MALAYBALAY CITY (MindaNews/18 March) — “One 4 Malaybalay: Together Making Lives Better” is the theme for the celebration of Malaybalay’s 14th Charter Day anniversary on March 22.
Mayor Ignacio W. Zubiri will deliver his State of the City Address on March 22, after a parade at the City Covered Court.
Sports and entertainment activities have been lined up for the celebration, the city information office said.
Dubbed “a city within a forest,” Malaybalay is mainly an agricultural area.
In its website, the city government said corn used to be the major crop in the city. But corn areas had given way to sugarcane, agri-farms (poultry, hog), and residential areas, sugarcane (306,600 metric tons) and rice (30,318 MT).
Now the education and government center of Bukidnon, Malaybalay started as a group of settlements in the 1800s until it became a city in 1998.
On March 26, 1996, the Sangguniang Bayan of Malaybalay town passed Resolution No. 3699-96 asking the House of Representatives for the conversion of Malaybalay into a city.
Rep. Reginaldo Tilanduca, (Bukidnon, 2nd District) filed House Bill No. 6275, proposing the creation of Malaybalay into a component city. On February 11, 1998, President Fidel Ramos signed Republic Act 8490 which converted Malaybalay into a city, making it the first component city of Bukidnon.
According to the city’s website, the original inhabitants of Malaybalay came from the seashores of Northern Mindanao (Misamis Oriental area) but were driven towards the mountains because of pirates and the arrival of Spanish colonizers.
Before the final conquest of the central part of Mindanao (Bukidnon area), Sumilao, Linabo, Mailag and Silae were set up by Spanish missionaries – Dominicans and Jesuits. In 1850, Kalasungay, an old settlement site in Malaybalay, was accordingly burned by Spaniards during their final battle with the Lumads (indigenous peoples) in which, accordingly, all male adults were killed and the women and children were taken as hostages.
This battle is the last recorded resistance by the original inhabitants against the Spanish conquerors, as quoted in the website. A few years after their defeat, the survivors of the battle who fled to Silae slowly returned to the area and established a new settlement near the Sacub River (present-day Rizal Park) under the protection of Datu Mampaalong.
The website also noted that together with 30 other datus, Datu Mampaalong accepted Spanish dominion and embraced Christianity on June 15, 1877, ending the long standing war between them.
On that day, the Spaniards made Malaybalay into a pueblo named Oroquita del Interior with a territory covering the area of what is now the province of Bukidnon, but the name of the settlement was still retained as Malaybalay.
Bukidnon is now a province with 20 towns and two cities, Malaybalay and Valencia.
The other activities of the charter day celebration are as follows:
March 15, 2012 – Anton Diva Vivo Comedy Concert; 7 PM, City Covered Court (Freedom Park)
March 17, 2012 – Moto X Stunt; 8 AM, Fortich St.; Disco Sa Kalye; 7 PM, Fortich St.. in front of Gaisano
March 17-18, 2012 – Football Tournament 2012; 8 AM, Capitol Grounds
March 19, 2012 – DOALNARA (A Korean Culture Show); 3 PM (Matinee) and 7 PM (Gala), Kaamulan Open Theater
March 20-21, 2012 – Diskento Caravan; 8 AM, City Covered Court (Freedom Park)
March 22, 2012 – Charter Day Parade; 7 AM, Fortich St. to City Covered Court (Freedom Park)
March 22, 2012 – Parokya ni Edgar Live Concert; 7 PM, Capitol Grounds
March 23-25, 2012 – Inter-Club Tennis Tournament; 8 AM, City Covered Court (Freedom Park) (Walter I. Balane/MindaNews)
