LOCAL HISTORY
The founding of Katiku, then a remote and unlikely resettlement site in Buluan, was a product of Ilocano diaspora and their dynamic interaction with Muslim communities. How it has evolved over one hundred years suggests various adaptations and responses its people have made to the immediate environment and broader forces.
THE HISTORY OF KATIKU: A POLITICAL ECONOMY PERSPECTIVE
The founding of Katiku, then a remote and unlikely resettlement site in Buluan, was a product of Ilocano diaspora and their dynamic interaction with Muslim communities. How it has evolved over one hundred years suggests various adaptations and responses its people have made to the immediate environment and broader forces.
Using a political economy analysis, the history of Katiku is understood from the interactions of culture and social institutions (ethnolinguistic identification, inter-community relations, national and local governments, education and religion), political environment (electoral politics, policies, leadership transitions, pattern of conflict and negotiation, and culture of competition, cooperation and conformity), economic system (labor relation, agriculture and other livelihoods, trading and the changing market), and technology and infrastructure (access to information and communication tools, electrification, and other public works).
How have these forces shaped the development of a barangay, which saw its highs and lows, stability and disruptions, struggle and progress? What makes its population continue to be resilient and even succeed in their quest for improved well-being given its setting and the broader influences?
Political economy does not limit historical analysis to the accomplishments of leaders or privileged few. Recognizing the unequal power relations, it considers multiple voices, the narratives of public officials and their constituents, the elders, the new generation of leaders and the ordinary people. This history pieced together unpublished documents, published articles, and oral narratives passed on by early settlers to their children. Photos, statues, engineering work, and other artifacts were used to help in historical reconstruction.
This local history reflects how these forces shaped the development of Katiku and the adaptations of its people. Multiple voices and written memories are considered. As such, this perspective sees the one hundred-year history of Katiku to have gone through six phases of development:
The first wave of Ilocano diaspora (1917-1938);
Founding of the barangay amid the war (1939-1944);
Reorganizing the community through land use planning (1945-1964);
Reshaping local politics and boundaries under Marcos (1965-1986);
Disruptions and the new political and economic actors (1987-2017); and
Setting long-term development strategies (2018-present).
1917-1938: THE FIRST WAVE OF ILOCANO DIASPORA
The 1910s were the early period of American colonial rule that displaced Philippine Independence. It was also the beginning of Ilocano migration that found its way to Hawaii, the Cagayan Valley, Cordillera and Central Luzon regions and several areas of Mindanao, including the then empire province of Cotabato.
Luzon and Manila were becoming densely populated. The nascent concentration of landownership and increasing land value were driving land disputes and compelling people to look for economic opportunities elsewhere. It was also the time the American-led government was encouraging people from Luzon to consider relocating to Mindanao with the promise of abundant natural resources and vacant land. Part of the incentives was a free ferry ride.
Responding to the call and as part of his adventurism as young adult, Leoncio Diaz decided to take the path less traveled. Then a fresh graduate of agriculture from Central Luzon State University, he was a friend of a Muslim who told him stories about Mindanao. He arrived in Katiku in 1917.
Diaz was introduced to the influential chieftains in Buluan including datu Luminog Mangelen who was among his first students. The latter eventually became one of the first Muslim assemblymen. By introducing formal education to the young Muslims and the encouraging response of the leadership in Buluan, he set upon himself to revisit Mindanao.
He returned nearly two decades later. It was also the early years of Commonwealth government. This time, he brought along not only the Diaz clan but also the families of Yadao, Santos, Canoza, Camangeg, Dimalanta, Dumayag, Campus and Guillermo. These families hailed mostly from San Jose, Nueva Ecija.
They engaged with the leaders of the municipality of Buluan, which was the host to new settlers. In the first five years, Leoncio Diaz focused on giving formal education to young Muslims. His teaching mission was well received that the Muslim datu offered pieces of land in return. Early school buildings were constructed at the center of Buluan. Among the families who received the teaching service of Diaz were the clans of datu Luminog, Salipada Pendatun, Udtog Matalam and brothers Samad and Conte Mangelen. In their adult years, they became influential government leaders representing the Muslim Mindanao.
Meanwhile, the Ilocano emigrants established a temporary settlement surrounded by forest and flatlands and traversed by three creeks: Kipolot, Kitalok and Katiku. Each family resided in their farm lot. Subsistence rice and sugarcane cultivation was the main sources of livelihood. Barter trade, food and labor exchange were a way of life.
1939-1944: FOUNDING OF BARANGAY AMID THE WAR
The World War II that started in 1939 finally found its way to the remote areas of central Mindanao, including Katiku. War disrupted the early settlement of the Ilocanos when the Japanese defense force was gaining strength in the inhospitable geography of the region. American forces and their allied Filipino guerrillas combined air and ground operations to neutralize the remaining stronghold of Japanese resistance. The geographic scope of the battle was huge to the extent that families in Katiku were pushed to evacuate to Norala for refuge.
