Saturday, October 27, 2012

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.