Jabonga, Agusan del Norte

History

Jabonga traces its origin to a village formerly occupied by Negritoes and a few Christian immigrants led by a Manobo Negrito meztizo Angelecio Montante, also called Agaras. The village became known as Celopan, a name derived from the bamboos growing along the bank of the river that were made into smoking pipes.

Sometime during the mid-nineteenth century, the increasing number of inhabitants who were joined by Christian immigrants from other places transferred to a new settlement in the present site of Colorado. By this time, The Spanish government was already sending missionaries to all parts of the island and the group that went up the Kalinawan River reached the settlement of Colorado, a name derived from the word Colorado meaning colored, because of the white spotted arms of Domingo Mondoy, the brave settler who dared to face the newcomers. Proceeding upstream, the missionaries reached Celopan and seeing a native inside a hut, the floor of which was just one meter above the water, they asked him what the place was called. Thinking that the Spaniards were referring to the hut, he answered Habongan. Thus, Celopan was renamed Habongan which later became Jabonga.

Geography

Jabonga is located at 9°20′N 125°31′E.

According to the Philippine Statistics Authority, the municipality has a land area of 293 square kilometres (113 sq mi)  constituting 7001107300000000000♠10.73% of the 2,730.24-square-kilometre- (1,054.15 sq mi) total area of Agusan del Norte.

Jabonga is bounded by Kitcharao and Surigao del Norte to the north; Butuan Bay to the west; Tubay and Santiago to the south; Surigao del Sur to the east. It is 60 kilometres (37 mi) from Butuan City.

The topography of the land features plain to rolling and hills. Among the municipalities, Jabonga ranks first in total area and number of farms (464) mostly owned by individuals. It has one of the 36 crop storage facilities of the province. Its major crops are coconut, rice, corn, timber and both fresh and sea-water fish.

Barangays

Jabonga is politically subdivided into 15 barangays.

Demographics

In the 2015 census, Jabonga had a population of 23,184. The population density was 79 inhabitants per square kilometre (200/sq mi).

In the 2016 electoral roll, it had 14,928 registered voters.