The Villages of Palimbang

In 1959, the municipality of Palimbang was created by virtue of Executive Order No. 350. In 2010, the Provincial Planning Development Office released a comprehensive profile of Sultan Kudarat. I wanted to know what happened to the villages of Palimbang along the years, so I compared the lists in the two documents.

According to the executive order issued in 1959, Palimbang was to comprise forty-six barrios taken from the municipality of Lebak and the municipality of Kiamba. It should be forty-seven barrios if Ripulon Langali in the list was actually two barrios and a comma was just inadvertently omitted when the law was written. However, due to lack of contrary evidence, let’s consider Ripulon Langali for now as one barrio. According to the 2010 report, Palimbang comprise forty barangays today.

Of the forty-six barrios listed in 1959, twenty-three or exactly half still exist today. As with the rest of the Philippines, the barrios have been turned to barangays. Seventeen of the twenty-three barrios/barangays have exactly the same names in the two documents: the poblacion Palimbang, Kraan, Milbuk, Kolong-Kolong, Baliango, Kanipaan, Wal, Baranayan, Akol, Wasag, Medol, Ligao, Malatunol, Maganao, Kidayan, Namat Masla, and Malisbong. Six of the twenty-three were either misspelled in the executive order or had names that later evolved: Culobi (Colube in present-day documents), Botril (Butril), Napaapon (Napnapon), Barungis (Barongis), Kisec (Kisek), and Kipongot (Kiponget).

I’m sure that the problem with Kiponget and the five other villages above is just typographical. I can’t say the same for five of the forty-six barrios. The following might have been misspelled in the executive order or had names that later evolved: Bulan (Baluan), Tibulos (Tibuhol), Domodol (Domulol), Minos (Mina), and Ripulon Langali (Langali).

Twenty-three plus five equals twenty-eight. We have twenty-eight barrios accounted for now. There were West Badiangan and East Badiangan in 1959, but only Badiangon in 2010. One of the two barrios might have retained the name, and the other one might have been renamed. We have monitored thirty barrios now.

Five of the forty-six barrios became part of Kalamansig when the municipality was created in 1961. The barrios were Sangay, Danawan, Nara, North Kulaman, and Basiawan (Basiawang in the 1961 executive order). We have monitored thirty-five barrios. As to the remaining eleven of the forty-six, I can no longer determine what happened to them based on the 1959 executive order and the 2010 report alone. The eleven are Sinangcangan, Tipulay, South Kulaman, Balinnang, Sandiolo, Namat Paidu, Tuna, Sugko, Palili, North Tran, and South Tran.

Again, twenty-eight barrios/barangays have the same or similar names, and only one barangay, named Badiangon, survived from the two barrios West Badiangan and East Badiangan. This means that, so far, we’ve accounted for twenty-nine of the forty barangays that Palimbang currently has. There are eleven new barangays. They are Bambanen, Batang¬-Baglas, Kabuling, Kalibuhan, Libua, Lupoken, Lumitan, Maguiales, Maguid, Molon, and San Roque.