Las Nieves, Agusan del Norte

Las Nieves
Municipality
Municipality of Las Nieves
Municipal Hall
Flag
Map of Agusan del Norte with Las Nieves highlighted
OpenStreetMap
Las Nieves Location within the Philippines
Coordinates: 8°44′N 125°36′E
Country	Philippines
Region	Caraga
Province	Agusan del Norte
District	1st district
Barangays	20 (see Barangays)
Government
• Type	Sangguniang Bayan
• Mayor	Karen S. Rosales
• Vice Mayor	Virgilio R. Escasiñas, Jr., LLB
• Representative	Jose S. Aquino II
• Municipal Council	Members Florante G. Largo Rodrigo B. Calang Reinario P. Rosales Francisco G. Namuag Jr. Jacinto T. Fabro Sr. Joventino N. Manliguez Antonio N. Jongko Jessica H. Navarroza
• Electorate	21,014 voters (2022)
Area
• Total	582.69 km2 (224.98 sq mi)
Elevation	31 m (102 ft)
Highest elevation	155 m (509 ft)
Lowest elevation	7 m (23 ft)
Population  (2020 census)
• Total	30,240
• Density	52/km2 (130/sq mi)
• Households	6,513
Economy
• Income class	2nd municipal income class
• Poverty incidence	42.45 % (2021)
• Revenue	₱ 202.4 million (2020)
• Assets	₱ 481.2 million (2020)
• Expenditure	₱ 169.9 million (2020)
• Liabilities	₱ 101.4 million (2020)
Service provider
• Electricity	Agusan del Norte Electric Cooperative (ANECO)
Time zone	UTC+8 (PST)
ZIP code	8610
PSGC	160207000
IDD : area code	+63 (0)85
Native languages	Agusan Butuanon Cebuano Higaonon Tagalog
Website	www.lasnievesadn.gov.ph

Las Nieves, (Spanish for "The Snows"), officially the Municipality of Las Nieves (Cebuano: Lungsod sa Las Nieves; Tagalog: Bayan ng Las Nieves), is a municipality in the province of Agusan del Norte, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 30,240 people.

History

History of the Municipality

The first traders to enter Las Nieves were natives of Butuan City. They used to travel along the Agusan River in wooden dug-out boats or baoto using a long paddle called ga-o. The Manobo and Higaonon tribes which include the Jovellar, Tepnage, Bayan, Legis, Taga-ang and Kulisan were the first dominant families in the area. Respected warriors or bagani such as Dagohoy and Kulisan were considered influential leaders.

The Manobo and Higaonon used bags made from woven abaca fibers called camuyot to carry their belongings around. Their customary forms of entertainment were traditional war dances called kalasag and the other ceremonial dances such as binaylan, inamo and binanog. Their songs were accompanied by the musical instrument agong which was believed to have been made of pure gold.

In the year 1875, on orders from the Bishop of Cebu, a group of Spanish Jesuit Missionaries disembarked at the Port of Butuan. Although they were not the first missionaries to arrive as Augustinian Recollects had been here before them, their coming promised something different for they intended to do more than maintain the parishes that the Roman Catholic Church have established. The Jesuits wanted to civilize the province by converting the beliefs of local residents, the Manobo and the Higaonon into Christianity. They also wanted to establish the locals in villages where they could be taught the rudiments of religion, education and self-government.

It was in February of 1877 that Father Saturnino Urios, with two other Jesuit Missionaries, Father Ramon Pamies and Father Jose Casellas, announced the beginning of their mission to preach the gospel to the natives. They traversed the length and breadth of the Agusan Valley, its main river, and all its known tributaries, risking death from malarial mosquito, leeches and inhospitable tribal chieftains or datus. However, Father Urios and his companions persisted in their quest. It is to him and his fellow Jesuits that we owe the founding and early history of Las Nieves, which was about a day’s paddling upstream from Butuan.