Before the war ended in 1945, families had already returned. The succeeding years saw the arrival of new families from Ilocano provinces. Some arrived in a throng of families, representing their common geographic origin and kinship. Some hailed from Batac, Ilocos Norte, others from Pura, Tarlac, and the rest from Guimba and San Miguel, Nueva Ecija. These include the families of Salamanca, Torres, Ladringan, Rufino, Caoagdan, Somera and Laforteza, to name a few.
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The husband and wife team: Maria Cristobal Diaz, the founding principal of the elementary school, and Leoncio Diaz Sr., the founding barangay captain
The pioneering families initiated the social formation of Katiku, marked by the founding of community leadership and primary school. Leoncio Diaz Sr. was chosen the first teniente del barrio in 1943.
It was during that year the barangay was named Katiku, drawn from an earlier Muslim settler Ka Tiku (older brother Tiku). Oral history notes that Ilocano settlers often had to fetch water from a spring by the creek where Ka Tiku’s house is sited. The spring next to Ka Tiku’s abode drew people together, who eventually identified themselves as residents of Katiku.[1]
With the oversight of Diaz, the first primary school was established. Families were instructed to bring bamboo and hardwood posts for the school building. His wife, Maria Cristobal Diaz, served as the first principal. As teniente del barrio, it was the meticulous Diaz’ routine to peep into classrooms to see the improvements needed in teaching.
[1] Katiku has always been interchanged with Katico (given the use of Spanish alphabet in Ilocano vocabulary) and Katiko (used loosely in correspondence, for registration and other business purposes). The barangay council uses Katiku in its seal, official communication, resolution and other directives.
1945-1964: LAND USE PLANNING REORGANIZED THE COMMUNITY
Early land ownership pattern
The first and succeeding waves of Ilocano emigrants engaged in small crop cultivation. The years that followed saw them negotiating and entering in a variety of agreements with Muslim land owners. Land for farming was acquired via direct purchase, others via trading of kariton, a pack of cigarettes, canned goods, flash lights, carabao, shovel and other food items while others were obtained by doing pongdol, that is clearing bakir (trees and thick grasslands).
Under the Commonwealth government and early years of Philippine Republic, land reform policies were already introduced. For example, the Land Reform Act of 1995, which created the land tenure administration (LTA), enabled the acquisition and distribution of large and tenanted rice and corn lands over 200 hectares for individuals and 600 hectares for corporations. Did this law effectively apply to Buluan areas that were being settled in by Ilocanos? For elders, such law did not appear to have guided landowning arrangements. For some, there were strictly no legal, paper-based requirements that established or transferred ownership. At that time, the practice of acquiring or transferring land ownership was not seen as a major conflict driver as the spirit of inter-communal reciprocity and peaceful co-existence was high.
Meanwhile, the elementary school of Katiku accommodated students from the rest of Buluan including Pandag, Midkonting, Kipolot, Tunggol, and Badac. Buluan was the mother municipality of the barangay until 1973. The school served as a platform to keep improving Christian-Muslim relations, in addition to the economic exchange and cooperation of leaders among the neighboring barangays.
The zoning arrangement and new leadership
Pedro Camangeg, the second teniente del barrio, led the re-organization of the community with the introduction of a zoning plan. It was spurred by the donation of forty hectares of land by Bai Malta Daonotan, wife of a datu in Pandag.
Camangeg was the chief architect of the barangay zoning, which distinguished the settlement pattern of the neighboring barangays. Unlike the hamlet model or the sporadic and remote clustering, families in Katiku were consolidated into one rectangular settlement, with the amalgamated residences surrounded by the swathe of farmlands. The zoning arrangement enabled easy access among neighbors, transfer of information, and in convening villagers for meetings. During his term, the barangay center and plaza were built.
The first five years of the elementary school, taken in 1948.
The years that ensued were marked by leadership transitions that safeguarded the stability of barangay. Following the end of Camangeg’s term in 1948, a smooth transfer of leadership catalyzed community development in Katiku.
The population was also growing, partly due to the continued influx of Ilocano migrants from Luzon. There were still lands to cultivate although some tenancy arrangements were introduced. Between 1949 and 1964, Katiku were led by five teniente del barrio, namely Candido Dimalanta (1949-1950), Moises Campus (1951-1953), Licirio Dumayag (1954-1956), Dionisio Coloma Sr. (1957-1960) and Teodoro Ladringan (1961-1964).
Communal work was utilized in many fronts including farm labor, public works, building and moving houses, and managing fiesta. Elders recall the years from 1954 to 1956 when the barrio was heavily infested with rats, ravaging all crops that led to prolonged hunger. Some residents opted to move out of the barrio, sold their properties and never returned.
