The Villages of Bagumbayan

In 1969, the municipality of Bagumbayan was created by virtue of Republic Act No. 5960. In 2010, the Provincial Planning Development Office released a comprehensive profile of Sultan Kudarat. I wanted to know what happened to the villages of Bagumbayan along the years, so I compared the lists in the two documents.

According to the law that took effect in 1969, Bagumbayan was to comprise thirty-two barrios and sitios taken from the municipality of Isulan. It’s not clear from the law which of the territories were barrios and which were sitios. According to the 2010 report, Bagumbayan comprise nineteen barangays. Note that barrios are called barangays today. Barrios and barangays are essentially the same—basic unit of government in the Philippines. Sitios are settlements that are usually far from the center of the barrio/barangay, but sitios are not independent and are still governed by the barrio/barangay.

Of the thirty-two barrios and sitios of Bagumbayan in 1969, nine became barangays: Bagumbayan/Poblacion, Bai Sirafinang, Biwang, Busok, Kapaya, Kinayao, Masiag, Sipaka/South Sepaka, and Tuka. Four still exist today as sitios, as can be seen in the map of Bagumbayan in the 2010 report: Chrismor, Lawa, Marbel (Marble possibly), and Salatan. Due to lack of resources, I cannot determine what happened to the remaining nineteen places: Damaslot, Dawing, Kambad, Kanakan, Keposo, Kibongkog, Ladasino, Lanao, Languan, Malalas, Malingaon, Malay, Mamison, Mapayag, Muno, Natubak, Payaguntong, Pangolan, and Siop. A few of them, though, especially Keposo and Muno, sound familiar to me; they may be in Kulaman Plateau.

Nine of the current nineteen barangays of Bagumbayan were not included in the 1969 law, so they might have been created after that year: Chua, Daluga, Kabulanan, Kanulay, Monteverde, Sison, Sto. Niño, Sumilil, and Titulok.

Daguma was also not included in the 1969 law and might have become a barangay after 1969, but it is an old place, even older than the municipality of Bagumbayan. It is listed as one of the thirty-seven municipal districts of Cotabato Province in Act No. 2711 of the Philippine Commission, dated March 10, 1917. The municipal district of Daguma was later annexed to the municipality of Dulawan when the municipality was created by virtue of Executive Order No. 66, dated November 25, 1936. The municipal district of Daguma was abolished somehow, and its seat of government, Barrio Daguma, was included in the municipality of Isulan when the municipality was created by virtue of Executive Order No. 266, dated August 30, 1957. Perhaps in 1969, when Bagumbayan was created, Daguma remained with Isulan, and for some reason, it joined or was made to join Bagumbayan later. I wish to know more what happened, but Daguma is in the plains, at the foot of Daguma Range, which borders Kulaman Plateau. The barangay is beyond the scope of this blog.

Going back to the map of Bagumbayan, I’m glad that sitios are included in it. I can point for you where exactly I spent the 2014 Holy Week, the subject of a series of posts that I wrote months ago. The Toro-toro, my favorite peak, is somewhere between the sitios of Sinaban and Mining Area. Sitio Miasong, where the cousin whom I visited lives, is somewhere between Sinigawan and Liquicon. Bagumbayan has a really big area, and its annual income is among the biggest in the province. It’s really possible to create another municipality within it. The new municipality may include the barangays and sitios in the Kulaman Plateau area, with Barangay Masiag as the seat of government. That way, the mountainous area can be governed better. The way things are, it seems to me that development is just focused on the plains, the Allah Valley area.