In case you didn’t know, Manuel Roa Corrales became the first governor of Misamis Province in the post Spanish era. The province then was so wide covering the region from Dapitan in the west, up to Gingoog in the east and as far as Cotabato and Lanao del Sur in the south.
Misamis used to be a part of Cebu. In 1818, it became a “corregimento” made up of four “partidos” or divisions: Partido de Misamis, Partido de Dapitan, Partido de Cagayan and Partido de Catarman. During the latter part of the 19th century, Misamis was one of the six districts of Mindanao and, later, one of the seven districts in Mindanao and Sulu at the close of the Spanish era with Cagayan de Misamis (now Cagayan de Oro) as its capital. When it was still a part of the district of Cebu, there were twelve Spaniards and nine Filipinos who successively served as “governadore” with Major Carabello as the first governor in 1874.
In 1917, following the organization of the Department of Mindanao and Sulu, the province of Misamis lost the territory of Iligan to the province of Lanao. In 1929, the Philippine Legislature passed Act No. 3537 creating the province of Misamis Occidental and Misamis Oriental. SOURCE
I will focus on the province of Misamis Oriental. Below are the governors of the province from 1901 up to the present.
MISAMIS PROVINCE (DISTRICT OF CEBU)
- Major Jose Caraballo – 1874-1876
- Lt. Col. Leopoldo Roldan – 1877-1883
- Lt. Col. Alberto Bacaj – 1883-1884
- Lt. Col. Luis Huertes – 1884-1886
- Lt. Col. Conde de Turealta (Acting) 1886-1887
- Lt. Col. Federico Tianta – 1887-1888
- Major Juan Zanon – 1888-1890
- Lt. Col. Jose de Togores – 1890-1893
- Lt. Col. Juan de Frats – 1893-1894
- Capt. Ricardo Carmecerno – 1895-1896
- Lt. Col. Jose de Togores – 1895-1896
- Lt. Col. Cristobal de Aguilar – 1896- 1898
- Governadorcillo Cayetano Pacana – 1898-1899
- Provincial President Jose Casa Roa – 1899-1900
MISAMIS PROVINCE (POST-SPANISH ERA)
- Manuel Roa Corrales– 1901-1905
- Apolinar Velez – 1906-1909
- Ricardo Reyes Barrientos – 1910 – 1912
- Jose Reyes Barrientos – 1912 – 1916
- Isidro Rillas – 1917-1919
- Juan Valdeconcha Roa – 1920-1922
- Segundo Gaston – 1923-1925
MISAMIS ORIENTAL PROVINCE
- Don Gregorio A. Pelaez – 1926-1931
- Gregorio Borromeo – 1935-1937
- Don Gregorio A. Pelaez – 1938-1940
- Pedro S.A Baculio – 1941-1945
- Mariano Ope Marbella– 1945
- Ignacio S. Cruz – 1946-1947
- Felicisimo E. Aguilar – 1948-1950
- Paciencio G. Ysalina – 1951-1954
- Vicente L. De Lara, Sr. – 1954-1961
- Alfonso R. Dadole – 1961-1967
- Pedro N. Roa – 1968-1969
- Concordio C. Diel – 1969-1974
- Rosauro P. Dongallo – 1974-1979
- Meynardo A. Tiro – 1980
- Homobono A. Adaza – 1980-1984
- Fernando B. Pacana, Jr – 1984-1986
- Norris C. Babiera – 1987-1988
- Vicente Y. Emano – 1988-1998
- Ruth de Lara-Guingona – 1998
- Antonio P. Calingin – 1998-2003
- Miguel C. de Jesus – 2003-2004
- Oscar S. Moreno – 2004 to present
Also lost territory of Misamis is Bukidnon when it became a Sub-Province of Agusan by virtue of Act #1693 of August 20,1907 upon the recommendation of Prof. Dean C. Worcester of Philippine Commission after observation through several visits he made in those location, yield that the two were left behind in development.
The Act also lost Agusan from Surigao and made the latter a full Provincial status. Bukidnon went to become a province on 1914. Sad to say that the Prov’l Govt of Bukidnon still using Act #2711 of March 10,1917 as the Law which create Bukidnon into full Provincial status when its not…try to open such Law in E-library among Law firm,one will surprised that its not about Bukidnon…
Manuel Corrales y Roa was not the first Filipino governor of Misamis. It was Jose Roa y Casas who was appointed, then subsequently chosen, as governor of Misamis by and during the Aguinaldo revolutionary government. There is no extant photo of him ever, thus the absence of any image of him in the provincial capitol gallery.