Villages Named Kulaman

In 1965, a municipality named Kulaman was created, and like most municipalities at the time, it was named after the most prominent barrio in the area. The municipality lasted less than a year due to a legal issue about its creation, and it was not recreated until twenty-four years later, in 1989, and this time, the name of a heroic Manobo chieftain was dropped for the name of a heroic Philippine senator. The municipality was named Senator Ninoy Aquino, and the village of Kulaman was made the seat of government.

Even if the name Kulaman officially applies only to the poblacion or central village, it is used by many people to refer to the whole municipality. People rarely use the terms Ninoy and Ninoy Aquino, much less the lengthy Senator Ninoy Aquino. If you’re in the capital town, for example, and you’re on your way to Senator Ninoy Aquino, you should tell the driver of the tricycle to take you to the “terminal to Kulaman.” If you say “terminal to Senator Ninoy Aquino,” he might not know where to take you. In some cases, Kulaman is still used in official documents. For example, the Sultan Kudarat Division of the Department of Education divides the districts of Senator Ninoy Aquino into Kulaman I and Kulaman II.

I always try to make a distinction between the traditional and the official. When I’m in my own province, I tell people I’m from Kulaman. When I’m in other places, I tell people I’m from the municipality of Senator Ninoy Aquino. In my write-ups, I use Senator Ninoy Aquino town, Kulaman Plateau, or Kulaman village; I’ve never used Kulaman town, as far as I can remember.

I used to think that Kulaman village—or Barangay Kulaman or Barrio Kulaman—could only be appropriately used for the central village of my town, that settlement near the body of water that is also known today as Kulaman River. To my surprise and delight, I found out from old laws that there had been villages in the past that were officially named Kulaman, that Kulaman officially (not just traditionally) had a much wider area.

In 1959, when Palimbang was created by virtue of Executive Order No. 350, the municipality was to be composed of more than forty barrios, two of which were North Kulaman and South Kulaman. It’s not clear from the law if the two barrios used to be part of the municipality of Kiamba or of the municipality of Lebak. I’m fairly certain that it’s Lebak.

Map of Senator Ninoy Aquino. Poblacion and Kulaman refer to the same place.

The official yet inaccurate map of Palimbang. Barangay Baluan
should be close to the boundary, at the meeting point of the two creeks
from Senator Ninoy Aquino.

In 1961, when Kalamansig was created by virtue of Executive Order No. 459, the municipality was to be composed of twenty-eight barrios and sitios—twenty from the municipality of Lebak and eight from the municipality of Palimbang. One of the barrios and sitios from Palimbang was North Kulaman. This means that South Kulaman was left in the territory of Palimbang. At present, though, Palimbang doesn’t have any barangay named South Kulaman. I don’t know yet what exactly happened to the village or its name, for I don’t have copies of Sangguniang Panlalawigan (provincial board) resolutions creating the barrios and barangays of Sultan Kudarat.

North Kulaman must have later been referred to as Kulaman only. In November 1965, when the municipality of Kulaman was created by virtue of Executive Order No. 211-E, its assigned seat of government was the barrio of Kulaman, which was taken from the municipality of Kalamansig. There was no mention of any barrio from Kalamansig named North Kulaman. At present also, Kalamansig does not have any barangay named Kulaman. (But Kalamansig got its name from Kulaman suwayeg, which means “Kulaman in the river.”)

So North Kulaman became the Kulaman that we know today, and South Kulaman disappeared from the map. Or more accurately, the name South Kulaman disappeared from official records of the municipality of Palimbang. But where was the barrio of South Kulaman possibly located? Take a look at the maps of Senator Ninoy Aquino and Palimbang. If the locations of North Kulaman and South Kulaman had been based on the flow of Kulaman River, South Kulaman must have been around the area where the sitio of Datu Sipot is located today. If South Kulaman had been straight south of North Kulaman, it must have been on the west of Barangay Baluan. Take note that the official map of Palimbang is not accurate. Barangay Baluan should be close to the boundary; it’s just a short ride from Barangay Tacupis in Senator Ninoy Aquino.

Confused yet? You’ve got company. In October 1965, when Bagumbayan was created by virtue of Executive Order No. 187, Kulaman was listed as one of the barrios and sitios that were to compose the new municipality. Bagumbayan was being formed from within the municipality of Isulan, so Kulaman could not be included in the list, for Kulaman at the time was part of the municipality of Kalamansig. In any case, the law was declared null (as what happened to the law that created the municipality of Kulaman), and when the municipality of Bagumbayan was recreated in 1969, the barrio of Kulaman was not included.

To recap, the village of Kulaman (two villages, in fact) was officially in existence as early as 1959, and in 1965, it was already large enough to be made the seat of government of a municipality. The laws are strong proof that the name Kulaman has been attached to the land, much earlier and more strongly than the name Senator Ninoy Aquino. What am I trying to say? Municipality of Senator Ninoy Aquino should be renamed Municipality of Kulaman.