The Villages of Senator Ninoy Aquino

How has the composition of Senator Ninoy Aquino changed? I looked at three sources, each one separated from the previous by at least twenty years. My first source is Executive Order No. 211-E, series of 1965, which created the municipality of Kulaman but was later declared null and void. My second source is Republic Act No. 6712, dated February 17, 1989, which created the municipality of Senator Ninoy Aquino. My third source is the 2010 Sultan Kudarat Profile, released by the Provincial Planning Development Office.

The 1965 executive order states that the municipality of Kulaman shall comprise 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 nine barrios and sitios from Kalamansig are Kulaman, Naplico, Upper Tran, Banegan, Batasan, Tinalon, Nati, Talding, and Clopeneting. The ten barrios and sitios from Isulan are Kadi, Malegdeg, Cawa, Gonzal, Sakuling, Sowed (Sewod), Basag, Kapayagan, Kapatagan, and Gapok. From Palimbang are Kumilat and Tacojen (now Barangay Baluan).

Compared to the 2010 report, nine of the twenty-one barrios and sitios in 1965 are now barangays of Senator Ninoy Aquino: Kulaman/Poblacion, Tinalon, Nati, Kadi, Malegdeg, Sowed (Sewod), Basag, Kapatagan, and Gapok.

The 1989 republic act states that the municipality of Senator Ninoy Aquino shall comprise eight barangays—seven from the municipality of Kalamansig and one from the municipality of Bagumbayan. The barangays from Kalamansig are Buenaflores, Bugso, Kiadsam, Kadi, Kulaman/Poblacion, Malegdeg, and Sewod. From Bagumbayan is Langgal.

All eight barangays exist to this day. The areas of some of them have been decreased to give way to the creation of twelve additional barangays: Banali, Basag, Buklod, Gapok, Kapatagan, Kuden, Lagubang, Limuhay, Midtungok, Nati, Tacupis, and Tinalon. I have some idea about which barangays the newer ones were formed from, but I won’t reveal any such info here until I’m one hundred percent sure. I have to get my hands first on the Sangguniang Panlalawigan (provincial board) resolutions that created those barangays.

SNA’s 27th Foundation Anniversary

(I was supposed to post this last week. I was planning to go from my village to the poblacion to witness the fiesta and be online, but due to some problems, including difficulty of transportation, my plan was not pushed through. I’m now in the capital town.—Blogger)

Senator Ninoy Aquino is celebrating its 27th foundation anniversary this month, specifically on February 11 to 17. It is also the municipality’s 15th Sulok Festival and 8th Coffee Festival.

Sulok is a type of basket used by the Dulangan Manobos, the native inhabitants. Based on the calendar of activities, though, there’s nothing much tribal in the seven-day fiesta, except for a half-day event dubbed “Araw ng Katutubo.” There won’t be a tribal-themed street dancing competition, like in many other Philippine fiestas. My town is too poor to have that. But if you like coffee, you’ll be interested in the activity dubbed “Flowing Coffee.” I don’t know what that is exactly, but it sure sounds fun, and it will run for the whole duration of the celebration—“day and night”! It is a very possible thing to happen, considering that SNA is a major producer of coffee not just in the province but in the region, and even in the country, but I’m not so sure if the organizers will be able to keep their promise.

Below is the complete calendar of activities. Some of the items seem out of place or will interest the locals only, such as distribution of livelihood kits, but there are quite a few that tourists might find attractive, such as motocross (watch out specifically for the skylabs or public utility motorcycles), trade fair, pageant for local beauties, and the previously mentioned Manobo gathering.