Guided by barrio leadership, the community recovered from the aftermath of natural disaster. Free farm labor exchange became the order of the day, which was practiced from land preparation all the way to harvest season.
In late 1950s, people began to tune in to DXMS, a radio station run by Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate based in Cotabato City. DXMS was the main news and music source at that time. Meanwhile, employment opportunities were generated when Ramitex Corporation (Ramcor) was opened in Buluan. Given the proximity, hundreds of residents in Katiku held positions from field worker to supervisory roles.
In 1962, farmers could then do their grocery and sell crops outside, thanks to the arrival of jeepneys.
1965-1986: RESHAPING LOCAL POLITICS AND BOUNDARIES UNDER MARCOS
Marcos’ ascent to power in 1965 led to deep changes in the social fabric, extending all the way to local governance. Impacts to intra and inter-community relations were mixed.
Barangay captains have since been elected. Valentin Fernandez was first elected for the role, leading the implementation of national projects including farm to market roads and construction of a barangay health center. Meanwhile, Leoncio Diaz Jr. ran for a seat in municipal leadership. From 1969 to 1970, he was the only Christian member of the Buluan municipal council.
The mission of Oblate priests also extended to Katiku. As Maguindanao was covered by the Archdiocese of Cotabato, one of their apostolic and evangelical milestones was the creation of the Notre Dame of Katiku in 1968. Bishop Gerard Mongeau, OMI, spearheaded the founding of NDK with the direct supervision of the Notre Dame of Tacurong College.
On the cropping front, Katiku saw the diversification of staple produce. Other than rice and corn, farmers engaged in planting high-value crops such as sorghum and cotton. For years, these well-priced crops had guaranteed traders until they disappeared.
On social affairs, the Rural Improvement Club (RIC) was established in the late 1960s. Although it was presented as a barangay-based, nationwide NGO, RIC was closely tied with the agriculture and local government ministries, with the intent to help raise the living standards of the barrio. It was among the early government-sponsored community organization with women as majority members, at least in Katiku. It no longer exists in the barangay but remains active in other places. In the same period, married women were also formed into Homemakers’ Club where they received training from dressmaking to cosmetology and other income-generating skills.
Before the Sangguniang Kabataan, the Kabataang Barangay (KB) was its dynamic predecessor. With its own electoral politics, KB was considered a training ground for future leaders.
Years of turbulence and the new boundaries
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Unprecedented events marked the early 1970s whose consequences are enshrined in local and national memories.
Operation land transfer. In 1972, the Presidential Decree No. 27 was issued declaring the emancipation of tenants from their bondage with the soil. The decree’s main feature was the operation land transfer program, which involved formalization of landownership via cadastral mapping, issuance, transfer and registration of land title, and legal recognition of the right of tenants who have long toiled for the land.
The decree laid down a system for small farmers to purchase land they were tilling. It was an opportunity for the resettled Ilocanos, whether they arrived earlier or later, to buy land at a relatively low valuation. A family Rufino, for example, was reported to have purchased ten hectares of agricultural land at a low price of three hundred pesos (P300). Not all stories about PD 27 were rosy. While the land for farmers was a much-lauded program, many tenants who obtained land ownership rights did not have easy access to financing, training and other inputs to increase productivity. Many failed to settle their amortization and taxes in due time until banks sequestered their land. As a result, some sold their ownership rights while others entered into a lease agreement. This became an opportunity for former big landowners to reconsolidate their properties or for professionals and entrepreneurs to purchase land with delinquent payments. There were also instances where judges or lawyers accepted land titles as payments for their services.
Partitioning Cotabato. Following the creation of South Cotabato in 1966 as a separate province, the year 1973 witnessed the formation of Sultan Kudarat, which was carved out of the empire province of Cotabato. North Cotabato, Maguindanao and Sultan Kudarat were created, an offshoot of redrawing the political and geographic boundaries. That same year also gave birth to President Quirino municipality, which has Katiku as one of the founding barangays. All those born in Katiku after November 22, 1973, were then registered within the town of Pres. Quirino, not Buluan.
Sources privy to the legislative lobbying in Congress revealed that Katiku, not the current Poblacion (Sambulawan), was first proposed as the center of the new municipal government. An architectural design, map, and other supporting documents had been prepared for adoption by the Batasang Pambansa. However, the political dynamics among the local proponents, including Ciscolario Diaz who resigned from being the barangay captain to run as Assemblyman, and those who had greater power to push it all the way to the final reading foiled such attempt. Another source recalled that Poblacion is more accessible to the national highway, making distance a deciding factor.
The dark years of Martial law. Marcos’ Proclamation No. 1081 on September 21, 1972, placed the entire country under Martial law. For 10 years, what he regarded a threat of near-violent civil unrest was met with the imposition of curfews, suspension of civil rights and habeas corpus, and the supremacy of military over civilians. Civilians suspected of defying martial law were subjected to various threats, intimidation, and military tribunals. The experience of Martial Law and the impacts varied across places and institutions while the response of opposition forces intensified.
