Pagadian

Pagadian, officially the City of Pagadian (; Subanen: Gembagel G'benwa Pagadian; Maguindanaon: Kuta nu Pagadian, كوت نو ڤڬديان; Iranun: Bandar a Pagadian, بندر ا ڤاڬاديان; ; ), is a 1st class component city and the capital of the province of Zamboanga del Sur, Philippines. It is the regional center of Zamboanga Peninsula and the second-largest city in the region and in the province, after the independent city of Zamboanga. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 210,452 people. The city will be converted to a highly urbanized city by the virtue of Proclamation No. 1247, signed by President Rodrigo Duterte dated November 8, 2021, but shall take effect after the ratification in a plebiscite but shall not be realized soon as the city lacks infrastructures and amenities. Pagadian began as stop-over for traders who plied the road between the old Spanish fort-town of Zamboanga on the southwestern tip of the Zamboanga Peninsula and other bigger towns to the north of the old Zamboanga Province. Except for its sheltered bay and good fishing grounds, it was not a promising site because it is situated on steeply rolling terrain. In the course of its local history, waves of different kinds of people came to stay, and eventually called among themselves "Pagadianons". The iconic symbol of Pagadian is its uniquely designed tricycle built to adopt to the city's hilly terrain. It is the only place in the Philippines with a public transport inclined at about 25-40° angle. In recent years, these iconic inclined public transport has been slowly being replaced by electric tricycles (e-trikes), locally called "bao-bao" a kind of auto rickshaw, due to the latter's fuel-efficiency, less noise and being environment-friendly due to its smoke-less emissions. Etymology The city proper and surrounding areas of today's barangays of Muricay, Tawagan Sur and White Beach was originally named Talapukan, an indigenous word that means "a place of numerous springs." The officially accepted origin of its name are words taken from Iranun, pagad ("to wait") and padian ("market") which shows that Pagadian had been a trading area in the past. Other theories suggest that it was named after a bird that the native inhabitants call gagadian or that the city's name came from the word pangadyi ("prayer"), later to be known as pangadyian ("a place to pray" or "land of prayers"). The name Pagadian is also speculated to be derived from the Subanen word pengadian which means "school".