Cagayan de Oro City Charter Day

Cagayan de Oro is famous not only for its white rapids but also for its people. Cagayan de Oro may very well be the happiest place in the country. The “City of Golden Friendship,” as it is sometimes called, is home to especially friendly and warm Filipinos.

In 1622, two Augustinian Recollect missionaries first came to Huluga, then called Himologan. Here they met a mixed stock of Bukidnons and Visayas who lived in a settlement perched on a cliff, overlooking a river. The men had massive tattoos, like those of the Visayan pintados, and the women wore intricate jewelry, some made of gold.

Starting 1946, Misamis Congressman Pedro S. Baculio lobbied in the Philippine Congress so that Cagayan de Misamis, which was reeling from the ashes of war, would be declared a city. On December 17, 1949, the new Congressman Emmanuel Pelaez introduced House Bill No. 54, entitled "An Act Creating the City of Cagayan de Oro". President Elpidio Quirino signed the city charter at 11:30 am, June 15, 1950.

Pelaez appended "de Oro" to "Cagayan" in recognition of gold mining in the hinterland barrios known to Spanish explorers in 1500s.

The first appointed mayor of Cagayan de Oro was Max Y. Suniel, followed by Justiniano R. Borja in 1954. Borja was elected as mayor again in 1955, and was repeatedly elected and appointed until he died on October 3, 1964. He was called the "Arsenio Lacson of Cagayan de Oro", being responsible for the phenomenal growth of the city since 1959, when he opened the Cogon Market.