Balbalan
Municipality in Kalinga, Philippines From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Balbalan, officially the Municipality of Balbalan is a 3rd class municipality in the province of Kalinga, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 12,914 people.[3]
Balbalan | |
|---|---|
| Municipality of Balbalan | |
 Flag | |
 Map of Kalinga with Balbalan highlighted | |
OpenStreetMap  | |
.svg)  Balbalan Location within the Philippines | |
| Coordinates: 17°26′37″N 121°12′03″E | |
| Country | Philippines |
| Region | Cordillera Administrative Region |
| Province | Kalinga |
| District | Lone district |
| Barangays | 14 (see Barangays) |
| Government | |
| • Type | Sangguniang Bayan |
| • Mayor | Almar P. Malannag |
| • Vice Mayor | Rowina Alison Munda C. Damian |
| • Representative | Allen Jesse C. Mangaoang |
| • Municipal Council | Members |
| • Electorate | 9,602 voters (2022) |
| Area | |
| • Total | 542.69 km2 (209.53 sq mi) |
| Elevation | 1,067 m (3,501 ft) |
| Highest elevation | 2,077 m (6,814 ft) |
| Lowest elevation | 308 m (1,010 ft) |
| Population (2020 census)[3] | |
| • Total | 12,914 |
| • Density | 24/km2 (62/sq mi) |
| • Households | 2,528 |
| Economy | |
| • Income class | 3rd municipal income class |
| • Poverty incidence | 10.08 |
| • Revenue | ₱ 182.2 million (2020) |
| • Assets | ₱ 350.3 million (2020) |
| • Expenditure | ₱ 115.7 million (2020) |
| • Liabilities | ₱ 105.4 million (2020) |
| Service provider | |
| • Electricity | Kalinga - Apayao Electric Cooperative (KAELCO) |
| Time zone | UTC+8 (PST) |
| ZIP code | 3801 |
| PSGC | |
| IDD : area code | +63 (0)74 |
| Native languages | Kalinga Ilocano Tagalog |
| Website | www |
Early beginning
This town draws its name from an ancient practice. It was said that war parties coming from certain areas in northern Kalinga (probably, the ancient place of Salegseg) used to meet by a creek when mapping out their plan of attack against or when regrouping after attacking a certain village. Since they would always wash (balbal, in the local dialect) their blood-stained bodies and weapons in the creek, the place and its adjacent areas came to be known as Balbalan. Since its violent history, Balbalan has become one of the most peaceful places in Kalinga as dramatized by the selection of one of its ethnic sub-groups, the Salegseg.
Spanish 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.[5] 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.[6]
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][7]
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 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).[8]
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.”[9]
In 1942 a Japanese garrison was established in Balbalan.
Post-War Era
The old Mountain Province was regularized as a “first class province” in 1959 and new local elections were subsequently held. In Balbalan, Pedro Sagalon was elected mayor (Sugguiyao, 23). From 1988 to the present, government records list the following as mayors: Leonardo Banganan (1988–1992), Edward Calumnag (1992–1995), Rosendo Dakiwag (1995–2001), and Allen J.C. Mangaoang (2001 to 2013).
The present leadership of Balbalan has special significance to those who feared that the death of Juan Puyao in 1948 meant the end of his political bloodline. In the words of Kalinga historian Miguel Sugguiyao (1990, 39):
The late Juan Puyao was not only recognized as a prominent leader in his own Balbalan corner but also in the whole Kalinga as well as the whole undivided Mountain Province. Since his demise in 1948 to the present (1982) no one among the descendants of the late Ex-President Juan Puyao has gained the limelight in Kalinga leadership.
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
| Climate data for Balbalan, Kalinga | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Mean daily maximum °C (°F) | 20 (68) |
21 (70) |
24 (75) |
26 (79) |
26 (79) |
26 (79) |
25 (77) |
24 (75) |
24 (75) |
23 (73) |
22 (72) |
20 (68) |
23 (74) |
| Mean daily minimum °C (°F) | 15 (59) |
15 (59) |
16 (61) |
17 (63) |
19 (66) |
19 (66) |
19 (66) |
19 (66) |
18 (64) |
18 (64) |
17 (63) |
16 (61) |
17 (63) |
| Average precipitation mm (inches) | 78 (3.1) |
60 (2.4) |
49 (1.9) |
51 (2.0) |
194 (7.6) |
197 (7.8) |
209 (8.2) |
226 (8.9) |
185 (7.3) |
180 (7.1) |
143 (5.6) |
183 (7.2) |
1,755 (69.1) |
| Average rainy days | 15.6 | 12.5 | 11.8 | 12.5 | 21.0 | 23.3 | 25.2 | 26.1 | 22.6 | 17.1 | 16.7 | 19.6 | 224 |
| Source: Meteoblue[10] | |||||||||||||
| Year | Pop. | ±% p.a. |
|---|---|---|
| 1918 | 6,238 | — |
| 1939 | 5,670 | −0.45% |
| 1948 | 6,184 | +0.97% |
| 1960 | 7,605 | +1.74% |
| 1970 | 6,518 | −1.53% |
| 1975 | 7,552 | +3.00% |
| 1980 | 9,168 | +3.95% |
| 1990 | 10,147 | +1.02% |
| 1995 | 11,742 | +2.77% |
| 2000 | 11,934 | +0.35% |
| 2007 | 12,012 | +0.09% |
| 2010 | 12,082 | +0.21% |
| 2015 | 12,195 | +0.18% |
| 2020 | 12,914 | +1.13% |
| Source: Philippine Statistics Authority[11][12][13][14] | ||
In the 2020 census, the population of Balbalan was 12,914 people,[3] with a density of 24 inhabitants per square kilometre or 62 inhabitants per square mile.
Poverty incidence of Balbalan
10
20
30
40
2006
35.40 2009
30.05 2012
33.91 2015
26.38 2018
15.95 2021
10.08 Source: Philippine Statistics Authority[15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22] |
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
| Position | Name |
|---|---|
| Congressman | Allen Jesse C. Mangaoang |
| Mayor | Almar P. Malannag |
| Vice-Mayor | Rowina Alison M. Damian |
| Councilors | Marc Alvin M. Page |
| Paul B. Bog-acon | |
| Clarence D. Tongdo | |
| Edwin Bruce B. Astudillo | |
| Rex L. Dulansi | |
| Bernabe C. Basingan | |
| Dennis C. Baggas | |
| John Smith S. Gullayan | |
- 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 peerless 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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