In the context of Katiku, the narrative of fear and violence was dominant. For example, those in their teens or early parenthood in 1970s recalled how families had to survive during air strike and ground operations. Fox holes were dug, just enough for families to hide under during the night. Residents used these holes to avoid being caught by wildfire or being identified by military as rebels or rebel sympathizers.
Questions persist about what Katiku had to do with Martial Law. Some argue that since the barangay was deeply populated by Ilocanos, the strong regional and ethno-linguistic identification with the Ilocano strongman should not pose any concerted opposition to Marcos policies. What was clear then was that the community of Katiku was neither identified as a sympathizer nor seen as a breeding ground of rebel forces.
One well-informed narrative is that the early 1970s marked the emergence of organized Moro liberation movement and Communist-inspired opposition to Marcos dictatorship. That resistance was met with protracted military response, including the use of a paramilitary group Ilaga (Visayan for rat, translated to mean Ilonggo landgrabbers). Composed of Visayans, mostly Ilongos, the Ilaga embraced a form of folk Catholicism that used amulets and violence while being instrumentalized by the Philippine Constabulary to fight against Moro guerrillas. The extremism of Ilaga includes launching a series of massacres, arson and other human right abuses targeting the Moros and Lumad peoples.
Considering the location or the proximity of Katiku to Muslim communities, the barangay was not spared by military campaigns. Combat operations forced most families to evacuate to as far as Tacurong. One widely revered Moro leader, datu Conte Mangelen, is well remembered by many elders for his persistent outreach to Katiku residents, giving them a message of solidarity and protection. Datu Conte was an important interlocutor between the Ilocano and Moro communities at the onset of Martial law.
Those in the know still recall how military offensives obstructed Muslim communities from accessing their food supply. Some places in Buluan and nearby municipalities were then considered a ‘no man’s land’, impenetrable or a no-go zone. Elders in Katiku recall how, despite the strict military order, former leaders, especially the then barangay captain Ciscolario Diaz (the eldest son of the founder), took the risk of supplying bags of rice to the border of Muslim areas during the night. That act was done in the spirit of compassion, responsibility and debt of gratitude to the earlier settlers of the area.
The Green Revolution
Those tumultuous years subsided, albeit with the constant challenge to barangay leaders to maintain peace and order. The successive leadership of the founder’s three sons (Ciscolario, Sadiri and Leoncio Jr.), Simeon Nool and Leonora Paray (the first woman captain) paved the way for improving social cohesion and implementing development projects in Katiku. The usual functions including infrastructure works (farm to market road, solar driers, and health center) were implemented.
National agricultural programs also found their way to Katiku. These include the Kilusang Kabuhayan at Kaunlaran (KKK), Masagana 99 (rice) and Masagana 77 (corn), the Philippine version of Green Revolution, which promoted the use of high yielding crop varieties to increase farm produce and feed the increasing food demand of growing populations. This was the time agricultural technologies were introduced including farm machineries like tractor, the synthetic fertilizer and chemical spray so that farmers can boost their harvest from small landholdings. Farmers were organized into Samahang Nayon, a prelude to farmer cooperatives. Through the Samahang Nayon, farmers could now access agricultural inputs, training, and eventually bank financing.
Depending on who speaks, one narrative was that Masagana 99 and 77 significantly improved crop production, allowing them to orient their harvest for consumption and for the market so they could send children to school. Alternative stories note that despite higher yields, some farmers incurred debts when production costs were far higher than the market price of their harvest. The introduction of Green Revolution has since significantly changed not just the farming system but also the economic condition of rural communities like Katiku. However, farmers’ resilience and hope never wavered. It only compelled them to explore livelihood alternatives or food security strategies.
Putting the barangay on national spotlight
The early 1980s witnessed how Katiku stepped up its leadership performance. By 1982 to 1984, Leoncio Diaz was re-elected as barangay captain. Having held twice the post earlier and given his exposure as Buluan municipal councilor, his leadership approach also matured.
Peace and order, cleanliness and the spirit of friendly competition and cooperation marked his leadership. For the first time, Katiku was clustered into four purok: Pag-asa, Bagong Lipunan, Pagkakaisa and Bagong Buhay, with each purok having its own officials, purok center, and representation in the barangay council. All houses were required to have their own pergola (passageway), front yard garden and fences. Kagawad (councilors) and teachers were tasked to ensure no stray animals and carabao dung were to be found on the road as part of the beautification program.
The council directives almost reconfigured intra-community relations for a few years. It fostered the spirit of cooperation and, by extension, competition in the area of cleanliness and artistry. During fiesta and Christmas parties, each purok was driven to outdo others in terms of booth creativity, cultural performance and beauty competition (although winning was often determined by monetary contribution a candidate collects). Katiku also held a weekly singing contest, attracting talents from neighboring barangays.
