Fake Burial Jars

I found out a few days ago that the Kulaman Plateau burial jars at the Silahis Gallery in Intramuros in Manila have been sold out, and I have to apologize to the collectors in case they were encouraged to buy the jars after reading this blog. As I have not been posting here for a couple of years now, I wasn’t able to share with the public an important update: fake Kulaman Plateau burial jars do exist, and they probably include the items at the Silahis Gallery.

I learned about the existence of fake jars when I was involved in a tourism-related project at the municipality of Lebak here in the province of Sultan Kudarat. Here’s what I wrote in the report that I had to submit:

“At around 2 PM on July 10, 2018, the writer, together with other members of the research team, dropped by the barangay hall of Keytodac and had a conversation with some local officials who happened to be in the office. The writer heard for the first time the existence of fake burial jars. The informant named the counterfeiter. But names are withheld here because the information has not been confirmed.

“After about an hour, the team proceeded to the barangay hall of Salangsang, where another informant told the team of the existence of fake burial jars. The informant named three counterfeiters, who were in business in the first decade of the twenty-first century. The informant also said that the counterfeiters would soak the fake burial jars in water with urea to speed up the growth of algae and make the jars look old and authentic.

“Apparently, counterfeiting of burial jars and selling them to private collectors is an open secret in the southern mountains of Lebak.

“This writer has strong reasons to believe that there was truth to the statements of the informants. He has seen burial jars that are purportedly from Sultan Kudarat but looks dubious, primarily because their designs stray too much from the typical features of burial jars as scholars noted. In Silahis Gallery, a souvenir shop inside Intramuros in Manila, one cover in the collection has a figure of a carabao head. In contrast, burial jars discovered in the San Carlos and Silliman explorations are mostly anthropomorphic. The scholars believe the figures indicate the sex of the deceased kept in the jar. Applying the theory, the carabao-shaped figure would indicate that the bones inside the jar are that of a carabao’s. This is preposterous, and the burial jar must have been made by an amateur counterfeiter.

“The jars that are on display inside the Tourism Office of the Municipality of Lebak might also be counterfeit because some of them have animal-like instead of anthropomorphic figures.

“Another possible indication of forgery is well-defined and intricate incisions, possible only with the use of modern tools. Authentic burial jars were carved out of blocks of limestones using crude implements, and because the jars have been left in natural surroundings for around 1,500 years, it is natural for their surfaces to have been weathered.

“Lastly, burial jars that are as small as a typical flower vase must be forgery, too. They are too small to contain human bones, even that of an infant’s.

“The existence of fake burial jars make it difficult for anyone to determine the authenticity of all the burial jars. Only the jars that have been recorded by anthropologists in 1960s and properly tracked can be safely declared authentic. On the other hand, the existence of fake burial jars could make black market buyers suspicious of burial jars claimed to be from Sultan Kudarat, and this could discourage trading of the artifacts.”

(In photo: Me with a collection of burial jars at the municipal hall of Lebak, Sultan Kudarat. Some of these jars may be fake. It’s now difficult to determine the authenticity of Kulaman Plateau burial jars because, I found out in a visit at the municipality, counterfeits were made in the aughties.)

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.

The Mother of Kulaman III

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

Are you still hanging on? Unless you badly need the info for a project in your history class, you most likely have not gone over my previous posts. No matter. I’m writing this for local history buffs and for myself. So without much ado (or without as much ado as my first and second posts had), here’s the you-can’t-miss breathtaking spine-tingling hair-raising finale:


1951 April 12
Executive Order No. 432

The seat of government of the Municipality of Lebak, Province of Cotabato, was transferred from its location at the time at Kalamansig to the barrio of Salaman of the same municipality.

The significance of this law to the history of the Municipality of Senator Ninoy Aquino is that ten years later, in 1961, the Municipality of Kalamansig would be created, and in 1965, parts of the Municipality of Kalamansig would form the western part of the Municipality of Kulaman.