February 11–17 Flowing Coffee (Municipal Site)
February 11–17 Trade Fair (Municipal Site)

February 11, Thursday
8:00 AM—Ecumenical Service (Municipal Gymnasium)
1:00 PM—Basketball Game (Barangay Gymnasium, Poblacion)
1:00 PM—Launching of Anti-smoking Ordinance (MG)
6:00 PM—Youth Night, Open Disco (MG)

February 12, Friday
8:00 AM—Parade, Opening Program (MG)
1:00 PM—Basketball Game (BG)
1:00 PM—Drum Corps Competition (MG)
6:00 PM—Gays’ Night, Open Disco (MG)

February 13, Saturday
8:00 AM–5:00 PM—Medical Mission, Cervical Cancer Screening (Municipal Health Office)
8:00 AM—KD [Kiddie?] Festival (MG)
1:00 PM—Araw ng Katutubo (MG)
1:00 PM—Basketball Game (BG)
6:00 PM—Interschool Competitions, Open Disco (MG)

February 14, Sunday
8:00 AM—Senior Citizens’ Day (MG)
1:00 PM—Basketball Game (MG)
6:00 PM—Officials’ Night, Open Disco (MG)

February 15, Monday
8:00 AM–5:00 PM—Araw ng Magsasaka / Agro Fair (Municipal Site)
8:00 AM—Grand Kasalang Bayan (MG)
1:00 PM—Women’s Day (MG)
6:00 PM—Educators’ Night, Open Disco (MG)

February 16, Tuesday
8:00 AM–5:00 PM—Motocross (Kulaman Central Elementary School)
7:00 PM—Search for Mutya ng SNA (MG)

February 17, Wednesday
8:00 AM–5:00 PM—Motocross (Kulaman Central Elementary School)
8:00 AM—Float Parade
9:00 AM—Anniversary Session (Sangguniang Bayan Hall)
1:00 PM—Inter Local Health Zone Meeting (Sangguniang Bayan Hall)
1:00 PM—Distribution of DOLE Pangkabuhayan Starter Kits (MG)
6:00 PM—Basketball Championship Game (MG)
7:00 PM—Disco, Fireworks Display (Municipal Site)

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 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.)

SNA Barangay Chairpersons

Below are the twenty punong barangays (barangay chairpersons) of the municipality of Senator Ninoy Aquino. I took the data from the program of the town’s 26th foundation anniversary celebration, last February. I made sure that the names below are spelled as how they appear in the program. Other than that, I had no way of verifying if the names are accurate, so please use this list with caution.

Again, my source is dated February 2015. Clara S. Fernando of Kapatagan died of stroke a few months ago, but I retained her name in this list because I have not verified yet who replaced her. As I know, though, the Local Government Code dictates that the kagawad (councilor) who garnered the highest number of votes in the election automatically succeeds the chairman if the latter dies. The first kagawad listed in my source is Vicente S. Sariego.

Fernando, by the way, was a relative of mine by affinity. Her husband, who died more than fifteen years ago, was my father’s first cousin. She was such a great loss in her community. She was a perfect example of a dedicated leader. She was also the only woman among the twenty punong barangays of Senator Ninoy Aquino.

The list below is dominated not just by men but Christian men. None of them are Dulangan Manobo, even if indigenous people constitute a good portion of the town’s population. (In some of the barangays, though, a few Manobo have been elected as kagawads. I will write about them in a future post.)

Banali: Alberto C. Cauton
Basag: Leonardo T. Castillon, Jr.
Buenaflores: Renato S. Ruam
Bugso: Roldan C. Marpaga
Buklod: Leopoldo E. Hernane
Gapok: Amador B. Tabujara
Kadi: Ceferino L. Lebuna
Kapatagan: Clara S. Fernando
Kiadsam: Romeo S. Difuntorum
Kuden: Ernesto L. Marzo
Lagubang: Ernesto F. Fantillaga
Langgal: Eddie F. Fabot
Limuhay: Cesario J. Esmejarda, Jr.
Malegdeg: Jesus D. Sarona
Midtungok: Mamerto B. Parong, Sr.
Nati: Filomino D. Defante
Poblacion/Kulaman: Jovito M. Jaspe
Sewod: Toribio P. Patarata
Tacupis: Joebert C. Gumayao
Tinalon: Generoso P. Gacad

SNA Barangays: Basic Facts

The municipality of Senator Ninoy Aquino comprises twenty barangays. Below is some salient information about them, taken from the program of the town’s 26th foundation anniversary celebration last February. According to the program, the original sources of the data are (1) the 2010 records of the National Statistics Office and (2) Catimbang Surveying and Engineering Services, commissioned by the Region 12 Office of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources.

