Iligan city is a melting bowl of interfaith and intercultural community.
It's population of 308,046 within its 44 barangays consist largely of Cebuano, Bisaya, Maranaos and few Higaonons tribe.
The intermarriages of Maranao and Higaonon resulted to the formation of Kolibugan tribe.
Farming is primarily the livelihood of hinterland communities with the city's vast agricultural land covering 70% of its 81,337 hectares land area.
Those who concentrated in coastal communities are either employees of the government, industries, commercial establishments, micro-entrepreneurial investments, academe and non-government or private offices.
Its major dialect is Cebuano and Bisaya and even those Maranao, Higaonon and Kolibugan are conversant of this language aside from their native tongues.
The native of Iligan called themselves Iliganon. They are religious in nature and celebrated its feast in a month-long merriment and festivity with its annual Diyandi festival - an event that drives the local tourism industry into its fullness.
They had strong faith with Saint Michael as a patron that would protect them from all forms of evil.
Evidently, the Catholic Church leaders have strong influence in shaping the community's direction. Both local and national leaders have to confide and seek the religious leaders' approval for whatever undertakings that may affect the public interests.
Meanwhile, the Maranaos in the city thrive here with their entrepreneurial skills and in their quest for peaceful living.
In fact, this city has been recently dubbed as "home of mayors" since many government officials from Marawi city and in the provinces of Lanao del Sur and Lanao del Norte constructed residences within to shelter their families.
Maranaos can freely practice their Islamic religion whist dwelling in this city.
Such became a strategic avenue for local officials to dialogue for peace and developments with other Maranao leaders of neighboring towns.
The Higaonon and Kolibugan tribes in the hinterland communities, on the other hand, are producers of agricultural products in all leading markets here. They sustainably struggled to practice their traditional and customary laws in building and managing their community with the support of the Office of the Maranao, Higaonon and Other Cultural Communities (OMaHCC) under the office of the City Mayor, National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) and non-government organizations.
In 2007, they started delineating their ancestral domain following the mandate of the Indigenous Peoples Right Act (IPRA) with the support of Ecoweb Inc., a non-government based in Iligan and the city government.
The indigenous people here, with their traditional timuays and datus, are seriously studying resource management being fully aware that a vast parcel of their domain is rich with gold, silver and copper. To them, their land is their life and their identity as tribal people.
Moreover, Iliganons value peace as a way of life. They celebrate Mindanao Week of Peace yearly - an activity initiated by civil society in Mindanao and adopted by the Bishop-Ulamah Conference (BUC). They also commemorate Iligan Week of Peace every March each year since 2003.
With the advent of technological advancement, officials decided to put security camera in strategic places of the city to partly address the challenges and threats to peace. The local government also established a communication center for emergency and disaster assistance in times of calamities.
Being people of cascading waters and rivers, Iliganon spend time bonding and celebrating holidays in its cool spring-sourced swimming pools and in visiting waterfalls such as Maria Cristina Falls and the prominent Tinago Falls at barangay Ditucalan.
These waterfalls and swimming pools served as tourist destinations - a boost to the local economy.
Iliganons political awareness is deeply imbibed in them as seen how they'd cherish the value for electoral reform. The people here would rally against electoral fraud and show unity to protect its territorial integrity from radical plans to politically subdivide the area. In fact, all of them celebrated when the city was declared as a Lone District of Iligan in November this 2009 thru the effort of representative Vicente Belmonte.
Iliganons also cherish arts and culture.
Mindanao State University-IIT have organized and nurtured young artists from the academe thru its prominent and internationally acclaimed arts guild such as Integrated Performing Arts Guild (IPAG), Kalimulan Dance troupe, Mindanao Creative Writers Group, and Octava Choral Society.
Recently, young and adult artists of the city also gave prominence to all type of paintings such as those displayed in the alleys of MSU-IIT as well as the digitized form of arts like photography and cinematography advocated by hobbyists.
Even in its fiesta celebration, Iliganons relived their past with artistic shows of Eskrima other than modern and cultural dances.
