Old folks recount that the Ibanags who frequently hunted in the locality, used to wash their catch before taking them home in a big mud hole which they called Abbagaoan.

This Abbaggaoan an Ibanag word, meaning a place to wash, became a noted landmark for hunters from which the name of the municipality was eventually derived.

Long before the issuance of the Royal Decree which officially detached Baggao as a barrio of Amulung on November 27, 1896, the place has already became famous as a hunting ground.

His chapel, and at the same time, the town hall consisted of a shack made of bamboo and cogon built atop of a hill one kilometer southeast of the present municipal building.

Vicandi fled the area when Col. Daniel Tirona, under Gen. E. Aguinaldo, visited the Town and put to flame the friar’s shanty.

Hence in 1985, public hearings led by then the late Mayor Virgilio G. Herrero were conducted throughout the different barangays of Baggao where 85% of the population expressed their support to the move.

Poverty Incidence of Baggao Source: Philippine Statistics Authority[12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19] Baggao, belonging to the first legislative district of the province of Cagayan, is governed by a mayor designated as its local chief executive and by a municipal council as its legislative body in accordance with the Local Government Code.