Such features of leadership were recognized by the Rotary Club that was doing a private survey. Katiku was nominated in national competitions. In 1982, Katiku won first place at the regional and national contests for barangay kaunlaran. Awarded by the Ministry of Human Settlements based on cleanliness, orderliness and beauty, Katiku received a trophy and cash prizes, the latter used to construct two market buildings and purchase a sound system.
With Katiku now on national spotlight, the brand of Leoncio Diaz Jr. leadership was also recognized. In 1986, shortly after Aquino’s democratic, non-violent assumption to national power, Diaz was elected mayor of President Quirino.
The next thirty years saw an eventual departure from relative stability to disruptions, marked by land conflicts during the early years of the agrarian reform program, which interrupted peace and development in Katiku. The last two decades also saw the rise of new leaders occupying elective posts at the barangay, municipal and provincial levels while the implementation of local government code was going deeper; the growing number of professionals, skilled workers, and small entrepreneurs; the changing demographics, cropping patterns, and access to finance. All these have their own effects on local economy and public desire for much-improved local governance. To better understand this period, the analysis is directed at the following events and other milestones.
The 1987 exodus
In the fourth quarter of 1987, weeks of armed encounter between the military and CAFGU forces, on one hand, and the rebel forces in Maguindanao, on the other hand, broke out. Driven by contesting land claims in the eastern border (amyanan) of Katiku, the violent confrontation resulted in casualties in both sides. Although military reinforcement was coming, fear and the rumor mill of rebel invasion overcame almost the entire families of Katiku, eventually forcing them to join an exodus to the barangays of Kalanawi and Gansing. This mass evacuation saw families fleeing the barangay with their cattle, food stock, cart, kitchen utensils and anything they could carry.
This was the latest episode where residents of Katiku became internally displaced populations (IDPs), seeking refuge in nearby barangays of President Quirino, Tacurong and beyond. Adverse effects were plenty. For weeks, families refused to return to their farms for fear of being caught by wildfires; other paddies close to the border were eventually abandoned or sold. Several families decided to leave their houses and live in other places permanently. Classes in the elementary school and the Notre Dame of Katiku were suspended for two months. Many families who returned a few months later were struggling with no crops to harvest, the shortage of rice supply, and scarce cash to start anew. Impairments in many house fencing and other beautification initiatives in the preceding years were left unfixed.
The challenge for local leadership to catalyze community’s return to a state of normalcy was tough. Collective fear and trauma were so high that these engulfed the residents for months and years. The 1987 public celebration of the New Year and the succeeding Holidays were tamed as families often likened fireworks with gunshots. It took years to recover but this episode in the history of Katiku will not be forgotten.
Maintaining security became a complicated task as it entailed a multi-pronged approach to diplomacy: negotiation, dialogue, improved understanding of issues and goals between parties, and constructive communication to reach a mutual understanding and course of actions. This task took succeeding leaderships to try or enter various forms of diplomacy. Some of these attempts were interrupted or foiled by incidences of theft (cattle, crops) and even violent killings (some were considered politically motivated, others over unresolved land disputes, while others were simply protecting their carabaos).
Those behind the incidents are complex. Most cases of killing have never been brought to justice. Many went only to as far as investigations, but no charges have been filed as perpetrators had not been clearly identified. The recurrence of the unstable environment in Katiku and its surroundings even prompted the military and police to increase their presence to protect peace and order.
One thing is clear: peace and order are tied to barangay development. The inter-communal relationship may fluctuate but it is justified to state that the desire to keep it alive and productive is always strong. The leadership should engage in and prioritize diplomacy at all possible levels and platform to foster mutual understanding and course of actions. It’s a continued process of building trust, confidence, and cooperation to maintain a peaceful co-existence and economic interdependence.
Changing demographics
While Katiku has always been predominantly an Ilocano community, inter-marriages, employment conditions, wider mobility of the population and other factors were changing the ethnolinguistic makeup and the age grouping of the barangay.
The opening of Ramcor since the 1950s and its eventual closure in mid-1980s saw the relocation of mostly Visayans, especially Ilonggos, to Katiku. Many of them were married to Ilocanos/Ilocanas who were employed in Ramcor. After the death of their company executive and the unstable years in Buluan, there was an increased influx of Ilonggo families to Katiku. They purchased lots, built houses and eventually engaged in rice and corn farming. Other residents were married with Maguindanaons who opted to settle in the barrio. Some professionals who met their non-Ilocano spouses while working in other places finally settled in Katiku.