Of the twenty barangays, Kulaman/Poblacion has the biggest population, with 3,829, followed by Kuden, with 3,517, and Midtungok, with 3,291. As it should be normally, the three barangays also have the biggest number of households. Buklod has the smallest population, with 1,065. In terms of land area, Bugso is the biggest of all, with 4,653.8826 hectares, followed by Kuden, with 3,788.7286 hectares, and Banali, with 3,132.3004 hectares.

1. Banali
Population: 1,897; no. of households: 451, land area: 3,132.3004 hectares

2. Basag
Population: 3,026; no. of households: 721; land area: 632.7132 hectares

3. Buenaflores
Population: 2,537; no. of households: 604; land area: 1,489.2244 hectares

4. Bugso
Population: 3,215; no. of households: 765; land area: 4,653.8826 hectares

5. Buklod
Population: 1,065; no. of households: 254; land area: 684.4418 hectares

6. Gapok
Population: 1,630; no. of households: 388; land area: 957.9808 hectares

7. Kadi
Population: 1,527; no. of households: 364; land area: 1,601.1149 hectares

8. Kapatagan
Population: 1,083; no. of households: 258; land area: 703.2337 hectares

9. Kiadsam
Population: 1,633; no. of households: 389; land area: 1,536.0501 hectares

10. Kuden
Population: 3,517; no. of households: 837; land area: 3,788.7286 hectares

11. Kulaman/Poblacion
Population: 3,829; no. of households: 910; land area: 211.8801 hectares

12. Lagubang
Population: 2,114; no. of households: 503; land area: 1,938.8767 hectares

13. Langgal
Population: 2,205; no. of households: 525; land area: 2,057.4222 hectares

14. Limuhay
Population: 1,126; no. of households: 268; land area: 947.9810 hectares

15. Malegdeg
Population: 2,089; no. of households: 497; land area: 1,307.9692 hectares

16. Midtungok
Population: 3,291; no. of households: 784; land area: 1,133.911 hectares

17. Nati
Population: 1,453; no. of households: 346; land area: 977.7151 hectares

18. Sewod
Population: 2,165; no. of households: 516; land area: 1,559.5028 hectares

19. Tacupis
Population: 1,209; no. of households: 288; land area: 568.3035 hectares

20. Tinalon
Population: 2,897; no. of households: 690; land area: 2,973.7145 hectares

Senator Ninoy Aquino: Map and Facts in Brief

Land area: 38,250 hectares
Population: 39,038 (projected for 2012, based on 2007 census)
Number of barangays: 20
Estimated distance from Isulan: 80 kilometers
Creation: February 17, 1989, Republic Act No. 6712, from Bagumbayan and Kalamansig
Literacy rate: 83.52% (household population 10 years old and above, 2000)
Population density: 102 persons per sq. km. (projected for 2012, based on 2007 census)
No. of households: 8,208 (projected for 2013, based on 2007 census)
Major industry: farming
Major crops: rice, corn, coffee

Land classification: agricultural, 17,365 has.; non-agricultural, 601 has.; fishing ground, 75 has.; total alienable and disposable land, 18,311 has. (2010)

Types of soils: mountain soils undifferentiated, Dadiangas loamy soil

Forest cover: total forest area, 3,000 has.; closed forest, 500 has.; grassland, 2000has.; mossy, 500 has. (2010)

Timberland area: 1,900 has., 4.97% of total land area (2010)
Inland fishponds: 2.55 has.
Risk-prone areas: affected by drought, 1,216 has; prone to flooding 380 has. (2001)

Area planted by commodity: rice 2,013 has.; corn, 12,119 has. (2010), coffee, 2,785.4 has., coconut, 107.3 has; banana, 50 has.; mango, 31 has.; durian, 60 has.