1954 June 12
Republic Act No. 1035

The name of the Municipality of Dulawan in the Province of Cotabato was changed to Datu Piang. The southeast half of the present-day Municipality of Senator Ninoy Aquino was still part of the Municipality of Dulawan during this time.


1957 August 30
Executive Order No. 266

The Municipality of Isulan was created. The new territory comprised forty barrios and sitios from the Municipality of Datu Piang and eight barrios and sitios from the Municipality of Norala. One of the barrios from the Municipality of Norala was Kalawag, which was assigned as the seat of government of the new municipality.

At this time apparently, the Philippine government had stopped subdividing territories into municipal districts. The Municipal District of Daguma no longer existed, but Barrio Daguma was listed as one of the barrios from the Municipality of Datu Piang that were included in the new municipality. Likewise, the Municipal District of Isulan no longer existed, but its name was used for the new municipality.

Compare the list of barrios that composed the Municipality of Dulawan (the old name of the Municipality of Datu Piang) in 1936 and the list of barrios and sitios that composed the Municipality of Isulan in 1957. From the two lists, you can infer that the Municipal Districts of Isulan and Daguma in the Municipality of Dulawan had roughly the same territory as the Municipality of Isulan. The barrios that the two territories shared were Dukay, Laguilayan, Daguma, Kapaya, Bual, Natubak, Tuka, and Sipaka. Furthermore, the following barrios might be the same but had been changed due to typographical error or natural evolution: from West Maliñgao to Malingawon, from Maluan to Malugan, and from Tuka Mapayag to Mapayag.

In 1957 also, the southeast half of the present-day Municipality of Senator Ninoy Aquino was still part of the Municipality of Datu Piang. That portion of Kulaman Plateau, however, did not yet have any politically significant settlement. Among the listed barrios and sitios from the Municipality of Datu Piang, the nearest to the present-day Municipality of Senator Ninoy Aquino was Masiag, now a barangay of the Municipality of Bagumbayan, Province of Sultan Kudarat.

Prior to the issuance of Executive Order No. 266, series of 1957, the Municipality of Norala had been created by virtue of Executive Order No. 572, series of 1953, from a portion of the Municipality of Koronadal. Earlier still, the Municipality of Koronadal was created by virtue of Executive Order No. 82, series of 1947, along with the Municipality of Kiamba and nine others.


1959 August 14
Executive Order No. 350

The Municipality of Palimbang was created. The new territory comprised forty-six barrios from the Municipality of Lebak and the Municipality of Kiamba (forty-seven barrios if Ripulon Langali was two barrios and a comma was inadvertently omitted when the law was written). The barrio of Palimbang was made the seat of government.


1961 December 29
Executive Order No. 459

The Municipality of Kalamansig was created. The new territory comprised twenty barrios and sitios from the Municipality of Lebak and eight barrios and sitios from the Municipality of Palimbang. The barrio of Kalamansig was made the seat of government.


1965 October 24
Executive Order No. 187

The Municipality of Bagumbayan was created. The new territory comprised thirty-two barrios and sitios from the Municipality of Isulan. The barrio of Bagumbayan was made the seat of government.

This law was later made void by a Supreme Court ruling, and the Municipality of Bagumbayan was recreated on June 21, 1969, by virtue of Republic Act No. 5960.


1965 November 29
Executive Order No. 211-E

The Municipality of Kulaman was created. The new territory comprised twenty-one barrios and sitios—nine from the Municipality of Kalamansig, ten from the Municipality of Isulan, and two from the Municipality of Palimbang. The barrio of Kulaman was made the seat of government.

This law was later made void by a Supreme Court ruling, but the territory was recreated later as the Municipality of Senator Ninoy Aquino, on February 17, 1989, by virtue of Republic Act No. 6712.


1969 June 21
Republic Act No. 5960

The Municipality of Bagumbayan was recreated. The new territory comprised thirty-two barrios and sitios that were separated from the Municipality of Isulan: Bagumbayan, Bai Sirafinang, Biwang, Busok, Chrismor, Damaslot, Dawing, Kambad, Kanakan, Kapaya, Keposo, Kibongkog, Kinayao, Ladasino, Lanao, Languan, Lawa, Malalas, Malingaon, Malay, Mamison, Mapayag, Marbel, Masiag, Muno, Natubak, Payaguntong, Pangolan, Salatan, Sipaka, Siop and Tuka. The barrio of Bagumbayan was made the seat of government.


