Bogo city

Back to Main Page

City Hall in the Philippines

Bogo officially the City of Bogo, established in 2007, is a sixth income class component city in the province of Cebu, Philippines. According to the 2010 census, it has a population of 69,911. In the 2013 election, it had 45,468 registered voters.

Bogo is located in the northeastern coast of Cebu province, on the principal island of Cebu. It is 101 kilometres (63 mi) from Cebu City and is accessible by land and sea. Bogo has an area of 103.5 square kilometres (40.0 sq mi), which constitutes 2.3% of the area of Cebu island and 2.1% of the total land area of Cebu province. The city marches with: Medellin to the north, San Remigio to the west, and Tabogon to the south; on the east it is bound by Camotes Sea.

History

The year 1600 saw the founding of a real settlement which was subsequently transformed into a barangay with small huts made of cogon grass and bamboo, standing where the Bogo Central Extension now stands. While the barangay was then part of another community in the north (today's town of Daanbantayan), the natives enjoyed tacit freedom of self-rule although they continued to pay tributes and taxes to the chieftain of Daanbantayan. This barangay grew in prominence and for this reason, it was separated from Daanbantayan. In January 1850 the Bishop of Cebu, appointed Spanish friar Fr Jaime Micalot as the first parish priest of Bogo and decreed Saint Vincent Ferrer as the town's patron saint.

The first mass was celebrated in the hastily built chapel on April 5, 1850, to coincide with the death anniversary of the patron saint. This chapel was later gutted by fire and a new stone church was constructed at the place where the Bogo Town Plaza is now located. About this time, the Spanish authorities in Bogo introduced civil government. Pedro Aballe became the first Cabeza de Barangay or mayor from 1864 to 1869. Senator Pedro L. Rodriguez, popularly known as the Grand Old Man of Bogo named one of the oldest streets of the town after him.

In those times, a cabeza de barangay took charge of the collection of tributes to support the encomienda system of Spain. Later the tribute was substituted by the "papelita" (cedula) which the individual paid in two installments annually. A taxpayer who could not afford to pay the cost of papelita in the amount of P1.50 was made to work on local projects at fifty centavos a week. Because of this, a good number of delinquent taxpayers escaped and hid in the mountain fastness of Bogo.

Early historians aver that the town of Bogo derived its name from a lone bogo tree or Garuga floribunda, which stood on the shore where now is Bogo wharf. Here the inhabitants met traders who sailed in loaded with goods to be sold or bartered. Thus this spot became a rendezvous for traders and merchants as well as for nature-lovers and leisure-seekers. Some of these traders remained and married locals.

A few years before the turn of the 20th century, eventful episodes took place in the town marked by fire and blood. The nationalistic fervor of the Katipuneros in Luzon fanned the flames of the resistant movement in Cebu. In Bogo, the younger kin of the Katipuneros, the so-called "Pulahans", exacted heavy tolls on the forces of the cazadores (guardia civil) (cf Caçadores) during fierce encounters near the outskirts of the town. Although the Pulahans were ill-armed, untrained and outnumbered at times, they nevertheless continued to hit back at the enemy.

Success seemed almost within reach when in 1898 an American cavalry unit under Captain Rowan landed at Nailon point and proceeded to the poblacion where his troops assembled in front of the church. He was met by Pedro L. Rodriguez then presidente municipal of the town, and they soon sealed an agreement for the protection of the civilian populace of the town.
World War II

World War ll

Again in 1941, the Philippines, being a territory of the United States, became a battleground in an undeclared war between the invading Japanese Imperial Forces and the combined Filipino–American troops. After the surrender of the USAFFE many from Bogo refused to swear allegiance to the Japanese. They went into the hills and organized guerrilla warfare headed by disbanded officers of the constabulary and army units in the province.

Cognizant of the anti-Japanese sentiment of this armed group who were determined to carry out harassment tactics against the occupation troops in northern Bogo, six Japanese seaplanes bombed the town of Bogo on the early morning of December 12, 1942. Several civilians were killed and many injured. In order to quell the seething rebellion, the Japanese military authorities in Cebu established a garrison in the town in a building now owned by the Northern Cebu Colleges. As a means to win the loyalty and support of the people of the town, a local puppet administration was established in Bogo under Japanese supervision, with Moises Lepatan appointed town mayor during the occupation.

Liberation came in 1944, and civilian government soon restored. Former municipal secretary Perfecto Andrino was appointed first Mayor of Bogo by President Manuel Roxas in 1945. In the first election held after the war, Severo Verallo was elected with a considerable majority and appointed town mayor.

Cityhood

During the 11th Congress (1998–2001), Congress enacted into law 33 bills converting 33 municipalities into cities. However, Congress did not act on a further 24 bills converting 24 other municipalities into cities.

During the 12th Congress (2001–2004), Congress enacted into law Republic Act No. 9009 (RA 9009), which took effect on 30 June 2001. RA 9009 amended Section 450 of the Local Government Code by increasing the annual income requirement for conversion of a municipality into a city from ₱20 million to ₱100 million. The rationale for the amendment was to restrain, in the words of Senator Aquilino Pimentel, "the mad rush" of municipalities to convert into cities solely to secure a larger share in the Internal Revenue Allotment despite the fact that they are incapable of fiscal independence.

After the effectivity of RA 9009, the House of Representatives of the 12th Congress adopted Joint Resolution No. 29, which sought to exempt from the ₱100 million income requirement in RA 9009 the 24 municipalities whose cityhood bills were not approved in the 11th Congress. However, the 12th Congress ended without the Senate having approved Joint Resolution No. 29.

During the 13th Congress (2004–2007), the House of Representatives re-adopted former Joint Resolution No. 29 as Joint Resolution No. 1 and forwarded it to the Senate for approval. However, the Senate again failed to approve the Joint Resolution. Following the suggestion of Senator Aquilino Pimentel (Senate President), 16 municipalities filed, through their respective sponsors, individual cityhood bills. The 16 cityhood bills each contained a common provision exempting it from the ₱100 million income requirement of RA 9009 –

Government center

The new Bogo City Hall was inaugurated on April 19, 2013 by President Benigno Aquino III. On November 8, 2013, a powerful super typhoon Haiyan, also known as Yolanda, badly hit northern Cebu, where Bogo City is located and not spared the widespread devastation. Typhoon Yolanda destroyed almost everything from infrastructure to agriculture, 90% left homeless and thirteen died in Bogo, among more than 6,000 fatalities in Central Philippines. City Hall was one of the structures damaged: its roof got ripped off, its windows broken and other parts of the building also affected and devastated.