Waterfalls Capital

Iligan City is a good mix of unspoiled nature and hardcore industrialization.

By: Maricar T. Manuzon

Northern Mindanao’s Iligan City is a diamond in the rough. Under- explored by local and foreign tourists alike, it is one city which promises to captivate its visitors with its gifts of nature, intermingled with signs of industrialization.

The city’s name was derived from the word ilihan or iliyan which means “fortress of defense.” Long before Spaniard Miguel Lopez de Legaspi’s expedition reached the Philippines in 1565, two of the peace-loving Higa-onon tribal groupings of Mindanao had to build an ilihan on their coastal settlements to secure them from the frequent attacks of pirates and savage tribes. Traces of the fortress can no longer be found, but the people’s peace-loving nature – evident in the harmonious co-existence of Christian, Muslim, and Higa-onon cultures – remained.

Iligan City in Lanao del Norte used to fall under Region 12. In year 2000, however, it was reclassified under Region 10 which comprises Bukidnon, Camiguin, Misamis Oriental and Occidental, and Lanao del Norte. It is a major component of the Cagayan Iligan Corridor, one of the priority investment areas in the country.

23 Waterfalls

Iligan is home to majestic waterfalls, the most popular of which is the Maria Cristina Falls. Known for its pristine beauty, the 320 feet high waterfalls also serves as the city’s industrial lifeline – generating power for the city’s heavy industries through the turbines of the Maria Cristina Hydroelectric Power Plant.

Tinago Falls is hidden in a deep ravine, cascading beautifully into a calm, deep, and cool basin-like lagoon which takes a tedious hike of 379 steps down a stone stairway to reach. It is also surrounded by hectares of imposing virgin forests – on its own, a sight to behold.

The 90 ft. and 18 ft. wide Mimbalut Falls, meantime, is Iligan’s most accessible waterfalls, only 500 meters from the national highway. However, to reach the falls, one has to walk a long stretch of big boulders, which runs the length of Mimbalut’s tailend springs.

The mundane Timoga Cold Springs is the one more frequented by the locals. Timoga is known for its icy cold and crystal clear spring waters – contrast to Laguna’s hot springs – freely flowing downstream to several swimming pools for the enjoyment of many. It is also in the immediate vicinity of the well-preserved Macaraeg-Macapagal ancestral house which has been donated to the city government by the late former President Diosdado Macapagal to be the tourist destination that it is today.
These are just the more popular waterfalls. Iligan City has a total of 23.

Tourism Triangle

The local government of Iligan has introduced the Tourism Triangle Development Zone in 2000 to focus promotional efforts in the city’s most promising areas for tourism. The Triangle comprises three barangays – Barangay Ma. Cristina (where the Maria Cristina Falls is located), Bgy. Ditukalan (the site of the National Power Corporation), and Bgy. Buroon (home to Mimbalut and Timoga Falls, and President Macapagal-Arroyo’s ancestral house).

The goal is to promote community-based tourism which entails that folks from these three barangays be oriented and trained to be tourist-friendly. For those wondering why the National Power Corporation (NPC) is included in the focus areas, industrial tours also offered by travel agencies are actually in demand for both academic and professional groups all around the country. Popular destinations for this type of tours, aside from NPC, are PILMICO – a flour mill, SMC Coconut Oil Mill, Mabuhay Vinyl, and National Steel Corporation, whose common factor are their huge, dedicated factories.

Notwithstanding, the city lacks adequate accommodation and convention facilities which limits its development into a tourism center. The city hopes to someday soon have investors who would be interested to put up large-scale hotels and convention centers in the city. This will be a big boost in the city’s tourism sector and economy in general.

Harnessing of Maria Cristina Falls

Iligan’s industrialization is traceable to the creation of the NPC in 1936 and its subsequent expansion in Mindanao. NPC was tasked, among others, with the development of hydroelectric power from the country’s lakes and rivers. The Lake Lanao-Agus River system was among the river systems surveyed and investigated by NPC. The development of its hydroelectric potentials in the 1950s, first at the Maria Cristina Falls site (Agus VI), and subsequently at other sites along the Agus River, ushered in Iligan’s industrialization.

With the availability of cheap power in bulk, industries requiring heavy consumption of electricity arelured in the Iligan Bay area, especially in Iligan City.

The NPC responded to this deluge of industrial firms by installing additional generating units to the existing facilities of Maria Cristina Hydroelectric Plant at different periods from 1953. The last of these expansion projects – installing the 5th generating unit of Maria Cristina H.E. plant – began in 1974 and was completed in 1977. This, however, necessitates the diversion of large volume of water that used to provide grandeur to Maria Cristina Falls.

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