Bago, officially the City of Bago, (Hiligaynon: Dakbanwa/Syudad sang Bago; Filipino: Lungsod ng Bago) or simply Bago City, is a 2nd class city in the province of Negros Occidental, Philippines. According to the 2015 census, it has a population of 170,981 people.
Located some 21 kilometres (13 mi) south of the provincial capital Bacolod, Bago City comprises 6.63% of the population of the entire Negros Occidental, making it the third most populous city in the province. It sets a land area of 389 square kilometres, which is 5% of the entire Negros Occidental and 10% of the total land area of component cities.
It is also tagged as the “Home of Historical and Natural Treasures”, owing to its contribution in the colourful history of the province of Negros Occidental and country, and its beautiful scenery and abundance in flora and fauna making it a good eco-tourism destination as well as the “Boxing Capital of the Philippines” title, owing to the great names it produced in boxing. It is also home to the only three known populations of the endangered Irrawaddy dolphin in the entire Philippines. The other two populations are in Guimaras and Palawan. All of which are designated as critically endangered populations.
Its history has its beginning on September 6, 1571 when the Spanish Adelantado, Miguel Lopez de Legaspi, allotted the community to a Spaniard named Juan Gutierrez Cortes as his “encomienda”. At that time, the community was still composed of small clusters of settlements along the banks of a big river which later became known as the Bago River. The “encomiendero”, since then, administered to the spiritual and socio-economic needs of the natives in the settlements until June, 1578; however, a year before that, this community was placed under the evangelical visitations of Father Geronimo Marin, an Augustinian priest who had taken charge of the Christianization of the natives of Binalbagan since the year 1572. Father Matin, upon his arrival in the community, celebrated the feast of St. John the Baptist, who would later be accepted as the patron saint of the place. Following the traditions and practices of the Spanish missionaries and historians in recording the founding of a “pueblo” or town that usually coincides with the feast day of a saint and since the feast day of St. John the Baptist, falls on June 24 of each year, it follows thereof that Bago was founded on June 24, 1575. History only records 1575 as the year when Bago was founded so that the exact month and day can only be deduced from such traditional practices of the Spaniards. Manila, Cebu and Binalbagan also predicted the dates of their founding on the same historical situations; hence, the logical conclusion is that Bago City was officially founded on the month, day and year heretofore mentioned.
As regards on how the community acquired its name, according to the manuscript of a Spanish historian, Diego Lope de Povedano, which is available in the library of the University of San Carlos, Cebu City, the community was named after a large tree called “Bago” under which, a native prince by the name of Mapagic died.
Another historical version is that the place got its name from a shrub called “bago-bago” which was then growing luxuriantly along the river banks.
In April, 1901, the Americans came and established a civil government in the province of Negros Occidental which completely abolished the revolutionary government of General Araneta. Bago as one of the towns that were placed under the control of the Americans; however, they allowed the municipality to be governed by Filipino officials.
When the Japanese forces invaded the Philippines, the civil government of Bago was dissolved. The Japanese occupation forces tried to establish a provisional government but the local people refused to cooperate. When the joint American and Filipino forces including recognized guerrillas liberated the town on March 29, 1945, it was completely destroyed but rehabilitation work was immediately started.
Bago City was finally granted its cityhood on February 19, 1966, by virtue of Republic Act. No. 4382 with Manuel Y. Torres as the hold-over City Mayor until 1998.
Legal limitations on the number of successive terms disqualified Mayor Manuel Y. Torres in running again as city mayor and in the 1998 local elections, his wife, Janet e.Torres run as candidate for mayor and won. Mayor Janet served Bago City as city mayor for three consecutive terms.
Presently, the City of Bago is under the leadership of Mayor Nicholas Yulo.
99.6% of the residents speak Hiligaynon/Ilonggo while 0.4% speak other languages such as Kinaray-a and Cebuano. When it comes to religion, 82% are Roman Catholic, 2% are Convention of the Philippines Baptist Church, 6% are Aglipayan, 3% are Iglesia ni Cristo and the remaining are either Jehovah’s Witnesses, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, Seventh Day Adventists, Evangelicals, etc.