The Villages of Bagumbayan

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Villages of Kalamansig

In 1961, the municipality of Kalamansig was created by virtue of Executive Order No. 459. In 2010, the Provincial Planning Development Office released a comprehensive profile of Sultan Kudarat. I wanted to know what happened to the villages of Kalamansig along the years, so I compared the lists in the two documents.

According to the executive order issued in 1961, Kalamansig was to comprise twenty-eight barrios and sitios, twenty from the municipality of Lebak and eight from the municipality of Palimbang. It’s not clear from the law which of the territories were barrios and which were sitios. According to the 2010 report, Palimbang comprise fifteen barangays today. Note that barrios are called barangays today. Barrios and barangays are essentially the same—basic unit of government in the Philippines. Sitios are settlements that are usually far from the center of the barrio/barangay, but sitios are not independent and are still governed by the barrio/barangay.

The twenty barrios and sitios of Kalamansig that were taken from Lebak were Kalamansig, Lun, Pitas, Dansalang, Pigtitiguinas, Madu, Port Lebak, Linek, Santa Clara Village, Sibayor, Nalilidan, Bosawan, Calubcub, Camp III, Posal, Limbato, Limutan, Simsiman, Cadiz, and Tipudus. The eight barrios and sitios from Palimbang were Sangay, Mat, Danawan, Pasil, Babancao, Basiawang, Narra, and North Kulaman.

The fifteen barangays of Kalamansig today are Cadiz, Datu Ito Andong, Datu Wasay, Dumangas Nuevo, Hinalaan, Limulan, Nalilidan, Obial, Pag-asa, Paril, Poblacion, Sabanal, Sangay, Santa Clara, and Santa Maria.

Of the original villages in 1961, five survived until 2010: Poblacion/Kalamansig, Cadiz, Limulan (Limutan in the 1961 law), Nalilidan, and Sangay. It’s possible that the Pasil in the 1961 law and the Paril in the 2010 report are the same place, but in the absence of evidence to the contrary, I’m considering them as two separate places.

What happened to the twenty-three other barrios and sitios of Kalamansig? They must have been renamed, annexed to Senator Ninoy Aquino when the municipality was created in 1989, or annexed to the ten barangays of Kalamansig that were created after 1961: Datu Ito Andong, Datu Wasay, Dumangas Nuevo, Hinalaan, Obial, Pag-asa, Paril, Sabanal, Santa Clara, and Santa Maria. North Kulaman, annexed from Palimbang to Kalamansig in 1959, was probably the Kulaman that was annexed from Kalamansig to Senator Ninoy Aquino in 1989.

The Villages of Palimbang

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Brief Histories of Bagumbayan and Palimbang

Municipality of Bagumbayan

In the early fifties, Datu Kudanding Camsa, a Maguindanaon leader, opened a settlement on the western part of the Allah River. It was named Bagumbayan, which came from bagong bayan, which means “new town.”

Bagumbayan became one of the largest barangays of the municipality of Isulan. In November 1965, then-President Diosdado Macapagal turned Bagumbayan into a municipality by virtue of an executive order. The municipality comprised nine barangays taken from the western part of Isulan.

Datu Kudanding Camsa became the first mayor of Bagumbayan, but the municipality existed until April 1966 only. It was reverted into a barangay as a result of a Supreme Court ruling that the president of the Philippines could not create a municipality by executive order.

On June 21, 1969, Pres. Ferdinand E. Marcos signed Republic Act No. 5960, recreating the municipality of Bagumbayan. A special election was conducted in November 1969, and Datu Don Ampatuan was elected mayor. In mid 1970, a conflict between Christians and Muslims broke out, and Vice Mayor Martin Forro became the acting municipal mayor.

Municipality of Palimbang

Palimbang used to be called Pula, after the trees that grew abundantly along the river in the area. The inhabitants of Pula were mostly Maguindanaons, who became Muslims when Sharif Kabungsuan came to Mindanao in the 1500s.

The name of the place was changed to Palimbang when some fishermen from Indonesia had to dock on Philippine shores due to bad weather. The natives, headed by Sendale Tambuto, met the foreigners and learned that they came from Palembang, Indonesia. The interaction with the visitors inspired the natives to adopt the name Palimbang as the official name of their place.

Through Executive Order No. 350, dated August 14, 1959, Pres. Carlos P. Garcia created the municipality of Palimbang. The municipality comprised some portions of Kiamba, Cotabato (now Kiamba, Sarangani), and some portions of Lebak, Cotabato (now Lebak, Sultan Kudarat).

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

Brief Histories of Isulan and Esperanza

Municipality of Isulan

The present territories of Isulan formerly belonged to the municipalities of Koronadal (now capital and component city of South Cotabato) and Dulawan (now Datu Piang, Maguindanao).

