Cagayan

Cagayan (Tiberican: Cagayán ), officially the Confederal Republic of the Cagayan (: República Confederal del Cagayán; Tiberico Mixto: Repúblika ke Konfederal di Kagayán), is a country located in Southern Kesh. It covers a total land area of 701,286 km2 with a population of around 110 million people as of 2021, making it the most populous state in Southern Kesh. It is a with diverse ethnicities speaking different languages across the country. Bounded by the South Kesh Bay to the south, it shares land borders with ?Gxea to the southwest, ?Thobe to the northwest, Aftarestan and Atargistan to the north, ?Plot 211 to the northeast, and ?Telakam to the southeast. Though Cagayan does not have a de jure capital, Cagayan City at the mouth of the Cagayan River often serves as the venue of government functions, making it the de facto capital.

Cagayan's documented history stretches across 3,000 years, though evidence of prehistoric human settlements dates back to 200,000 years ago in the. The first settlements in the area emerged in the around 11,000 years ago, which developed gradually into the Callao megalithic culture. Various civilisations emerged after it in the Calnoman period, surfacing as a diverse assemblage of pre-colonial polities, which included city-states, peasant republics, and chiefdoms, in a constant state of flux. The area fell under heavy Prabhati influence especially through the 6th century CE, leading to the commonplace adoption of Devanagism and the development of the Surat script. There were early attempts at local unification through empire, such as by the Pyu and the Maquilala, with varying degrees of success, but the region in general remained politically fragmented for most of the pre-colonial period.

In 1622, Agrana y Griegro began conquering and colonising Cagayan from its base in Cagayan City, establishing the Viceroyalty of the Cagayan that lasted for 250 years. During this time, the Marian Church played an important role in spreading and the, and Cagayan City itself grew as a hub of local trade. Native populations were subjugated and heavily exploited under the colonial government through corvée labour, leading to numerous rebellions. In the 19th century, a largely criollo-dominated nationalism emerged in Cagayan, leading to the Cagayano War of Independence in 1872 and the Declaration of Independence in 1877, where Cagayan gained independence as the Sovereign Nation of the Cagayan. However, the new state's history after independence remained turbulent and marked with political and socio-economic upheaval. Disagreement over leadership led to the First Tupada in 1879 and the Wars of the Manifesto in 1880, ending with Cagayan under Alejandro de los Ríos as the Transitional Republic.

The rule of de los Ríos, known as the Ríato period, was characterised by economic prosperity and modernisation, but also political repression, a rise in inequality, and tensions leading to growing dissent. The Zurdazo movement grew in strength in the 1900s and overthrew de los Ríos in 1908, but he retook power in a coup d'état in 1911, which was ultimately defeated. The ordosyndicalist JANOS y FMT then attempted to launch its own coup in 1913, resulting in the Second Tupada, after which they took full control as the Directory. Under the Directorial State, the country underwent rapid industrialisation in pursuit of, and annexed Northern Cagayan by 1945, but was also known for widespread corruption and heavy political and cultural repression. Widespread dissent eventually led to the Third Tupada in 1972, after which the Directory was overthrown and replaced by the current system by 1981.

Cagayan is a, though with characteristics that tend closer to , operating primarily on in all levels and nationally governed by a. As a member of CISTO, it is markedly left-leaning politically, and it was also a founding member of SKECO along with Heiban and Prabhat. Since the fall of the Directorial State, government accountability and quality of life notably increased in Cagayan with the institution of extensive social welfare programs, but the country continues to struggle with poverty, inequality, and political corruption. Cagayan's shape and position in the junction between Western Kesh and Eastern Kesh gives it a significant level of biodiversity, with a range of biomes and corresponding endemic species.

Etymology
The name Cagayan for the country is directly derived from the name of the Cagayan River. From there, it is speculated that the word Cagayan directly comes from a word for "river" from one of the in the area, cognate to  carayan,  cayayan, and  calayan, all of which mean "river" and go back to a reconstructed  *kaRayan. The word is most similar to or  cagayan which may well be the origin of the term, though whether it definitely originates in either language is contested due to their distance from the river itself.

However, though Cagayan was surely first used for the Cagayan River, reflected by the use of the phrase the Cagayan (: la Cagayan) in the country's long form name, the use of Cagayan to refer to the modern-day political unit is relatively recent and reflects a gradual development. It was first used for the old settlement at the river delta, which later became modern-day Cagayan City. After that, it became used for the Lakanate of Cagayan that emerged around the settlement, and subsequently the region approximating the range of that polity. This name for the region was later taken up by the Viceroyalty of the Cagayan, which was in turn taken up by the newly-independent Sovereign Nation of the Cagayan that replaced it, which later expanded northwards to encompass the modern-day bounds of Cagayan.

Precolonial Cagayan


The earliest human artifacts in Cagayan are chips of found in the foothills of the Kamarband and dated to around 200,000 years ago, while the earliest known modern human remains date back to 30,000 BCE. Cagayan is the site of domestication of, with later migration waves from the northeast bringing the cultivation of and. By 8,000 BCE, a widespread shift occurred with the rise of villages across the Cagayan Valley. In the subsequent formative eras, various cultural traits diffused throughout the area, such as and competitive gifting, along with the production of  pottery with geometric and animal motifs. The villages became more populated and grew in size, gradually developing into the urbanised Callao megalithic culture that emerged by 3,700 BCE. It relied on irrigated agriculture, conducted wide-ranging trade, and was characterised by the building of large ceremonial buildings such as. By 3,200 BCE, however, the Callao culture underwent a rapid decline, and the Post-Callao cultures emerged in the aftermath. These new cultures were characterised by, carving,  of still-unknown purpose, and most notably,  osteomancy, the practice of  by heating of a bone of an animal, often the scapula, and interpreting the cracks, which inadvertently began a form of proto-writing.



In the period 900–750 BCE, many parts of Cagayan transitioned from the into the. This transition is held by most historians to have encompassed several waves of migration both internally, mainly by, and from outside, the latter of which helped introduce iron smelting and. This was followed by the Calnoman period, named after Calnoman, the old term for the region. It was characterised by the appearance of various states and statelets, which included a diverse collection of, , , and. These largely centralised polities often had hectarchies, which served as advisory councils or even governing bodies, and coexisted with largely decentralised, mostly peripheral groups such as and   bands. The local writing tradition reached its height with the Tumang logographs, and the first written histories date from the early part of this period.



The Pre-classic era (c. 400 BCE–200 CE) was characterised by a second period of urbanisation, with new urban settlements arising across the region. The century was also characterised by political consolidation, as the smaller states that emerged at the beginning of the Calnoman period had by this time coalesced into at least 30 major units, collectively termed in historiography as the khuddaka-vrajyas "petty states", which were in constant flux as states fell and other states rose in their place. Over the course of this urbanisation, the height of the Calnoman period saw the ascendancy of various cities as major military and commercial centers. Soon after, the state of Pyu managed to annex and subjugate much of the region as the Pyu Empire in the 2nd century BCE. However, it collapsed by the century's end, after which competition ensued between several important political centers such as Xamadan and Iquillang. Despite its swift collapse, the Pyu Empire became the precedent for the concept of pangagajom, or.



