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Balbalan
Municipality in Kalinga, Philippines From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Balbalan, officially the Municipality of Balbalan, is a municipality in the province of Kalinga, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 12,914 people.[5]
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History
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Spanish colonial era
The Spaniards made at least 10 incursions[nb 1] into the land of the Kalingas from the early 1600s to the late 1800s, four of which were made from the west (Abra) primarily targeting the regions of Banao and Guinaang.[6] Although they succeeded around the mid-1800s in establishing a telegraph station in Balbalasang (where, incidentally, they appointed the noted Banao leader Juan Puyao as a gobernadorcillo or councilor) and subsequently hacking out an Ilocos-Abra-Kalinga-Cagayan trail, they failed to establish a foothold in Kalinga.[7]
Prior to the establishment of American rule in Kalinga, the ethnic sub-groups covered by the present geopolitical configuration of Balbalan were, like other Kalinga communities at that time, organized according to an indigenous system or concept of local governance operating within a “bilateral kinship group” circumscribed by semi-permanent territorial boundary.[nb 2][8]
This period saw the rise of several community leaders often mentioned in Balbalan orature: Sagaoc, Balutoc, Masadao, Gaddawan, Dawegoy, Lang-ayan, Bayudang, Gammong, et al.
American colonial era
When the Americans imposed their system of government over the archipelago, the land of the Kalingas became one of the highlights of their so-called “pacification campaign.” On 18 August 1907, Kalinga, then a sub-province of Lepanto-Bontoc, came under the control of Lt. Gov. Walter Franklin Hale who established his seat of government in Lubuagan where he organized the sub-province into four districts: Tinglayan-Tanudan; Balbalan-Pasil; Pinukpuk-Tobog (Tabuk), and Liwan (Rizal).[9]
A year later, Act 1870 of the Philippine Commission carved the old Mountain Province out of northern Luzon with Kalinga as one of its five sub-provinces. Kalinga was immediately reorganized into five municipal districts — Lubuagan (including Tanudan and Pasil), Balbalan (including Balinciagao), Tabuk (with Liwan or Rizal), Tinglayan, and Pinukpuk — each led by presidents. Among these municipal chiefs was Puyao[nb 3] who served in that capacity for close to 24 years under five subprovincial chief executives: Walter F. Hale (1907–1915), Alex F. Gilfilan (1915), Samuel E. Kane (1915–1919), Tomas Blanco (1918–1923), and Nicasio Balinag (1923–1936). Puyao did not run for office during the first local elections in the area in 1934, and was succeeded by Awingan. Three years later, municipal chief executives became known as “Municipal District Mayors.”[10]
In 1942 a Japanese garrison was established in Balbalan.
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Geography
Balbalan is situated 51.24 kilometres (31.84 mi) from the provincial capital Tabuk, and 530.68 kilometres (329.75 mi) from the country's capital city of Manila.
Barangays
Balbalan is politically subdivided into 14 barangays. Each barangay consists of puroks and some have sitios.
- Ababa-an
- Balantoy
- Balbalan Proper
- Balbalasang
- Buaya
- Dao-angan
- Gawa-an
- Mabaca
- Maling (Kabugao)
- Pantikian
- Poswoy
- Poblacion (Salegseg)
- Talalang
- Tawang
Climate
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Demographics
In the 2020 census, the population of Balbalan was 12,914 people,[17] with a density of 24 inhabitants per square kilometre or 62 inhabitants per square mile.
Economy
Poverty incidence of Balbalan
10
20
30
40
50
60
2000
59.97 2003
49.54 2006
35.40 2009
30.05 2012
33.91 2015
26.38 2018
15.95 2021
10.08 Source: Philippine Statistics Authority[18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25] |
Government
Local government
Balbalan, belonging to the lone congressional district of the province of Kalinga, is governed by a mayor designated as its local chief executive and by a municipal council as its legislative body in accordance with the Local Government Code. The mayor, vice mayor, and the councilors are elected directly by the people through an election which is being held every three years.
Elected officials
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Education
The Balbalan Schools District Office governs all educational institutions within the municipality. It oversees the management and operations of all private and public, from primary to secondary schools.[27]
Secondary schools
- Balbalan Agricultural and Industrial School
- Balbalan National High school
- St. Paul's Memorial School of Kalinga
- St. Theresita High School of Salegseg
- Western Kalinga National High School
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See also
Notes
- In The Kalinga Hilltribe of the Philippines (1990, 13-15), Sugguiyao lists three, but a comparative study of available documents as cited reveals more than that number.
- Barton referred to these territories as “regions,” which is perhaps roughly equivalent to what the German traveler Alexander Schadenberg (1886) called “province,” as in “Banao province” (Scott 1975, 131). Note, however, that, according to Scott in another work (1974, 313), there was no such village as Banao, although “people from Inalangan down the Saltan River to Salegseg referred to themselvfes as Banao people.” Schadenberg also mentioned a “Chief Liagao” in the rancheria of Balbalasang (Scott 1975, 133).
- Along with Lubuagan Presidente Antonio Canao, Puyao’s leadership and his contribution to the success of American rule in Kalinga prompted then Congressman of the old Mountain Province Alfredo Lam-en to file a bill seeking to rename Balbalan and Lubuagan “Puyao” and “Canao,” respectively (Finin 2005, 194).
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References
External links
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