The municipality of Koronadal, Cotabato, was created under Executive Order No. 82, dated August 8, 1947, by Pres. Manuel L. Roxas. On March 10, 1953, a portion of Koronadal became the municipality of Norala, Cotabato, by virtue of Executive Order No. 572.

On August 30, 1957, a portion of Norala was joined with a portion of Dulawan, Cotabato, to compose the municipality of Isulan. Executive Order No. 266 of Carlos P. Garcia made it possible. Kalawag became the seat of government, and Datu Suma Ampatuan was appointed as the first mayor on September 12, 1957. The name Isulan came from the Maguindanaon term isu-silan, which means “advance.” It is said to be the battle cry of a local chieftain against the invading forces of a sultan.

On June 21, 1969, President Marcos signed Republic Act. No. 5960, creating the municipality of Bagumbayan. The law cost Isulan more than 85 percent of its original land area—from 336,000 hectares to 49,551 and from 48 barrios to 17.

On November 22, 1973, Presidential Decree No. 341 was issued, dividing the province of Cotabato into Sultan Kudarat, Maguindanao, and North Cotabato. Isulan was made capital town of Sultan Kudarat.

Municipality of Esperanza

By virtue of Presidential Decree No. 339, dated November 22, 1973, the Municipality of Esperanza was created from 27 of the 34 barangays of Ampatuan, Cotabato. However, due to a petition submitted by prominent leaders, Pres. Ferdinand E. Marcos issued PD 596 on December 3, 1974, reducing the area to the present 19 barangays.

Esperanza is a Spanish term that means “hope.” It is said that when Christian migrants from the Visayas settled in the area, the first baby born of them was a girl. She was baptized “Esperanza,” and the people adapted the name for the settlement, for it signified peace, unity, and progress.

Sometime in 1952, a group of Christian settlers established the sitio of Esperanza in Villamor, a barrio of Dulawan, Cotabato (now Datu Piang, Maguindanao). In 1956, sitio leader Silverio Africa requested for a government survey to turn the settlement into a barrio. The request was granted and Esperanza became a barrio, independent of Villamor. Africa became the first barrio lieutenant, or delegado.

In 1956, Datu Into Saliao, a prominent Maguindanaon chieftain, distributed land to the people by lease, share system, and even donation to those who were close to him. Esperanza and the neighboring barrios flourished, and the residents wrote a petition to the government to turn the area into a municipality, independent of Dulawan. By virtue of Republic Act No. 2509, which was enacted and approved into law without executive approval on June 21, 1959, the municipality of Ampatuan was created.

Ampatuan was inaugurated on August 8, 1959, with Datu Abdullah Sangki as the first municipal mayor. The Christian and Muslim inhabitants co-existed harmoniously for almost two decades, until 1971, when tribal conflicts erupted.

In the November 1971 election, no Maguindanaon filed candidacy, so the elected municipal officials of Ampatuan were all Christians. They held office in Barrio Esperanza.

On November 22, 1973, then-President Ferdinand E. Marcos issued Presidential Decree No. 339, creating the municipality of Esperanza. The incumbent officials of Ampatuan were appointed as first officials of Esperanza. Villamor, which used to have jurisdiction over Esperanza when Esperanza was still a sitio, became one of the barangays 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.)

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.)

‘Manobo of the Water’

After having read quite a few local histories, I learned that scribes often change some details for no good reason. In many cases, they want—or they’re ordered by the higher-ups—to make it appear that the locality or its name has more-than-humble origins, so they use superlative descriptions and blow up ordinary events. In some cases, significant details are omitted. I’m no longer surprised by examples of the former since they abound. Examples of the latter, however, are another matter. They fascinate me, especially if the omission is so glaring, as in the case of Kalamansig. Here’s the official brief history of the municipality as published in “2010 Socio-Economic Profile of Sultan Kudarat Province,” compiled by the Provincial Planning Development Office:

In 1960, Kalamansig, Sta. Clara and Salaman were still barrios of Lebak municipality. The seat of government was still in Kalamansig (now Poblacion, Kalamansig). It was on December 29, 1961 that the municipality of Kalamansig was created by virtue of Executive Order no. 459 of Pres. Carlos P. Garcia.

Like other municipalities, Kalamansig has its legendary origin of folklore. According to records, Kalamansig is a Manobo term which means Manobo of the water or literally “Kulaman-sa-ig”.

Kalamansig is situated on the western portion of the province along the coastal waters of Celebes Sea. It is bounded in the north by the municipality of Lebak; in the south by the municipality of Palimbang; in the east by the municipality of Sen. Ninoy Aquino; and in the west by the Celebes Sea.