The Jesuit missionaries paddled upstream and passed by the rancherias of Bugabus, Danquias and Pinanaan. Rancherias were small scattered settlements of Manobo clans along Agusan River.

In April 1877, Father Urios reported to his superior in Manila the successful founding of five villages along the Agusan River. The villages were Las Nieves, Remedios, Esperanza, Guadalupe and San Luis.

Las Nieves, the area that Father Urios first founded, was formerly named Pinana-an or a place for hunting as it was called by its early inhabitants. The natives or Manobos used to catch wild pigs, birds, fishes and other animals with their bows and arrows or panâ here.

There is an old story passed down through generations that upon their first day in this community, Father Urios and his companions were so amazed when they woke up. Intense cold and thick fog blanketed the valley that it seems as if snow was falling. Father Urios was reminded of his hometown in Jativa, Spain near Valencia that they were overjoyed and shouted, “La nieve! La nieve!” which means “The snow! The snow!”

With its vast agricultural land, alluvial plains stretching up to the mountains and its cool weather, Las Nieves most closely resembled the home region of Father Urios in Jativa. It is of great significance that in honor of their patroness, the Nuestra Señora de Las Nieves or Our Lady of the Snow, he named this place Las Nieves.

There was no doubt whatsoever that Las Nieves was very close to Fr. Urios’ heart. He never failed to mention it in his numerous letter and reports to his superiors in Manila, that Las Nieves was never a source of sorrow or anxiety. It was unlike other towns and villages where killings, barbaric practices and uncivilized deeds were rampant.

No doubt this same legacy of peace has persisted. A convert named Jose Domingo, formerly a notorious bagani, was named gobernadorcillo or the equivalent of a mayor in present times. In 1890, a flotilla was prepared at Butuan and set out with eight bancas. It was a trip of jubilation and they performed baptisms along the way in Amparo, Las Nieves, Esperanza, Verdu and Remedios.

Father Urios repeatedly travelled in the jungles of Agusan that he suffered fevers and illnesses. In 1891, malaria forced him to go to Manila to rest and to recover. He returned to Agusan to visit before leaving for Tagoloan, Misamis, in preparation for his transfer to Davao. He ended his Agusan mission with numerous accomplishments. After his death on October, 1916, the loyal Roman Catholics in Butuan renamed the Butuan Parochial School to Father Urios College (now Father Saturnino Urios University) to honor the memory of the great Jesuit Missionary. Moreover, such honor was not deprived from him in his own hometown in Jativa, Spain and in Las Nieves. For there are only two places in the world which bears Father Urios’ name; Urios Street and Plaza in Jativa and Urios Street in Poblacion, Las Nieves.

In 1943, Las Nieves became the headquarters of the Agusan 110th and 113rd Infantry Division during the battle in Walao, Loreto, Agusan del Sur. Right after the battle, it was constituted as a Municipal District under the Municipality of Esperanza. The appointed officials were Bonifacio Jovellar, Canuto Calo, Eufronio Rosales, Lino Jovellar and Celso Torralba as mayor.

Eufronio Rosales was the first elected mayor in 1955 under the political line up of Congressman Guillermo R. Sanchez. He also became the first Municipal Mayor when the Municipality of Las Nieves was created by a Republic Act in July 2, 1962. It was formally and officially separated from Esperanza on June 25, 1963 by virtue of Executive Order Number 42 issued by the president of the Philippines, His Excellency Diosdado Macapagal.

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On 27 March 2021, over 304 NPA militiamen and supporters of the New People's Army surrendered at Las Nieves in Barangay Ibuan to the Philippine Government, dismantling the rebels' key support in the area.

Geography

According to the Philippine Statistics Authority, the municipality has a land area of 582.69 square kilometres (224.98 sq mi)  constituting 21.34% of the 2,730.24-square-kilometre- (1,054.15 sq mi) total area of Agusan del Norte.

Las Nieves is bounded by Butuan and Buenavista, Agusan del Norte to the north, municipality of Sibagat, Agusan del Sur to the northeast, Bayugan to the east, municipality of Esperanza, Agusan del Sur to the south and municipality of Claveria, Misamis Oriental to the west.

