Town with Highest Zip Code in the Philippines

Here's a trivia question for you: What province in the Philippines has the highest postal code? Check the map below and go back here. Now which town in the province has the zip code 9811, the highest in the country? Check this page from Philippine Postal Corporation.

Oookay. Probably, you already know the answer even without looking at the map or clicking the link. This blog obviously is about the Municipality of Senator Ninoy Aquino, so I don't have any good reason to ask a trivia about another town (or at least at this point, when I'm still on the preliminary stages of building this site).

So there. If you're not a spelunker or anthropologist but you're a sucker for trivia, the information I've just given you might be a come-on enough for you to visit my hometown.

Map by Howard the Duck, licensed under Creative Commons

Before I say adieu, though, let me add another trivia about the trivia: Though Senator Ninoy Aquino has a designated zip code, it hasn't have an official post office for several years now. People here has to go to Isulan, the capital town of Sultan Kudarat, to mail their letters and documents. Rumor has it that the last local postmaster or whatever he was called had stolen some checks sent in the mail, so the postal service here was discontinued. Now say with me: Tsk, tsk, tsk.

SNA State of Local Development

Here's more on the depressing economic condition of my hometown. I found a 2009 report on the state of local development in the Municipality of Senator Ninoy Aquino. The report was created by the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) as part of its local government performance management system (LGPMS). I'll let some of the findings mortify you:

State of Health and Nutrition – Maternal mortality rate is unbearable.

State of Education – Elementary participation rate is intolerable. Elementary completion rate is extremely low. Simple literacy rate is low.

State of Employment – Unemployment rate is alarming. Underemployment rate is very high.

State of Income – Income per capita is extremely low. Poverty incidence is alarming. Magnitude of families living below poverty threshold is too high.

State of Forest Ecosystems – Forest cover in forest land is denuded. Incidence of large-scale illegal logging is high. Forest resources and wildlife habitat are severely at risk.

The report is in summary form and quite easy to read and understand. It has one conclusion, however, that I find difficult to believe. In its "State of Urban Ecosystems," it indicates that, in Senator Ninoy Aquino, "air quality is poor." I wonder what the basis for the statement is. Among the barangays of the town, only Kulaman is officially identified as urban, and as I have observed firsthand, the village barely has possible sources of air pollution, such as factories and motorized vehicles.

Another error I noticed in the document is the land area of Senator Ninoy Aquino. It should just be thirty-nine thousand hectares, not thirty-nine million.

Manobo Magic Demystified

Many Visayan settlers here in Mindanao whisper about the power of the Manobo people (and other indigenous tribes) to use some primitive dark magic. The suspicions are not exactly unfounded. Ross Errington, a linguistics scholar, set out to investigate the matter and reported his findings in the journal Studies in Philippine Linguistics, published by the international volunteer organization Summer Institute of Linguistics.

In the article, which appeared in 1988, Errington classifies the magic of the Dulangan Manobos into four, according to its use: (1) magic to ward off misfortunes, (2) magic to heal the sick, (3) magic to attain success, and (4) magic to inflict harm on others. Towards the end of the article, the writer discusses Manobo magic in relation to the conversion to Christianity of many tribe members.

Visayans who will read the article will be surprised to find out that Manobo magic isn't much different from the traditional supernatural practices of lowlanders. Like the Visayans, the Manobos of Cotabato wear amulets to attract positive energy and utter chants to drive away illness-causing spirits. The difference is in the details. Read Errington's article to learn the nitty-gritty of Manobo magic. To cite it as a source, see Bibliography.

Sultan Kudarat Youtube Profile

I checked Youtube for videos on Kulaman, and I didn't find anything worth your time. I chanced upon, however, a two-part profile video of Sultan Kudarat Province. It was created by the provincial government and uploaded three years ago.

The first video opens with the words "The land of one hundred caves, wonderful falls, and beaches. This is also the number one producer of quality coffee in the country . . ." The parts about caves and coffee are referring largely to Senator Ninoy Aquino, my hometown.



