Huluga Caves is a prehistoric site in the Philippines. It is situated in the south end of Cagayan de Oro City, about 8 kilometres away. Composed of the two main caverns, it is based on the eastern side of Cagayan de Oro River, along the brow of a vertical limestone cliff. The area is more than 80-feet high. It has an area of 50 metres across it northern and southern parts & measures 40 meters from the western edge of the precipice to the eastern slope. Cogon grass covers much of the area with big balete trees on both the northern & southern flanks. According to the Heritage Conservation Advocates, is “the home of the original native people of Cagayan de Oro City”. It is considered by many people, to be a sacred site which lacks protection and guidance by the government. Inside, they have found indigenous tools such as glass beads, spoons, pendants, bracelets, stone tools, axe tip & pieces of iron.
In 1977, Burton sent bone samples taken from the caves for acid racemization to the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California in San Diego, California, & the sample was traced to 1600 BP or 377 A.D. Experts at the National Museum earlier said they were convinced that these caves were utilized by early Cagayanons from the late Neolithic Age to the Iron Age. At present, archeological artifacts can still be retrieved at the damaged portion of the open site. Antonio Montalvan II, a former commissioner at the City Hall’s Historical Commission, said no pits were ever dug by scientists at the open site but only surface scans. “It is therefore possible that the site will still yield excavated artifacts and evidences of prehistoric Cagayan culture. This was in fact one of the recommendations of the National Museum team,” he said. Aside from its continuing archeological yields, the Huluga Site is believed to have been the site of prehistoric Cagayan de Oro known in written historical documents as “Himologan”. When the Spanish soldiers & Augustinian friars arrived in Cagayan in the year 1622, there was no town in the area that existed. They established only a large cave fortress called Himologan. It was only in 1626 that Himologan’s chief, Datu Salangsang and his people were carried by Fray Agustin de San Pedro to go the town site to the present-day Gaston Park and the San Agustin Cathedral.
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