Cagayan de Oro City Museum (The Old Water Tower)

The Cagayan de Oro City Museum is an odd-looking white cylindrical structure that is located along Fernandez Street in Barangay 1, which is just a few steps from Gaston Park and Saint Augustine Cathedral. This structure is an old water tower built during the American era in 1919 and completed in 1922. Its surface has three red stripes from the top to the base. The actual long unused water tank is on the highest level which is marked with thick red stripes on the top and a thin red stripe on the bottom. Right under that marker is a window. Further below are three enclosed levels which also serve as the support of the water tank. These levels have spaces that can be used as an office or a repository of things. On the side are vertical steps that go all the way to the tank.  On the base is a door and above it are Roman numerals A. D. MCMXXII which is A. D. 1922 in the Arabic numbers.                                                                                                         

When it was in operation the water tank used to provide water to an estimated 3,000 residents in the heart of Cagayan de Misamis. Its water was sourced with the use of steel pipes from Mahuganaw spring in Malasag, Baranggay Cugman. The Second World War caused massive damage to the infrastructures of Cagayan. Fortunately, the water tower survived the bombings and remained active until the early 70’s. Over the years, with the city’s growth in population and economy, the facility could no longer meet the water demand of the populace. Eventually, the water tank had to be closed, but the whole structure was not abandoned. The lower levels were still used for office work or other activities.

The old structure is not aesthetically pleasing. Its levels inside are not an ideal design for modern-day offices either because of their circular areas. However, the structure is the oldest in the city. Keeping it holds relevance to the city’s history. In 2008, Mayor Constantino Jaraula and the city council approved a resolution to convert it into a museum, and it became operational in 2010.

Inside the museum are mementoes, memorabilia and other objects that are relevant to the city’s history and culture. They include framed written accounts of the city’s history, pictures or portraits of past city mayors, weapons and uniforms, fragments of old China wares, fossils, gold nuggets, indigenous persons’ heritage items, and other things of historic values.

Today, the city museum is available for free to visitors from 9:30 am to 5 pm. It is open from Monday to Friday, and close on Saturday and Sunday including public holidays. Visitors can get inside by first registering at the museum admin office building which is just adjacent to the old water tower.

Filipino Surnames Relating to Faith, Biblical and Religious Characters

 

                     

Some Filipino families have surnames taken from words specially from Spanish that have religious or spiritual connotation especially in relation to Jesus Christ and His mother, the Virgin Mary. There are also other surnames that are taken from Biblical characters and those taken from the name of saints that are not in the Bible. Although these names are used mostly as given names, there are Filipino families who used them as surnames. Below is a list:

Angeles- angels, Apostol- apostle, Asuncion- the ascension of Jesus to heaven, Banal- a Tagalog word for holy, Bautista- baptized, Concepcion- the Immaculate Conception, Contemplacion- contemplation is the act of thinking on spiritual things, Consolacion- refers to the Lady of Consolation, Cruz/de la Cruz- cross, Cuaresma- lent, Custodio- guardian angel, Divinagracia-Divine grace, Encarnacion- the incarnation of God’s spirit in human body, Espirito- spirit, Evangelista- evangelist, Gino-o- Cebuano for god, Iglesia- church, Infante- the infant Jesus, Martir-martyr, Martirez- plural of martyr, Mesias- messiah, Monasterio- monastery, Monge- monk, Natividad- nativity which refers to the birth of Jesus Christ, Nazareno- Nazarene, Obispo- bishop, Oracion- prayer, Papa- pope, Paraiso- paradise, Pascua- easter, Pastor- shepherd, in English, a church leader, Purisima- the Virgin, Querubin- cherubim, a kind of angel, Resurreccion- Resurrection, Rosario/del Rosario- rosary, Sabado- sabbath, Salvacion- salvation, Salvador- savior or redeemer which is Jesus Christ. Santos/de los Santos- saints, Trinidad- trinity (the God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit), Veneracion- veneration

Biblical characters from Old and New Testaments are also adopted by Filipino families as surnames. The names come mostly from the account of Jesus life and ministry. They are always used as given names, but they are used too as surnames. Most are in Spanish. Below is a list with their English equivalent. If there is no name translation, it means that the spelling in Spanish and English is the same.

Adan- Adam, Andres- Andrew, Alejandro- historically, Alexander the Great. He is also mentioned in the Catholic Bible in the Book of Maccabees, Baltazar- Balthazar, Bartolome- Bartholomew, Alejo- short for Alexander, Dario- Darius, David, de Jesus- of Jesus, Diego- variant of Santiago, Eleazar, Esteban- Stephen, Emmanuel- God with us, Felipe- Philip, Gabriel, Gaspar- Caspar, Isaac, Ismael- Ishmael, Israel, Jacob, Jaime- James, Jose- Joseph, Juan- John, Judith, Lazaro- Lazarus, Levi, Lucas- Luke, Manuel- short for Emmanuel, Marcos- Mark, Mateo- Matthew, Melchor- Melchior, Miguel- Michael, Pablo- Paul, Pedro- Peter, Rafael- Raphael, Samson, San Diego- Saint James, San Jose- Saint Joseph, San Juan- Saint John, San Miguel- Saint Michael, Santa Ana- Saint Anne, the mother of Saint Mary, Santa Maria- Saint Mary, Santiago- variant of Jaime, Simeon, Simon, Solomon, Tadeo- Thaddeus, Tobias, Tomas- Thomas, Zacarias- Zacharias

Below is list of other religious figures not in the Bible. They are mostly popes and patron saints in different places in the world.

