Bukidnon
Bukidnon, officially the Province of Bukidnon, is a landlocked province in the Philippines located in the Northern Mindanao region. Its capital is the city of Malaybalay while Valencia is the largest city. The province borders, clockwise from the north, Misamis Oriental, Agusan del Sur, Davao del Norte, Cotabato, Lanao del Sur, and Lanao del Norte. According to the 2020 census, the province is inhabited by 1,541,308 residents.
The province is composed of 2 component cities and 20 municipalities. It is the third largest province in the country in terms of total area of jurisdiction behind Palawan and Isabela respectively.
The name "Bukidnon" means "highlander" or "mountain dweller." Occupying a wide plateau in the north central part of the island of Mindanao, the province is considered to be the food basket of the region, being the major producer of rice and corn. Products from plantations in the province also include pineapples, bananas and sugarcane.
Situated within Bukidnon is Mount Dulang-dulang, the 2nd highest mountain in the country, with an elevation of located in the Kitanglad Mountain Range. Mount Kitanglad, Mount Kalatungan, Mount Maagnaw, Mount Lumuluyaw, and Mount Tuminungan, the 4th, 5th, 8th, 17th, and 30th highest mountains in the country respectively, are also found in the province.
Bukidnon was consecutively ranked 5th in the list of richest provinces in the Philippines for four straight years according to the Commission on Audit's 2018, 2019, 2020, and 2021 Annual Financial Reports which were posted in 2019, early to late 2021, and 2022, respectively.
History
Early history
According to oral history of the Indigenous people of Bukidnon, there were four main tribes in Central Mindanao: the Maranaos who dwell in Lanao del Sur, and the Maguindanao, Manobo and Talaandig tribes who respectively inhabit the eastern, southern, and north-central portions of the original province of Cotabato. When the civil government divided central Mindanao into provinces at the turn of the 20th century, the groups included in the province of Bukidnon are the Talaandig and the Manobo, as well as other smaller Lumad tribes. The Visayans, particularly the Cebuanos and the Hiligaynons from the Northern Mindanao coastline and the southern Visayas, migrated into the province. The Visayans are still referred to by the Lumad as the dumagat to distinguish them from the original mountain tribes. This was followed by various groups from Luzon, namely, the Ilocanos, the Igorots and the Ivatans, many of whom were merchants and wealthy entrepreneurs. All contributed massive acculturation among the Indigenous tribes. Most of those who moved to the mountains and forest continued to hold on their ancestors' cultural heritage. The wide variety of Filipino groups now thrives in the province and contributed immensely in the socioeconomic development.Spanish colonial era
Bukidnon became a part of Misamis in the latter part of 1850. The whole area was then called "Malaybalay" and the people were known as Bukidnons.American colonial era
The Philippine Commission, then headed by Commissioner Dean C. Worcester, Secretary of Interior, proposed the separation of Bukidnon from Misamis Province. On August 20, 1907, Act No. 1693 created the province of Agusan with Bukidnon as its sub-province. About a month later, on September 23, the rancheria of Malaybalay was designated as the sub-province's capital. Bukidnon became a regular province on March 10, 1917, by virtue of the creation of the Department of Mindanao and Sulu under Act 2711.Japanese occupation
In 1942, invading Japanese troops entered Bukidnon. Mount Capistrano was a civilian evacuation area in the World War II. In 1945, the province was liberated from Japanese occupation by Filipino and American troops with the aid of Bukidnon-based Filipino guerrillas during the Second World War.During the Marcos dictatorship
The 21-year administration of Ferdinand Marcos, which included 14 years of one-man rule under Marcos, saw the rise of ethnic conflicts and the overall degradation of peace and order in Bukidnon and throughout Mindanao - first in the form of conflicts between local Mindanaoan Muslims and Christian settlers which the Marcos administration had encouraged first to migrate and then to form militias, and later in the form of Muslim secessionist movements arising from outrage after the 1986 Jabidah massacre. Additionally, an economic crisis in late 1969 led to social unrest throughout the country, and violent crackdowns on protests led to the radicalization of many students, with some joining the New People's Army, bringing the Communist rebellion to Mindanao. In September 1972, Marcos was nearing the end of this last term allowed under the Philippines 1935 constitution when he placed the entirety of the Philippines under Martial Law, a period historically remembered for its human rights abuses, particularly targeting political opponents, student activists, journalists, religious workers, farmers, and others who fought against the Marcos dictatorship.Describing the specific sociopolitical situation in Bukindnon, the Philippines' Bantayog ng mga Bayani memorial notes:
Bukidnon was a land of great social divisions. Politics was rough, and bullets counted more than ballots. Peasants were oppressed by landlords, usurers and middlemen, and power was in the hands of a few. Conflicts simmered between the indigenous tribes, the settlers from the Visayas, and the ranchers and loggers who extracted the area’s rich natural resources.
