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For fiesta watchers, the place to be in on the 29th of September is Iligan City. The Archangel and the Iliganons commemorate his feast with a folk presentation of his celestial battle with Lucifer. The archangels differ from other saints in that they are not humans who because of their heroic virtues, have been canonized, they are pure spirits and unlike the human soul, are not associated with matter. But it is the teaching of the church that angels watch over individual men, societies of men, nations and the church. Thus, the three Biblical archangels - Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael are patronal saints and are invoked to present petitions to God.

St. Michael, has two feast days, May 8th and September 29th. The first is called the Appearing of St Michael the Archangel; the second, The Dedication of the Basilica of St. Michael the Archangel commonly called Michaelmas Day. Both commemorate the consecration of a particular place of worship to the Blessed Saint Michael, Iligan celebrates Michaelmas day.

The Choice of St. Michael as Iligan’s titulary must have been a calculated one, Iligan is in what is now the Mindanao province of Lanao del Norte, a province of Lanao Minority. Unlike the Visayas and Luzon, the "conquest" of Mindanao was not a series of skirmishes against people who had a high sense of religious community and a developed political organization. The first battle between the Spaniards and Muslims occurred on March 17, 1565, when prior to the conquest of the Visayas and Luzon, and without provocation, Legaspi’s men attacked a forty-five man proa in the Mindanao Sea killing 20 Muslims. Three centuries after the conquest and Christianization of Luzon and the Visayan islands, Spain could barely maintain two or three garrisons in Mindanao. It was in Bayug, a town that is now part of Iligan City, that Captain Francisco Atienza landed in 1639 with six pre-fabricated boats that were carried overland to Lake Lanao. The instantaneous appearance of a Spanish squadron on the lake surprised the Maranaos and their datus had no choice but to temporarily  accept Spanish peace terms. By mid-seventeenth century, spanish expansion in the Far East had ceased. Only in the later part of the nineteenth century did Spanish dominion extend to Mindanao.

If the Iligan recollects still wanted to pursue the armed offensive against the Muslims, they would have choosen a titular like Santiago Matamoros, the patron of Spain who according to legend came to the aid of Christians on a white charger during the battle against the Mors. The fact that when Iligan parish was founded in 1843, Michael the Archangel was chosen as titular is an indication that the policy had shifted to that of peaceful co-existence. For Michael is both a Christian and Islamic Archangel.

The Koran says: "Whosoever is an enemy to God, or His angels, or His apostles, or Gabriel, or Michael, verily god is an enemy to the unbelievers."

In Christianity, the Archangel Michael is God’s standard bearer; in Islam, the champion who fights the battles of the faith. Michael the Archangel is a bond of union between Christians and Muslims.

Folk Versions of the choice of St. Michael as titulary vary from the ridiculous to the sublime. One version says that the choice was made in this fashion:

Different images intended for different parishes were placed around the plaza. The sacristan was then blindfolded, turned around a few times, and told to select Iligan’s titulary. The sacristan groped around the plaza till he bumped into the image of St. Michael the Archangel. He immediately went down on his knees, embraced and kissed the image, exclaiming:

"This is the patron of Iligan! This is the patron of Iligan!"

When his blindfold was removed, he saw that he was embracing not St. Michael but the devil beneath the Archangel’s feet!

Another version says that it was St. Michael who expressed the desire to be in Iligan’s titulary. The story is that images of St. Michael and the Immaculate Conception simulateously arrived in Iligan. The image assigned for Iligan was that of the Virgin’s, while St. Michael’s was to be forwarded to Misamis. But when the Archangel’s image was being shipped to Misamis, a heavy storm forced the ship to turn back. The friars took this to mean that St. Michael wanted to stay in Iligan. So Iligan retained the Blessed Archangel, and instead shipped the Immacualate Conception to Misamis. This has no basis in fact because the parish of Misamis was founded 23 years earlier than Iligan’s and its titulary was already the Immaculate Conception.

In Iligan, St. Michael the Archangel is both a titular saint and folk hero of epic proportions. Account of his exploits during the Moro Wars abound; that his protective mantle made Iligan invisible to raiders; and that once, invaders, actually caught the sight of Iligan but Senor San Miguel on Horseback, single-handedly drove them away. When there were actual encounters, his image would miraculously reappear with its spear dripping with blood. Amorseko spines were often found in the hem of his vestments, a sign that he had been making rounds to protect Iligan from invaders.

Actually, there are two Iligan images of San Miguel and very interesting story is told about the two. Shortly before the Japanese occupied Iligan, the guerrilleros took the San Miguel de Mayumo image to a safe  hideout in the mountains. The second image replaced it in the main altar. Today, the statue that went with the resistence movement is called "San Miguel de Guerrillero." The one that stayed in occupied Iligan is known as "San Miguel the Collaborator."