Dumaguete

"Dumaguete" was coined from the Cebuano word dagit, which means "to snatch". The word dumaguet, meaning "to swoop", was coined because of frequent raids by Moro pirates on this coastal community and its power to attract and keep visitors, both local and foreign. In 1572, Diego López Povedano indicated the place as Dananguet, but cartographer Pedro Murillo Velarde in 1734 already used present name of Dumaguete for the settlement.[9]

Rizal Boulevard

Dumaguete has a land area of 3,362 hectares (8,310 acres), situated on the plains of the southeastern coast of the large island of Negros, near the mouth of the Banica River. Of the province's 19 municipalities/towns and 6 cities, Dumaguete is the smallest in terms of land area. It is bounded on the north by the town of Sibulan, on the south by the town of Bacong and on the west by the town of Valencia.

As a coastal city, it is bounded on the east by the Bohol Sea and the Tañon Strait, serving as a natural border of southeastern Negros Island Region to the neighboring Central Visayas. The city's topography is generally flat from two to six kilometers from the shoreline. It slopes gently upwards to the adjoining municipality of Valencia. The highest ground elevation is located at the boundary of the municipality of Valencia, about one hundred meters above mean sea level. About 93% of the land have slopes of less than 3%. The remaining areas have 3% to 5% slope.

Barangays

Dumaguete's barangays

Dumaguete is politically subdivided into 30 barangays, all classified as urban. The eight barangays in the city's downtown area are known primarily by number. The smallest barangay is Barangay 4 with an area of only 5.11 hectares, while the biggest barangay is Barangay Banilad with 362.71 hectares.

• Bagacay
• Bajumpandan
• Balugo
• Banilad
• Bantayan
• Barangay 1 (Tinago)
• Barangay 2 (Upper Lukewright)
• Barangay 3 (Business District)
• Barangay 4 (Rizal Boulevard)
• Barangay 5 (Silliman Area)
• Barangay 6 (Cambagroy)
• Barangay 7 (Mangga)
• Barangay 8 (Cervantes Extension)
• Batinguel
• Buñao
• Cadawinonan
• Calindagan
• Camanjac
• Candau-ay
• Cantil-e
• Daro
• Junob
• Looc
• Mangnao-Canal
• Motong
• Piapi
• Pulantubig
• Tabuc-tubig
• Taclobo
• Talay

As of the census in 2015, there are 131,377 people and 21,582 households residing in the city (as of 2010). The city has the least poverty incidence among urban centers in Visayas, according to the 2009 Small Area Estimates (SAE) of Poverty done by the National Statistical Coordination Board (NSCB). It has an average daylight population of 400,000 people. Dumaguete is the most populous city in Negros Oriental, comprising 9.05% of the province's total population. Its total voting population is 89,193 voters (2019).

The Philippine Retirement Authority, a government agency under the Department of Tourism, has named the city as the "Best Place to Retire in the Philippines for 2018".[15] Dumaguete is also listed 5th in Forbes Magazine's "7 Best Places to Retire Around the World".[16]

Dumaguete is best known for Silliman University.[17]

Dumaguete has earned the distinction of being known as the "center of learning in the South," or a university city due to the presence of universities that have made their mark nationally and abroad. The city is a melting pot of students, professionals, artists, scholars and the literati coming from different parts of the country and the world.

Silliman University is the dominant institution of higher learning in Dumaguete, providing the city with a distinct university town atmosphere. It is the first Protestant university in the country and the first American university in Asia. The 610,000 m² campus is adjacent to and intermixed with the city's downtown district.[18] Some of its buildings have likewise been recognized as landmarks. These buildings include the Silliman Hall, Hibbard Hall, Katipunan Hall, the Luce Auditorium, and the Silliman Main Library (considered as one of the biggest libraries in the Philippines).[1][19][20][21]

Other universities within the urban parameters of the city are: Foundation University (1949), a private non-sectarian university, its Main Campus where the site of a very popular Sofia Soller Sinco Hall dubbed as White House of Dumaguete is located at Miciano Road offers tertiary education programs while North Campus along Locsin Street is the home of Foundation Preparatory Academy for basic education programs. The Negros Oriental State University (NORSU) which was founded in 1907, has its two main campuses in the city, the Main Campus 1 is beside the Provincial Capitol building while Main Campus 2 is located in barangay Bajumpandan. It is the only state university in Negros Oriental, the biggest among the four universities in the city in terms of student population and is very popular among students from different towns and cities of the province and some other parts of the country. St. Paul University Dumaguete (1904) is the first Saint Paul educational institution to be established in the Philippines by the Sisters of Saint Paul of Chartres (SPC) from France, second oldest Catholic university of Central Visayas and considered as premier Catholic university of Dumaguete.

