Brief Histories of Bagumbayan and Palimbang

Municipality of Bagumbayan

In the early fifties, Datu Kudanding Camsa, a Maguindanaon leader, opened a settlement on the western part of the Allah River. It was named Bagumbayan, which came from bagong bayan, which means “new town.”

Bagumbayan became one of the largest barangays of the municipality of Isulan. In November 1965, then-President Diosdado Macapagal turned Bagumbayan into a municipality by virtue of an executive order. The municipality comprised nine barangays taken from the western part of Isulan.

Datu Kudanding Camsa became the first mayor of Bagumbayan, but the municipality existed until April 1966 only. It was reverted into a barangay as a result of a Supreme Court ruling that the president of the Philippines could not create a municipality by executive order.

On June 21, 1969, Pres. Ferdinand E. Marcos signed Republic Act No. 5960, recreating the municipality of Bagumbayan. A special election was conducted in November 1969, and Datu Don Ampatuan was elected mayor. In mid 1970, a conflict between Christians and Muslims broke out, and Vice Mayor Martin Forro became the acting municipal mayor.

Municipality of Palimbang

Palimbang used to be called Pula, after the trees that grew abundantly along the river in the area. The inhabitants of Pula were mostly Maguindanaons, who became Muslims when Sharif Kabungsuan came to Mindanao in the 1500s.

The name of the place was changed to Palimbang when some fishermen from Indonesia had to dock on Philippine shores due to bad weather. The natives, headed by Sendale Tambuto, met the foreigners and learned that they came from Palembang, Indonesia. The interaction with the visitors inspired the natives to adopt the name Palimbang as the official name of their place.

Through Executive Order No. 350, dated August 14, 1959, Pres. Carlos P. Garcia created the municipality of Palimbang. The municipality comprised some portions of Kiamba, Cotabato (now Kiamba, Sarangani), and some portions of Lebak, Cotabato (now Lebak, Sultan Kudarat).

(Blogger’s note: This post is a part of “The Other Towns” series. See my October 5 post for the overview.)