1. History
The Spanish colonizers entered the Kalinga region through the Chico River from Tuao, Cagayan. On February 2, 1689, the first mass of the Dominican missionaries was said at the chapel built by intrepid missionaries at Tuga.
From Tuga, the missionaries moved farther upstream to Naneng where they built another chapel. All these missionary outposts were, however, abandoned after all the converts moved downstream t Tuao.
In 1859, the Politico-Military Commandancia of Saltan was established by the Spanish Government at Magaogao but was later abandoned. Governor Valeriano Weyler however, decided to reactivate the Command and it was renamed Itaves. This time, the capital of the Commandancia was established at Bulanao and its first commander was Lt. Natalio O’Denna. In March 1890, O’Denna died of Malaria and Bulanao was renamed O’Denna in his honor. In O’Denna’s memory also, a chapel was built at Bulanao in a plateau above the present Pastoral Center by Dominican Priest Fr. Ramon Zubieta. It was blessed on Mach 23, 1898.
Spanish occupation of Bulanao ended with the outbreak of the Philippine Revolution. During this period, Agunaldo passed by the Tabuk valley at Magaogao on his flight to Palanan from Lubuagan where he established his headquarters for 72 days-March 6, 1900 to May 17, 1900.
Development of Bulanao started during the early days of the American occupation. The Philippine Commission, through the recommendation of a team of social scientists who explored the Cordillera Central mountain range for six months from June to December 1902, created the Mountain Province under Act No. 1876 on august 18, 1908.
This Act divided the Central Cordillera mountain domain into seven subprovinces delineated along ethnolinguistic grouping, namely, Amburayan, Apayao, Benguet, Bontoc, Ifugao, Kainga and Lepanto.
As early as 1906, Tabuk was envisioned as the Capital of the subprovince of Kalinga. To put into effect the plan, Lt. Governor Walter Hale of the subprovinces of Amburayan was appointed Lt. Governor of Kalinga in 1908. Hale immediately left for his assignment from Tagudin, Ilocos Sur, traveled to Aparri and to Tuguegarao from where he jumped off for Tabuk.
For some weeks, Hale and his party stayed in Tabuk only to find out that the malaria-infested valley was not fit for their health after the party contracted malaria. Hale decided to move up to Lubuagan where he established the subprovincial capital of Kalinga.
Kalinga as a subprovince was created on February 4, 1920. The development brought in fresh efforts in transforming the malaria-infested Laya Valley into an agricultural paradise. There were waves of settlers sent by Governor Early to Tabuk but the malaria scourge drove them out. A Constabulary unit tried to stablished their headquarters at Calanan but they, too, were driven out by the malaria scourge.
From 1992-1923, another wave of colonists was sent by Mountain Province Governor John Early. The recruits were from Barrio Samoki, Bontoc. They settled in Bantay. Some of the Bontoc settlers were fatal victims of malaria. However, some survived and settled at Bantay for good.
In 1928, Governor Early appointed Nicasio Balinag as the Deputy Governor of Kalinga. Through his foresight, he sought the recruitment of more settlers who also came from Pangasinan, led by the Buslig family. But all these settlers chose the lower Laya plains and the Gobgob Valley for their settlement. Bulanao was still a no-man’s land.
In 1933, two Ilocano families who explored the Bulanao area found the plateau a potential settlement site. They were Francisco Viloria and Pastor Florendo – both teachers at the Naneng Elementary School. The two Ilocanos from Balaoan, La union applied for a homestead a year later and they staked their fortune in developing their homestead a year amidst the harsh pioneering life threatened daily by the malaria scourge.
V iloria and Forendo were later joined by Lauro Arizala from San Antonio, Zambales in 1935. Arizala, a graduate of the Siliman University, Dumaguete City taught in Kalinga Academy, Lubuagan and later married Soledad Batac. Arizala also applied for a homestead, together with his father-in-law, Fermin Batac, a former Deputy Treasurer of Kalinga.
In 1937, Juan De Jesus and his family and relatives applied for homestead in Bulanao. Soon another family of Ilocano and Pangasinan settlers like the cacatian and Ganotice families were added to the growing number of pioneer setters.
The opening of the Calanan-Enrile road linking Bontoc, Mt. Province to Tuguegarao, Cagayan in 1937-1938 opened the floodgates of settlers and immigrants into a sleepy Bulanao community. Some landowners, however, chose to reside in the Laya Valley where drinking water was safe and malaria was not as deadly as in Bulanao. Gradually, Bulanao was growing in population with some government workers of the Bureau of Pubic Works establishing their residence among the wild talahib wilderness.
In 1939, the Bureau of Lands started its massive survey of the Laya Valley. All public lands in the valley were subdivided into homesteads. Aside from the Agricultural lands, government reservations were also surveyed and subdivided into homesteads.
The survey also occasioned the zonification of the Laya Valley. The subdivision plan included the laying out of the Dagupan and Bulanao residential zones and governments centers. The town plan of Tabuk was patterned after one American City zonification scheme, the major feature having a sixty-meter main road.
Reservation for a government center, Park, plant nursery, school and church buildings, public market among others were laid out in Town Plan. Dagupan and Bulanao had a checkboard plan with wide streets and spacious residential lots. Obviously, Tabuk’s townsite plan was that of a city.
In that townsite plan, Bulanao was designed to be the site of a provincial government operations center with its sprawling land reservation and a site of the capitol building where the present provincial capitol stands.
Finally, the transfer of the subprovincial capital to Tabuk gave Bulanao its golden opportunity to be developed into a community for which it was planned- the seat of the provincial government.
After the passage of RA 4695 which fragmented the old Mountain Province into four independent provinces, Tabuk came to the provincial capital of Kalinga- Apayao province. The provincial capitol was first located in Poblacion, Tabuk (Dagupan) and later to Bulanao where it was housed temporarily at the Bulanao Central School. The permanent provincial capitol building construction started during the term of Governor Tanding B. Odiem. It was pursued under the administration of Governor Amado B. Almazan and completed for occupancy by the administration of Governor Lawrence B. Wacnang.
II. Land Area – 75.37 sq. km.
III. No. of sitios/puroks – 5 Puroks
IV. Population (2007 NSO census) – 15,199
V. Major Products – Rice, fruits & vegetables
