Tagum City
The City of Golden Opportunities
At the beginning, Magugpo (now city of Tagum) was nothing but a vast wilderness, inhabited by the Mansakas, Manguangans, Mandayas and the Kalagans in the coastal barangays. The name Magugpo was derived from the native word mago, a name of a tree, and ugpo which means "very high." The natives were occupying a river basin inside the thickly covered forest where they could not even see the sun.
JUNE 23, 1941 – Creation of Tagum as a municipality by virtue of Executive Order No. 452 by then
Commonwealth President Manuel L. Quezon
1994 – Tagum becomes a First Class Municipality
MARCH 7, 1998 – R.A NO. 8274 was ratified, creating Tagum as a Component City of Davao del Norte
FEBRUARY 21, 2006 – Tagum City was reclassified from Third Class to First Class Component City
The city of Tagum has a total land area of 19,580 hectares, which is predominantly occupied by agricultural lands utilized in various kinds of crops like coconut, rice, Cavendish banana, fruit trees and other non-commercial agricultural crops.
The city is strategically located at the northern part of southern Mindanao where it lies in the intersection of three (3) major road network system namely: the Phil-Japan Friendship Highway, the Davao-Mati, Davao-Agusan road and soon to finish the Davao-Bukidnon road that connects the city to other major destinations in the region and in the entire Mindanao.
It is located 55 kilometers north of Davao City, the capital of Region XI. As such, it is about 1 hour and 30 minutes travel time to Davao City. The city lies between 7o 26’ N latitude and 125o 48’ E Longitude. It is bounded in the north by the municipalities of Asuncion and New Corella, in the south by Davao Gulf, in the west by the municipality of Carmen and Dujali and in the east by the Municipalities of Maco and Mawab.
Tagum City is bounded by two (2) major rivers, namely; Hijo River and Tagum-Liboganon River, which measures 700 sq. km. and 3,064 sq. km. respectively. These rivers serve as primary channels of run off water from upland areas and the city in particular. Outfall areas are commonly drained into the Davao gulf.
Of the three (3) component cities in the Province of Davao del Norte, Tagum is the smallest city in terms of land area and comprises only about one (1) percent of the entire Davao Integrated Development Program (DIDP) area.
The city is strategically located as it is being intersected by two (2) national highways connecting itself to the different provinces, cities and municipalities of Mindanao in all directions, north, south, east and west.