Naawan

Naawan, officially the Municipality of Naawan (Lungsod sa Naawan; Bayan ng Naawan), is a fourth class municipality in the province of Misamis Oriental, Philippines. The population of the town is estimated to be 22,444 according to the 2020 census.

Naawan has earned a national reputation as one of the most beautiful towns in the country, as well as being named the cleanest town in the Philippines in 2008.

Etymology
Naawan's abundance with the 26 waterfalls and its coastal waters has produced graduates in the marine and fisheries technology programs. Canned bangus and tilanggit are just a few of the products enjoyed from these waters. The history of how Naawan was named and what it is called today is tied to its bounty of waters in countless of ways.

In the olden days before places were named the way they are today, a pregnant woman was washing her laundry in the river which we call now as the "Talabaan River". She felt labor pains and gave birth to a baby in the river. As she was holding her newly born child in her arms, she felt a cooling sensation in her body as if she was holding water with her bare hands. "Nabagat ha bahig ha naawaan" a baby that came out in the water. it was said by the ancestors that came before us that the baby became a spirit that guards and keeps the waters of Naawan as abundant and bountiful the wav it is to this dav.

Sometime in 1884, a Spanish boat was navigating along the Yligan Bay, the boat captain who got attracted with the beautiful beaches in this area ordered his men to turn ashore and they disembarked nearby a very peaceful village.

When a villager who have gone fishing with a plentiful catch that day happened to pass by the where the Spaniards still cooking for their lunch, the fisherman shared to them half of his catch. In this occasion, the Spanish Officer through an interpreter asked him about the name of the place. "Naawaan" muttered the fisherman. The Spaniards, having a hard time to pronounce the word, muttered to himself "NAAWAN".

Before the Spaniards left this place, the Spanish Officer called one of his men to show to him the map of Mindanao Island and marked the name he thought on the spot he calculated to be the location of villages. This was how "NAAWAN" got its name.

History
In 1957, the barrio of Naawan, then part of Initao, was incorporated into the town of Naawan. The process for incorporating Naawan, from Initao was started in 1956.

Barangays
Naawan is politically subdivided into ten barangays.
 * Don Pedro
 * Linangkayan
 * Lubilan
 * Mapulog
 * Maputi
 * Mat-i
 * Patag
 * Poblacion
 * Tagbalogo
 * Tuboran

Education
Located in the town of Naawan is the Mindanao State University at Naawan campus, a unit of the Mindanao State University System. MSU-Naawan was established in the 1960s and 1970s as a scientific field laboratory for scientific research in the field along with the university's main campus in Marawi City, Lanao del Sur. With the involvement of Mindanao State University's College of Fisheries, the School of Marine Fisheries Technology graduated its first batch of university graduates in 1985. As an autonomous external campus and a distinct unit of the university system, the institute was known as the MSU-Institute of Fisheries Research & Development. It directly supervised the 'original' Naawan High School (the MSU-Naawan Fisheries High School after it was renamed the MSU-Naawan Fisheries High School). When the Naawan Central School's children's choir won first prize in the NAMCYA Children's Choir Finals at the Cultural Center of the Philippines in 1987, the school made a mark on the national stage.

Demographics
In the 2020 census, the population of Naawan was 22,444 people, with a density of undefined PD/km2.