During the Classic era (c. 201–1000 CE), Calnoman was largely dominated by the southern khuddaka-vrajyas that exerted political power as far north as Imus. However, they were also locked in a military stalemate, as it became impossible to consistently control lands outside one's core territory. As a result, warfare between states became less frequent as the various polities instead shifted towards alliances and tributary networks. The arts flowered as well, especially literature and philosophy, which experienced a boom as more works and tracts were being written in what is known as the Great Debate. The region also became increasingly connected to the wider world as it became connected to the ?Silk Road during this time, while the khuddaka-vrajyas also made contact with the nearby Pascatyan Empire in modern-day Prabhat in 495 through Ghosha's expedition, the kingdoms of Ranai and Alahan in modern-day South Kesh, and later on, Heiban by the 8th century. These states exerted influence that penetrated local politics, as they became mangagajom of various local polities, but the region acquired more cultural traits from Pascatya during this period, such as Devanagism, Surat script, and numerous loanwords in Cagayano languages.



The Classic era was followed by the Post-classic era (c. 1001–1622 CE), which was characterised by an increasing shift of influence towards Heiban. Heiban had come to play an greater role in local politics at the expense of Pascatya, Ranai, and Alahan, which lost most of their influence and tributaries to Heiban, and local politics was largely determined by events in Heiban for most of this era. During this period, Heiban was coming into increasing contact with Kodeshia, and Kodeshi influence came to reach Calnoman through Heiban, which itself came under a civil war as the Lý dynasty rose to contest the power of the Vương dynasty, causing a short break in Heibanese overlordship and the War of the Ten Lords before the Lý reasserted Heibanese dominance over the region in 1235, before themselves being vassalised by the new Kodeshi Zhou dynasty in 1237. The new vassal-state retained mangagajom status until the Zhou dynasty itself collapsed in 1531 and was replaced by the Liang. Heiban, remaining under the rule of Zhou loyalists, broke away as the Zhou Empire of Heiban, but in the process lost most of its military power and its status as mangagajom over its tributaries in Calnoman.

Zhou Heiban sent four military expeditions to Calnoman, attempting to conquer the region from 1532–1533, leading to the formation of the Quintuple Alliance in opposition. After the expeditions, however, the Quintuple Alliance then became another regional alliance bent on enforcing its influence on the region, sparking a new period of conflicts. The state of Maquilala in the north formed the erstwhile Maquilala Empire, but it fell into a war of succession by 1557 and fragmented soon after. The Quintuple Alliance itself was becoming increasingly disunited, eventually dissolving by 1570 after a short internal war. The situation became relatively peaceful again, with the rise of the Triple Alliance of Cagayan, Duaravira, and Muong Palam as a primary economic and political force.

Conquest and colonial era


Merandy had established colonies in nearby Ramay by the early 16th century, and Artemian ships began entering the South Kesh Bay through the Canbrict Strait soon after. Specifically, Agrana y Griegro was interested in trade with the region, and an expedition conducted by the explorers José Lechuga and Telesforo de Garzas visited Cagayan in 1581 and attempted to lease land from the Lakan Diayadeva to build an outpost with the objective of facilitating trade on behalf of the kingdom. However, they were rebuffed, and in an attempt to gain local influence, de Garzas intervened in a local dispute on the side of the state of Pinamungajan against Cagayan, but was killed at the Battle of Cusang, leaving Lechuga to return with what remained of the expedition to Agrana y Griegro.

Years later, the Agranian conquest of Cagayan began in September 1622 when Fernando de Soto founded the city of Espirito Santo in the peninsula. Upon arrival, Megauati V of nearby Amajauan, a tributary of the Triple Alliance, challenged the Agranians, but was immediately overpowered in the Battle of Espirito Santo and surrendered. As news spread, different polities sent proposals of alliance with the Agranians, most prominently the confederation of Inilauran, which suffered from protracted warfare with Duaravira. Though the Agranians had a slight technological advantage, the indigenous repertoire of weaponry by this time had included cannons, arquebuses, and muskets that could well match the conquistadores, and in greater numbers. The Agranians thus relied heavily on strategic alliances and support by indigenous forces in their fight against the Triple Alliance, who were finally defeated by 1631. The conquered territories, along with the states that sided with the Agranians, then became part of the new Viceroyalty of the Cagayan by 1640.



The main pillars of Agranian rule during the colonial era were the state and the Marian Church, though as Agrana y Griegro was a, the two were inseparable in practice. In the Viceroyalty, the state enforced as the only permitted religion, repressing all other religions then extant at the time, Devanagism and the traditional faiths, which was branded as paganism and punishable by death. A was established in Cagayan in 1642 to oversee the territory in concert with the viceroy, and the Diocese of Cagayan was established in 1643 to oversee the local clergy and the Church's operations in the colony. Many new Agranian towns and cities were created, some of which were built on older sites, and others on indigenous settlements, but despite this, the population of the Viceroyalty as a whole remained overwhelmingly indigenous during much of the colonial period.



The law of the castas was also introduced and attached to the new subjects, creating a hierarchy between the local and Agranian populations. Society was organised in a racial pyramid, with white people at the top, mixed-race in the middle, and indigenous people, called  at the bottom. There were also different subclasses for each casta, such that different sections of the same casta were treated entirely differently. Mestizos were divided between the true mestizos, born to white and indigenous parents, and the, who were born to white and mestizo parents. The quejos were sectioned between different groups, and by extension the mestizos born from these groups were also classified along these same lines. White people, meanwhile, were differentiated between the born in Agrana y Griegro itself and the  born in the colony.

The casta system led to the disempowerment of the indigenous peoples. Though exceptions had been made for the indigenous nobility that allied with the Agranians during the conquest, who were granted hereditary rights and privileges as the principalía, in general indigenous peoples under the Viceroyalty were disenfranchised and barred from running for, or being appointed to, public office. They, along with mestizos, were also subject to polo y servicio, a mandatory annual system of corvée labour. These, among other factors such as the aforementioned religious suppression, led to numerous revolts throughout the colonial era, which included the Aqueanon Revolt in 1653, King Amanicalao's War in 1712, and the Taga-ilog War in 1744, to name a few. Despite this, the Viceroyalty continued to expand northwards overtime by annexing dependencies and sending out expeditions to conquer territory, conquering as far as Calimuran in 1673, Paphacaza in 1712, and Imus in 1732.



The criollos were generally treated equally to the Tibericos for much of the colonial period, but by the 19th century, reforms were initiated that bestowed privileges on the latter at the former's expense. The immediate effect was that criollos became excluded from higher administrative and military positions, and that even lower officials were to be gradually replaced, leading to mutinies and rebellions. Within the Marian Church, the Edict of Desecularisation was promulgated, with Tiberico priests taking over local parishes from quejo and criollo clergy and being prioritised for posting over the latter. As a result, a Cagayano nationalist movement emerged in the La Liga Cagayana formed by José María Costilla, spearheaded by the disenfranchised criollos who mainly spread their ideas through writing. A growing rift emerged in the movement, however, as the ilustrados desired equality before the crown as a province of Agrana y Griegro, while the independentistas desired the colony's independence through armed revolution. Many independentista groups emerged that committed acts against the government, such as assassinations and sabotage, one of which, the Panon, initiated the Cagayano War of Independence.

