page_title: Dipolog
section_title: Mindanao's first Christian settlement
hierarchical_section_title: Dipolog / History / Mindanao's first Christian settlement
caption_attribution_description: English: Santa Cruz Marker, also known as the Punta Corro, Dipolog City, Zamboanga del Norte, is the spot where migrating Boholanos from the Visayas landed and established settlement. A cross was erected by the settlers on May 3, 1905 as a thanksgiving altar to God for their safe journey. Roman Catholic mass were likewise celebrated on this area before the Spaniards established a Chapel 1.5 kilometers inward along the town center street now known as Rizal Avenue.
context_page_description: Dipolog, officially the City of Dipolog, is a 3rd class city and capital of the province of Zamboanga del Norte, Philippines. According to the 2015 census, it has a population of 130,759 people.
  Geographically, the city is surrounded by rolling hills to the southeast and the Sulu Sea to the north. Dipolog is known for its wild orchids and its sardine industry which stems from the rich fishing area off its shores. It is known as the "Gateway to Western Mindanao" through the Western Nautical Highway
  and has also been called the "Bottled Sardines Capital of the Philippines."
  Dipolog can be reached by plane via Dipolog Airport or by ferry at the nearby Pulauan Port
  in Dapitan City. The construction of a roll-on/roll-off facility at Barangay Galas will allow for the eventual transfer of the service to Dipolog while retaining inter-island operations at Pulauan, which is soon to become a base port.
  A popular city attraction is the foreshore Dipolog Boulevard which, though still in its second phase of construction, has become a popular haven for exercise and leisure. It is also the site for various celebrations and festivals in the city.
context_section_description: In 1565, Don Miguel López de Legazpi who was accompanied by famed navigator Fr. Andrés de Urdaneta, an Augustinian friar, visited the Boholano chieftain Datu Pagbuaya on the invitation of Datu Sikatuna. There they found the place of Datu Pagbuaya to be a thriving settlement. In his chronicle, Fr. Urdaneta named the place Daquepitan. Peter Kaerius (Pieter van den Keere) identified the location as Dapito in his cartographic map of 1598. It was later identified as "Dapite" in Robert Dudley's map of 1646. Other names ascribed to the location include "Dapyto" in Sanson's map of 1652 and "Dapitan" which can be found in Moll's map of the East Indies, 1729 and in Murillo Velarde's map of 1734. After Legazpi's visit, the Christianization of Mindanao was officially initiated by the Augustinian friars who arrived with him.
  In 1581, members of The Society of Jesus came to the Philippines for the purpose of evangelization. When the country was divided among four religious orders in 1598, the Jesuits were given the Diocese of Cebu which covered the Visayas and Mindanao. Thus Dapitan came to be under the jurisdiction of the courageous men of St. Ignatius and it was Father Pascual de Acuña S.J. who started the Jesuit mission there.
  In 1609, the squadron of Juan Juarez Gallinato S.J. defeated the Manguindanau Muslims in a ferocious battle near Dapitan.
  Also in 1609, a permanent Dapitan mission was founded and thereafter headed by a Jesuit missionary, Father Pedro Gutierrez, marking Dapitan as the Center of Evangelization in Mindanao. Mission stations were subsequently established later by the Jesuits in Zamboanga, Iligan, Basilan and Butuan. Outside of these areas, however, the whole of Mindanao remained untouched by the Spanish Cross.
  By the 18th century, with the Spanish Naval Fleet anchored at Dapitan Bay, much of the piracy—now conducted mainly by moro bandits—was under control within the Sulu Sea. Settlement in coastal areas resumed with new settlers from Negros and Bohol eventually settling in Isab, and Nipaan. The largest settlement, however, was made at the mouth of the Dipolog river by the Boholanos who were not associated with Pagbuaya.
  From Ruiz, civil administration changed hands in stable succession, with Martino Belarmino, who was popular by the name Maglinte. Francisco Magallanes, Victorio Gobune; another man whose name history record had as Toribio had his chance, followed by Venancio Narvaez, Francisco Orbita, Bautista Narvaez, Martencio Yebes and Sabino Bengua.
  By 1889, administrative designations reverted to Capitanes, and those appointed were Martin Fernandez, Tomas Narvacan, Eustaquio Cajocon, Simplicio Lacaya, Basilio Tabiliran, Maximiano Ruiz and Bruno Ordinaria in 1898.
  By February 1894, the Catholic Chapel constructed by the Jesuits was renovated for the first time, on an altar designed by Dr. José Rizal to which now stands the Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary Cathedral.
  By 1896, the friars established Dipolog as a regular parish and installed Father Esteban Yepes its first administrator in 1897.
caption: The Santa Cruz Marker (Punta Corro) is the spot where migrating Boholanos from the Visayas landed and established settlement.
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