The growing number of spoken languages cannot be attributed mainly to inter-marriages and employment conditions. Katiku is surrounded by the Ilonggo speaking barangays of Tinaungan and Tual in the western side, the Maguindanaoans in the east and southern borders, and the mixed groups in Tacurong, Marbel, General Santos and Davao where numerous Katiku residents work, study or engage in trading. The Ilonggo and Tagalog radio and TV stations also prompt the Ilocano population to be confident in other tongues.
One notable change in the demographics is the increasing number of people in their teens (15-19), and those in the 10-14 and 20-49 age brackets. While a more in-depth investigation is needed, some quick observations are as follows:
There’s a budding labor force that is looking for jobs outside the barrio;
The average household size appears to be lower than six (6) members; and
The population of senior citizens is on the rise.
A new crop of leaders
After the 10 years of Pedro Salamanca (1988-1997) and the last stint of Ciscolario Diaz (1997-1998), a new breed of leaders took the helm. The offspring of early settling families, Katiku has come of age, where local power and responsibility are moving to the hands of a new generation of people-in-charge. Evelyne Circulado (1999-2002), Eufrosonio Guillermo Jr. (2002-2007) and Sancho Salamanca (2007-2017) held the post of barangay captain.
With their own brand of leadership, the performance of their duties from managing infrastructure, health, peace and order, social welfare, agriculture, education and youth projects to managing public finance has been guided by the local government code of 1991 (Republic Act No. 7160). The code instituted decentralization that seeks to make local governments (provincial, municipal, city and barangay structures) more responsive to addressing the development challenges and needs of local populations by delegating them more powers, responsibilities, and resources.
As part of the Philippines’ democratization project, the code has positively reduced heavy reliance on the national government as the decentralization of defined fiscal, executive, and legislative powers have been vested to local governments. LGUs, especially the rural barangays, remain dependent on the annual internal revenue allocation (IRA) as their main income source.
Accompanying circulars from government departments, resolutions from provincial and municipal legislators, and coordination with governors, mayors, and their deputies have had varying effects on barangay governance.
The ability, decisiveness, and the kinds of relationships barangay leaders fostered with their people and other structures of the government cannot be comparable. How they vary on effectiveness and impacts rests on who you talk to. However, people who are exposed to leadership in the past and in recent memory, to other local governments and to international standards for public finance (transparency and accountability in budgeting and expenditure, revenue collection and management) and handling of development projects can certainly spot leadership differences.
Equally worth noting in this period was the assumption of higher elective posts by people from Katiku. Started earlier by Leoncio Diaz (mayor from 1986-1989), Sadiri Diaz (vice mayor from 1980-1983) and Exequel Enggaran (SK provincial board member, 1980), the following successfully won their electoral bids: Catalino Narciso (PQ vice mayor, 1989; mayor, 1992), Emilio Salamanca (PQ mayor, 2010), Froilan Rufino (PQ vice mayor, 2004, 2009), Benigno Garcia (SK provincial board member, 2004, 2007, 2010).
Apparently, a budding pool of talents, strategists and voices from Katiku were weighing in the provincial and municipal government decisions to improve subnational governance and spur socio-economic growth. It remains to be seen how this ascent to higher leadership can be sustained by the next generation and to what extent this helps reduce rural poverty and economic inequality.
Professionals, entrepreneurs and skilled workers as products of farming and resilience
With the emergence of new leaders comes a growing pool of professionals, skilled workers and micro to small entrepreneurs. While scores of the Baby Boomers (born 1946-1946) in Katiku started this unorganized force, the Generation X (born 1965-1980) and Millennials (born 1981-1996) now make up the biggest contributors to vocational and college degree holders in roughly between 1,000-2,000.[1] The post-Millennials (born 1997-present) will soon join the bandwagon.
Whatever group they identify themselves with, many people view the new economic actors as a result of investments that elders, parents and relatives have made on education. It is a testimony that finishing higher education and getting a job remain the top aspirations of parents and their children.
Katiku produced an array of teachers, nurses, midwives, police officers, military personnel and officials (colonel and general), seamen, stewardess, engineers, bank employees, priests, architects, agriculturists, accountants, social workers, tax professionals, business process outsourcing (BPO) specialists, commodity traders, and financial planners.
Over the past three or more decades, this still rural barangay gave birth to the graduates of medicine, law, nursing, social sciences, philosophy, computer science, economics, commerce, elementary and secondary education, and criminology.
With schooling options and different financial means, the largest barrio in President Quirino also produced equally important skilled workers specializing in electrical and automotive works. With short vocational courses and relevant TESDA offerings, more people have applied their skills in blacksmithing, volcanology, cosmetology, carpentry, physical therapy, baking and other income-generating jobs.
Rising from the ranks, some occupied various leadership positions in their own field. Others became managers, including but not limited to their ownership of: retail stores, bakery, pharmacy, spa, restaurants and carinderia, rice and copra trading, livestock raising, and oil palm plantations.
