Aurora
Filed under Municipalities
Aurora is classified as a third-class municipality of Zamboanga del Sur. It was discovered sometime in 1927 by sixteen Cebuano pioneers, although it wasn’t officially created until the 22nd of August, 1942, under Executive Order No. 353. The town got its name from the first lady of the late President Manuel L. Quezon, Doña Aurora Aragon Quezon.
Since the town was established during wartime, there is little information about the first set of officials that ran the municipality after its inception. Whatever information was on hand, however, point to an American mestizo by the name of Col. Luis Morgan as the one who established the first government of Aurora. This government was semi-military in nature and Col. Morgan appointed Anselmo Romanillos as the mayor.
After the war, in 1946, President Manuel L. Quezon appointed Alejandro Ceniza as the municipal mayor until he officially ran for the position and won on January 1948. He was succeeded by Guillerme Ontal, who held the office until 1959, when Ceniza ran again and won. His running mate, Jose Lim Tecson, had to take over the position when Ceniza unexpectedly died in 1962. Ceniza’s younger brother, Antolin, decided to pick up where his brother left off and ran for candidacy in 1962, which the young doctor won. Both Tecson and Ceniza would meet numerous times in the political arena until a new face in the person of Enrique Cabahug emerged in 1988. He would later be re-elected multiple times until the present.
The municipality is reputed to be the number one producer of professionals in the province; it is said that it is rare when a family does not have at least one professional in it. With 8,329 households as of the 2000 census, this is a big claim indeed. When it comes to natural attractions, Aurora boasts of the Aurora Mountain Resort, located in Anonang, one of the municipaliy’s 44 barangays. The resort has two swimming pool amenities that are perfect for family outings and it affords anyone a good view of the place.
Rotonda’s, roads, Adventure site, tourist spots, resorts, ty..
aurora is a beautiful place in whole ZDS many plant trees in forest!!!!!………………………………..mavuuuuuuhhhhhaaaaaayyyyyyyyyyy…………..
AURORA
what is the famous in the aurora……?
I’m intrigue with this Col. Luis Morgan. What happened to him after the war? He seemed got lost out of the scene.
I am going to retire soon and I am looking for a place to retire in Zamboanga Del Sur. This place is suit me for my retirement. Is there any business I can put up in this Place (Aurora)
my father was a member of its earliest settlers, way back 1931 with all 5 of us children, born, educated and enjoy our childhood, having a house near the center of the town. It is a nice place, cool and beautifull like the people around. a
good place to stay after retirement..eating kinilaw, drinking tuba and the likes, playing mahjong with friends and especially sabong ..hope to see you soon aurora as I am 67 years old now and about to retire…
my memories and my treasure are left behind in aurora..
samot na naa duol sa uccp..secod house from uccp facing up..my treasure are there..
Hi guys i need a favor, can i have the contact numbers or email address for San Isidro Labrador Parish. Thanks.
aurora was formerly a logging concession of misamis lumber & electric company. it was a forrestal land before . hardwood premium trees like molave, yakal, ipil, narra,acacia etc. abound in the area. such trees were so huge that it could not even be hugged by five persons. such trees were cut & logged by mlec & such logs were pulled by tugboat from lintugop. before & after it was deforested by logging many settlers from mandaue, cebu applied for homestead, free patents, sales patents for the land. roughly 90 per cent of the present day inhabitants could trace their ancestral roots from mandaue cebu family names like ceniza senas cabahug briones sanchez zanoria cortes ouano etc. most of the family names are exact replicas of mandaue family names. in the olden days during the may fiesta of mandaue, aurora residents would religiously go to mandaue without fail to have clan reunions and to eat the unique delicasees of mandaue ; bodbod cabug (from dawa sesame seed, parakeet lovebird feeds), bingka mixed with tuba, penato, tagactac, mangoes,etc. aurora was named in honor of the wife of pres. manuel l. quezon. the settlers planted corn, upland rice, coconuts, vegetable, fruits, etc. some of the cornlands and ricelands of aurora collapsed (lusno) during the 1955 earthquake, and are now swampland & fishponds. aurora is a boundary municipality. based on the revised administrative code the real boundary of the old undivided zamboanga province versus the old undivided lanao province is in barrio (now barangay) dongoan, where the old spanish trocha (boundary marker ) lies. later on a lanao politician ordered his men to alter the boundary marks & moved it to anonang because he didn’t want his lands to be under the jurisdiction of zamboanga. aurora is in a plateau. because it is now deforested there is a great danger that a great disaster will strike the lowland barangays through soil erosion. landslide, flashfloods if there is continuous rain due to climate change. so there is a need for the lgu officials to have reforestation projects of hardwood premium trees if not banyan trees to effectively hold the soil in romarate, anonang, taguitic, margos. lapinig, dongoan, etc. before deaths would strike to inhabitants & travellers. by the way there are many beautiful women from aurora, descendants of cebu from rajah humabon, reina juana & prince Tupaz & Spanish conquistadores Barbosa,Legazpi & their men.
and of course the additional delicasees/ native foods of mandaue : mahareal from grinded peanuts, binuylos doughnuts, mandaue candies of different flavors wrap in japanese paper. and outside mandaue: titays rosquillos & shamrock otap.
by the way mandaue cebu natives also attempted to establish a settlement in koronadal valley cotabato (later named Marbel) , then again renamed back to its old name koronadal. the pioneering settlers there were the sebastian, ceniza, senas, cabahug, etc. but it was not as successful as the aurora settlement. many of the settlers suffered great difficulties : some died of malaria, others killed by indigenous peoples of the bilaan ethnic group resentful of their lands being encroached. those faint hearthed went back to mandaue. those who remained become landed and improve their lives economically. later generations intermarried with the other settlers : the ilocanos & the ilonggos. they applied for homesteads, free patents, sales patents. they cleared the lands thru kaingin & planted crops.
i love my place….it was so nice
I’m trying to contact our cousin, Junior Cabahug as we are planning on visiting Aurora soon. I was born in Aurora and would like to show my children by birthplace. My sister Daisy visited him last year but did not get his email address. Please forward my message and email address to Junior so that we can communicate directly. Thank you.
Wow mr. Dento, seems like ypu know a lot of our land history. Ypu could have been a great help to us during the time when we’re trying to create an extensive history of aurora. Sad to say, we werent able to finish it, that was during my highschool years in CBI (now APMC). Unfortunately that project wasnt resumed, and nobody continued it. We lacked the time to do it, could not fill in the empty spaces of the history, thus left it unfinished. Sayang, it started late na. I come from one of the family descendants you’ve mentioned, and i was born and raised in that small town at the top of the hill. Hahaha i remember how my lola would prepare for the feasting in mandaue, she and lolo always go there with few apo’s with them, visiting our greatgrands. So nice of you sir to leave that helpful comment.
more power to you. God bless aurora! 
Aurora is my home, the place where my heart belong… Auroranians go go go…
what is the number of the local civil registrar in aurora, zambaonga del sur?
need it asap!
thanks!
Aurora General Hospital, the only hospital in Aurora will be close soon, middle of 2012 by the Provincial Government. If this will come true it would be very sad for the people of Aurora and nearby towns. Please help save our only hospital.