1973 November 22
Presidential Decree No. 341

The Province of Cotabato was divided into three provinces: North Cotabato, Maguindanao, and Sultan Kudarat. The province of Sultan Kudarat comprised the municipalities of Tacurong, Isulan, Lutayan, Bagumbayan, Kalamansing, Lebak, Columbio, Palimbang and the new municipalities of President Quirino, Mariano Marcos, and Esperanza. The Municipality of Isulan became the capital of the Province of Sultan Kudarat.


1989 February 17
Republic Act No. 6712

The Municipality of Senator Ninoy Aquino was created. The new territory comprised seven barangays from the Municipality of Kalamansig and one barangay from the Municipality of Bagumbayan. The baragays from Kalamansig were Kulaman, Buenaflores, Bugso, Kiadsam, Kadi, Kulaman, Malegdeg, and Sewod, and the barangay from Bagumbayan was Langgal. Kulaman was made the seat of government.

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.)

The Mother of Kulaman I

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

What is the mother municipality of Senator Ninoy Aquino? The easiest answer perhaps is Kalamansig and Bagumbayan, for in 1989 the municipality of Senator Ninoy Aquino was created out of seven barangays of the Municipality of Kalamansig and one barangay of the Municipality of Bagumbayan. But what about before that, say, in 1950? To what municipality did the eight barangays belong? Kalamansig and Bagumbayan were themselves created from other municipalities.

So I dug up my hometown’s past. I thought it would be easy, that I would be able to finish doing research and writing blog posts in several hours. I winded up spending days on the topic, checking various files I had saved in my drives, scouring the web for decades-old laws, and writing and revising and revising again my write-ups. Largely to blame for the repetitive process I went through are the sources. The available materials on the history of Sultan Kudarat Province, online or otherwise, are packed with errors or lack important details. My most reliable sources are executive orders, republic acts, and other laws, and even they are not exactly handy. They have typographical errors and clunkily structured in some parts, and I have to piece them together and arrange in chronological order. I also didn’t know at first how to present them in this blog.

Here it is, anyway—where Senator Ninoy Aquino came from. I realized that for the town’s history to make sense, I had to connect it with the bigger picture, the bigger territory. I had to go back all the way to how the Americans administered Mindanao (along with the rest of the Philippine archipelago). Let’s start with a brief timeline:

1903—Cotabato District established under Moro Province
1914—Cotabato District turned to Cotabato Province under Department of Mindanao and Sulu
1916—Municipalities of Cotabato and Parang established in Cotabato Province
1917—Municipalities of Cotabato, Dulawan, and Midsayap and 37 municipal districts established
            in Cotabato Province
1936—Municipalities of Dulawan and Midsayap created from municipal districts
1947—Kiamba, Dinaig, Koronadal, and seven other municipalities created from municipal districts
1948—Lebak created from parts of Kiamba and parts of Dinaig
1953—Norala created from parts of Koronadal
1954—Dulawan renamed Datu Piang
1957—Isulan created from parts of Datu Piang and parts of Norala
1959—Palimbang created from parts of Kiamba and parts of Lebak
1961—Kalamansig created from parts of Lebak and parts of Palimbang
1965—Bagumbayan created from parts of Isulan
1965—Kulaman created from parts of Kalamansig, Palimbang, and Isulan
1966—South Cotabato Province created from parts of Cotabato Province
1969—Bagumbayan recreated from parts of Isulan
1973—Cotabato Province divided into three: North Cotabato, Maguindanao, and Sultan Kudarat
1989—Senator Ninoy Aquino created from parts of Kalamansig and parts of Bagumbayan

Despite spending days on the research, I was still not able to iron out two major issues. First is that I don’t know why Dulawan and Midsayap were created as municipalities in 1936 by virtue of Executive Order No. 66. The two places were already municipalities before that. Act No. 2711 of the Philippine Commission, dated March 10, 1917, names them, along with Cotabato, as the three municipalities of the Province of Cotabato. Perhaps sometime between 1917 and 1936, the two municipalities were dissolved and the municipal districts that composed them were governed directly by the provincial government. It seems that the municipal districts that composed them in 1917 were the same municipal districts that were chosen to compose them in 1936.