Senator Ninoy Aquino, however, is not expressly mentioned until 7:41. The narrator says the municipality has the smallest something. I can't figure out the word, for the life of me. While the narrator talks about our town, the screen shows the facade of our municipal hall (yes, the one that looks like a three-room elementary school). The camera then pans to the bronze bust of the good senator in front of the building.

Perhaps the most interesting information I learned from the video is the classification of the people of Sultan Kudarat by ethnicity and religion. According to the video, Hiligaynon speakers compose 41.06 percent of the population; Maguindanoans, 21.28 percent; and Ilocanos, 15.03 percent. Roman Catholics dominate the population, at 56 percent, followed by Muslims, at 23 percent.

The first part of the second video is rather boring, for it deals mostly with economic figures. The narrator specifies how many hectares of fishing grounds the province has, how many metric tons of rice and corn it produces, and the like. My interest was roused again when tourist destinations were discussed. I was fascinated, and excited, at the mention of "one hundred caves that contains [sic] burial urns in Senator Ninoy Aquino."



I had assumed that the caves of Kulaman had been swept clean of its Manobo limestone jars. I am now wondering if some caves have not been looted and the local government is implementing some program to preserve them. The video ends with some shots of lovely waterfalls. I don't know where they are, however, and I've never been to them.

Poverty in Kulaman

More than week ago, I created a post stating that Senator Ninoy Aquino is the poorest town in Region 12. The data were taken twelve years ago by the National Statistical Coordination Board. I rummaged through the agency's website again to look for more recent poverty statistics, and good news, my poor little town is no longer as poor.

Since 2000, NSCB conducted several more poverty estimates for the country. I can't find the results by municipality for 2006, so I will cite only the findings for 2000, 2003, and 2009. (NSCB's website could surely benefit from a little 5S.)

As I've posted, in 2000, Senator Ninoy Aquino received the dubious distinction of being the most impoverished municipality in Region 12, with 74.90 percent of its populace living below the poverty line. T'boli in South Cotabato ranked next at 73.67 percent, and three other towns in Sultan Kudarat Province registered poverty incidence above 70 percent—Colombio, Lutayan, and Bagumbayan.

In 2003, poverty in Senator Ninoy Aquino had been alleviated, for only 63.63 percent of its populace could not afford basic necessities. The municipality ranked fourth among the poorest in the region. The top two belonged to South Cotabato Province—T'boli (66.50 percent) and Lake Sebu (65.31 percent)—and on the third spot was Malapatan (66.37 percent), of Sarangani Province.

In 2009, the ranking of Senator Ninoy Aquino improved further. The municipality now placed twelfth, with only 47.60 percent of the population experiencing poverty. The sad thing is that its neighbor, Palimbang, took over the top spot, with 63.70 percent of its residents unable to make ends meet. The town was eighth in 2000 and sixth in 2003.

The most alarming about the findings is that the municipalities that registered the highest incidence of poverty are where indigenous tribes live. Hopefully, the statistics will goad (or shame) the local government units concerned into improving the plight of their peoples.

Want to Learn Manobo?

I missed posting here! I wasn't able to update this blog for more than a week because I've been a fellow at a regional writing workshop. The schedule was crazy; there were so many literary works to read and plenty of kindred spirits to banter with. Now I'm back to the rut that is my real life, so I'm going to have enough time again for this blog.

To get the ball rolling again, I present you readers several gems that I've unearthed from the website of the Summer Institute of Linguistics. The site has downloadable publications that are just perfect for those who want to learn the language of the Dulangan Manobos. Here are the basic references:

• Ini sa Medoo Kagi Diya sa Epat Balangan Kagi: This is Words in Four Languages (1979) PDF 4MB
• Sa Libelu Kesetawit Diya sa Telu Balangan Kagi: A Phrase Book in Three Languages (1995) PDF 1.8MB
• Cotabato Manobo Grammar (1988) PDF 4.4MB

