By Danilo P. Padua, PhD
Bulanao and Dagupan are the two best known places of Tabuk city to outsiders. Both are actually divided into two barangays.
Bulanao is where the capitol building of Kalinga is. It also hosts the main campus of the Kalinga State University, and the public market of the city. For its part, Dagupan hosts among others, the City hall and the Tabuk National High School.
Before the two places became prominent in the municipality/city of Tabuk, one barangay actually was the seat of government, the seat of power starting in the 1920’s. It is located right beside the mighty Chico river.
The name: Naneng. It is not yet so well-known among most of us here in the Cordillera region. It is becoming very popular though to outsiders, including foreign tourists.
Why? Naneng is a declared Heritage Village. That means, it is a place with historical significance
It is believed to be the first “modern settlement” in Kalinga.
Me and my wife came to know this place only last week when we were in Tabuk, thanks to Solomon Lao-aten and Florida “Wayen” Lao-aten- both Professors at the Kalinga State University. They drove us to a hill overlooking much of the scenic Tabuk valley where the Chico river is visibly snaking through. It is frequented by tourists, including riders. There, at sunset, we were shown where Naneng is situated – about 15-20 min away by car.
It was not the best time of day to visit the Naneng for a first timer, but we proceeded nonetheless. Along the way, we met bunches and bunches of riders emerging from their visit to the Heritage village. This heightened my curiosity of the place.
One kilometer or so from the Village center, we stopped by to get a glimpse and souvenir photos, of one of the interesting places there: the rice terraces. They are the scaled down version and therefore not as impressive as those of Battad and Banaue terraces in Ifugao or those in Maligcong, Mt. Province. They are an attraction just the same mainly because they are hardly expected to be found there.
A welcoming dusk greeted us when we arrived at the place. Houses were still very visible though. The sight of the houses, with elevated posts, neatly arranged on both sides of the road is already something to behold. We were told they were originally made of narra and yambao wood.
Past the houses, we got down in front of a sturdy-looking, almost a century-old St. Joseph chapel of the Catholics. We were met by Joanie Dangiwan, a 5-year job order employee of the Tabuk city tourism office. She, together with the Lao-aten couple, provided a lot of info about the Heritage village.
St. Joseph was the first Catholic chapel in Kalinga built in 1927 by Belgian priests. It has a well-preserved and functional sanctuary brought from Belgium, and is as old as the edifice itself. There are other artifacts that came along with the sanctuary; they are now in the Pastoral at Bulanao for safekeeping purposes. They are to be part of a museum that is planned to be established soon.
Two of the earliest Belgium priests are buried right within the premises of the chapel as they desired. That’s how they loved the Tabuk community, and specifically that of Naneng as the original población of the municipality.
Naneng is the birthplace of Juan Duyan, the first congressman of Kalinga-Apayao; also its first governor. Duyan, authored the law (R.A. 4965) that allowed the upgrading of all 4 sub-provinces of the old Mountain Province established by Americans in 1908 into full, independent provinces. He was then a sitting congressman of the first district of that province.
The Village is offering Home-stays for visitors at an average cost of only PhP150.00/person/night. They can cook or the owner/somebody can cook for them. There are 14 houses, I think including the house of Cong. Juan Duyan, that are being accredited for this purpose.
As happened, there were more than 100 Israelis who availed of the home-stay during the early days of the Covid 19 pandemic. They were kept safe during their stay.
Now an ordinary barangay, Naneng is the origin of at least 3 designs developed by local weavers of Ginamat (for women) and Baal (for men). These designs were copied by others like in the town of Lubuagan, Kalinga and commercial producers such as those in Quezon, Isabela.
This is one reason why the Lao-aten couple, having original roots in Naneng are so concerned about the plight of the weavers who developed the designs and the weaving products but do not gain anything from their ingenuity. No royalty, for example while others are amassing profits from their original creation. They are thinking of DTI, DOLE or other appropriate agencies to help them get whatever is due them.
There are only 5 of the original weavers, now in their 80’s and 90’s, who are still alive.
The local tourism office is toying with the idea of having a weaving center right in the Village. I hope the plan includes compensating the original creators of the weaves will be in the equation.
For its part, informed that the National Commission for Culture and Arts had already visited the Village, but did not hint of any prospective action to be undertaken soon for the Heritage Village.
Many of the houses are already partly concreted due to termite damage. It’s a pity that they could have been considered as a UNESCO Heritage site but may no longer become as such due to lack of action on the part of local and national officials.**