The second issue that boggles me concerns the municipalities of Kalamansig, Bagumbayan, and Kulaman. They were created in December 1961, October 1965, and November 1965, respectively. The executive orders that created Bagumbayan and Kulaman were later made void by a Supreme Court ruling, and the two municipalities had to be recreated in 1969 and 1989, respectively, with Kulaman renamed Senator Ninoy Aquino.

I can’t find any court ruling that dealt directly with Bagumbayan and Kulaman. (But not for lack of trying.) What I found instead was a ruling that involved thirty-three municipalities created in 1964 by virtue of executive orders. The ruling was issued on December 1965, less than a hundred days after the municipalities of Bagumbayan and Kulaman were created. The Supreme Court ruled that the president could no longer create a municipality through an executive order because the law that had given the president the authority to do so (Section 68 of the Administrative Code) had been impliedly repealed by the Barrio Charter Act. The Administrative Code (Republic Act 2711) was dated March 10, 1917, while the Barrio Charter Act (Republic Act No. 2370) took effect on January 1, 1960.

The ruling states, “The Executive Orders in question are hereby declared null and void ab initio and the respondent [the auditor general] permanently restrained from passing in audit any expenditure of public funds in implementation of said Executive Orders or any disbursement by the municipalities above referred to.” I don’t what the heck “passing in audit” means, but I’m sure that the thirty-three newly created municipalities was going to have serious problems with money. This must be the reason why Bagumbayan and Kulaman petered out as municipalities even if the executive orders that created them were not brought to court and declared null and void.

I wonder, though, why Kalamansig was not affected by the ruling. I rummaged through the web for any republic act that recreated the municipality, but my search yielded no result. And all the sources that I found about the history of Kalamansig point to Executive Order No. 459, dated December 29, 1961, as the basis for creation of the municipality. Again, the Barrio Charter Act, which removed the power of the president to create municipalities, took effect on January 1, 1960, two long years before Pres. Carlos P. Garcia made Kalamansig a municipality. Like what happened to the municipality of Kulaman and the original municipality of Bagumbayan, the municipality of Kalamansig should have also stopped existing. Does this mean that Kalamansig is a de facto municipality? If someone questions in court the legal personality or whatever of Kalamansig, the barangays there might suddenly find themselves without a mother.

(Come back next Monday for the second part, where I will discuss in greater detail the laws that created Cotabato and her children.)

The Burial Jars Triangle

I wanted to create a map of some kind of where secondary burial in limestone jars were practiced. To my surprise, the map turned out to be more interesting than I had expected. When I identified the villages where there had been confirmed sightings of burial jars, I found out that the three villages could be connected by lines to form an almost perfect triangle. The area inside the triangle, being sparsely populated and largely forested, may have a number of burial caves still waiting to be discovered!

At the right-hand edge of the triangle is Barangay Kuden, Municipality of Senator Ninoy Aquino. That’s where an anthropologist from the University of San Carlos (Cebu) dug up burial jars in 1963–64. At the top of the triangle is Barangay Salangsang, Municipality of Lebak. That’s where anthropologists connected with Silliman Univeristy (Negros) dug up burial jars in 1965–66 and 1967–68. At the left-hand edge of the triangle is Barangay Nalilidan, Municipality of Kalamansig. That’s where burial jars have been found or can be found based on the socio-economic profile of Sultan Kudarat that the provincial government released in 2010.

