Gitagum, a 5th class Municipality, is located in the province of Misamis Oriental, Region X (Northern Mindanao) at 25”35” east longitude. The municipality is bounded on the north by Mindanao Sea, on the east by the Municipality of Laguindingan, on the south by the Municipality of Alubijid and on the west the Municipality of Libertad. It is approximately 40 km. away from Cagayan de Oro City.
The municipality of Gitagum stretches along the shoreline of Mindanao Sea having an approximate length of 6.2 km. It has a total land area of 4,340 hectares or 43.40 square kilometers which is only 1.18% of the total land area of the province of Misamis Oriental. It is politically subdivided into eleven (11) barangays; five (5) are along the coast namely: Poblacion, Burnay, Pangayawan Matangad and Quezon while six (6) are upper barangays – Cogon, Tala –o, G. Pelaez, Ulab, C.P. Garcia and Kilangit.
Its mandate is based on Republic Act 7160 or the Local Government Code. Provisions of the Code that covers that mandate of the Municipality of Gitagum are the following Sections in the Code:
Every local government unit created or recognized under this Code is a body politic and corporate endowed with powers to be exercised by it in conformity with law. As such, it shall exercise powers as a political subdivision of the national government and as a corporate entity representing the inhabitants of its territory (Sec. 15 RA 7160).
Every local government unit shall exercise the powers expressly granted, those necessarily implied therefrom, as well as powers necessary, appropriate, or incidental for its efficient and effective governance, and those which are essential to the promotion of the general welfare. Within their respective territorial jurisdictions, local government units shall ensure and support, among other things, the preservation and enrichment of culture, promote health and safety, enhance the right of the people to a balanced ecology, encourage and support the development of appropriate and self-reliant scientific and technological capabilities, improve public morals, enhance economic prosperity and social justice, promote full employment among their residents, maintain peace and order, and preserve the comfort and convenience of their inhabitants (Sec. 16 RA 7160).
Local government units shall endeavor to be self-reliant and shall continue exercising the powers and discharging the duties and functions currently vested upon them. They shall also discharge the functions and responsibilities of national agencies and offices devolved to them pursuant to this Code. Local government units shall likewise exercise such other powers and discharge such other functions and responsibilities as are necessary, appropriate, or incidental to efficient and effective provision of the basic services and facilities enumerated herein (Sec. 17-A RA 7160).
Such basic services and facilities include, but are not limited to, the following: (Sec. 17-B RA 7160).
(2) For a Municipality:
(i) Extension and on-site research services and facilities related to agriculture and fishery activities which include dispersal of livestock and poultry, fingerlings, and other seeding materials for aquaculture; palay, corn, and vegetable seed farms; medicinal plant gardens; fruit tree, coconut, and other kinds of seedling nurseries; demonstration farms; quality control of copra and improvement and development of local distribution channels, preferably through cooperatives; interbarangay irrigation systems; water and soil resource utilization and conservation projects; and enforcement of fishery laws in municipal waters including the conservation of mangroves;
(ii) Pursuant to national policies and subject to supervision, control and review of the DENR, implementation of community-based forestry projects which include integrated social forestry programs and similar projects; management and control of communal forests with an area not exceeding fifty (50) square kilometers; establishment of tree parks, greenbelts, and similar forest development projects;
(iii) Subject to the provisions of Title Five, Book I of this Code, health services which include the implementation of programs and projects on primary health care, maternal and child care, and communicable and non-communicable disease control services; access to secondary and tertiary health services; purchase of medicines, medical supplies, and equipment needed to carry out the services herein enumerated;
(iv) Social welfare services which include programs and projects on child and youth welfare, family and community welfare, women’s welfare, welfare of the elderly and disabled persons; community-based rehabilitation programs for vagrants, beggars, street children, scavengers, juvenile delinquents, and victims of drug abuse; livelihood and other pro-poor projects; nutrition services; and family planning services;
(v) Information services which include investments and job placement information systems, tax and marketing information systems, and maintenance of a public library;
(vi) Solid waste disposal system or environmental management system and services or facilities related to general hygiene and sanitation;
(vii) Municipal buildings, cultural centers, public parks including freedom parks, playgrounds, and other sports facilities and equipment, and other similar facilities;
(viii) Infrastructure facilities intended primarily to service the needs of the residents of the municipality and which are funded out of municipal funds including, but not limited to, municipal roads and bridges; school buildings and other facilities for public elementary and secondary schools; clinics, health centers and other health facilities necessary to carry out health services; communal irrigation, small water impounding projects and other similar projects; fish ports; artesian wells, spring development, rainwater collectors and water supply systems; seawalls, dikes, drainage and sewerage, and flood control; traffic signals and road signs; and similar facilities;
(ix) Public markets, slaughterhouses and other municipal enterprises;
(x) Public cemetery;
(xi) Tourism facilities and other tourist attractions, including the acquisition of equipment, regulation and supervision of business concessions, and security services for such facilities; and
(xii) Sites for police and fire stations and substations and municipal jail;
Power to Generate and Apply Resources. – Local government units shall have the power and authority to establish an organization that shall be responsible for the efficient and effective implementation of their development plans, program objectives and priorities; to create their own sources of revenues and to levy taxes, fees, and charges which shall accrue exclusively for their use and disposition and which shall be retained by them; to have a just share in national taxes which shall be automatically and directly released to them without need of any further action; to have an equitable share in the proceeds from the utilization and development of the national wealth and resources within their respective territorial jurisdictions including sharing the same with the inhabitants by way of direct benefits; to acquire, develop, lease, encumber, alienate, or otherwise dispose of real or personal property held by them in their proprietary capacity and to apply their resources and assets for productive, developmental, or welfare purposes, in the exercise or furtherance of their governmental or proprietary powers and functions and thereby ensure their development into self-reliant communities and active participants in the attainment of national goals (Sec. 18 RA 7160)