War of independence


The execution of the Angeles Fifteen in 1864 caused widespread disillusionment among the ilustrados, including Martín Samaniego who subsequently became an independentista and founded the secret society of the Panon in December 1867. Other founding members included Andrés Iriarte, Teodoro Santiago, Elías de las Casas, Irineo de la Plata, among others. The Panon committed acts of sabotage over the following years while also preparing for a general uprising, gathering men and materiel, but they were discovered in December of 1871 under suspicious circumstances and forced to prematurely initiate the uprising the following month amidst a manhunt. In the event known as the Cry of Pinamungajan, the uprising began with a mutiny in Fort San Felipe Neri that the Panon came to the aid of, but despite a victory, Samaniego was killed in the fighting.



In the wake of Samaniego's death, leadership of the Panon passed first to Iriarte, who set up the Supreme Junta of the National Convention, better known as the Esperanza Junta after the town of Esperanza that was its headquarters. However, after the fall of Esperanza in 1873, the independentist forces disintegrated and were reunited shortly after under Elías de las Casas who occupied a significant portion of the east with the aid of Teodoro Santiago and Mariano Acevedo. The Malalag Congress was convened in 5 September that same year, and it signed the Act of Independence of the Cagayan, which also declared the abolition of slavery, corvée labour, and the Law of the Casta. After the Battle of Olongapo, however, the situation entered what could generally be described as a military stalemate, with the fragmented revolutionary zones of control coming to constitute their own states for the time being, as represented in the Congress.



The Malalag Congress did not solely consist of the Panon, and became increasingly divided between the unitary centralista and federal autonomista blocs, owing to a division in the hypothetical government of a newly-independent Cagayan. The centralistas under Severino Razon desired a strong central government based in the capital of Cagayan City, while the autonomistas were more diverse, varying in the desired degree of power of the central government. A portion was for a weaker central government and stronger local governments, while others were for the division of Cagayan into a collection of entirely independent states united in a league, which was the status quo at the time. Eventually, a compromise was reached resulting in the Congress essentially embodying a federal government, and each constituent state soon set up its own local government, though the centralist-autonomist split would continue to define Cagayan's history after independence.



In 1876, the Agranian general José María Aguayo began the Christmas Campaign, quickly overrunning Congressional forces in initial battles at Mangubat and Magandiañg, but he was soon pincered at Guinabatan and had to retreat. The news of this retreat spread in Cagayan itself and the surrounding areas, galvanising local independentistas and leading to the Red Days, a spontaneous series of local uprisings and mutinies that led to Cagayan itself becoming divided between Viceroyal and independentista zones of control. The Congressional forces began a counter-offensive, and soon enough the Viceroyal forces were under increasing pressure. The Viceroyal forces suffered a blow as Aguayo was mistakenly shot by his own troops, and the final viceroy of Cagayan, Diego Porras, signed the Treaty of Esperanza, leading to the total independence of Cagayan under the Sovereign Nation.

First Tupada and Ríato period


Cagayan had become independent in 15 October 1877, but it had become functionally divided between called jefes, generals of the revolutionary army who each ruled their own personal domain. After the Malalag Congress, the country's supremo, or head of government, was to be elected by the jefes, who themselves were in turn elected by acclaim among the soldiers they commanded. The jefes had begun clashes with each other, and in the Cáceres Congress of December 1877, in an attempt to strengthen state power, they were formally incorporated into the administration as heads of comandancias. However, this did not stop the localised conflicts, and the dynamics continued to shift. At times, there were multiple jefes in a single comandancia, while other jefes managed to consolidate control beyond their assigned comandancias, and yet others formed cliques for mutual defence and assistance.

This network of local conflicts was increasingly aligning with a political one. Ever since Cagayan's independence, the centralista and autonomista blocs resurfaced and began a power struggle. In the Santa Rosa Convention of July 1878, the autonomista supremo de las Casas was deposed and replaced by the centralista Razón amidst a contested election. de las Casas refused to acknowledge the results of the election, declaring it null and void, marking the final break and further escalation as the autonomista bloc, now the Magdiuang faction, rose to challenge Razón's Macaluluas faction, both named for de las Casas' and Razón's brigades, respectively. Eventually, Razón attempted to have de las Casas arrested at Cabuyao, but de las Casas escaped and drafted the Military Agreement of San Juan, effectively creating a second government and sparking the First Tupada.



de las Casas would be defeated and killed in the Battle of Tierra Negra in 1880. After this, Razón, seeing the autonomy of the jefes as a threat, issued the Second Declaration of Esperanza that separated command of the army from them to him alone. For this, a portion of his commanders defected to the Magdiuang faction, which was now led by Alejandro de los Ríos. de los Ríos would then lead a successful campaign that drove Razón back to Cagayán City, which he besieged in 1882, and Razón would surrender that same year. de los Ríos then began to reform the country from a  into the Transitional Republic, instituting popular elections of  every two years.



The 26-year rule of de los Ríos, termed the Ríato period, was marked by rapid modernisation and industrialisation, with the rapid build-up of infrastructure such as roads and railways. Factories and plantations were set up to increase the country's revenue through trade output, and ports were developed and continually expanded to increase shipping capacity. However, despite this, continued to widen as wages decreased while businesses flourished. Under Directive No. 22, land was forcefully appropriated from farmers for government projects, and these dispossessed farmers were then employed in plantations. In addition to this, the country was not yet fully unified, as the government continued to embark on Pacification Campaigns in 1885 and 1888, the latter of which ended in failure and the rapid build-up of secessionist sympathy.



Despite the country being a republic and elections being held, de los Ríos, surrounded by advisors called científicos ("scientists"), played the role of éminence grise, remaining the main decision-maker behind succeeding presidents, who were all loyal to him. He made use of means, creating the Party of Order and Progress under his ally, Gen. Teofilo Castro that opposition funneled into, thus ensuring that an effective legal opposition cannot materialise. However, he also overtly suppressed political opponents whenever they grew too prominent, imprisoning Alfonso Macapagál in 1884 and having Miguel Corchado assassinated in 1889. There were many rebellions during the Ríato period as a result, many of which were suppressed by the céleres paramilitary police.

Despite political repression, many dissident elements were growing in Cagayan, such as the secessionistas who, as a continuation of the old autonomista movement, advocated for a confederation, and the Norteño insurgency, a peasants' movement against the still-dominant northern jefes, and the Zurdazo, a loose grouping of left-wing unions that emerged in the 1890s, such as the Unión Obrera Democrática (UOD), the Asamblea de los Trabajadores y Campesinos (ATC), and the Juntas de Actuación Sindicalista (JAS).

End of the Ríato


Police suppression of workers' strikes became continually more violent, and the Ising massacre in 1900 which left 24 workers dead only caused the social conflict to escalate heavily. The mood of the Zurdazistas became increasingly militant in the aftermath, with unions assembling arms and forming militias, while other groups rejected political activity as a whole in favor of direct action, adopting the strategy of pistolerismo. Various acts of sabotage, assassinations, and bombings were committed against government targets, most notably Aurelio Nocanóa in 1904, and the old strikes became bloody workers' uprisings as armed police met equally-armed strikers, with the ones in Pagnahian and Somal-ot being some of the largest in the period.



Around this time, the opposition had become a somewhat unified bloc. Various opposition parties, presided over by Matías López, signed the Pact of Cabadbaran in 1907, including the UOD, ATC, and Juntas de Actuación Nacional Sindicalista (formerly JAS), along with a bloc centered around José Parás and José Manuél Evangelista. In concert with dissident elements in the national army under Hilario Maxílom, Hector Zamora, and Pedro Salamanca. They instigated the 1908 revolution, which was ended with the promise of free elections that was won by Vicente Mercado, a signatory of the pact. However, only three years later in July 1911, supporters of de los Ríos under Gen. Juan Menchaca rose up in revolt, killing Mercado and taking the pact signatories unaware, who were only able to fully defeat the rebellion by August 1912. de los Ríos, who was able to briefly regain power, was summarily executed, and his loyalists were taken in by the JANS.

