1. History
As told by older folks, Barangay Tuga was earlier known as Doncao and was first inhabited by the Kulminga Sub-tribe, believed to be member of the Gamonangs, original inhabitant of the Laya Plains, East of the Chico River.
The Kalinga natives were by nature a warlike people whom the Spanish missionaries tried to Christenize in the early 17th century. The first missionary expedition to this area took place in 1647 came from Nueva Segovia and held their first mass in Doncao, now known as Barangay Tuga. The second missionary expedition found its way eastward across the Chico River and established their mission in Bulanao, exactly where the Pastoral Center stand today.
Due to their warlike nature and character the Kalinga natives in the area were almost wiped out by tribal wars, including the number one killer disease, malaria, only a few survived under Tribal Chieftain Alip of the Gobgob Sub-Tribe.
In the early part of the 19th century, under the American regime, the Provincial leadership of the old Mountain Province saw the economic potentials of the abandoned Laya Plains in Tabuk. Nicasio Balinag, Sr., who appointed as Deputy Provincial Governor of the colonies visited the place and started campaigning for volunteer settlers from Bontoc, Mountain Province and Cervantes, Ilocos Sur.
In 1926, some men from Cervantes who came to see the place for themselves saw it to be a “Land of Promise”. However, it took them two years to organize a group of 15 families from Cervantes, Ilocos Sur to come as the pioneer settlers. Early in January 1928, the group in their Cervantes home bullcarts has drawn by cows, passing by Bontoc, Mt. Province, then Lubuagan, moving slowly Northeastward to their destination Tabuk. They were met in Gobgob by the friendly Gobgob Sub-tribe under Tribal Chieftain Alip, who accompanied them farther Northward to Dongca. The place where they chose to put their temporary dwellings was the exact place where the first Spanish Friar Missionaries said the first Religious Mass in 1647.
The early settlers were under the supervision of Settlements Superintendent Caparas. Their health was taken cared of by male nurse, Vicente Buslig, Sr., from the Baguio General Hospital. They were allocated parcel of land West of the Chico River which they where asked to clear and cultivate before the area was surveyed and sub-divided by the Bureau of Land. They work on the land on weekdays and allowed to go hunting or fishing on Sundays and holidays.
Such was Barangay Tuga settled and developed into what she is today.
II. Land Area – 6 sq. kms.
III. No. of sitios /puroks – 6 puroks/ 3 sitios
IV. Population (2007 NSO census) – 1,735
V. Major Products – Rice, banana, & vegetables