The missing piece is particularly glaring to me because it has something to do with Kulaman Plateau. According to other sources, Kalamansig owes its name from a heroic Manobo chieftain who drowned in the river of what is now Kulaman village, the poblacion of the municipality of Senator Ninoy Aquino. Kulaman is the name of the chieftain. It’s a proper noun. It’s not a generic term. It’s not another term for Manobo, as what may be deduced from the confusing explanation above. Kulaman was a person, after whom a river was named, after which a village was named, after all of which Kalamansig was named. I hope this redundant explanation of mine has made things clear for you, the reader.

I have a couple of theories as to why the true origin of the name was not stated. Maybe the people who prepared the information did not deem it necessary to explicate because Kulaman is no longer part of Kalamansig. Maybe they did not know how to restructure the previous narrative and just deleted most of it. In either case, they did a disservice to students, researchers, and the like who have come upon the quoted text above. I hope in other and future records, Kalamansig have stated or will state its true complete history.

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.

Kulaman in Relation to Philippine Political Divisions

Kulaman is the central barangay of the Municipality of Senator Ninoy Aquino, Province of Sultan Kudarat. For the sake of those who are not so familiar with Philippine political divisions, I will discuss them in this post and give some examples from around these parts of Mindanao. My sources for this article are the 1991 Local Government Code of the Philippines and the official website of the National Statistical Coordination Board, among others.

The Philippines is currently divided into seventeen regions. Government agencies (e.g., Department of Education, Philippine National Police) in each area are headed by regional directors. The regions, however, are not political units, since there are no regional governments (except for the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao, which is ruled by an elected governor).

The regions are further divided into provinces, each ruled by an elected governor. In American setting, regions are loosely similar to states and provinces are similar to counties. Sultan Kudarat Province is part of Region 12, or SOCCSKSARGEN, which also includes South Cotabato Province, Cotabato City, Cotabato Province, Sarangani Province, and General Santos City.  As of June 30, 2012, the Philippines has eighty provinces.

The provinces are divided into municipalities, each headed by a mayor, and the municipalities are divided into barangays, each headed by a chairman. The country has 1,494 municipalities and 42,027 barangays. The Province of Sultan Kudarat has eleven municipalities and one city (Tacurong), while the Municipality of Senator Ninoy Aquino has twenty barangays.

Municipalities are also called towns. Major newspapers in the country use town instead of municipality (e.g., “Senator Ninoy Aquino town,” not “Municipality of Senator Ninoy Aquino). In this blog, I interchangeably use municipality and town, and barangay and village.

The barangay is considered the basic unit of government in the Philippines. The village chairman and councilors are the lowest-ranking public officials that are chosen through periodic and organized elections. The barangay, however, is further divided into puroks, or zones. Many barangays also have special zones called sitios. A sitio is usually a cluster of houses that is far from the center of the village and often bigger than a purok. In English, I think sitio may be translated as hamlet.

Cities do not fit perfectly in the normal political divisions of the Philippines, and their classifications may be confusing to an ordinary person. Most, if not all, Philippine cities have been created from existing municipalities. In contrast, provinces, municipalities, and barangays are sometimes created out of areas that were not previously grouped together. For example, the Municipality of Senator Ninoy Aquino was formed from several barangays of Kalamansig town and Barangay Langgal of Bagumbayan town.

The Philippines has 140 cities, and they are classified as highly urbanized, independent component, or component. Highly urbanized cities are those that have an annual income of at least fifty million pesos. They usually have the same level of importance as provinces; the mayor of a highly urbanized city is independent of the governor of the province where the city belonged when it was still a municipality. General Santos City is classified as such.

An independent component city is similar in political status to a highly urbanized city. Only, the independent component city does not meet the annual income requirement. Cotabato City is one such city.

A component city is not much different from a municipality; the mayor is still under the power of the governor, and the registered voters in the city vote for the provincial elective officials. Tacurong, Koronadal, and Kidapawan are component cities of Sultan Kudarat, South Cotabato, and Kidapawan, respectively. Some government agencies, however, have a separate division in each city, regardless of its size, so component cities enjoy some independence from the provinces they belong.

Another complex political division in the Philippines is the legislative district. Each district is entitled to elect what is commonly called a congressman (more accurately, a member of the House of Representatives, the lower chamber of Congress, the Philippine lawmaking body). Each province, or city with at least 250,000 inhabitants, is entitled to have at least one representative in the Congress.

Though General Santos City and Cotabato City meet the requirements, neither of them doesn’t have its own representative yet. Instead, General Santos City is combined with three municipalities to form the second legislative district of South Cotabato, and Cotabato City, along with eleven municipalities, belongs to the first district of Maguindanao Province. Sultan Kudarat Province has two districts, and Kulaman is included in the second.

One textbook erroneously describes the Kulaman plateau as part of Bukidnon Province, while a few academic papers fail to mention that Kulaman is, at the present, part of the Municipality of Senator Ninoy Aquino. I hope this post will help set the records straight.