The first book above contains an exhaustive list of Manobo words and their respective equivalents in English, Tagalog, and Cebuano, so using the book, most Filipinos can learn Manobo. For more advance learners, listed below are some supplementary documents. I don't have any formal training on linguistics, so I can barely understand their contents:

• A Transition Network Grammar of Cotabato Manobo (1979) PDF 3.1MB
• Discourse Types and Tense Patterns in Cotabato Manobo (1979) PDF 0.5MB
• Hortatory Mitigation: The Case of the Camouflaged Backbone (1984) PDF 0.9MB

The website also offers downloadable documents that are about the Dulangan Monobos but not directly related to their language:

• Cotabato Manobo Ethnography (1988) PDF 1.7MB
• The Magic of the Cotabato Manobos (1988) PDF 0.7MB

That's all for today. Mesehaa ki pa kani. Dutu a de! (To know what I mean, see page 4 of A Phrase Book.)

Reference: Law Creating Ninoy Aquino Town

I found a copy of Republic Act No. 6712, the law creating the Municipality of Senator Ninoy Aquino. Thanks to websites that serve as a database of Philippine laws. Our statutes can now be read, copied, and shared by almost anyone, not just yellowing and gathering dust on some hands-off shelf.

According to R.A. 6712, Senator Ninoy Aquino shall comprise eight barangays, seven of which belonged to the Municipality of Kalamansig, namely, Buenaflores, Bugso, Kadi, Kiadsam, Kulaman, Malegdeg and Sewod. The eighth village is Langgal, which belonged to the Municipality of Bagumbayan. Barangay Langgal is where I grew up.

From the original eight barangays, twelve more were later added, bringing the present number to twenty. The newer barangays are Banali, Basag, Buklod, Gapok, Kapatagan, Kuden, Lagubang, Limuhay, Midtungok, Nati, Tacupis, and Tinalon. Most of these twelve villages were formed out of the territory of Langgal. So far, however, I have not been able to find the law or laws that created these barangays, so I will not comment further on their scopes or history.

Back to the republic act, I find the last sentence rather strange: "Enacted without executive approval, February 17, 1989." I feel like Corazon Aquino, the Philippine president that time, didn't want to give her husband's name to the place. I know that statutes need not be signed by the president to be valid and executory, so long as they meet some equivalent requirements, but I wish the use of the late hero's name had the express blessing of his wife.

Read the full text of R.A. 6712 at PhilippineLaw.info.

Fiction: The Bad Spirit

I aim to update this blog at least twice a week. I have gathered quite a few materials, in both hard and soft copies. I find their volume, however, a bit overwhelming for now. I still don’t know how exactly to extract the parts and put them in this blog. “Should this topic be in a page or in a post?” “Should I feature this source in a single post or just quote a line from it?” Stuff like that.

Therefore, while I’m sorting things out, let me have another shameless self-promotion. Here’s my second Manobo-inspired story. My medium-term goal is to write at least seven stories about the indigenous people of Kulaman. So far, two have been published and one has been stuck in the rewriting process. Oh no. I should be working harder.

In the hinterlands of Cotabato region, among the Manobo people, roams a spirit called fegelilong. It is one of the most feared and despised spirits, for it makes fun of the human heart and kills mostly young men.

The fegelilong preys on lovers. Whenever it hears them set a tryst, it will come to the agreed place and lurk around. If the woman fails to show up on time, the fegelilong will assume her likeness and appear before the man, who will be struck dead the moment he sees the doppelgänger. Young people who have found love for the first time, because of their propensity to meet in secret and ignore the counsel of older folk, are the most vulnerable to the viciousness of the fegelilong.

Or so according to the beliefs of the tribal people. Unbeknown to them, the fegelilong does not kill on purpose. Its concept of death is different from that of humans. In fact, all the spirit desires is to help its supposed victim. It wishes to soothe a man’s aching heart. It wants to atone for something it did a long, long time ago, when human beings had not yet arrived in Mindanao and spirits had dominion of the large island.

The fegelilong then was an enchanting spirit called Sinta. Her beauty was known even in the lands far beyond the seas, and many male spirits journeyed to the mountains of Cotabato to court her.