I must admit that the information about Barangay Nalilidan is not very reliable. Even if the source is an official document, it contains quite a number of errors, both factual and typographical. I found the information on the “list of tourist spots by municipality/city.” Indicated beside “Nalilidan” is “Burial Urns,” along with “Sulfuric Hot Spring” and “Nalilidan Hot Spring.” To help you gauge the reliability of the list, here’s more information from the downloadable report: Indicated beside “Kuden” is “Burial Urns.” This is accurate, though Kuden has no burial jar collection to speak of, as I narrated in a previous post. Indicated beside “Salangsang” is “Salangsang Cave,” no “Burial Urns.” The cave is probably not the same cave where burial jars were found, for according to some published research papers, the cave is named “Seminoho.”

I’m also not a hundred percent sure of the exact location of Nalilidan in the map. The provincial map has no labels for barangays and sitios, so I had to compare it with Kalamansig’s municipal map, which has labels, all right, but barely legible in some parts. Though the two maps seem to coincide on the location of Nalilidan, they don’t on the locations of some other barangays, especially the poblacion—the seat of government, the most important barangay. How could you trust such maps?

All the same, I’m glad to have discovered that there might be burial jars in Kalamansig, and the location is near the coast, not very far from the paved national highway. It will be easier for me to research about them in case I find myself in Kalamansig one of these days.

The Twenty Caves of Sultan Kudarat

Based on official records, the province of Sultan Kudarat boasts of twenty caves that tourists can explore. Ten, or half of those caves, are found of course in the municipality of Senator Ninoy Aquino, often promoted as “the town with a hundred caves.” Three of the twenty caves are in the municipality of Bagumbayan, one in Kalamansig, two in Lebak, one in Isulan, and three in Columbio. Only the four caves in Isulan and Columbio are not located in or very near Kulaman Plateau.

The twenty caves are not all that the province has. They are simply the ones that are accessible to or frequented by tourists. There cannot be twenty caves only in the whole province because Senator Ninoy Aquino alone has dozens. The municipality can possibly live up to its seemingly hyperbolic epithet if all its natural tunnels are examined and listed. It’s also impossible that there are only one cave in Kalamansig and two caves in Lebak. Most of the land area of the two “coastal towns” has the same topography as Senator Ninoy Aquino. The area probably has dozens of caves too. The caves have not been discovered yet because the area is sparsely populated and controlled by a private logging company.

For now, tourists who want to go spelunking in Kalamansig only have the Pangaun Caves to visit. Note, though, that the name is in plural form. The caves, located in Barangay Sabanal, may have several mouths and have chambers that branch off in several directions, not just a single straight tunnel. (I haven’t been there, and I’m sorry that I’m not sure of my information.) In Lebak, tourists may explore a cave in Salangsang and a cave in Kalamongog that are named after the villages where they are located. Salangsang is where the burial jars that are now in Silliman University were excavated, so the cave there is historic aside from attractive.

The ten caves in Senator Ninoy Aquino are the following: Midpanga Cave in Nati, Tinalon Cave in Tinalon, Bugso Cave and Tudog Cave in Bugso, Saklay Cave in Malegdeg, and Kiabuan Cave, Lagbasan Cave, Bitogon (also called Casi) Cave, Batasan Cave, and Kalupingon Cave in Kuden. Lagbasan Cave is what I call White Cave in this blog, and the burial jars that are now at the University of San Carlos were taken from a cave in Kuden, though the sacred cave is probably not one of the touristy caves in the list.

Bagumbayan has Pitot Cave in Sto. Niño, Guano Cave in Masiag, and Maetas Cave in Titulok. I’ve explored Guano Cave last summer. Isulan has Kamanga Cave in Laguilayan. Though I heard that the hamlet of Kamanga is in the mountainous part of Isulan, it is populated by Maguindanawons and not by Dulangan Manobos, so I’m not counting the area as part of Kulaman Plateau.

The only part of Kulaman Plateau that has no cave for tourists is Palimbang. Again, this is not an indication that there is no cave at all in the municipality. Palimbang, in fact, may have as many caves as Senator Ninoy Aquino has. It’s just that its mountainous part is barely accessible. Most of the villages of Palimbang, a small fraction of the total land area, are located at the coast.

