HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
Tabuk was once called the “Valley of Gamonangs”, the Kalinga tribe who had dominated Northern Kalinga some centuries ago, as written by one of the early Spanish Missionaries. They inhabited the vast valleys and thickly forested plains between the Chico and Cagayan Rivers and their legendary feats of as warriors are chanted in the Kalinga Ullalim. As per historical accounts they repulsed every effort of the Spaniards to lay their claims in the alley. Kalinga partly owes the legacy to them that it was never subjugated by any foreign domination.
With the passage of time the Gammonangs were eventually pushed back and they moved to higher ground. The harshness of mountain living further marginalized them and their descendants are believed to be along the South-Eastern hills bordering the provinces of Isabela and MT. provinces, Since then the area become awilderness valley that became abode to wild game such as deer, hogs, horses, and other animal species that are now extinct in the alley .
Shortly after the First Wordl War Governor Walter Hale popularly known as Sapao sent volunteer settlers from Tobog and Lubuagan.The original Lubuagan settlers did not make it due to malaria and the tobog settlers led by Gullit father of Kapitan Baac Gullit and grandfather of Arsenio Baac started inhabiting the plains of Laya and were later on joined by other tobog settlers.
Repopulation of the place began sometime shortly before the First World War. Then Lieutenant Governor Walter F. Hale sent six volunteer pioneers to re-inhabit the place. Three of these settlers came from sitio Tobog while three others were selected from Lubuagan who failed after suffering from malaria. That left only the settlers from Tobog wo started tilling the soil at Laya under the leadership of Gullit, father of the late Captain Baac Gullit and grandfather of Arsenio Baac. Their relatives from tobog later joined these first settlers.
Between 1922 and 1923, the second of settlers came from Bontoc, during the time of John C. Early, well known provincial Governor and Division Superintendent of Schools of the old mountain Province. Twenty-five homesteaders recruited from Samuki, Bontoc decided to settle and formed the Bontoc colony at aplace now as Barangay Bantay. They suffered malaria but they held on and the place became a thriving Bontoc Village.
With an effort to push forward the colonization of the area, despite the appalling mortality of the Bontoc colony, the provincial government at Bontoc tried another colony at Tuga. Volunteers from Cervantes, Ilocos sur were brought in. they were supplied with the necessary farm tools including mosquito nets and kitchen utensils. A certain Allo Caparas, a graduate of the Constabulary Academy of Baguio, now Philippine Military Academy was assigned to manage the colony. A nurse graduate from the Baguio Hospital, Vicente Buslig from Apayao was sent to look after the health of these settlers.
Inspired by their success in the settlement at Tuga, The Cervantes settlers crossed the Chico River eastward, right into the heart of the fertile valley. Fructoso Gallema and Inocencio Candelaria headed the group. They found a living spring with fresh potable water. They settled near this spring and were later joined by settlers from Sigay, Ilocos Sur, led by Leon Bangisan and Pedro Balacang.
Thereafter, other pioneers came in headed by Francisco Viloria who settled in Bulanao. Dionisio Falgui brought in a group of Ilocanos from La Union and settled in Appas, who was followed by Lauro Arizala from Zambales. Abraham Omao from Lubuagan chose to settle in Bulanao. Their harvests were abundant; the hills offered them plenty of venison and pork from the wild hogs. The creeks were full of fishes, crabs and lobsters. However, there were no roads and no markets for these products. Malaria casualties depleted their number, but the pioneers held on.
The dawn of the new era for Tabuk was more than assured with the coming of the Bureau of Lands Survey Party No. 3-A in the early 1930’s. The party scanned the sprawling valley and found Tabuk to contain a series of plains from Laya to Balong on the frist valley, Ipil and Bulanao on the eastern plateau. Further eastward across the hills, they saw another rich valley now known as Liwan or Babalag, Rizal. Then southward, there was another plateau of Callagdao and Southwest of Agbannwag. The execution of the government subdivision of Tabuk plains had accelerated the development of Tabuk. Today, the names of the dedicated surveyors, Mr. Edralin, Mr. Ela, and Mr. Antonio Pizarro are always well remembered by the settlers who came in waves after waves to establish their homes in this great valley.
The name of Tabuk evolved from the word “TOBOG”, the name of a living stream with cool and fresh water flowing from Sitio Paligatto in Barangay Balawag down to the Chico River. The areas traversed by this stream were also called TOBOG.
Tabuk came by mistaking letter G for C (Tobog to Toboc) and letter A for letter O, thus Taboc. Then finally in later years, they preferred the spelling from the letters OC to letters UK to form the present T A B U K.
Tabuk is now a fifth class city with an income of P110, 414,133.00 in 2007. It is prominently considered as the rice granary of the Cordillera due mainly of agriculture getting the largest area from the pie of which the bulk of production is on rice where it supplies other places. The municipality has also produced outstanding farmers at the national level for the last two decades.
The city is also the site of the proposed Regional Agro-Industrial Center which aims to further develop the city and make it the agro-industrial center of the region. The city is likewise working to become the only component city of the Cordillera in the near future.