Read the rest of the story in New Asian Writing, a Bangkok-based independent press.

Senator Ninoy Aquino Is Poorest Town in Region 12

For aesthetic reasons, I don’t want two or more posts to appear on the same day. That’s why even if I have finished writing more than one article, I publish only the first one and then schedule each of the rest to appear on another day. But it looks like I’m going to break the self-imposed practice this soon. I just have to insert this piece of news right now.

I admit I wasn’t able to hold back my tears when I came across the news a few minutes ago. The bare facts do not need to be stated in a dramatic language to tug at someone’s heart: The Municipality of Senator Ninoy Aquino is the most impoverished in the region. Three out of four people here live below the poverty line. This means they do not eat three full meals every day, they cannot pay for a doctor whenever they are sick, and they cannot send their children to college.

What’s sadder is that the National Statistical Coordination Board gathered the data way back in 2000. Twelve years from then, the situation seems to be the same, and it won’t likely change in the near future. Those who have filed their candidacy for the coming elections are your traditional politicians.

Addendum: I do not yet know how to use this pre-scheduling option, or I've been time disoriented. This post appears alone on this date.

Kulaman in Relation to Philippine Political Divisions

Kulaman is the central barangay of the Municipality of Senator Ninoy Aquino, Province of Sultan Kudarat. For the sake of those who are not so familiar with Philippine political divisions, I will discuss them in this post and give some examples from around these parts of Mindanao. My sources for this article are the 1991 Local Government Code of the Philippines and the official website of the National Statistical Coordination Board, among others.

The Philippines is currently divided into seventeen regions. Government agencies (e.g., Department of Education, Philippine National Police) in each area are headed by regional directors. The regions, however, are not political units, since there are no regional governments (except for the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao, which is ruled by an elected governor).

The regions are further divided into provinces, each ruled by an elected governor. In American setting, regions are loosely similar to states and provinces are similar to counties. Sultan Kudarat Province is part of Region 12, or SOCCSKSARGEN, which also includes South Cotabato Province, Cotabato City, Cotabato Province, Sarangani Province, and General Santos City.  As of June 30, 2012, the Philippines has eighty provinces.

The provinces are divided into municipalities, each headed by a mayor, and the municipalities are divided into barangays, each headed by a chairman. The country has 1,494 municipalities and 42,027 barangays. The Province of Sultan Kudarat has eleven municipalities and one city (Tacurong), while the Municipality of Senator Ninoy Aquino has twenty barangays.

Municipalities are also called towns. Major newspapers in the country use town instead of municipality (e.g., “Senator Ninoy Aquino town,” not “Municipality of Senator Ninoy Aquino). In this blog, I interchangeably use municipality and town, and barangay and village.

The barangay is considered the basic unit of government in the Philippines. The village chairman and councilors are the lowest-ranking public officials that are chosen through periodic and organized elections. The barangay, however, is further divided into puroks, or zones. Many barangays also have special zones called sitios. A sitio is usually a cluster of houses that is far from the center of the village and often bigger than a purok. In English, I think sitio may be translated as hamlet.

Cities do not fit perfectly in the normal political divisions of the Philippines, and their classifications may be confusing to an ordinary person. Most, if not all, Philippine cities have been created from existing municipalities. In contrast, provinces, municipalities, and barangays are sometimes created out of areas that were not previously grouped together. For example, the Municipality of Senator Ninoy Aquino was formed from several barangays of Kalamansig town and Barangay Langgal of Bagumbayan town.

The Philippines has 140 cities, and they are classified as highly urbanized, independent component, or component. Highly urbanized cities are those that have an annual income of at least fifty million pesos. They usually have the same level of importance as provinces; the mayor of a highly urbanized city is independent of the governor of the province where the city belonged when it was still a municipality. General Santos City is classified as such.

An independent component city is similar in political status to a highly urbanized city. Only, the independent component city does not meet the annual income requirement. Cotabato City is one such city.

