MY HOMETOWN: MANGAGOY, BISLIG CITY, SURIGAO DEL SUR

Bislig, officially known as the City of Bislig (Cebuano: Dakbayan sa Bislig; Tagalog: Lungsod ng Bislig), is a 3rd class component city in the province of Surigao del Sur, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 99,290 people. 

It is the most populous among the cities and municipalities in the province of Surigao del Sur.

Barangay Mangagoy, the downtown area often dubbed by its residents as "the little city within the city", is the center of trade and industry of Bislig which has a population of 32,464 as of the 2015 estimate. It is the largest barangay in the city and the entire province of Surigao del Sur in terms of population. Since Barangay Poblacion is often referred by the locals simply as 'Bislig', Mangagoy on the other hand is often mistaken as a separate town though it is only just one out of the 24 barangays that comprises the entire City of Bislig.

Bislig is approximately 208 kilometres (129 mi) northeast of Davao City, 152 kilometres (94 mi) south of Tandag City (the provincial capital), 44 kilometres (27 mi) south of Hinatuan, and 158 kilometres (98 mi) southeast of Butuan City.

Bislig has a land area of 40,503 hectares spread over 24 barangays, with close to half which are tropical rainforests is classified as "public forest".

The first inhabitants of Bislig were believed to have come from the Agusan Valley in the hinterlands of Mindanao beyond the Magdiwata Mountains. These people used spears, bows and arrows and lived a semi-nomadic life and were called Manobos.

They were ruled during the later part of the seventeenth century by a native leader called "Bagani", meaning a formidable leader. They were very brave, tough and war-like. They also introduced edible crops such as rice, corn and rootcrops to the area.

At the turn of the century, Spanish colonizers and missionaries imposed the rule of Spain and brought with them Tagalogs, Ilonggos, and Cebuanos from the north as members of their expeditionary forces.

Long before it became a town on January 1, 1921, per Executive Order No. 62 issued by Governor General Francis Burton Harrison on December 28, 1920 (with Primitivo A. Castillo as its first Municipal President, Vice-president: Sulpicio P. Laurente & Councilors: Ciriaco Alba; Bartolome Alvar; Higino Basañez; Escolastico Carmen; Tomas Masancay; Basilio Dua; and Macario Tenchavez), Bislig was already an established political instrumentality or "pueblo" in the Province of Surigao (now Surigao del Sur and Surigao del Norte). Earlier, the province was a part of an even bigger territory stretching from northeastern Mindanao down to the island's southeastern "pueblo" of Caraga and Man-ay in Davao Oriental. Caraga was originally the seat of political, military and religious authority.

Following its becoming a town, efforts were made to improve and develop Bislig until the advent of its citihood campaign in 1999; and by virtue of Republic Act No. 8804, Bislig was converted into a component city. This was duly ratified and approved in a plebiscite conducted on September 18, 2000.

Barangay Mangagoy is the center of trade and industry of the city which has a population of roughly 50,000 and is the largest barangay in population in the entire province of Surigao del Sur. Espiritu Street and the adjacent areas within is colloquially often referred simply to as 'Barrio' by the locals in which the business district in Mangagoy is located. It houses national and local banks. Telecommunication such as Internet, cellular phones, cable televisions and leased data lines are well-available in the vicinity of Mangagoy. There used to be movie houses as well. There are also accommodating inns and hotels, as well as motorized tricycles, jeepneys, and buses ply its concrete roads and highways.

Bislig was the home of the defunct company PICOP Resources, Inc. (PRI, or previously known as the Paper Industries Corporation of the Philippines), which was the largest paper mill in Asia and one of the largest in the world. It is geographically situated at Barangay Tabon and its concession is a sanctuary of the Philippine eagle. The permanent shutdown was officially ruled on mid-2008.

In a televised press conference aired by the Presidential Communications in September 2020, construction firm JM McGregor Haggens, Inc. announced that they will be embarking in a multi-billion peso port complex in Bislig to be called "The Maritime City", the first of its kind in the country. The hub will consist of at least 15 projects, including an oil refinery, oil depot, shipyard, container port, cold storage, food processing plant, power plant, water treatment facility, hospital, hotel, integrated market, convention center, and a government center. The first phase of construction is scheduled in early 2021. The said project will be funded by Aria Indonesia-Aria Asset Management of Luxembourg and nine other entities from different countries.