A Jollibee branch in Dumaguete

Tourism, the academe, the retail industries, BPO and technology-related activities are the major sources of income of the city. BPOs and IT firms, as well as retailing, are the fastest rising industries. There are significant number of banking institutions and a branch of Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas within its territory. DCCCO and PHCCI are among the prominent cooperatives in the country which are both rooted in Dumaguete. Real estate industry in the city is also booming as property developers are either erecting condominiums, town centers or massive horizontal housing development. An initiative program to become a prime sports destination in the country was undertaken to promote Dumaguete primarily to host several national, regional and provincial games such as 2013 Palarong Pambansa, 2012 Philippine National Games (POC-PSC), Philippine Volleyball League, National Frisbee Championship, Batang Pinoy Visayas, Unigames, CVIRAA, an inaugural game of NIRAA for short-lived Negros Island Region among others. There are upcoming sports facilities and venues starting to shape, among them is the Dumaguete Sports Park, a 1.7 hectare reclaimed area located in the south end of Rizal Boulevard. It is a large sands court not only for recreational sports but also serve as shoreline protection of nearby coastal barangays. Substanstial development among barangays outside the poblacion area is expected to boost its economic potentials with the opening of 4 lanes circumferential highway to decongest traffic in the main thoroughfares of Central Business District transversing from the town of Sibulan up to Bacong. City hospital, new public market, city's multi-purpose and evacuation center, material recovery center and sanitary landfill are now in placed that benefits the barangays outside the poblacion to emerge as the new economic centers of the city. These growing industries made Dumaguete City the hub for shopping, education, financial, IT, commerce, lifestyle and sports in the province of Negros Oriental and region.

Tourism

Buglasan Festival at the Ninoy Aquino Memorial Freedom Park

Data from the Department of Tourism show that Dumaguete and Negros Oriental are among the top ten most visited tourist destinations in the country.[22] Tourists visit popular sites such as the historic Rizal Boulevard that most of its sugar mansions and prominent ancestral houses were converted into hotels, local-based and nationally known coffee shops, fine-dining restaurants and bars. Locals and visitors usually stroll or jog in its seaside boulevard early in the morning and spent time in the late in the afternoon until dawn with the same activity or rather to relax and dine in a well-organized food carts beside the Pantawan area selling Filipino favorites balut, street food such as tempura, kikiam, fishballs and the like. A few walks from the baywalk is the popular Sans Rival Restaurant and Bistro where Silvanas of Dumaguete is known for and is now recognized as sweet pasalubong from the city; Silliman Hall is a home of University's Anthropology Museum; St. Catherine of Alexandria Cathedral being the oldest stone church of the island of Negros and ecclesiastical seat of the bishop of Roman Catholic Diocese of Dumaguete and Campanario de Dumaguete which is considered as one of the oldest heritage landmarks of Negros Island and Central Visayas. Meanwhile, La Presidencia - the old City Hall is being restored to its original design will be the branch of National Museum in Dumaguete.

One of the cities' important annual celebration is the Sandurot Festival, which is held every September to commemorate of Dumaguete's history. The celebration is started with the Paghimamat, a re-enactment of how people from different ethnic and cultural backgrounds came to Dumaguete, bringing gifts of rich cultures. Pasigarbo followed, gracing the City streets with dancing to drumbeats and other instruments participated by different barangays and schools in Dumaguete. The streetdancing ended at Quezon Park after which the participants prepared for the grand Pasundayag, a display of dances portraying different stories of the Dumaguete tradition.

Another important annual occasion is the Buglasan Festival, also known locally as the "Festival of all festivals", which is held in the whole Negros Oriental province every October since 2002. Though this is a province-wide event sponsored by the provincial government, the activities are mostly centered in the province's capital, Dumaguete. Majority of activities are held in the Provincial Capitol and Ninoy Aquino's Freedom Park with booths and local products either on display or for sale, it is also spread to other venues such as Sidlakan Negros Village at Barangay Piapi and city's Rizal Boulevard. Showdowns and streetdancing are among the activities done in observance of the festival.

Business process outsourcing

Delonix, a business process outsourcing company in Dumaguete

Dumaguete's outsourcing industry has a range of businesses, such as call centers, publishing, medical transcription, animation, editing, and architectural outsourcing. Dumaguete is listed among Next Wave Cities in the country with over 20 IT and BPO locators, and has been described as a hub for Business Process Outsourcing and Information Technology.[23][24]

Dumaguete has four major tertiary hospitals, namely the Holy Child Hospital, Negros Oriental Provincial Hospital, ACE Dumaguete Doctors Hospital and the Silliman University Medical Center which is currently associated with St. Luke's Medical Center in Metro Manila.[25]

Dumaguete has the following sister cities:

• 
  Silliman Avenue
• 
  St. Catherine of Alexandria Cathedral
• 
  Dumaguete Belfry with grotto
• 
  Dumaguete City Hall
• 
  Provincial Capitol of Negros Oriental
• 
  Dumaguete Public Market

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Dumaguete City.

Wikivoyage has a travel guide for Dumaguete.

• Official Website of the City of Dumaguete
• Philippine Standard Geographic Code
• Philippine Statistics Authority
• "Dumaguete" . New International Encyclopedia. 1905.