The JANS, led by Camillo de la Peña, had become increasingly politically disconnected from the rest of the Zurdazo, turning towards a fascist strain of socialism called ordosyndicalism that detested liberal democracy, politicians, and communism, advocating for a violent takeover to create the New Order. After absorbing the Rioistas as the JANS-FMT (JANS-Frente y Movimiento Tradicionalista), the new organisation had enough power to contest the rest of the Zurdazo bloc. The JANS-FMT began its coup in 12 July 1913, but it failed, and the coup attempt became the first battle of the Second Tupada. The civil war was mainly fought between the JANS-FMT with its allies and the Republican forces, though numerous other factions were formed and dissolved through the course of the war, which ultimately ended in the victory of the JANS-FMT and the beginning of the Directorial State.

Directorial State


The Directorial State marked the first period of national unification widely considered by historians to be "largely stable", owing to the lack of internal instability in its first years under de la Peña, who became the first Director. In this initial period, the government focused on reconstruction, utilising and their families, while also establishing the Vertical Syndicate in 1925, which served as a state union that included both workers and employers, and the First Commission of the camarillas in 1932, and later on, of the Balakirev Triad, that served as a link between the State and the criminal underworld. He also embarked on expeditions that would annex most of what is now northern Cagayan. However, to cement his own position, he also granted sweeping powers to the Committee of the Security of State (COMSES), shifting the country into a and precipitating the rise of the securocrat, a new class of politicians affiliated with COMSES.



During this period, the Directorial State heavily penetrated daily life. The State Committee for Children’s Welfare (COMESAN) was founded in 1922 after the Second Tupada as the Office of the Assistance of Orphans (OFAHUE) to care for the many orphans in its aftermath. In 1930, its reach was extended to the care of all children in the country, who were raised in national orphanages as children of the state subject to and. COMSES, aside from its wide surveillance of civilians, also became the effective managing body of psychiatry through its State Institute of Psychiatric Health and Study (IESSP), leading to a long history of political abuse through persistent institutionalisation of dissenters, most notably in the case of Acasto de Fonseca and Cosme Merced in 1961.

However, upon de la Peña's unexpected death in 1947, his highly personalised dictatorship immediately gave way to a power vacuum that his appointed replacement Juán Almendras de Alba was unable to fill quickly enough, and the new government became heavily divided between various cliques of politicians and party cadres locked in a power struggle over the direction of national affairs. Prominent among them were the generally dominant securocrat bloc, the Carandang Group, and the Soldiers' Group of officer-politicians. The Soldiers' Group and the securocrat bloc experienced the greatest animosity out of, doctrinal conflict, and competition over funding and prestige, as well as the Soldiers' Group resenting COMSES for its continued surveillance and infiltration of the armed forces. In addition, a secret organisation called the Shrike Nests, functioning as a 'state within a state' and composed of various influential persons, was founded to stabilise the political landscape.



Despite the attempt of the Shrike Nests, the political infighting eventually led to various plots and intrigues. The Minister of State Security Clemente de Dios eventually ousted the Army Chief Rolando Alcazár, whose successor Crescencio Morillo in turn had de Dios assassinated in 1953. However, de Dios' successor, Luís Silvestro Mercader, instigated the first securocrat intrigue, which unseated Almendras de Alba in favor of Epifanio de Asís, another securocrat. Mercader in turn was unseated by the Adláoan troika under León Mañalac in 1955. This state of affairs continued for some time, with four coup attempts in the next ten years, namely Case Sagittarius in 1956, Operation Serpent in 1961, the Siege of the Hotel Carmine in 1963, and the Balacbác mutiny in 1964. Aside from the internal intrigue, the government was embroiled in the Gunpowder Years, engaging in a against  of the New Zurdazo.



In the meantime, the mob through the Commission became increasingly intertwined with the state apparatus, with key figures being affiliated with one outfit or another, turning Cagayan into a and a center of illicit trade. Many officials of the government, most prominently Aurelio San Martín, Eufemio Cruz, and Segismundo Lupo Ver, actively used their position to set and guard drug plantations and transport contraband throughout the country, while charges of drug possession were laid against dissenters. The intelligence agencies of the Directorial State also used mob assets to gain information and assassinate targets both outside and inside the country. Rogue elements of the mob such as the outfit of Estanislao Cruz y Morán were also known to assist the New Zurdazo as well, though they were later excommunicated from the Commission.

By 1970, the New Zurdazo grew beyond the capability of the government to control, and a wide-scale rebellion was imminent. Given the incessant conflict within the Directorate's ranks, and yet another recent coup attempt, the then-Director Romulo Calleja decided to liberalise, granting freedom of speech and opening the government to opposing political parties in a transition to democracy. However, alarmed hardliners within the government, and especially among the Shrike Nests organisation, united under Augusto Varquéz and launched the bloody F-20 coup in 1972, killing Calleja. The ensuing crackdown would directly lead to the Third Tupada that finally overthrew the Directorial State.

Third Tupada and Confederal Cagayan


The opposition to the Directorial State in the Third Tupada was formed by bands of rebels, guerrillas, and even some sections of the army, gathered under the United Forces of the Resistance (FUNRE, Fuerzas Unidas de la Resistencia). FUNRE was nominally a  composed of leaders of various political leanings, such as the  Benedicto Zendejas and the  Sebastián de Villar, with a significant and growing  mostly gathered around the  Communist Party of the Cagayan (PCC, Partido Comunista del Cagayán) and the broader alliance of the Democratic Coalition of Workerist Forces (CODEMFO, Coalición Democratica de las Fuerzas Obreristas).

Owing to tendencies between the factions, in 1981 the FUNRE under Conrado Acebo y Galeano instituted the  that remains extant, dividing the country into states. Support was not unanimous, with the emergence of the Bloc of Centralists faction, which included a large part of, and was largely led by, the PCC. The bloc also sought political and military support from Goetia. However, the country was taken by surprise by the rise of Democratic Ramay and the ensuing 1981 bauxite shock, which began the flight of at least two million refugees from South Kesh into Cagayan amidst the South Kesh refugee crisis. As a result, the administration of Nicodemo Monzón formed the Southern Kesh Economic Cooperation Organisation in 1986 with Heiban and Prabhat, which then executed a peacekeeping mission in South Kesh until 1988.



The conflict between the Bloc of Centralists and the regionalists in the Confederal Congress continued to escalate, until the President Juan Modesto Apara was elected from the PCC in 1989. With the Congress increasingly arriving at political deadlock, Apara decided to set in motion an attempted self-coup in 1990 with Goetian support. The self-coup began with widespread mutinies and a campaign of involving much use of. However, Apara's insistence on remaining in Cagayan eventually led to the coup's fall after he was captured with many of the Bloc members, forcing the mutineers to surrender. He was then replaced as President by Epifanía de las Cuevas after a round of emergency elections. Though the Bloc failed, they eventually set off a gradual process of, with the confederation acquiring traits of a.



de las Cuevas presided over a period of increasing shift towards the sphere of influence of Aftarestan to the north, resulting in the eventual inclusion of Cagayan into ICOSEC by 1993. This policy of pro-Aftarestan foreign policy would be carried from his successor Afanásio Magallon in 1996 onward, with the construction of various massive infrastructural projects, collectively called AfCag, aiming to improve transmontane transport between Aftarestan and Cagayan. This period of construction was accompanied by a wave of environmentalist and indigenous backlash largely spearheaded by the Savage Resistance organisation, though ultimately the projects would continue, but not without concessions to environmental and indigenous groups. However, a side-effect of pro-Aftarestan foreign policy was a growing rift with staunchly anti-communist Heiban, leading to the eventual dissolution of SKECO in 1998.