As mentioned earlier, most of the twenty caves in the list are in or very near Kulaman Plateau. Only the three caves in Columbio are quite far: Datalblao Cave in Datalblao, Panes Cave in Lasak, and Bombed Cave in Lasak and Eday. The existence of caves there, however, is not surprising if you’re aware that Columbio is “the other” mountain town of Sultan Kudarat, the one being Senator Ninoy Aquino.

I wish to explore all the caves above that are in Kulaman Plateau and share the trip with you in this blog—in words and photos. It’s a shame that I’ve only been to two out of the sixteen caves. If I get a few thousand bucks to spare in the future, I will go cave hopping—and burial jar hunting. From the experience, surely, I’ll be able to create more than a hundred posts.

(Photo: A stitched image of the mouth of Guano Cave, in Masiag village, Bagumbayan town)

Festivals of Lebak, Kalamansig, and Palimbang

Municipality of Lebak

(Blogger’s note: The original version of this text is in Filipino. It seems to have been used by a dance group that performed in the street dancing competition on the province’s foundation anniversary celebration. I omitted more than half of the material.)

Lebak is a place where various tribes have gathered, and though they have different cultures, traditions, and religions, they were made one by a common occupation—tilling the soil. As farmers, all of them had a practice of having a thanksgiving feast after every harvest, though these feasts were conducted separately and in different manners. These separate gatherings eventually melded into one and became what is today the Hinugyaw Festival.

The Christian settlers, being mostly migrants from Panay Island, used to stage their own version of Aklan’s ati-atihan, which was originally a celebration of the aboriginal Aetas. Eventually, as the Christians of Lebak became more acquainted with the other tribes in the locality, the festivity began to form its own shape, becoming less like ati-atihan. Hinugyaw is a Hiligaynon term that means “jubilation.”

Municipality of Kalamansig

( The original version of this text is in Filipino. I have doubts about its accuracy. The Dulangan Manobos call God “Nemula,” not “Manama.” Whoever wrote the original text might have referred to the folklore of another Manobo tribe.)

The Dulangan Manobos rely on the abundance of nature. The bountiful mountains serve as their home and source of food, materials for shelter, and medicine for various illnesses. They are farmers who depend on the fertility of the land, and whenever their crops are lush and bear plenty of fruit, they celebrate Salagaan, which means “plenteous harvest.”

During the celebration, the Manobos dance, play musical instruments, and rejoice as a way of thanking “Manama,” whom they recognize as the Supreme Being. In times like this, the tribe unites to express their common dream of peace, love, prosperity, and happiness.

Municipality of Palimbang

(This account seems like pure invention to me. The original version uses the term Manobo Bagobo. I changed it to Dulangan Manobo since there are no Bagobo settlements in Baluan. I’ve been there myself. The indigenous people there are Dulangan Manobos. Also, a communal system of planting crops is not a prevalent practice among the Dulangan Manobos, according to some research papers that I’ve read.)

In a Manobo village in Baluan, the people were hardworking and united. In spite of their simple life, they were happy and contented of what they had. During planting season, people practiced the bayanihan system to prepare the land for planting. Men and women, young and old, helped each other in the farm. They enjoyed these activities because it was a time for gathering and knowing each other better.

The happiness of the people in the community was short-lived. When their plants were about to bear fruits, calamity struck the whole area, and all the people were saddened and depressed. They then gathered and tried to look for ways and means to overcome the situation. With concerted efforts, they eventually won over the plague.

In celebration of their success, they made an offering to the god of harvest to thank him for the victory and the abundant blessings. Because of that calamity, the community valued the spirit of unity and cooperation. They realized that their strength magnified when they joined hands and fight for a common objective.

Based on that story, Palimbang adopted the culture of the Dulangan Manobos and named the annual celebration of the municipality Kalilang/Sanufe Festival.