Scenic spots: Kipulao Falls, Nati Spring, Midpanga Cave, Nati Seven Falls, and Paradise Cave and Falls in Nati; cave in Tinalon; Bugso Cave and Tudog Cave in Bugso; burial urns, Kilabuan Cave, Lagbasan Cave, Bitogon Cave, Batasan Cave, and Kalupingon Cave in Kuden; Saklay Cave in Malegdeg
No. of instructional classrooms: 136 (SY 2009–2010)

Schools: public elementary, 37; private elementary, 4; public secondary, 6; private secondary, 5; public tertiary, 1; private tertiary 1
Income: 64.46 million (2010)
Expenditure: 62.64 million (2010)
Internal revenue allotment: 63. 31 million (2010)
Real property tax collection: 1.08 million (2010)
Registered voters: 22,974 (2010)

The Sulok Festival of Senator Ninoy Aquino

(Note: The text below is taken from “2010 Socio-Economic Profile of Sultan Kudarat Province,” compiled by the Provincial Planning Development Office. I edited the text for clarity purposes, but I’m not vouching for the accuracy of the content.)

Senator Ninoy Aquino is located at the mountainous part of Sultan Kudarat Province, where the Dulangan Manobo tribe is the original settlers of the area. Years after, the rich and vast resources of the area prompted the influx of many Christian settlers in Kulaman. Together they enjoy the vastness and the rich natural resources of the place.

Sulok is the Manobo Dulangan term for basket. Long ago, the forefathers of the Dulangan Manobos made suloks from tree barks. Now, Manobo women have learned to weave and use dapdap (a kind of bamboo) and nito (rattan). The Dulangan Manobos, especially the women, often store their adornments and other belongings in a sulok and sling it on their heads or shoulders when they’re traveling. The Manobo also use a small sulok called sinagfeng. Chewing ingredients such as betel nuts, tobacco, ash, and buyo are kept in the sinagfeng.

During planting season, Dulangan Manobos perform rituals to ask for a plenteous harvest later on. Part of the ritual is using suloks as containers of the seeds that they are going to sow. After the harvest, the Manobos also store their produce in suloks. (I’m not sure if I have rewritten this part accurately. The original is quite confusing. —Blogger)

Manobos are nomadic by nature, and suloks are used as containers in transferring their belongings from one place to another. Through Resolution No. 02-08 series of 2002, it was declared that “Sulok Festival” be the official name of the foundation anniversary celebration of Senator Ninoy Aquino.

The sulok symbolizes the struggles and efforts of the Dulangan Manobos. It also symbolizes the unity of the constituents, together with the local government, who are now reaping the fruits of their labor and sacrifices. Sulok Festival was declared as the official name of Senator Ninoy Aquino foundation anniversary celebration to inculcate the paramount role of oneness and belongingness among the populace. (This is a shorter version of the original, which, in its pompousness and verbosity, is simply discombobulating. —Blogger)

Through this festival, Senator Ninoy Aquino has started to boost its name and the natural wonders and resources that can be found in the municipality. This great success is accredited to the Manobo Dulangan tribe.

A Questionable History

Below is the official brief history of the municipality of Senator Ninoy Aquino. I took it from the “2010 Socio-Economic Profile of Sultan Kudarat Province,” compiled by the Provincial Planning Development Office. The history was probably provided by my town.

I hate to help spread inaccurate information, so please be reminded to take the text below with a grain of salt. I’m reprinting it here as is. The point of view is poblacion-centric. The origin of the municipality is traced from the capital village when, in fact, Kulaman was just one of the villages that constituted Senator Ninoy Aquino when the municipality was created. My own village, Langgal, for example, has never been part of any territory named Kulaman. For my part, while I often say that “Kulaman Plateau” is my “hometown,” I’ve never said—or meant to say—that Kulaman is a municipality.

Another thing that I take issue is the part about the burial practices for Manobo sultans. The persons who wrote the “history” apparently let their imagination run away with them. If the Manobos indeed waited for seven years—from the death of the sultan to the time when his bones could be transferred to a burial jar—to “crown” a new sultan, who ruled them in those seven years? I also have doubts if the Manobos really had sultans the way the Maguindanaons had, but this is another discussion. Maybe I should write a more accurate brief history and give a copy to the municipal hall.

Before the advent of Christian settlers, Senator Ninoy Aquino (formerly Kulaman) was one of the mountainous areas that belonged to the territorial control of the municipality of Kalamansig. The place was inhabited by an ethnic group known as Manobo.

