City of Gentle People Print
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Wednesday, 07 July 2004 04:00

Dumaguete is dubbed as the City of Gentle People. It is the capital city of Negros Oriental.


Dumaguete became a first class city on July 1, 1982 and a chartered city on November 24, 1948. The city has a number of clean and reasonably priced restaurants where one can dine in comfort. Comfortable accommodations can be experienced in the city's hotels and inns. Rates start at under US$10 a day. The city is served with four hospitals and ten clinics. Its educational community has an estimated 30,000 student body catered by 2 universities, 2 colleges, 3 vocational schools, 12 public schools, and about 5 privately-run high schools. The city's population of 90,000 people speak Cebuano (Philippine dialect) and are conversant in Filipino, the national language. Dumaguetenos are also notably fluent in English. At the heart of the city is Silliman University, the first university outside Manila and the first protestant school in the Philippines. The entire campus is declared a bird sanctuary. An anthropology museum houses extensive collection of artifacts dating back to the 18th century. Mode of public transportation in and around the city could be experience aboard its numerous tricycles - motorcycles equipped with sidecars - which comfortably seats 2 -3 persons. Public transportation to nearby municipalities and neighboring cities are via passenger buses and jeepneys. It is an ideal place for a get-away vacation. Beaches dot the coastal areas offering take off points for world class diving sites. Deep sea diving, snorkeling, wind surfing, trail blazing, or simple relaxation could be enjoyed on this conservative city..

The name Dumaguete was coined from the Visayan word " daguit" which means "to snatch" or "kidnap". It originated from the time when Moro pirates frequently carried out marauding attacks on the place and snatched beautful native maidens. In 1572, Diego Lopez Povedano referred to the villages as Dananguet, but it was Murillo Velarde in 1734 who first gave its present name Dumaguete.

Dumaguete City

Dumaguete City, located on the southeast of the Negros Island, is the capital city of the province of Negros Oriental in Central Visayas. With an area of 3,426 hectares, it is bounded in the east by the Mindanao Sea, on the north by the municipality of Sibulan, Bacong on the south and Valencia on the west. It has thirty urban barangays and a population of 103,000.The city is a fascinating place of friendly, warm and hospitable people.

Dumaguete has earned the distinction of being known as “the center of learning in the south,” or a "university town" due to the presence of Silliman University (founded in 1901) and other prestigious schools and colleges such as St. Paul's College (founded in 1904), Foundation University and the Central Visayas Polytechnic State College. The city's ambience and tranquil, moderate way of life make it conducive to learning and intellectual pursuits. The city has become a melting pot of students, professionals, artists, scholars and the literati coming from different parts of the country and the world.

The city is the service center of regional commerce and trade as well as the administrative center of national and provincial government offices. The various private and public educational institutions serve as "engines of growth" that sustain the city's economy. Dumaguete is accessible by air, land, and sea from major cities in the country. Two airlines provide three daily flights to and from Manila. Fast sea crafts also serve the Dumaguete-Cebu-Bohol-Mindanao route for quick trips or island hopping. Inter-island ships provide regular service to and from Manila and other ports in the Visayas and Mindanao.

There are about 3500 business establishments registered with the city government in agriculture and fisheries, trade and industry, services and amusement sectors. There are three government-owned banks, twenty-four commercial banks, forty-four non-bank financing institutions, fourteen credit cooperatives and forty-five pawnshops.

There is an abundance of electricity which is supplied by the geothermal wells of the Philippine National Oil Company and the National Power Corporation. Dumaguete is blessed with sufficient groundwater which supplies the needs of all thirty barangays.

Dumaguete City is the gateway to adventurous pursuits such as snorkeling and scuba diving in Apo Island, spelunking in Mabinay, or mountain or nature trekking in Mt. Talinis and Mt.Canlaon. A number of hotels and beach resorts are found in the city as well as in other municipalities in the province.

Do you know?

LOCATION - The Capital of Negros Oriental, Dumaguete City sits on the plains of the southeastern coast of the province.

LAND AREA - 3,551 hectares, 945 hectares of which are agricultural.

POLITICAL COMPOSITION - Composed of 14 urban barangays, and 16 rural barangays. (Barangay is the smallest government unit)

POPULATION - 92,637 as of 1995

GEOGRAPHY - Bounded in the east by the Mindanao Sea, the municipalities of Sibulan on the north, Bacong on the south, and Valencia on the west.

CLIMATE - The City has two seasons - dry and wet. The wet season is from June to November, and the dry season from December to May, April and May are the hottest months.

ECONOMY - Dumaguete has an agricultural economy, it's major products being sugar, corn coconut, abaca, rice, root crops, fruits, vegetables and tobacco. Marine products include fish, squid, oysters, shrimps, prawns and mussels.

LIVELIHOOD - Farming, fishing, pottery making, cottage industries, footwear manufacture, weaving, RTW, and food processing.

DELICACIES - Mangoes, budbud kabog, lumpiang ubud, chicharon, danguet hayob (dried fish), bocayo, banana chips, dried fruits, peanut brittle, and sugar-coated peanuts.

DIALECT - Predominantly Cebuano speaking, but an average Dumagueteno can also communicate in Pilipino, Illonggo, and in English.

Last Updated ( Thursday, 22 April 2010 22:54 )