Professionals found their way in the job market, whether in the government, private sector and other institutions. Many settled in and out of the province. Others braved their way in Metro Manila, in job opportunities in Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao while others tried their employment prospects overseas. Their settlement decision is informed not only by job opportunities in given places but also by the support system they can tap, competencies, passion, dedication, and family priorities.
The practical implications of these new economic players are plenty. For many, jobs, entrepreneurship, and remittances from overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) become their primary sources of income. For others, they are supplemental to overall family budget. For many families, reliance to farming has significantly reduced. Their consumer buying capacity allows them to buy vehicles or household appliances. It also allows some, not all, to save and invest in real properties including land, residential and commercial buildings; send children or relatives to schools in Tacurong, Koronadal, General Santos, Davao, Cebu, and Manila; buy insurance, stocks and mutual funds; invest in business franchises; and revolve funds in market-based lending scheme. Common observations point to the increased purchasing capacity of rural households with one or two professional members.
The rising family income is still recent for many, which means they are just beginning to set aside part of their income. Saving and investing are still secondary for many as their urgent priorities are more on paying off debts, settling loans from the bank and informal financiers, clearing overdue taxes and other fees, purchasing desired electronic gadgets or addressing whims.
This analysis stresses a point that contributions from new economic actors do not represent the entire financial well-being of the barrio. The economic vulnerabilities, especially the landless tenants, seasonal farm workers, and small planters remain high. It does not easily translate to a significant reduction in poverty and economic inequality. This is a shared observation, but the hypothesis warrants deeper investigation.
Changing cropping pattern and its unintended consequences
Despite the increased contribution from professionals and OFWs, majority of families remains engaged in farming, rice farming to be exact. That rice is a staple food is stating the obvious. A good number of households make a living from cultivating and harvesting palay while others engage in paid labor, albeit seasonal, in palay production. For others with large landholdings and lease arrangements in and out of Katiku, land use is oriented to rice crop, which they treat as a serious business.
In the past three decades, producing rice, whether for consumption or for the market, has taken a different pattern, or change that seems inevitable. The altered cropping pattern and financing have their upside and downside.
New machines. The use of farm tractor with rotavator is increasingly replacing plowing with carabao as it offers efficiency and lower cost in land preparation. Meanwhile, the mechanical harvester has become a preferred option for many as opposed to contracting workers to do the manual harvesting and threshing as this new technology offers the same efficiency and lower cost. Harvesting and packing are now done simultaneously in less than two hours per hectare.
For farm owners, that dramatically cuts costs and time. For private operators, that’s fast money as they offer more convenient choice. They’re the winners. However, these machines took over the traditional chores often reserved to seasonal workers. Now in danger of being displaced by technology, rice farm laborers stand as the clear losers.
Rainfed paddies limit rice cropping to one a year. Two if shallow tube wells are used. High palay production costs change land use options for farmers including leasing or converting farms to oil palm plantation.
Irrigation or the lack of it. The National Irrigation Authority (NIA) canal and drainage networks do no reach farmlands in Katiku. The service area of such water infrastructure stops at Romualdez, the northern border of the barangay. This has been a missed economic opportunity for the lack of it means decades of decreased agricultural productivity, farmers’ income, and employment generation. Farmers could have benefited by having 2-3 crops a year.
Rainfed paddies often limit farmers to one cropping a year. It’s twice if they have access to or own shallow tube wells (STW). What complicates a rainfed rice farming is the irregular weather pattern where occurrences of prolonged drought, smaller precipitation, and shorter rainfall period have been observed.
This changing climate significantly affects the cost of production. Higher cost results from the decision they must make for each phase of cultivation: from land preparation, through crop establishment (buying seeds, direct seeding or transplanting), water use and management (including frequency of pump irrigation), nutrient management (application of expensive synthetic fertilizers), crop health (hand weeding, herbicide or pesticide application) to harvest. Pest management also poses threats to grain yield when the onslaught of black bugs, for example, is high.[2]
In many instances, the increasing production cost is not matched by fluctuating market price. The trading price of palay is low, making net income nearly paltry.
Unintended consequences. Although a more systematic study is needed, anecdotal evidence suggests the following:
The increasing production costs that are not matched by trading prices, the lack of irrigation services and the shortage of finance can make rice farming less attractive.
High costs and other pressures can lead to tough options for farmers. These options could mean incurring new debts; entering into a lease agreement with bigger landowners or those with bigger liquidity, or eventually selling land ownership rights.
Like other reports that Philippine farmers are getting much older, the same observation can be made of Katiku. The young generation is less interested in farming compared to decades ago.
Some children who inherited small-sized to vast landholdings (some are subdivided among siblings) prefer to live in urban areas or cities away from Katiku. They can be referred to as absentee landlords. With distance and other considerations (eg. delinquent loans or property tax payments), they sometimes resort to leasing or selling lands.