With the end of the century, Cagayan faced significant challenges with systemic with the uncovering of deals between the new camarilla and established politicians, beginning with the Lavado de Manos scandal and climaxing in the major Padrinisación scandal in 2003 where a system of patronage based on the previous arrangements was also revealed. Marco Itliong was forced to dissolve the Congress iuxta ipsum, forcing a round of emergency elections the following year. Most established parties were affected, most notably the Cagayano Social Democratic Party (PSDC) which underwent a severe internal crisis and disbanded soon after, while other parties such as the Coalition of the Radical Left (CIRC) appeared as an alternative to the established potros.

Though the immediate effect of Padrinisación was greater concern over government corruption, leading to the establishment of the Extraordinary Court of the National Sentinel to tackle cases of corruption by government officials, it would not be the last notable instance. Another corruption scandal erupted in 2008, when the Muñoz trials erupted in the wake of revelations by Antonio de la Cruz, also forcing the government of then-President Diana de Dios to dissolve with emergency elections the following year. In 2021, it was revealed by an investigation by Veledad and by the whistleblower José María A-Bissene that the of Energodar, Justiniano Coca, had  funds for the construction of Noreste LNG, causing yet another corruption scandal. But unlike with the Padrinisación crisis, the administration of Pablo Macairog decided to not dissolve Congress iuxta ipsum and a referendum to force failed, and they instead decided to serve their full term until the September 2022 elections amidst national uproar.

Geography
Cagayan is located in Southern Kesh between latitudes 2°N and 12°S and longitudes 48°E and 52°E. It is bounded by Gxea to the southwest, Thobe to the northwest, Aftarestan and Atargistan to the north, ?Plot 211 to the northeast, Plot 208 to the southeast, and the South Kesh Sea to the south. Despite having a relatively large land area of 701,286 km², it has a limited stretch of coastline compared to other countries in its vicinity.

The northern part of the country is dominated by the Kamarband that runs through the middle of much of Kesh, and the river Cagayan runs from the mountains down to Imus where one of its major tributaries, the river Cañawaran, flows into it. The Kamarband gently slopes down into hilly terrain, with many ranges running across the north such as the Sarrat and Añghát ranges on the northeast and northwest of the country, respectively, and other rivers, such as the Agoo and Itomán, originate from these hills to flow into the Cagayan further south.

The southern part of the country, meanwhile, is dominated by floodplains produced by the foothills of the Kamarband continuing to slope down further south, and the Cagayan Delta that spans the entire coast. The river Cagayan, from Imus, flows down to the delta along with the river Payaqawan, which forms Cagayan’s southeastern borders with ?Plot 208. The delta is composed of two regions, which are the Delta Proper through which the river Cagayan empties into the Laguna de Cabo, and the Ibalong Peninsula which separates the Laguna de Cabo from the Bianagan Bay, through which the river Payaqawan empties into both.

Climate
Despite its elongated form, Cagayan experiences a generally uniform climate as a large part of the country comprising much of the south falls under the (As), with areas further inland falling under the  (BSh). A large swathe of the east, comprising most of the plains of the area, has the (Am), while the northwest, being encompassed by the Kamarband, has the  (Cfa) that gives way to a belt of  (ET) in higher altitudes.

Cagayan has year-round rainfall and humidity unevenly distributed between and  seasons. The wet season lasts from May to early October, during which there is more rainfall as the Iapetus anticyclone gains strength, with air from the precipitating as it moves north. While the southern coastal areas experience greater rainfall and floods, this rainfall does not reach the north and east portions of the country until mid-July to September. The dry season, meanwhile, lasts from late October to early April as the Keshian Low forms over much of Southern Kesh, with warm and humid temperatures across the country, reaching as high as 40°C in some areas. Brushfires are a seasonal occurrence, though the brushfire seasons of 1997, 2009, and 2015 have been noted as particularly devastating in recent memory.

Politics
Cagayan has officially been a   since the ratification of the Confederal Charter of the Cagayan on 15 August 1981 in the aftermath of the Third Tupada. The Charter provides for the separation of national powers between three bodies: the President of Cagayan, the Confederal Congress, and the national judiciary. In addition to the national government, the Charter also provides for the autonomy of its constituent states and cantons.

Government


The main body of national government in Cagayan is the Confederal Congress, a body that holds legislative and executive power. The lower house, the People's Chambers (Camaras Populares), has 632 members directly elected for four-year terms with each one representing a state, canton, or rincon of the country, along with representatives from sections of the military. The upper house, the Chamber of the Senators (Camara de los Senadores), has 158 members from across the nation elected for six-year terms by. The People's Chambers are meant to embody local and regional interests, to which the Chamber of the Senators acts as a counterweight, representing national interests. As an example of this, while the members of the People's Chambers can only present national legislation that originates from referenda, senators, conversely, can submit potential legislation to Congress to initiate national referenda.



The President of Cagayan, currently Pablo Macairog, serves as the national. The President is elected by and among members of the sitting Confederal Congress, and has additional powers, such as some executive powers, though they still effectively serve as within Congress and continue to serve as a member thereof. One of these powers is the discretionary power to dissolve the Congress for early elections, famously used by Marco Itliong in 2003 in the aftermath of Padrinisación. Other powers include the ability to or  legislation (though the latter can be counter-vetoed by the Congress), and to declare a state of war, siege, or calamity. The president also has certain responsibilities, such as Congress at the end of a session, and generally representing the country abroad in. Aside from being part of the Congressional triumvirate composed of the Senate-President and the Speaker of the People's Chambers, they are also advised on issues of importance by the National Council, composed of the Senate-President, the Speaker, and former presidents of the country, along with two sets of six members selected by both the Congress and the President.

The President also nominates members of Congress for a Secretarial Cabinet, which handles most of the Congress's functions and comprise the largest part of the country's national bureaucracy. For this occasion, the Congress forms the Commission on Appointments, which confirms or rejects the President's nominations, and in the latter case the Congress can instead present its nominations. The Secretarial Cabinet is constituted by 27 secretariats, each headed by a Secretary, who has the responsibility of carrying out the secretariat's functions, presenting data, and advising Congress on different affairs of the state such as, , and , among others. Aside from the Secretarial Cabinet, this procedure of nomination is also applied to other officials, like ambassadors and high officers of the Armed Forces of the Cagayan.

Political parties


Political parties were initially not formalised in Cagayan's political system until 1983, up to which time parties such as the PCC existed informally, though due to the nature of legislation in Cagayan the system remains to a degree. As a result, political parties have focused on the mobilisation and membership of citizens as. The laws pertaining to political parties were included in the Charter, explicitly forbidding parties that espouse ordosyndicalist or ideas. One such banned party is the neo-ordosyndicalist Second Cagayano Renovation (SRC) led by Francisco de Barra, which was banned in 2002, with de Barra himself being banned from public office. However, the growing membership of the SRC has sparked concerns over the rise of neo-ordosyndicalism.