Clergy in the Roman Catholic church were among the most prominent voices opposing the Marcos dictatorship in Bukidnon, most notably Bishop Francisco Claver, who was Bishop of Malaybalay from 1969 to 1984, and Fr. Godofredo Alingal, S.J. of Kibawe, Bukidnon, who was assassinated in the Kibawe convent on April 13, 1981 after receiving numerous threats due to his advocacy for Bukidnon's poor.
Deforestation during the Marcos era
The Marcos era was a time of significant deforestation in Bukidnon and throughout the Philippines, with the forest cover of the Philippines shrinking until only 8% remained. In Bukidnon, one of the major companies given Timber License Agreements to cut down trees during Martial Law was the Agricultural and Management Engineering Company owned by Juan Ponce Enrile. Enrile was the government official Ferdinand Marcos put in place to approve Timber License Agreements during Martial Law.Later 20th Century
On March 22, 1998, President Fidel Ramos signed the act that converted Malaybalay to a city, making it the first component city of Bukidnon.Geography
Bukidnon is a landlocked plateau in North Central Mindanao. It is bounded on the north by Misamis Oriental and Cagayan de Oro; on the south by Cotabato and Davao City; on the east by Agusan del Sur and Davao del Norte; and west by Lanao del Sur. It lies between parallels 7°25' and 8°38' north latitude and meridians 124°03' and 125°16' east longitude. Malaybalay, the capital town, is about by air from Manila and by road from Cagayan de Oro.It has two important landmarks, Mount Kitanglad and Pulangi River. Mount Kitanglad has a peak of above sea level. Pulangi River, on the other hand, traverses through the northeastern and southern part of the province towards the Rio Grande de Mindanao.
Land area
The province's total land area is,10,498.59 making it the largest in Mindanao in terms of land area. It accounts for 59 percent of Northern Mindanao. Thirty-eight percent is classified as alienable and disposable. The rest is timberland forest.It also accounts for 80 percent or 34 million metric tons of the region's nonmetallic mineral deposits, which include high grade white and red clay, gold, chromite, copper, serpentine, manganese, quartz and limestone deposits can also be found in the province.
Topography
Much of Bukidnon is an extensive plateau, but the southern and eastern boundaries are mountainous. The province's average elevation is above sea level. The slope gradient peaks at of Mount Kitanglad, an extinct volcano occupying the central portion. Two other mountain bodies are found in its southern portion, Mount Kalatungan and Mount Tangkulan, which rise to and, respectively. The rest of the province is composed of nearly level terraces, alluvial plains, canyons and gorges. The volcanic terraces and volcanic foot slopes that are ≥500 m above sea level are estimated to be about.Gently rolling grassland plateau are cut by deep and wide canyons of the Cagayan, Pulangi, and Tagoloan rivers and their tributaries, which cover a greater part of the province. The Bukidnon plateau is mainly of volcanic zone consisting of pyroclastic, basaltic and andesitic cones.
File:View of Musuan, Bukidnon, Philippines from Musuan Peak summit.jpg|thumb|View from Musuan Peak of the Maapag Plain of central Bukidnon. The foothills of the Kalatungan Mountain Range is visible on the upper right.
The whole eastern and southern border adjoining the provinces of Agusan, Davao del Norte, and Cotabato are covered by lofty and densely forested Pantaron Mountain Range, also known as the Central Cordillera. The Central Cordillera is a mountain range of sedimentary, metamorphic and igneous rocks. About 49% of the land resource of the province is of rugged hills and mountains and 33% of undulating to rolling terrain.
At Mailag, south of Malaybalay, the plateau begins to descend and gradually merges into the lowlands of Cotabato province.
Climate
Two types of climate are roughly divided by the northern and southern areas of Bukidnon. The northern part is classified as belonging to Type III, that is, there is no pronounced rain period but relatively dry during the months of November to May. In the southern portion of the province, the climate is classified as Type IV with no dry season. The driest area is Baungon, while the wettest is the Calabugao plain. The climate is relatively cool and humid throughout the year.The average annual rainfall is. Just like in other parts of the country, rainfall is more pronounced from June to October compared to other months of the year. February to April are the drier months.
Temperature ranges vary with elevation. In areas lower than above sea level, the recorded temperature range is between. Areas with elevations greater than above sea level would have temperatures ranging from.
Relative humidity also varies with elevation, with those above 500 m having relative humidity of about 80%, while areas lying below, 65-7 percent. Thus, the Malaybalay-Impasugong area and those around the volcanic cones approximate semi-temperate conditions and can support the cultivation of highland tropical crops.
Based on the records of climatological stations within and near the province, lithology and land form, three agro-ecological zones are identified. One covers the mountainous eastern side, which is generally wet, with rainfall of about per annum. Another covers the high altitude volcanic plains, the Malaybalay-Impasug-ong area, and the foot slopes of Mount Kitanglad, and Mount Kalatungan. These areas have an annual rainfall in the range of. The third zone covers the south-central and the north-western parts of the province, with elevations of less than 500 meters, relatively dry with mean annual rainfall in the range of.