A component city is not much different from a municipality; the mayor is still under the power of the governor, and the registered voters in the city vote for the provincial elective officials. Tacurong, Koronadal, and Kidapawan are component cities of Sultan Kudarat, South Cotabato, and Kidapawan, respectively. Some government agencies, however, have a separate division in each city, regardless of its size, so component cities enjoy some independence from the provinces they belong.

Another complex political division in the Philippines is the legislative district. Each district is entitled to elect what is commonly called a congressman (more accurately, a member of the House of Representatives, the lower chamber of Congress, the Philippine lawmaking body). Each province, or city with at least 250,000 inhabitants, is entitled to have at least one representative in the Congress.

Though General Santos City and Cotabato City meet the requirements, neither of them doesn’t have its own representative yet. Instead, General Santos City is combined with three municipalities to form the second legislative district of South Cotabato, and Cotabato City, along with eleven municipalities, belongs to the first district of Maguindanao Province. Sultan Kudarat Province has two districts, and Kulaman is included in the second.

One textbook erroneously describes the Kulaman plateau as part of Bukidnon Province, while a few academic papers fail to mention that Kulaman is, at the present, part of the Municipality of Senator Ninoy Aquino. I hope this post will help set the records straight.

Reference: Manobo Narrative Chants by Cruz-Lucero

Written in the Filipino language, this paper features twelve Dulangan Manobo narrative chants. Most of the stories are early myths, such as how the world was created, and some are modern folktales, such as the arrival of the first American. The author, Rosario Cruz-Lucero, a professor in the University of the Philippines, relates the stories to the beliefs, practices, and present predicaments of the Dulangan Manobos.

This paper is a product of the author’s “weeklong visits” to two Manobo communities in October 2002 and May 2003. The chants were recited by a shamaness-cum-storyteller. Because Cruz-Lucero is a fictionist aside from being a scholar, her language is more entertaining to read than the usual academic prose. I must point out, however, a minor error. She states that the interviews were conducted in “the municipality of Kulaman and Todog village.” Kulaman is the poblacion, or capital village, of the Municipality of Senator Ninoy Aquino, while Todog is a sitio, or hamlet, within the territory of Bugso village.

Here is a pdf copy of the paper. Delightful news to researchers: The online version of Humanities Diliman, where this paper is published, provides suggestions how to cite the paper. Just click the link at the right of the webpage.

Fiction: The Bride

I’m still getting the hang of this particular Blogger template. For the meantime, as my first post for this blog, let me share the first Manobo-inspired story I have written. This was published in the June 24, 2012, issue of Dagmay: Literary Journal of the Davao Writers Guild. The journal appears online in its own website and in print as a single-page supplement to the Sunday issues of SunStar Davao, an English-language regional newspaper.

The antang was concluded, and Lele was betrothed to Dudim, the son of the lukes from the next Manobo hamlet. When Lele’s father broke the news to her, she nodded meekly, even forced herself to smile. But as soon as the old man was out of the hut, tears raced down her cheeks.

The girl glanced out the window and saw Saluding under a tree, staring back at her. His face was dark and his jaw was clenched. There was no longer any future for them.

The bamboo floor creaked and Lele recognized the familiar footsteps of her mother. The girl wiped her cheeks with her hands and Saluding walked away.

Lele’s mother must have caught the glances between her daughter and Saluding, but the woman acted as though she did not notice anything. “Come here, Lele,” she said. “Put this sudung on your hair. You have to look beautiful. Hurry, now.”

“I don’t want to go out of the house, Ina,” Lele said.

“Don’t embarrass your uncle, Lele. He is our lukes and he has arranged a good marriage for you. All he is asking you to do now is go to his hut and bid goodbye to your future husband and his father.”

“Ina, I don’t want to get married. I don’t like Dudim.”

Read the rest of the story here. Correction: The Manobo word for mother, as I recently learned from a dictionary, is inay, not ina. My apologies to the readers of Dagmay. I’ll bear in mind to consult a reliable text next time instead of just asking around. Curiously, ina in Manobo language means aunt.