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

Brief Histories of Lebak and Kalamansig

Municipality of Lebak

Lebak came into existence by virtue of Executive Order No. 82, dated August 18, 1947. Lebak was created from two municipal districts: the district of Lebak under the municipality of Kiamba, Cotabato (now Kiamba, Sarangani), and the district of Salaman under the municipality of Dinaig, Cotabato (now Datu Odin Sinsuat, Maguindanao).

Lebak is a Maguindanaon word that means “hollow.” It is used to refer to the place because in the eastern part of it are mountains and in the western part is the Celebes Sea.

Executive Order No. 432, dated April 12, 1951, transferred the seat of government of Lebak from Kalamansig to Salaman, Lebak.

Dulangan Manobos and Tedurays were the original inhabitants of the mountains, and Maguindanaons, who were Islamized in the sixteenth century, occupied the coastal area of present-day Tran and Datu Karon. The decades after World War II saw an influx of settlers from Visayas and Luzon. But years before, some Americans had already set up coconut plantations in Barurao and Tipudos.

The existence of various tribes in the area resulted to bloody conflicts. There was a Tiruray rampage in 1970 and a Muslim rebellion in 1973.

In August 1976, a strong earthquake hit Lebak and caused a tsunami. The wave swept almost all the houses in the village of Tibpuan. The people rose from the disaster and reconstructed the municipality.

Municipality of Kalamansig

The poblacion of Kalamansig today used to be the seat of government of the municipal district of Lebak. In 1951, Lebak became a municipality, and the seat of government was moved to another village. On December 29, 1961, the municipality of Kalamansig was created by virtue of Executive Order no. 459 of Pres. Carlos P. Garcia.

The name of Kalamansig came from the Dulangan Manobo phrase “Kulaman suwayeg,” which means “Kulaman in the water.” Kulaman was a chieftain who drowned in a river while trying to provide food for his family. The village where the chieftain died was named after him. In 1989, however, when the municipality of Senator Ninoy Aquino was created, Barangay Kulaman was removed from Kalamansig and became the poblacion of the new municipality.

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

Lebak: Map and Facts in Brief

Land area: 56,270 hectares
Population: 81,758 (projected for 2012, based on 2007 census)
Number of barangays: 28

Creation: December 31, 1948, Executive Order No. 195, from Kiamba in South Cotabato and Dinaig in Maguindanao

Literacy rate: 85.55 % (household population 10 years old and above, 2000)
Population density: 145 persons per sq. km. (projected for 2012, based on 2007 census)
No. of households: 19,678 (projected for 2013, based on 2007 census)
Major industry: farming, fishing
Major crops: rice, corn, coconut, fish

Scenic spots: hot spring and Makin Falls in Nuling; Ramirez Beach Resort, Sodoy Beach Resort, and Grace Freires Beach Resort in Tibpuan; Ebi Falls in Christianuevo; cave in Salangsang; cave in Kalamongog

Income: 123 million (2010)
Registered voters: 42,452 (2010)

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

The Other Towns

For the past several weeks, I’ve been posting data about the municipality of Senator Ninoy Aquino that were culled from the “2010 Socio-Economic Profile of Sultan Kudarat Province,” compiled by the Provincial Planning Development Office. I’ll be doing the same for several weeks more, until the end of the year. My future posts, though, will be about the neighboring towns of Senator Ninoy Aquino that have Dulangan Manobos in them. Here’s the schedule:

October 12 – Kalamansig: Map and Facts in Brief
October 19 – Lebak: Map and Facts in Brief
October 26 – Isulan and Esperanza: Maps and Facts in Brief
November 2 – Bagumbayan: Map and Facts in Brief
November 9 – Palimbang: Map and Facts in Brief
November 16 – Brief Histories of Lebak and Kalamansig
November 23 – Brief Histories of Isulan and Esperanza
November 30 – Brief Histories of Bagumbayan and Palimbang
December 7 – Festivals of Lebak, Kalamansig, and Palimbang
December 14 – Festivals of Esperanza, Isulan, and Bagumbayan

Many people in the plains of Sultan Kudarat, especially those who are from Isulan and Esperanza, will be surprised to find out that there are Dulangan Manobos living in their areas. Know more starting next week. The posts in this “The Other Towns” series will appear every Monday, as listed above. In case I’m able to write other articles about Kulaman Plateau, I’ll post them on other days of the week.