Under such conditions, a few big landowners with stable cash flows seem ready to engage in leasehold or sale contracts. They have their own workers and machinery to mobilize for production.
Other mid-sized (3-8 hectares) landowners and high-earning professionals and OFWs who purchased tracts of rice and even corn farms in and out of Katiku converted their lots into high-value crops, most notably oil palm plantations. Market price also fluctuates but oil palm produce has guaranteed traders. Growers, big and small, can deliver their harvest directly to processing plants like Kenram.
For farm workers who compete with new machinery, some secured contractual work in the newly opened pineapple plantations owned by Dole Philippines. Others look for jobs elsewhere while some simply rely on the remittances from their working children.
[1] Estimate is based solely on the 3,500 graduates of Notre Dame of Katiku (NDK) as of 2018, where at least 50% of their products reside or hail from Katiku. This does not include hundreds of students who finished secondary education in the Kalanawi public high school and in Tacurong City. There are no statistics on the rate of NDK and other high school graduates who went to and finished, college and vocational courses.
[2] Until recently, rodents were a major problem, especially during the fourth quarter of the year when harvest and dry seasons begin. Some people, however, note the difference then and now as several families have been used to including rodent meat in their gastronomy. Organized hunting was commonplace, leading some to think it drastically reduced the rat population. This and other control measures made rat attack easy to manage.
2018-PRESENT: SETTING LONG-TERM DEVELOPMENT STRATEGIES
There are plenty of observations to make, especially to people exposed to various developments and chapters in the history of Katiku. Individuals who can identify with the years of Baby Boomers and post-Millennials can also make informed comparisons.
One key observation is that the year 2018 marks the 100th year of Katiku, which started as a remote and unlikely resettlement site in Buluan. It has since become home to Ilocano diaspora who began with their dynamic interaction with Muslim communities.
Across the 100 years of Katiku are the adaptations and responses people made to the immediate and broader forces. The spirit of resilience and hope will continue to figure in decisions individuals, families, groups and leaders will make. Challenges to development, authorities, and policies, will manifest but opportunities will also be explored, and strengths mobilized.
With the onset of a new barangay council that is embarking on a new 5-year development plan, they will face constraints and opportunities along the way. However, the lessons from Katiku’s 100 years of political and economic affairs, the recent socio-economic data that they have at their disposal and the broader support system they can tap can help them make informed decisions to get to desired development results.
Concluding notes
The six periods of barangay history underscore five lessons.
One, resilience runs through the community. The political and economic forces impact peoples’ livelihoods and relations in different ways, but their adaptation strategies evolve to realize their own notions of development. They find solutions. Part of their resilience is their support system (family, religion, and wide web of social networks, and others) and unwavering hope for improved well-being.
Two, peace is essential to rural stability and progress. The turbulent moments that disrupted the community highlight that peace and order is both a process and an aspiration by the community and its neighbors. Peacebuilding figures prominently in the struggle of Muslims and Christians for social justice, decent lives and livelihoods. Peace facilitates and can sustain the interdependence of local economies. As such, there’s no better substitute to inter-community diplomacy, which has always involved mutual understanding and constructive engagements.
Three, local leadership cannot escape the imperative for good governance. People demand it. An open and accountable government becomes more critical than ever. Elected officials have much to learn from past governance and other settings. With considerable powers, responsibilities, and resources, they need to shape up and step up their performance as public expectations for transparent, responsive and competent public management are growing. They can benefit from good standards, regulations and best practices that are worth replicating.
Four, a multi-stakeholder platform not only helps local government in check but also to be effective. Desired development results can be realized if the barangay leadership engages productively with non-state actors (NGOs, professionals, citizen groups, religious groups, educational institutions, the media, youth) and the growing number of micro and small entrepreneurs. Local leadership is well-placed to tap the expertise and mobilize appropriate resources from these political and economic actors to advance development goals. Thus, the council must ensure the BDC and other spaces for collaboration and dialogue are functioning.
Finally, the development strategy the barangay government is pursuing can make positive, lasting impacts on the community and its neighbors. How the barangay leadership and the people interact in rolling out the development pathway will be the subject of the analysis when this historical account will be updated.
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* Born and raised in Katiku, the writer is a practitioner of anthropology and comparative sociology. Jelson Garcia went to Australia’s Macquarie University and Notre Dame of Marbel University for undergraduate courses and the University of the Philippines-Diliman for graduate studies. Among his published articles are on the political economy of sugarcane, rice and other crops in Negros, Cavite, and Surigao del Sur; civil society and development finance in Southeast Asia; and the hydropower players in the Mekong region. He co-authors the upcoming diagnostic report on the mining governance of the Bangsamoro region. He served at the Office of the Philippine President (1997-1999) and was previously the director of the Asia program of DC-based Bank Information Center (200-2015) and Asia Pacific director of a US think tank, Natural Resource Governance Institute (2015-2018).