Built 1892 by Corps of military engineers under the direction Capitan Juan Gálvez y Delgado this Bastioned fort with auxiliary watchtower was as part of a pacification campaign of southern Mindanao. The fort assured control over Lake Lanao this fort and named after the 17th-century governor general, Sebastian Hurtado de Corcuera, who waged a major campaign to bring Mindanao under Spanish rule and check the advance of Sultan Kudarat.
Fort Corcuera guarded Illana Bay and was the southern terminus of a 50-kilometer road that led upland to Lake Lanao.The fort was apparently built in a short period of time. Turn of the 19th century and early 20th century photographs indicate that the fort was V-shaped and was complemented by a quadrilateral tower on one end. Other photographs (e.g. in the Filipinas Heritage Gallery;filipiniana.net of Vibal publishing; NARA) depict a polygonal independent tower, accessed through a ramp and draw bridge. This polygonal structure is free standing and may have been an auxiliary outer defense work of the fort or structure built at La Sabanilla (see below). Fort Corcuera was damaged by a severe earthquake in 1976. Parts of the ruined fort still remains.
Aguilar Nieto indicates that there was most likely an earlier fort, a palisade not the permanent for that has been recorded in photographs. He reports: “Malabang. Near Parang-parang to which it is connected by regular road. The fort is a near the shore, located at a point where a stream flows on three sides of the fortification. It is a double palisade, where all the buildings of the garrison are located. They are made of wood and zinc. Fort personnel: one captain, 3 subalterns, 200 men and 10 artillerymen manning two pieces of bronze canons at the outer palisade.”
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