The Dulangan Manobo and Their Domain: Lebak and Kalamansig

(Blogger’s note: The following is an excerpt from the book Defending the Land: Lumad and Moro People’s Struggle for Ancestral Domain in Mindanao, specifically pp. 101–3. The publishers welcome and even encourage the reproduction of the book in part or in its entirety, so I am posting this excerpt here. Except for an editorial insertion, enclosed in brackets and which are necessary to make the meaning of the text clearer, not a single word has been changed and the style of the text as it appears on the source has been preserved. To cite Defending the Land, please see Webliography.)

The Dulangan Manobos have lived in the towns of Lebak and Kalamansig as far as they can remember. They consider these areas in Sultan Kudarat their ancestral territories, where their history and legacies evolved and prospered.

Lebak is one of the 11 municipalities comprising the Province of Sultan Kudarat. It has 27 barangays located in the eastern portion of the province. The Municipality of South Upi is in the North, the Municipality of Kalamansig in the South, Celebes Sea in the West, and the Municipalities of Esperanza and Isulan in the East. It has a total land area of 52,015 hectares. The municipality has hilly and mountainous ranges with an elevation of eight [thousand] feet above sea level. The plains range from level to near level. The uplands are hilly, mountainous and gently rolling slopes suitable for intensive rice and corn farming.

According to the Dulangan Manobo of Lebak, the town’s old name was Meles, referring to a body of water or river, because numerous rivers and creeks traversed the area. One noted river is the Salaman River located in the western portion of the municipality. Other creeks were Mebo, Meles, Bagayan, Megaga, Kadapukan, Mepikong and the Tran River that separated the Municipality of South Upi from Lebak.

The scope of the ancestral domain petition in Lebak focused on seven sitios of Baranagy Poloy-poloy. Initial approximation placed the area coverage at 4,500 hectares in Sitios Mebo, Megaga, Abogado, Bagayan, Kebetek, Balacayon and Bedek. Geographically, the barangays of Regandang, Salangsang, Salaman and the municipality of Kalamansig bound the area being claimed. The boundary to the North is Tran River, Kulaman in the South, Isulan to the East and Celebes Sea to the West.

Compared to their Dulangan counterparts, the Karagatan Manobos had a much greater range of resources to exploit. Aside from farming, they also thrived from the bounties of the marine and coastal resources. With their endemic wisdom, knowledge and familiarity over their ancestral territories, they can well describe how these places evolved and became part of their existence.

Bagayan was a famous hunting spot for early Manobos. Native hunters often pass by a creek (Bagayan Creek) to give offerings and pray for a good hunt to the deity who guards their grounds. Bagayan was the name of a relative of Datu Kadayunan, a generous and kind individual who unselfishly shared his produce to his neighbors. Referring to his deeds, the natives adopted the tradition of communal sharing, later known as Baga-ayan.

Datu Kadayunan, a distinguished hunter, used to pass at Bagayan and performed rites for offerings. The natives believe that the deity endowed him with exceptional skills in hunting during his time.

The introduction of agriculture in the later period of 1800s and the fertile soil turned Sitio Bagayan into hunting grounds of early ancestors. They grew crops such as corn, palay and banana.

A noted place of trade for the natives of Lebak was the Sugod Ibon (trading bird). In ancient times, Manobo and Maguindanaon traders bartered goods ranging from forest products to livestock and ornaments. One of the main commodities these traders bartered were chicken and other game, hence the name of the place.

Sugod Ibon is now called Sitio Abogado. It derived its name from an American lawyer who visited the area during the pre-war period. A prospective treasure hunter, he left the area after spending some time searching for fortune. The Manobos do not know if the lawyer did find treasures, but he certainly left his mark—a place named after him.

Abogado was also the natives’ fishing ground, where they used to catch fresh water catfish and mudfish. Other known fishing grounds were the tributaries of the Salaman River such as the Meles and Megaga Creeks.