Adriano- Adrian, Agustin- Augustine, Albano- Albans, Alberto- Albert, Antonio- Anthony, Antonino- Antoninus, Basilio- Basil, Benedicto- Benedict, Bernardo- Bernard, Bonifacio- Boniface, Casimiro- Casimir, Clemente-Clement, Cristobal- Christopher, Domingo- Dominic, Eugenio- Eugene, Eusebio- Eusibius, Felix, Francisco- Francis, Gregorio- Gregory, Guillermo- William, Ignacio- Ignatius, Jacinto- Jacinto, Javier- from St. Francis Xavier, Marcelino- Marcellinius, Martin, Mauricio- Maurice, Nicolas- Nicholas, Pascual- Paschal, Quirino- Quirinius, Roque- Roche, Sebastian, Silvestre- Sylvester, Sixto- Sixtus, Teodoro- Theodore, Vicente- Vincent

 

Filipino Surnames Derived from Names of Places

 

Majority of surnames carried by Filipinos are either Spanish or indigenous in origins. Some surnames of the Spaniards are names of places in Spain and other countries. With Spanish contacts especially during the era of colonization, some Filipinos have Spanish surnames  as a result of Spanish ancestry or adaptation of the decree on November 21, 1849, by Spanish Governor General of the Philippines Narciso Claveria Y Zaldua urging the inhabitants to select and adopt surnames based on the list provided in the Catalogo Alfabetico de Apilledos.

Below is a list of Spanish surnames that are derived from places in Spain that some Filipino families also carry as their own. Some of the names have changes in Spelling when used by Filipinos.

Abenoja (Abenojar), Agudo, Alava, Albarracin, Alcantara, Alcaraz, Alcazar, Alfaro, Almazan, Almonte, Aragon, Arevalo, Astorga, Atienza, Avila, Barcelona, Barrameda, Barriero, Bilbao, Brosas (Brozas), Burgos, Cadiz, Cartagena, Caspe, Collado, Cordova, Cuenca, Daymiel (Daimiel), Escatron, Espina (La Espina), Estremadura (Extremadura), Figueras, (Figueres), Figueroa, Fontanosas, Galvez, Garlito (Garlitos), Girona, Granada, Guadalupe, Jaca, Ledesma, Ligazpi, Linares, Logroӣo, Lugo, Madrid, Manzaӣares, Martos, Mayorga, Molina, Mondejar, Monsanto, Monteroso (Monterroso), Montilla, Monzon, Navarra/Navarro, Olivenza, Onda, Oropesa, Palencia, Pamplona, Peӣafiel, Peralta, Poblete, Quezada, Quintanar, Quinto, Robledo, Sagunto, Sahagun, Salamanca, Salas, Salcedo, Saldaӣa, Santander, Sepulveda, Sevilla, Soria, Talavera, Teruel, Toledo, Tolosa, Tortosa, Trillo, Trujillo, Valdepeӣas, Valencia, Vigo, Villahermosa, Viloria, Zafra, Zamora, Zaragosa

Spaniards also bear surnames that are derived from other places or countries, and when they do, the word or the spelling of these names is Hispanized. Below is a list of some of those names that are also adopted by Filipinos including names of places in the Philippines that are only used by them as surnames.

Avelino (Avellino, a City in Italy), Babilonia (Babylonia), Bacolod, Baguio, Basilan, Bayona (Bayonne, a port in France), Beja (a Portuguese city), Belen (Bethlehem), Belgica (Belgium), Bohol, Bordeos (Bordeaux, a city of France), Braganza (Braganca, Portugal), Capistrano (Capestrano, a town in Italy), Cerdeӣa (Sardinia, an island of Italy), Chavez (Chaves, a city In Portugal), Cuba, Damasco (Damascus), Davao, Egipto (Egypt), de Asis (Assisi, a town in Italy), Evora (a city in Portugal), Filipinas, Florencio (Florence, a city in Italy), Gante (Ghent, a city in Belgium), Israel, Jerusalem, Jordan, Lamigo (Lamego, a city in Portugal), Luzon, Medina (a city in Saudi Arabia), Montenegro (a country in Southeast Europe), Napoles (Naples, a city in Italy), Padua (a city in Italy), Pedroso (a municipality in Portugal), Piamonte (Piemonte, a region in Italy), Rabat (the capital of Morocco), Ravena (Ravenna, a city in Italy), Surigao, Tiro (Tyre, a city in Lebanon), Tolentino ( a town in Italy), Valenzuela (little Valencia), Villareal (Vila Real, a city in Portugal)