Climate

Climate data for Las Nieves, Agusan del Norte
Month	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	Year
Mean daily maximum °C (°F)	28 (82)	28 (82)	29 (84)	30 (86)	30 (86)	30 (86)	30 (86)	30 (86)	30 (86)	30 (86)	29 (84)	28 (82)	29 (85)
Mean daily minimum °C (°F)	23 (73)	23 (73)	22 (72)	23 (73)	24 (75)	24 (75)	24 (75)	24 (75)	24 (75)	24 (75)	24 (75)	23 (73)	24 (74)
Average precipitation mm (inches)	154 (6.1)	101 (4.0)	78 (3.1)	59 (2.3)	95 (3.7)	130 (5.1)	131 (5.2)	137 (5.4)	125 (4.9)	145 (5.7)	141 (5.6)	121 (4.8)	1,417 (55.9)
Average rainy days	17.4	13.9	14.4	14.3	22.3	26.0	27.9	27.5	26.2	26.4	21.4	17.2	254.9
Source: Meteoblue

Barangays

Las Nieves is politically subdivided into 20 barangays. Each barangay consists of puroks while some have sitios.

Barangay Casiklan was created in 2000.

PSGC	Barangay	Population			±% p.a.
		2020		2010
160207001	Ambacon	4.6%	1,395	1,144	▴	2.00%
160207015	Balungagan	2.7%	814	770	▴	0.56%
160207002	Bonifacio	5.2%	1,585	1,544	▴	0.26%
160207021	Casiklan	6.8%	2,066	1,923	▴	0.72%
160207003	Consorcia	4.2%	1,276	1,337	▾	−0.47%
160207017	Durian	6.9%	2,085	1,774	▴	1.63%
160207016	Eduardo G. Montilla (Camboayon)	4.5%	1,372	1,195	▴	1.39%
160207018	Ibuan	3.8%	1,134	1,146	▾	−0.11%
160207004	Katipunan	3.4%	1,031	1,121	▾	−0.83%
160207005	Lingayao	8.9%	2,687	2,419	▴	1.06%
160207006	Malicato	3.6%	1,084	1,044	▴	0.38%
160207007	Maningalao	5.0%	1,527	1,450	▴	0.52%
160207008	Marcos Calo	3.6%	1,100	1,098	▴	0.02%
160207009	Mat-i	6.9%	2,081	2,006	▴	0.37%
160207010	Pinana-an	5.0%	1,515	1,472	▴	0.29%
160207011	Poblacion	4.7%	1,428	1,315	▴	0.83%
160207019	Rosario	4.9%	1,484	1,344	▴	1.00%
160207013	San Isidro	4.0%	1,195	1,250	▾	−0.45%
160207020	San Roque	1.8%	551	510	▴	0.78%
160207014	Tinucoran	3.3%	1,004	994	▴	0.10%
	Total		30,240	26,856	▴	1.19%

Demographics

Population census of Las Nieves

Year	Pop.	±% p.a.
1918	388	—
1939	803	+3.52%
1948	1,888	+9.96%
1960	4,262	+7.02%
1970	6,782	+4.75%
1975	8,609	+4.90%
1980	10,757	+4.55%
1990	15,409	+3.66%
1995	22,966	+7.76%
2000	21,530	−1.37%
2007	25,203	+2.20%
2010	26,856	+2.34%
2015	28,414	+1.08%
2020	30,240	+1.23%
Source: Philippine Statistics Authority

In the 2020 census, Las Nieves had a population of 30,240. The population density was 52 inhabitants per square kilometre (130/sq mi).

Economy

Poverty incidence of Las Nieves

10 20 30 40 50 60 2006 52.30 2009 53.03 2012 59.41 2015 46.23 2018 37.24 2021 42.45 Source: Philippine Statistics Authority

External links

• Philippine Standard Geographic Code