Welcome to the CITY OF TAGUM

Origin of Tagum

There is no official record on the meaning Tagum, but a legend explains how the name Magugpo came about. At the beginning, Magugpo was nothing but a vast wilderness, inhabited by the Mansakas, Manguangans, Mandayas and the Kalagans in the coastal barangays. The name Magugpo was derived from the native word mago, a name of certain tree, and the ugpo means very high. According to the story, the natives were occupying a river basin inside the thickly covered forest where they could not even see the sun. The creek where the natives dwelt still exists, but the once abundant fresh water is now dead, unfortunately due to pollution.

Early Development in 1920s and 1930s

The first real transformation of Magugpo occurred when the first immigrant, an intrepid pioneer from Moalboal, Cebu, by the name Sulpicio Quirante, came in October 1929. More migrants came from the Visayas and Luzon. These included Cebuanos like Hermogenes Alburo Misa and Felix Senanggote; Boholanos in the person of Manuel Baura Suaybaguio, Sr.; and from Pangasinan and Alfredo Pulmano from La Union.

Physical land developments started to emerge when these migrants organized themselves into the Magugpo Homesteaders’ Association and bought the homestead of Lolo Mandaya, a native. They subdivided the land into residential lots of 750 square meters each and sold these lots at P1.50 each to newcomers. The amount paid by the buyer also served as membership fee to the association.

In 1932, two engineers from Davao City, Engineers Ignacio and Alib, together with 15 laborers surveyed the trail for the national highway. During those times the only means of transportation from Davao City to Tagum was by boat using the Hijo and Tagum Rivers as its points of entry to Tagum. This explains why the seat of government was first located at Barangay Hijo, now the Hijo Plantation in Barangay Madaum. Another seat of settlement during those times was near the river banks of barangay Pagsabangan, the place where the remains of Datu Bago, the hero of Davao, was buried.
The first physical landmarks of Magugpo therefore were a school building , a teacher’s cottage, a rest house and a chapel, which were all constructed by the Homesteaders’ Association in the early 1930s

Development in the 1940s and 1950s

It was in 1941 that Tagum had its first local civil government under the leadership of Manuel Baura Suaybaguio, Sr. and Sulpicio Quirante. Both were appointed as the first Mayor and Vice Mayor, respectively. Before the infant municipality could take -off, World War II broke out. The war badly damaged the Magugpo settlement. Only five houses were left standing at Magugpo after the liberation. From the rubble of war, Suaybaguio and Quirante spearheaded the construction of houses, drugstores, stores and a church (which was constructed at its present site). Moreover, national government infrastructure projects such as the Davao Agusan national highway and the provincial roads to Kapalong and Saug paved the way to the influx of more immigrants to the municipality.

The local government of Magugpo was formalized with the holding of the first local election in 1947, the time of President Manuel A. Roxas of the infant Republic of the Philippines. Suaybaguio retained his position, gaining a new Vice Mayor in the person of Lucio Berdida.

Important changes were imposed such as the renaming of Magugpo to Tagum by virtue of municipal council resolution. In 1948, Mayor Suaybaguio transferred the seat of government from Hijo to Magugpo Poblacion. the following year saw the birth of a new municipality, Panabo. The then Vice Mayor Berdida who hailed from the said place was appointed as its Mayor, thereby paving the way for the assumption of Macario Bermudez as Vice Mayor.

In the 1950s, Tagum experienced significant changes, not only in the political arena but also in its physical structures. Under the administrations of Wakan and Baluyo, in 1951 and 1955 respectively, the people of Tagum witnessed some physical transformation of the town. There was massive construction of roads. The Municipal Hall was constructed at its present site. The old municipal health center along Bonifacio St. was also put up. A public market site was also officially acquired. Economically, Tagum was slowly becoming a convenient place for traders to exchange products with neighboring municipalities. The booming abaca and coconut industries in the early 1950s contributed significantly to the growth of the local economy. Alongside the economic development, came the establishment of two schools/colleges, Holy Cross College (now St. Mary’s College ) and Mindanao Colleges (now University of Mindanao) which were then the only providers of tertiary education in the province outside Davao City. The presence of these two (2) schools was slowly contributing to making Tagum another possible educational center for Davao.