Though historically Cagayan's politics has been marked by a sharp divide between the left and the right, the shift at the end of the Third Tupada called La Honda (lit. 'the slingshot') has caused the political scene to be dominated by the left, and instead the axis has shifted to support for either and. Since the 1986 elections, the People's Alliance for Liberation (APxL) coalition, composed of the PCC, Autochthon Alliance (AAA), and other leftist parties, has generally dominated Congress, though other parties at times have grown large enough outside the established coalition, most prominently Coalition of the Radical Left (CIRC) and Juntos para Nosotros (JxN), especially after splits and the occasional corruption scandal. The CIRC itself would go on to become an associate member of the APxL in 2015.



Corruption scandals have been the main cause of shifts in the party compositions of the Confederal Congress. As an example, in the 2004 elections in the wake of Padrinisación and the succeeding dissolution of Congress by Marco Itliong, the CIRC and JxN gained seats at the expense of the other established parties, especially the Cagayano Social Democratic Party (PSDC) which lost all its seats and never recovered, disbanding in 2006. JxN itself then suffered in the 2008 elections in the aftermath of the Muñoz trials when they were uncovered to have been one of the parties receiving camarilla money, itself losing all but five seats in the Senate, which it lost in succeeding elections.

A particularity of Cagayan's political system is the presence of delegates to the Confederal Congress, gathered as the Confederation of the Autonomous Communes (CCAA), nominally led by Sancho Echeverría. According to their mission statement, they are elected ‘simply to represent the people of their communes, in accordance with mandatory representation', referring to the mandatory presence of a representative from a given administrative division, and the party acts only as a catch-all gathering for anarchists in Congress. However, there has been concern from the anarchist delegates, who have openly stated that their participation in electoral politics has become a contradiction for them.

Law and judiciary


The judiciary system of Cagayan is often described as intricate and dispersed, in that there is a high degree of specialisation between courts, for which purpose the judiciary is roughly divided into parallel and separate systems. The penal courts (Juzgados Penales) are the most numerous, dealing with most and  cases, with various specialised courts of its own, such as the Courts for Penitentiary Surveillance (Juzgados de Vigilancia Penitenciaria) that deal with sentencing and prisoners' conditions, rights, and security, and the Courts for Targeted Violence and Discrimination (Juzgados de Violencias y Discriminación Dirigidas) that deal with discrimination,, and cases of.



The other parallel systems are the Courts of Administrative Law (Juzgados de Leyes Administrativas) that deal with disputes over certain aspects of, the Courts of Tax Appeals (Juzgados de Apelaciónes de Impuestos) for cases relating to , and the Courts of Labour and Employment (Juzgados de Trabajos y Empleos) for disputes over collective bargaining agreements and working conditions. Other court systems with more restricted jurisdictions include the courts of the Military Collegia (Juzgados de los Colegios Militares) which handle military and political personnel of the Armed Forces of the Cagayan, and the Extraordinary Court of the National Sentinel (Juzgado Extraordinario de la Centinela Nacional) that deals with cases of corruption and graft on the confederal level. Aside from these, each constituent state or canton may have courts or court systems exclusive to itself.



The Supreme Court of Grace and Justice (Corte Suprema de Gracia y Justicia) is the court of final instance in most cases, but for a case to be tried in the Supreme Court, it must first acquire a leave to appeal. Often this leave to appeal is only granted when the case has potential to set a legal. The Supreme Court is led by a Chief Justice with 20 Justices. They are all appointed by the Confederal Congress from a list of nominees by the Supreme Judicial Bar Council, but the Supreme Court is independent from the Congress, which cannot interfere with the Supreme Court's decisions. The only cases outside the Supreme Court's jurisdiction constitutes disputes over, which are instead shunted to the State Constitutional Courts for state-specific disputes, and the Court of the Rights of the Charter for those relating to contents of the Charter.

was abolished and explicitly forbidden in the Charter in 1991 during the presidency of Epifanía de las Cuevas, concurrently with a shift in prison functions towards. As a result, rates of have decreased by as much as 12% from 2000 to 2010, and six prisons were closed down during the same period due to the decreasing number of inmates, most of whom were released after the passing of the Law of Total Allowance that. However, in practice, this shift so far only applies to lesser crimes, and is functionally incomplete as the maximum possible punishment remains as until death (reclusión perpetua usque mortem). Such verdicts, called extraordinary imprisonments (prisión extraordinario), have been reserved for certain crimes, most prominently those handled by the Court of the National Sentinel, and there have been petitions to replace them with rehabilitative measures similar to those of lesser crimes.

Law enforcement and emergency services


Law enforcement in Cagayan is performed by several parallel agencies that have their own jurisdictions and duties, and are subordinate to the Secretariat of the Interior. On the national level, these are the Confederal Office of Criminal Investigation (OCIC, Oficina Confederal de Investigación Criminal) that handles investigative duties, the Border Guard Service (SGF, Servicio de Guardia Fronteriza) that handles border security and customs duty, and the Confederal Directorate of Police (DCPOL, Dirección Confederal de Policía) that works to coordinate law enforcement across the country. It is supplemented by the Internal Information and Security Service (SISIN, Servicio de Información y Seguridad Interna), which coordinates domestic across the country.



DCPOL coordinates various local law enforcement agencies. Each state has its own police force, while cantons can either have their own as well, share a single law enforcement agency, or simply rely on the state police force. These local police forces are led by their own Directors-General, who report to the DCPOL. Certain specialised sections of these police forces also constitute interdivisional commands (COMINTER, Comandos Interdivisionales) that have joint jurisdiction over certain areas, which are either natural features or government structures. These include the Fluvial Security Section (SECSEF, Sección de Seguridad Fluvial) for rivers and river transport, the Coast Guard Command (CGC, Comando Guardacostas) for the coast and territorial sea, and the Aviation Security Command (COMSAV, Comando de Seguridad de Aviación) for seaports and airports. Another COMINTER is the National Municipal Police (POLNAM, Policía Nacional de los Municipios) composed of the police forces of cities and towns across the country.

Emergency services in Cagayan consist of the, services, and  units. These are typically operated by local governments, with states and cantons often having their own emergency services, along with the search and rescue units of the Armed Forces of the Cagayan usually mobilised in. There have been moves to create an overarching structure, and a coordinating agency called the Bureau of Emergency Services was formed in 1992 to set standards for emergency services across the country. The in Cagayan is 000.

Organized crime


Cagayan has historically been a center of organised criminal activity since the beginning of the 19th century, with the Cagayano mob dominated by groups called camarillas, though other international groups, most notably the Osorrai Balakirev Triad, have a presence in the country. Internationally, the Cagayano mob has been known for, , and , though domestically they take part in , , , , and. The earliest camarilla outfits emerged from gangs of gamblers called manunugál in the 17th century. By the 18th century, they were joined by extralegal hired companies-at-arms employed by landlords against bandits and rebelling peasants, and during this period began to coalesce into a subculture with its own argot, code of conduct, rituals, and initiation rites. This new set of outfits was later joined by newer groups originating from and veterans of the Warlord Era.



