Zamboanga (province)


Zamboanga is a former province of the Philippines located in the western region of the southern island of Mindanao, Philippines.

History

Creation

During the time of the United States' purchase of the Philippines, the Republic of Zamboanga had its own independence and jurisdiction on what is now Zamboanga City. After the dissolution of the republic, Zamboanga was eventually consolidated into one major administrative area by the American government of the Philippines, consisting of an enormous region that was the Mindanao island's western peninsula, Basilan Island, and the entire Sulu archipelago, with the ancient namesake town/fort of Zamboanga as the seat of its government, and was called the Moro Province of the Philippines.
The Moro Province, in 1914 was replaced by the Department of Mindanao and Sulu. It was divided into Zamboanga, Sulu, Cotabato, Davao, Agusan and Surigao. The town of Zamboanga as its capital. Luis Lim was appointed as the first governor of Zamboanga.
In 1920, the Department of Mindanao and Sulu was officially dissolved and Zamboanga became an independent province and in 1922, elections were held for the first elected provincial officials of Zamboanga. Florentino Saguin was elected as first elected governor.
At that time the province was composed of five municipalities:
Zamboanga was also sub-divided into twelve municipal districts:
When the Japanese invaded the Philippines, Zamboanga acting Governor Felipe Azcuna moved the capital from Zamboanga City to Dipolog. After the defeat of the American-Filipino forces in Corregidor, most of the province went under Japanese control.
After the war, on June 16, 1948, Molave was designated as Zamboanga's capital by the virtue of Republic Act No. 286 signed by President Elpidio Quirino.

Division

On June 6, 1952, the Republic Act 711, authored by Zamboanga Congressman Roseller Lim was passed by the Philippine House of Representatives to divide the province of Zamboanga to Zamboanga del Norte and Zamboanga del Sur, while the chartered City of Zamboanga was relegated its own independent area of city governance. The bill was signed by President Elpidio Quirino in a ceremony held at the Malacañan Palace.
The towns of Dapitan, Dipolog, Rizal, New Piñan, Polanco, Katipunan, Manukan, Sindangan, Liloy, Labason and Siocon are composed of the province of Zamboanga del Norte. The towns of Molave, Pagadian, Labangan, Margosatubig, Dimataling, Dinas, Ipil, Buug, Malangas, Kabasalan and Aurora are under Zamboanga del Sur.
The town of Dipolog was designated capital of Zamboanga del Norte and the municipality of Pagadian as Zamboanga del Sur's capital.
In 2001, a brand new Zamboanga province, Zamboanga Sibugay, was created from the province of Zamboanga del Sur with Ipil as its provincial capital.

Governors

Timeline

Post-War Period