Tuguegarao City

Tuguegarao officially the City of Tuguegarao (Ibanag: Siyudad nat Tugegaraw; Itawit: Siyudad yo Tugegaraw; Ilocano: Siudad ti Tuguegarao; Tagalog: Lungsod ng Tuguegarao ), is a 3rd class component city and capital of the province of Cagayan, Philippines. According to the 2015 census, it has a population of 153,502 people, making it the most populous city in Cagayan Valley and Northeastern Luzon.

A major urban center and primary growth center in the Northeastern Luzon, it is the regional center of Cagayan Valley (Region II) and also its regional institutional and administrative center. One of the fast emerging cities in the Philippines, the city is a convergence area for the provinces of Cagayan, Kalinga, Apayao and northern Isabela.

Dubbed as the “Gateway to the Ilocandia and the Cordilleras,” the city is located on the southern border of the province where the Pinacanauan River empties into the Cagayan River. It is surrounded by the Sierra Madre Mountains to the east, Cordillera Mountains to the west, and the Caraballo Mountains to the south.

The highest temperature ever recorded in the Philippines—42.2 °C (108.0 °F)—hit Tuguegarao on May 11, 1969.

Tuguegarao was made a “mission-pueblo” on May 9, 1604. It derived its name from the Ibanag sentence “Tuggui gari yaw” (This used to be fire), meaning the city was carved out of the wilderness by fire. The schools, the government and the church greatly influenced the development of Tuguegarao – its economy, its services and facilities and its people. On August 16, 1724, Tuguegarao celebrated its first Patronal town fiesta with the completion of the evevated Ermita de San Jacinto. The provincial capital was transferred from Lal-lo to Tuguegarao on May 24, 1893, with the division of “La Provincia de Cagayan” into the southern part called Nueva Vizcaya, and the northern part, which retained the name Cagayan. In 1975, Tuguegarao was designated the center of Region 2. By 1985, almost all national government agencies had established their regional offices in Tuguegarao, bringing to the region varied and higher-level government facilities. The Department of Finance classified Tuguegarao a First Class Municipality in July 1993. RA 8755, “An Act Converting the Municipality of Tuguegarao, Cagayan Province into a Component City to be known as Tuguegarao City” was approved on November 4, 1999 and ratified on December 18, 1999. Together with the installation of the first city officials, Tuguegarao City was inaugurated on January 18, 2000. As of December 2018 a total of P36 billion pesos (source: PDIC) is circulating at any one time in the City and as of 2019, the total number of business registrations is 7,286 with a total income of P1,012,000,358.02 from both IRA and Local Sources.