After the Second Tupada, the First Commission was founded in 1932 as a quasi-governing body for the underworld during the Directorial State era, and the Commission later entered close collaboration with the government in an arrangement of mutual symbiosis. The state tacitly supported the operations of the various camarilla outfits domestically and even aided them internationally, making use of them as an espionage asset and to suppress dissent, causing their rapid growth. The mob, meanwhile, was able to take control of parts of the government, law enforcement, and military. During this period, Cagayan was described as a as the mob and the state melded into each other. However, the Third Tupada was followed by a heavy crackdown as the camarillas supported the Directorial State, and the Second Commission was formed soon after.

Currently, of the camarillas, the most powerful outfits include the Agcaoili clan whose territory traditionally included the Camuning region, the Cojuangco clan who have control of the port of Espirito Santo, and the overseas-based Palanca clan that controls Malantac. Cagayan City itself was to be a neutral zone that the clans of the Second Commission apportioned among themselves by neighborhood. Though the camarillas specialised in drug production and trafficking, since the passing of the Law of Total Allowance that fully legalised drug use within the country, they have since shifted to smuggling drugs internationally. Politically, officials have been exposed as taking bribes or soliciting support from the camarillas, most prominently in the Muñoz trials in 2007, and it is known that they have close ties to the neo-ordosyndicalist nueva derecha groups.

Military


The Armed Forces of the Cagayan report to the Cagayano Secretariat of National Defence, and are divided into the Ground Forces, Maritime Force, Air Force, and the Strategic Forces. The head of the armed forces is the High Marshal (MA, Mariscal Alto), the most senior commanding officer in the country. In the past this position was occupied by the President as ex officio, but after the Apara crisis it was resolved to instead delegate military control to someone chosen and nominated jointly by the President and by Congress.



As of 2019, the Armed Forces of the Cagayan have a combined strength of 258,514 service members, with around 750,000 in active reserve. was introduced in 1981 with the ratification of the Charter, though as the number of registering volunteers is sufficient so far, it is not enforced at present. have been given the option of, being employed in instead, though this service has also been applied onto other volunteers who were unable to enter the military. Conscription has traditionally been a contentious topic, with motions to discontinue it being filed multiple times, and reaching Congress in 1992, 2001, 2007, and 2015, though none have been successful so far. Support for conscription has grown over the years, which various lawmakers have used as an argument to discontinue it to switch to a.

As of 2019, Cagayan is currently spending $34.251 billion, or 4.1% of its GDP, on its military forces, research, and development. It is currently working on developing an indigenous, with the creation of the Confederal Arsenal (ARSCON, Arsenal Confederal), to reduce dependence on imports for equipment. Much of its focus is also on the development of the Strategic Forces, which possesses capabilities for and. Cagayan also cooperates with other members of ICOSEC on military affairs and supplies, exporting $522 million worth of weapons and equipment in 2018, as the country's national security goal is to further integrate with ICOSEC defence, economic, and political institutions.

Economy
The Cagayano economy produced an estimated (nominal) of around $835.4 billion and its primary exports include,  and , , , fruits, rice, and coffee. Its unit of currency is the Cagayano peso (₱ or CAP).

As a, the Cagayano economy is transitioning from an economy largely based on , especially , to an economy becoming mainly based on and the. Currently, the economy is dominated by the industry and manufacturing sector, which makes up around 54.7% of the country's GDP, while the service industry and agriculture make up 33.1% and 12.2%, respectively.

The foundations of industry in Cagayan largely originate from the intense industrialisation programs of the Directorial State over the 1920s to the 1960s, which resulted in a rapid growth of and  as well as the massive build-up of infrastructure across the country. Though at the time the industrialisation programs resulted in a sharp decrease in the and a series of severe famines due to neglect of the agricultural sector, the modern Cagayano economy continues to function at the expense of the industrial base built on these programs.

Agriculture and fishery


Agriculture constitutes the largest part of Cagayan's primary sector, contributing around 9% of the country's GDP. This number has been increasing over the past decade, with agriculture contributing to an ever greater percentage of GDP every year, which is largely the result of active government and direct popular projects, including, , and , along with increasing research and mechanisation. Currently, around 25% of the country's total land area is used for agricultural purposes, and around 35% of the workforce is employed in agriculture. A wide variety of crops are planted across Cagayan, though most of these crops are food crops. The most commonly cultivated crops are, , and , all grains. Other crops include, , , , and various fruits.

The agricultural sector consists of two main modes of production. They are the, usually owned by state or private companies and managed by hacienderos, and the , often family-owned or communally-owned. Most of Cagayan’s food supply comes from smallholdings, while are mainly supplied by plantations. This is because haciendas are characterised by consolidated, mostly relying on cash crop, in contrast to smallholdings' small-scale agriculture and  of cash and food crops. Certain labour-intensive cash crops such as coffee and are mainly supplied by smallholdings instead of haciendas, generally due to the amount of labour making mass cultivation unprofitable. However, the number of haciendas have been decreasing in recent years due to land reforms, which is projected to result in lower production of cash crops as more farmers shift to polyculture.

Demographics
The 2019 census conducted by the Office of Census and Statistics recorded Cagayan's population at 106,595,621 with a population growth of 1.63%. Nearly a fourth of the population, around 28 million, resides in the highly urbanised Cagayan Delta region. The first official census covering the entire modern-day area was taken in 1950 after the Northern Cagayan Expedition. Before that, the first official census held within Cagayan was conducted in 1802 by the Viceroyalty of the Cagayan and recorded a population of 5,862,325; however, only men aged between 20 to 70 were counted as the purpose of the census was for tax collection. The country currently possesses a relatively young population, with at least 40% of the population being born from 1990 onwards.

Health


After the Third Tupada, Cagayan established a free national public health system under the Secretariat for Health and Social Welfare (SECSAS, Secretaría de Salud y Asistencia Social), divided into multiple tiers increasing in scope. This is accompanied by a decentralised universal healthcare system also overseen by the SECSAS through the Social Insurance Institute (ISES, Instituto de Seguro Social), which includes all legal Cagayano citizens, with some extensions for foreign workers in the country. Under this system, provision of healthcare services is the responsibility of the states, though they may request national subsidy when their funds are inadequate. There are no private hospitals in Cagayan, and private health insurance.

In 2016, 73.3% of healthcare came from the government funds, with around 23.4% of the remainder being funded through  payments and purchases, and the remaining 3.3% being funded by private expenditures. Of the government expenditures, 38.6% or around half was funded by social insurance, 24.9% by the state governments, and 9.8% by national subsidies. The budget allocated for healthcare expenditures was $3.49 billion in 2020, around 1.7% of the total government budget, while the average per capita yearly health expenditure rate in 2019 was $200, one of the lowest in the area.

Life expectancy has increased from 64 years for men and 67 years for women in 1991 to 75 years for men and 81 years for women in 2019, with the rate also decreasing significantly from 51.3 per 1,000 live births to 5.4 within that same period. The fertility rate has been halved in the same period, from a TFR of 3.6 in 1991 to 1.82 births per woman in 2014, slightly of 1.9. With a lower birth rate, women are also becoming mothers at a later age, with the mean age at first live birth at 29.7 in 2014.

Education


The Secretariat of Education of Cagayan reported a simple rate of 97.6% as of 2015 and a  rate of 93.3%, following an upward trend beginning from around the early 2000s. In the 2020 budget, governmental educational departments received a total of $24.97 billion, around 3% of the country's nominal GDP. The education system framework in Cagayan is divided into four main levels, corresponding to, , , and.