The name Kulaman is derived from the famous Sultan of the Valley during the seventeenth century. According to a legend, there was a time when famine came to the place and the Sultan who was a loving father to his family gathered “kayos”, a native food that substitutes cereals, for their consumption. The Sultan washed the kayos in the center of the river called Matiao. While he washed the kayos a swift current suddenly rushed and the Sultan was carried away by the current and was drowned. His body was later recovered two kilometers downriver from the place where he washed the kayos.

The natives then preserved the Sultans’ for seven years and transferred him to a burial to the burial jar [sic] and kept in a cave for the next century. After the Sultan was buried in the burial jar, a new Sultan was crowned to rule the place. This was their culture during that time.

The river Matiao from that time was renamed Kulaman, in memory of the drowned Sultan. From the death of Sultan Kulaman, the following were his successors: Sultan Jani, Sultan Ugis, Sultan Tilok, Sultan Kalolong and Sultan Dakias.

Sultan Tagenek Dakias was the first ethnic tribe (Manobo) elected as a Sangguniang Bayan member when Municipality of Kulaman was created.

On September 12, 1972, Kulaman became a barangay of the Municipality of Kalamansig and a mother barangay of Buenaflores, Bugso, Kadi, Malegdeg, Kiadsam and Sewod.

It was under Republic Act 6712 that Kulaman was created as a municipality on July 11, 1989 and was renamed Senator Ninoy Aquino, separating it from its mother municipality of Kalamansig. Two thirds of the area of the new barangay [sic] came from Kalamansig while one thirds is from Bagumbayan.

The first appointed and elected Mayor was Gelacio Defuntorum. At present the municipality has 20 existing barangays. The Poblacion retained the name Kulaman, while the municipality was named Senator Ninoy Aquino in honor of Senator Benigno S. Aquino, Jr. who at that time became the modern hero of Filipinos when he became an instrument for the downfall of a dictatorial government.

SNA Town Officials

Elected Officials of the Municipality of Senator Ninoy Aquino
2013–2016

Mayor: Dante S. Manganaan
Vice Mayor: Emelly H. Delos Santos

Sangguniang Bayan Members:
Randy L. Ecija
Marlon R. Baldonado
Rafael Jorge L. Flauta III
Jimmy Albaracin
Robert Rivera
Marjhomie M. Idio
Ramil Cataluña
Angelita Cabigayan

Municipal Hall of Senator Ninoy Aquino

I have discussed several times in this blog the differences between the Municipality of Senator Ninoy Aquino, Barangay Kulaman, and Kulaman Plateau. So if you are wondering why the title of this post is not "Municipal Hall of Kulaman," I won't explain why here. Check instead "Kulaman in Brief," the page in this blog where I compared and contrasted the closely related and slightly confusing terms.

As the title says, this post is a feature on the municipal hall of my hometown. You must be wondering why it has taken me months to post photos of the structure. As we all know, when one is writing about or visiting a locality, one of the first few things one usually does is take a photo of the municipal hall or the city hall. I followed that unspoken tradition actually. I long have these photos (though it's my brother, not I, who took them during a fiesta). I just didn't post them because they looked quotidian.

It didn't help that our municipal hall has no artistic value whatsoever. It's as plain as you can get. It has only one floor level and can be easily mistaken for a public primary school. A few days ago, however, I discovered Pixlr, a photo editing site online that can make photos look vintage. I decided to try it on the earlier-mentioned quotidian photos, and to my delight, after editing, the images no longer looked as bad as they had been. Thus, here they are.

However, the bust of Senator Ninoy Aquino in front of the building still looks creepy after editing. The sculpture, and the municipal hall, are testaments of my hometown's poverty. The local government cannot afford to commission a full-size statue of the hero. I'm not whining about that, though. I like inornate municipal halls and provincial capitols. In the Philippines, there seems to be a competition among local governments as to who could build the biggest and most ostentatious administrative building. I get uneasy with the idea that public officials and government employees "work" in a palace-like building when many people in their locality live in rundown homes.

Mindanao and Kulaman Maps

I have found three maps that will be quite helpful to those who want to know where exactly Kulaman is. The first map is that of Mindanao, the second one is that of Sultan Kudarat, and the last shows the municipality of Senator Ninoy Aquino.

