Cagayan de Oro supported the presidency of Corazon Aquino. In 1990, the city was one of the locations of the separatist Mindanao revolt, but the coup attempt was quickly suppressed.

Today, Cagayan de Oro is the tenth most populous city and the center of the fourth largest metropolitan area in the country, as well as a major business and logistics hub in Northern Mindanao. Its diverse economy is based on commerce, trade, industry, service, and tourism.