Nursery education (educación infantil) generally begins for children as early as 6 months, though mandatorily by the age of 2, ending when they reach the age of 5. It is usually divided between two stages, (educación preescolar) and  (educación inicial). During nursery education, children are taught basic concepts in the, though it is expected that they are taught in their native languages by their families, and the confederal government continues to plan the expansion of the program to include even more local languages.



Primary education (educación primaria) follows nursery education and lasts eight years, usually beginning at the age of 6 or 7. Each year of primary education is termed a stage (escenario), and employs a staggered approach in introducing the subject areas of and. It introduces the, and in some areas, languages with a similar gradual approach, with Tiberico becoming a  by stage VII.

Secondary education (educación secundaria) immediately follows primary education, lasts six years, and usually begins at the ages of 14 or 15. It is divided between minor (menor) and major (mayor) secondary, both lasting three years. While minor secondary is essentially similar to primary education, but with more advanced topics and new subject areas, the major secondary is entirely for specialised classes, with students choosing between the, , , and.



Tertiary education (educación terciaria), or simply called college (colegio) after the main tertiary institutions, follows secondary education and is supervised by the Secretarial Commission on Tertiary Education (COMSET). Colleges offer specialised courses in specific fields or professional areas, such as, , , and. Unlike with institutions for the levels before tertiary education, public colleges form a national network with certain courses being offered at certain campuses, though multiple campuses may offer a single course with high demand. There are also specialised colleges offering courses in certain fields, such as (colegios médicos),  (colegios jurídicos), and  (colegios técnicos).



Alongside the regular educational system exists several systems in parallel. (educación técnica), supervised by the Secretarial Authority on Technical Education and Development (AUSTED), offers more technical courses such as and, as well as  training of  such as  or. It uses a four-year curriculum and exists alongside the secondary level, and one may take a vocational course after the minor secondary level or right after primary education, with the option to either progress to regular tertiary education or enter a technical college, provided that one has finished at the minor secondary level. Additionally, there are specialised public secondary school systems termed Cagayan Special Secondary Institutions (ISECAG, Instituciones Secundarias Especiales de Cagayan), offering special curricula focusing on the humanities (ISECAG-HUM), business and management (ISECAG-NA), and science and technology (ISECAG-CT), largely in line with regular major secondary specialisations.

Architecture


Cagayano architecture is largely influenced by and. This is most evident in city planning, with many Cagayano towns being built around a central area, often with a, a church, and sometimes a public market. A prominent symbol of Cagayan is the, locally called a payag, and most commonly found in rural areas, while one can find in urban areas the , locally called casas de piedras. Various examples of indigenous and precolonial architecture remain, with the and  carvings, respectively, being prominent examples.



During and after the Ríato period, many government buildings, such as the Old Cagayan Post Office, were built along principles, resembling. These were later joined by buildings designed in the style by the 1900s, and during the Directorial State, the  style, most evident in the Old COMSES Headquarters and the Old Ayuntamiento of Cagayan. This would later on be further joined around the turn of the 1950s by out of a shift towards, which was commonly used in low-cost housing projects. In addition to architectural styles, there are differences in the prevalence of building materials, with concrete and found in urban areas, and  and  in rural areas. However, the Gunpowder Years and the following Third Tupada destroyed many of these buildings, resulting in a relative scarcity of buildings from before the war, though certain districts retained their old buildings, notably Intramuros and the Calinaoan district of Cagayan, which preserve even colonial-era buildings.

Music


Traditional Cagayano music varies between parts of the country, constituting a blend of indigenous styles with music from nearby, , and. A common trend between local traditions is the importance of percussion instruments, such as the ensemble, the mainstay of court-ceremonial music across precolonial Calnoman. like the were introduced in the 7th century, adding variety to the increasing Cagayano repertoire. Traditional music often served different functions, though they generally involved storytelling, often with epic narratives, or even pagbulalas, which broadly denotes letting out one's emotions, such as venting frustrations or expressing happiness. Most music was intended as accompaniments to dance-dramas, such as for the and the.



With the colonial era came a rush of influence from. String instruments gained importance, with the string orchestra becoming a major component of Cagayano music thereafter for what were usually songs of courtship, such as the  and, in the 18th century, the. However, the upheaval of the War of Independence and the following conflicts caused a lyrical shift to themes of nationalism and sentimentality, as well as mourning those who died in war. Jazz would be introduced under the Directorial State by the 1940s, though like all music at the time, it would be heavily restricted. It would not be until the 1960s when made inroads, surfacing as  before diversifying into different subgenres. The bajo el puente rock scene also emerged as an underground, becoming a major source of of the time.

The foundations of modern Cagayano music rose with the end of the Third Tupada when the bajo el puente scene surfaced, causing a boom of interest in rock, and eventually,. At the same time, influence from Bailenese music entered the country, with the rising popularity of and, and the emergence of local  and  scenes, which further developed into the rascados scene. More bands also played along with, especially after the passing of the Law of Total Allowance. By the early 2000s, Heibanese idols,, and became famous in Cagayan as well as most of Southern Kesh, sparking greater  and  influence on the music industry, while other homegrown idol groups riding on the popularity of héipop integrated varying local influences in their own music. To this day,, and most especially , locally called bandazos, present a variety of music genres reflecting the diversity of the national music scene.

Cuisine


Cagayano cuisine is an amalgamation of the culinary traditions of the various ethnolinguistic groups across the country, heavily influenced by, , and cuisines, along with local regional traditions in , , and , in line with the history and geography of the country itself. This set of culinary traditions constitutes a continuum of various regional cuisines, similarly varying by historical context and geography, which together affect the ingredients, seasonings, and cooking techniques used for the local dishes, which range from the simple, smoked fish, and , omelettes, to the highly elaborate and  usually only served in feasts.

The main staple foods in Cagayan are either or a stiff flour porridge called. These are tasteless when eaten as they are, and thus are often accompanied by other dishes called ulam, a term loosely translated as 'viand'. These ulam dishes are characteristically robust and intensely flavourful, generally a cross between sweet and salty, and often stews or sauced dishes of some sort, similar to Prabhati, as their function is to impart that flavour onto the chosen staple. Cagayano cuisine also puts emphasis on reusing leftovers, as leftover rice (bahao) is traditionally fried in oil with and the leftover ulam to make  (sinañgág), while leftover ugali is usually salted, baked into a biscuit, and served with cold milk. Liquor is also often considered a special kind of staple, with certain ulam dishes meant to accompany it as pulutan, 'picked up' by the hand.



Some of the ingredients common across Cagayan include (gatâ), used for sauces collectively known as, while garlic, , and  are fried together as guinisá, a preparation derived from the Artemian  and the base of many dishes. is also popular as an ingredient for desserts, giving an earthy, nutty taste and a vibrant purple colour. dishes called are also common, with different types of noodles, such as  (pancít bijon),  (pancít cantón), and  (sótañghon). Noodle dishes may be soups, like, or stir-fried (guisado), and can be eaten either alone or with staples, depending on choice.

Though there is an abundance of dishes based on meat, as well as other less commonly-used parts or animal products like blood, (e.g. and ), intestines, and chicken   and , Cagayano cuisine also makes great use of fruits and vegetables in certain dishes, such as  (piña),  (lumiñgai), and many  such as  (icmó) and  (alugbatì). Though their main use has been to impart sweetness, freshness, or other flavours, to the meat, as and  have been increasing in popularity, mostly for religious reasons, new vegetable dishes are being created, often by substitution of the meat in extant meat-based dishes.