The map of Mindanao above is taken from the second page of a paper by Douglas M. Frasier. (I was able to download the whole document months ago from the website of the Summer Institute of Linguistics, but now only the abstract is available from the site.) In the map, the different provinces and two cities of Mindanao are identified. The area in gray is supposedly the ancestral domain claimed by the Dulangan Manobo. The mark is inaccurate, however. The Manobo territory does not cover the entire Sultan Kudarat, just the western part of the province.

Furthermore, the map is a little old. It does not yet show the province of Sarangani, which was created in 1992 out of the southernmost towns of South Cotabato.

The map above shows the province of Sultan Kudarat and its eleven municipalities and once component city. Note, for the nth time, that the municipality of Senator Ninoy Aquino is more popularly known as Kulaman, which is the name of the capital barangay. I took this map from the dissertation submitted by Fr. Francis Efren Zabala, OMI, to the faculty of the Catholic Theological Union at Chicago.

The third map, below, is that of Senator Ninoy Aquino, courtesy of the Municipal Planning and Development Office. It shows the twenty barangays, the location of the barangay halls, the roads, and the waterways. In the north is the municipality of Isulan, the capital town of Sultan Kudarat. When people from Kulaman go to Isulan, however, they take the eastern route. Isulan looks like an inverted L turned 45 degrees to the right. Its poblacion is east of the municipality of Bagumbayan, not north of Barangay Kuden.

Town with Highest Zip Code in the Philippines

Here's a trivia question for you: What province in the Philippines has the highest postal code? Check the map below and go back here. Now which town in the province has the zip code 9811, the highest in the country? Check this page from Philippine Postal Corporation.

Oookay. Probably, you already know the answer even without looking at the map or clicking the link. This blog obviously is about the Municipality of Senator Ninoy Aquino, so I don't have any good reason to ask a trivia about another town (or at least at this point, when I'm still on the preliminary stages of building this site).

So there. If you're not a spelunker or anthropologist but you're a sucker for trivia, the information I've just given you might be a come-on enough for you to visit my hometown.

Map by Howard the Duck, licensed under Creative Commons

Before I say adieu, though, let me add another trivia about the trivia: Though Senator Ninoy Aquino has a designated zip code, it hasn't have an official post office for several years now. People here has to go to Isulan, the capital town of Sultan Kudarat, to mail their letters and documents. Rumor has it that the last local postmaster or whatever he was called had stolen some checks sent in the mail, so the postal service here was discontinued. Now say with me: Tsk, tsk, tsk.

SNA State of Local Development

Here's more on the depressing economic condition of my hometown. I found a 2009 report on the state of local development in the Municipality of Senator Ninoy Aquino. The report was created by the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) as part of its local government performance management system (LGPMS). I'll let some of the findings mortify you:

State of Health and Nutrition – Maternal mortality rate is unbearable.

State of Education – Elementary participation rate is intolerable. Elementary completion rate is extremely low. Simple literacy rate is low.

State of Employment – Unemployment rate is alarming. Underemployment rate is very high.

State of Income – Income per capita is extremely low. Poverty incidence is alarming. Magnitude of families living below poverty threshold is too high.

State of Forest Ecosystems – Forest cover in forest land is denuded. Incidence of large-scale illegal logging is high. Forest resources and wildlife habitat are severely at risk.

The report is in summary form and quite easy to read and understand. It has one conclusion, however, that I find difficult to believe. In its "State of Urban Ecosystems," it indicates that, in Senator Ninoy Aquino, "air quality is poor." I wonder what the basis for the statement is. Among the barangays of the town, only Kulaman is officially identified as urban, and as I have observed firsthand, the village barely has possible sources of air pollution, such as factories and motorized vehicles.

Another error I noticed in the document is the land area of Senator Ninoy Aquino. It should just be thirty-nine thousand hectares, not thirty-nine million.

Poverty in Kulaman

More than week ago, I created a post stating that Senator Ninoy Aquino is the poorest town in Region 12. The data were taken twelve years ago by the National Statistical Coordination Board. I rummaged through the agency's website again to look for more recent poverty statistics, and good news, my poor little town is no longer as poor.