It's population of 308,046 within its 44 barangays consist largely of Cebuano, Bisaya, Maranaos and few Higaonons tribe.
The intermarriages of Maranao and Higaonon resulted to the formation of Kolibugan tribe.
Farming is primarily the livelihood of hinterland communities with the city's vast agricultural land covering 70% of its 81,337 hectares land area.
Those who concentrated in coastal communities are either employees of the government, industries, commercial establishments, micro-entrepreneurial investments, academe and non-government or private offices.
Its major dialect is Cebuano and Bisaya and even those Maranao, Higaonon and Kolibugan are conversant of this language aside from their native tongues.
The native of Iligan called themselves Iliganon. They are religious in nature and celebrated its feast in a month-long merriment and festivity with its annual Diyandi festival - an event that drives the local tourism industry into its fullness.
They had strong faith with Saint Michael as a patron that would protect them from all forms of evil.
Evidently, the Catholic Church leaders have strong influence in shaping the community's direction. Both local and national leaders have to confide and seek the religious leaders' approval for whatever undertakings that may affect the public interests.
Meanwhile, the Maranaos in the city thrive here with their entrepreneurial skills and in their quest for peaceful living.
In fact, this city has been recently dubbed as "home of mayors" since many government officials from Marawi city and in the provinces of Lanao del Sur and Lanao del Norte constructed residences within to shelter their families.
Maranaos can freely practice their Islamic religion whist dwelling in this city.
Such became a strategic avenue for local officials to dialogue for peace and developments with other Maranao leaders of neighboring towns.
The Higaonon and Kolibugan tribes in the hinterland communities, on the other hand, are producers of agricultural products in all leading markets here. They sustainably struggled to practice their traditional and customary laws in building and managing their community with the support of the Office of the Maranao, Higaonon and Other Cultural Communities (OMaHCC) under the office of the City Mayor, National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) and non-government organizations.
In 2007, they started delineating their ancestral domain following the mandate of the Indigenous Peoples Right Act (IPRA) with the support of Ecoweb Inc., a non-government based in Iligan and the city government.
The indigenous people here, with their traditional timuays and datus, are seriously studying resource management being fully aware that a vast parcel of their domain is rich with gold, silver and copper. To them, their land is their life and their identity as tribal people.
Moreover, Iliganons value peace as a way of life. They celebrate Mindanao Week of Peace yearly - an activity initiated by civil society in Mindanao and adopted by the Bishop-Ulamah Conference (BUC). They also commemorate Iligan Week of Peace every March each year since 2003.
With the advent of technological advancement, officials decided to put security camera in strategic places of the city to partly address the challenges and threats to peace. The local government also established a communication center for emergency and disaster assistance in times of calamities.
Being people of cascading waters and rivers, Iliganon spend time bonding and celebrating holidays in its cool spring-sourced swimming pools and in visiting waterfalls such as Maria Cristina Falls and the prominent Tinago Falls at barangay Ditucalan.
These waterfalls and swimming pools served as tourist destinations - a boost to the local economy.
Iliganons political awareness is deeply imbibed in them as seen how they'd cherish the value for electoral reform. The people here would rally against electoral fraud and show unity to protect its territorial integrity from radical plans to politically subdivide the area. In fact, all of them celebrated when the city was declared as a Lone District of Iligan in November this 2009 thru the effort of representative Vicente Belmonte.
Iliganons also cherish arts and culture.
Mindanao State University-IIT have organized and nurtured young artists from the academe thru its prominent and internationally acclaimed arts guild such as Integrated Performing Arts Guild (IPAG), Kalimulan Dance troupe, Mindanao Creative Writers Group, and Octava Choral Society.
Recently, young and adult artists of the city also gave prominence to all type of paintings such as those displayed in the alleys of MSU-IIT as well as the digitized form of arts like photography and cinematography advocated by hobbyists.
Even in its fiesta celebration, Iliganons relived their past with artistic shows of Eskrima other than modern and cultural dances.