Vignettes of the history of Molugan

A.Paulita Roa

SPANISH colonial records and a 1775 report from a British ship captain, Thomas Forrest, all point to the western coastal area of the  province of Misamis Oriental as having rich gold deposits. An 1884 report, specifically states the following:

“En Misamis, se presenta el oro ordinariamente en los aluviones entre en Iligan y Cagayan. Los principales lavadores se hallan en Initao, Iponan y Pigtao.” (In Misamis, gold is normally present in the river beds between Iligan and Cagayan. The main placers are found in Initao, Iponan and Pigtao) – Estadistica de Misamis 1884.

It is within the areas where the three main gold deposits are mentioned that Molugan or Mulugan is located. Together with Iponan, Opol, Pigtao, El Salvador and Alubijid, these formed part of the oldest section of Cagayan. One of the reasons why these are the oldest  communities is because of the established gold panning and trading that had been there for a long time. This lure of gold has attracted many to come and settle in said area. This could be the reason why Moro raids were frequent here. There was a raid done in Tambaling a barrio between El Salvador and Molugan on Jan. 1, 1892. The raiders did not only attacked the coastal villages but went inland to Pigtao, a hill country by the Iponan river that was famous for its gold mines.

In the 1879 annual report of the Order of the Agustinian Recollects, it says that Molugan provided the same fruits and products as Alubijid which were corn, rice, cacao and tobacco. It also had more than 3,000 coconut trees. Their mountains had an abundance of molave, narra and balayon. Other trees found there but in minor quantity were ipil, camagon, palo – maria and others.

The etymology of Molugan has both been a mystery for sometime till a local historian, Mabel Nacasas, wrote in 2010 the meaning of this place name based on an oral tradition. She claimed that Molugan has a close linguistic similarity with Himolugan, the name of the 16th century dwelling place of Datu Salangsang, the ruler of the Cagaiang territory and his people. This was where he received the two Recollect priests who were the first Spaniards to enter his land in 1622 (Blair and Robertson 1907).

According to the local lore, there is a hill in Molugan that is considered sacred since this was where the datus or rulers once lived. Nacasas wrote that the place name Himolugan is a Bisayan contraction of the phrase, “Himoan ug tulugan sa mga datu” (to make a sleeping area for the datus). In time, this place name was shortened to Molugan.

There was already a sizeable population in Molugan in the early 1800s that in 1818, when the Misamis Province was divided into four partidos, Molugan was one of the 10 visitas that was under the Partido de Cagayan. However, in 1833, the members of the principalia class in Iligan petitioned for the separation of their town from the religious administration of the town of Misamis, once the capital of the Misamis District. The said petition moreover indicated that the former visitas of Pigtao, Alubijid and Molugan were already the visitas of Iligan and showing that these visitas were later detached from Cagayan. This petition was approved by the Manila government and consequently, Partido de Cagayan, became smaller.

Up to 1878, the town of Alubijid was under the Recoletos and then, this was turned over to the Jesuits. In February 1896, this was returned to the Recoletos. Under the Alubijid parish were two towns, El Salvador which was the residence of the priests and Molugan. Finally in 1897, Molugan became one of the barrios of Cagayan and was under its municipality till 1948 when it became briefly, a separate municipality in itself. Now, Molugan is under the city of El Salvador.