The Mother of Kulaman II

(This is the second of a three-part series.)

As promised the previous Monday, I’m posting here today the laws that created Cotabato Province and its subdivisions. The focus, of course, remains to be the municipality of Senator Ninoy Aquino. Imagine a map of Mindanao with a tiny dot at the south central part, east of Celebes Sea. As the leaves of the calendar flit up, the colors around this dot change. At some point, the dot lies between a narrow green swath on the left and a large yellow patch on the right. Later on, the dot is surrounded by an orange vertical rectangle that is lumpy on the right side. That dot is the village of Kulaman, and the color-shifting shapes around it are its mother municipalities throughout the decades of the 1900s.

In some of the laws below, the villages of some municipalities are enumerated. The villages in Kulaman Plateau, however, are not all listed. That’s because I’m planning to create separate posts about the villages of Senator Ninoy Aquino, Kalamansig, Lebak, Palimbang, and Bagumbayan. I want to compare the past and present compositions of those municipalities. But I’m getting ahead of myself. For now, peruse the laws and their salient details. I’m not sure if you’ll enjoy going over them. I enjoyed researching about them and chopping the convoluted sentences into simpler and clearer ones. I believe I was able to sharpen my writing skills, and of course, I learned so much from the text. I now feel that the past of my homeland has become more tangible. It’s no longer a monochromatic map framed behind a hazy glass.


1903 June 1
Act No. 787 of the Philippine Commission

This law provided for the organization and government of the Moro Province, comprising five districts, namely, Sulu, Zamboanga, Lanao, Cotabato, and Davao. Zamboanga was made capital of the province.

The Cotabato District included “all that part of the Island of Mindanao lying east of the Lanao District, south of the eighth parallel of north latitude, and west of a line running south from the eighth parallel of north latitude along the crest of the Apo range of mountains to the southernmost peak of Mount Apo, thence along the watershed that divides the waters that flow into Davao Bay from those that flow into the Rio Grande and Sarangani Bay to Sarangani Point.”


1914 September 1
Act No. 2408 of the Philippine Commission

This law provided for a temporary form of government for the territory known as the Department of Mindanao and Sulu. The department comprised seven provinces. Five of these provinces had been districts: Cotabato, Davao, Lanao, Sulu, and Zamboanga. The two other provinces were Agusan, which was already a province at the time, and Bukidnon, which used to be a subprovince of Agusan. Zamboanga was made capital of the department. The “town of Cotabato” was made capital of Cotabato District.


1916 December 31
Act No. 2657 of the Philippine Commission

This is the original Administrative Code. Section 45 states “the general location of the provinces of the Department of Mindanao and Sulu and the principal subdivisions contained in them.” According to this law, the Province of Cotabato contained the municipalities of Cotabato and Parang.


1917 March 10
Act No. 2711 of the Philippine Commission

This is the revised Administrative Code. Section 40 states “the general location of the provinces of the Department of Mindanao and Sulu and the principal subdivisions contained in them.” According to this law, the Province of Cotabato contained the municipalities of Cotabato (the capital of the province), Dulawan, and Midsayap. The province also contained 37 municipal districts, namely, Awang, Balatikan, Balut, Banisilan, Barira, Buayan, Bugasan, Buldun, Buluan, Carmen,[Daguma], Dinaig,[Dulawan], Gambar, Glan,[Isulan], Kabakan, Kalanganan, Kiamba, Kidapawan, Kitubud, Kling, Koronadal, Lebak,[Libuangan], Liguasan,[Maganui], Nuling, Parang, Pikit-Pagalungan,[Reina Regente], Salaman, Sebu, Silik, Subpangan,[Talayan], and Tumbau. (Insertions in brackets are in the source, not mine.)


1936 November 25
Executive Order No. 66

The Municipalities of Dulawan and Midsayap were formed. The Municipality of Dulawan comprised (1) the Municipal District of Daguma, (2) the Municipal District of Isulan, (3) the Municipal District of Maganuy, (4) the Municipal District of Reina Regente, (5) the Municipal District of Talayan, and (6) the southern portion of the Municipal District of Dulawan. The Municipality of Midsayap comprised (1) the Municipal District of Libuñgan and (2) the northern portion of the Municipal District of Dulawan.

The law states that by “organizing” the municipal districts “into independent municipalities under the names of Dulawan and Midsayap,” “the one municipality of the Province of Cotabato is hereby increased to three.” There must be a gap in my research or the provincial board and the president failed to review the existing pertinent laws at the time. As early as 1917, as stated in Act No. 2711 of the Philippine Commission, the Province of Cotabato already contained three municipalities, namely, Cotabato, Dulawan, and Midsayap.

Kulaman Plateau at this time was inhabited purely by Dulangan Manobos, and no settlement there was large enough or had regular contact with the provincial government to become a municipal district or even just a barrio. Among the 104 barrios that composed the Municipality of Dulawan, the nearest to the present-day Municipality of Senator Ninoy Aquino was Barrio Daguma, probably the seat of government of the Municipal District of Daguma and now a barangay of the Municipality of Bagumbayan, Province of Sultan Kudarat.

Based on this law, it can be surmised that, in 1936, the southeast half of the present-day Municipality of Senator Ninoy Aquino was part of the Municipal District of Daguma in the Municipality of Dulawan. The northeast half is not covered by this law.


1947 August 18
Executive Order No. 82

Ten municipalities were created, increasing the number of municipalities in the Province of Cotabato from three to thirteen. Added to Cotabato, Dulawan, and Midsayap were (1) Pagalungan, (2) Parang, (3) Nuling, (4) Kiamba, (5) Buluan, (6) Kidapawan, (7) Kabakan, (8) Koronadal, (9) Buayan, and (10) Dinaig. The ten municipalities were formed from all, except three, municipal districts in the Province of Cotabato. The three municipal districts that did not become part of the new municipalities were annexed to the Municipality of Cotabato.

The Municipality of Kiamba was created from the Municipal Districts of Kiamba, Kling, and Lebak. Some parts of the Municipal District of Lebak eventually composed the northwest half of the present-day Municipality of Senator Ninoy Aquino.


1948 December 31
Executive Order No. 195

The Municipality of Lebak was created, with the seat of government at the sitio of Kalamansig. The new municipality comprised the Municipal District of Lebak in the Municipality of Kiamba and the Municipal District of Salaman in the Municipality of Dinaig.

The previous year, both Kiamba and Dinaig had been made municipalities by virtue of Executive Order No. 82. The Municipality of Kiamba at the time comprised the Municipal Districts of Kiamba, Kling, and Lebak, while the Municipality of Dinaig comprised the Municipal Districts of Dinaig, Awang, and Salaman.

(Come back next Monday for the continuation of these laws and the last part of the series.)