Since 2000, NSCB conducted several more poverty estimates for the country. I can't find the results by municipality for 2006, so I will cite only the findings for 2000, 2003, and 2009. (NSCB's website could surely benefit from a little 5S.)

As I've posted, in 2000, Senator Ninoy Aquino received the dubious distinction of being the most impoverished municipality in Region 12, with 74.90 percent of its populace living below the poverty line. T'boli in South Cotabato ranked next at 73.67 percent, and three other towns in Sultan Kudarat Province registered poverty incidence above 70 percent—Colombio, Lutayan, and Bagumbayan.

In 2003, poverty in Senator Ninoy Aquino had been alleviated, for only 63.63 percent of its populace could not afford basic necessities. The municipality ranked fourth among the poorest in the region. The top two belonged to South Cotabato Province—T'boli (66.50 percent) and Lake Sebu (65.31 percent)—and on the third spot was Malapatan (66.37 percent), of Sarangani Province.

In 2009, the ranking of Senator Ninoy Aquino improved further. The municipality now placed twelfth, with only 47.60 percent of the population experiencing poverty. The sad thing is that its neighbor, Palimbang, took over the top spot, with 63.70 percent of its residents unable to make ends meet. The town was eighth in 2000 and sixth in 2003.

The most alarming about the findings is that the municipalities that registered the highest incidence of poverty are where indigenous tribes live. Hopefully, the statistics will goad (or shame) the local government units concerned into improving the plight of their peoples.

Reference: Law Creating Ninoy Aquino Town

I found a copy of Republic Act No. 6712, the law creating the Municipality of Senator Ninoy Aquino. Thanks to websites that serve as a database of Philippine laws. Our statutes can now be read, copied, and shared by almost anyone, not just yellowing and gathering dust on some hands-off shelf.

According to R.A. 6712, Senator Ninoy Aquino shall comprise eight barangays, seven of which belonged to the Municipality of Kalamansig, namely, Buenaflores, Bugso, Kadi, Kiadsam, Kulaman, Malegdeg and Sewod. The eighth village is Langgal, which belonged to the Municipality of Bagumbayan. Barangay Langgal is where I grew up.

From the original eight barangays, twelve more were later added, bringing the present number to twenty. The newer barangays are Banali, Basag, Buklod, Gapok, Kapatagan, Kuden, Lagubang, Limuhay, Midtungok, Nati, Tacupis, and Tinalon. Most of these twelve villages were formed out of the territory of Langgal. So far, however, I have not been able to find the law or laws that created these barangays, so I will not comment further on their scopes or history.

Back to the republic act, I find the last sentence rather strange: "Enacted without executive approval, February 17, 1989." I feel like Corazon Aquino, the Philippine president that time, didn't want to give her husband's name to the place. I know that statutes need not be signed by the president to be valid and executory, so long as they meet some equivalent requirements, but I wish the use of the late hero's name had the express blessing of his wife.

Read the full text of R.A. 6712 at PhilippineLaw.info.

Senator Ninoy Aquino Is Poorest Town in Region 12

For aesthetic reasons, I don’t want two or more posts to appear on the same day. That’s why even if I have finished writing more than one article, I publish only the first one and then schedule each of the rest to appear on another day. But it looks like I’m going to break the self-imposed practice this soon. I just have to insert this piece of news right now.

I admit I wasn’t able to hold back my tears when I came across the news a few minutes ago. The bare facts do not need to be stated in a dramatic language to tug at someone’s heart: The Municipality of Senator Ninoy Aquino is the most impoverished in the region. Three out of four people here live below the poverty line. This means they do not eat three full meals every day, they cannot pay for a doctor whenever they are sick, and they cannot send their children to college.

What’s sadder is that the National Statistical Coordination Board gathered the data way back in 2000. Twelve years from then, the situation seems to be the same, and it won’t likely change in the near future. Those who have filed their candidacy for the coming elections are your traditional politicians.

Addendum: I do not yet know how to use this pre-scheduling option, or I've been time disoriented. This post appears alone on this date.