Humble Beginnings

Bansalan has its humble beginnings.  Once a barrio of Sta. Cruz and later of Digos of the then undivided Province of Davao, it included in its territorial claim the areas now occupied by the towns of Matanao and Magsaysay.

Lush tropical rain forests used to cover the entire area so that the nomadic Bagobos, the marauding aboriginal tribe, had to hack their way through the seemingly impenetrable growth of trees, vines, and dense vegetation, which had virtually become their vase hunting grounds.

Once a primeval picture of tranquility, Bansalan cradled in its bosom rugged hills and verdant field demarcated by gushing rivers, some of which found their tributaries from waterfalls cascading down deep ravines or from crystal-clear lakes that mirrored the skies against the noon-day sun.

Such nature’s picturesque features that still exist to this day but somewhat spoiled by the passage of time and the harshness of foreign elements.

The First Movers In Bansalan

Datu Mandu, the adventurous tribal chieftain whose fabled exploits were the first to have been recorded in local historical data established along the banks of the Miral River, a village that grew rapidly during his time.

His successor, Datu Tumunas, relocated the settlement of his people to the nearby carambulig, which means a wide patch of cogonal meadows, where cultivation of plants and domestication of animals were started.

Did You Know That The Original Name Of Bansalan Was Dansalan?

It was Datu Tumunas who named the place Dansalan, after a valiant Datu Dansalan who ruled the tribe some decades past and whose valor and chivalry were legends that came to be passed by word-of-mouth through generation.

It is said that wandering Americans, who were part of the team dispatched from Manila to oversee the development of the countryside during the Commonwealth, arrived in the area and asked what the name of the place as to which a native replied, “Dansalan”.

The initial plosive consonant must have been misheard by the Caucasians for they used the term “Bansalan”,  and the name stuck from then on.

Why Do Some People Call Bansalan, Miral?

Bansalan, then a struggling barrio of Sta. Cruz in a once single province of Davao, was actually called Miral in the records, so named after the river that traverses across the town from its volcanic watershed to the plans below.

As more and more people from the different regions of the archipelago were lured to settle on this fertile stretch of land, the population steadily grew that its present culture has become a merry mix-match of the various tribal groups of the Philippine islands.

On July 19, 1949, Miral became a barrio of Digos when the latter was created into a municipality.  Less than three years later, Bansalan also became a municipality.

When Miral Grew From a Struggling Bario To A Municipality.

President Elpidio Quirino, after having a petition of the residents of Miral for the creation of their barrio to a municipality, penned Executive Order No. 506 on June 6, 1952, separating Bansalan from Digos as another independent town.

Matanao and Magsaysay Was Once Part Of Bansalan.

On June 17, 1957, the municipality of Matanao was created out from the territory of Bansalan.  Ten years later, on June 17, 1967, the municipality of Magsaysay was likewise created.  The establishment of these two municipalities substantially reduced Bansalan’s original vastness of area.

The creation of Bansalan as a municipality in 1952 created vacant positions in the municipal government leadership.  Emerging from the stiff competition for the coveted positions in the local government was dashing Apolonio Iligan, a captain of the constabulary who assumed as the first mayor on Septemter 18, 1952.

Apolonio Iligan The First Mayor To Lead Bansalan

The handsome Iligan had barely laid down the foundation for the building of the new municipality when Ramon de los Cientos, Sr. was appointed as mayor on January 27, 1954 by newly elected President Ramon Magsaysay.

But a decision reached by the Court of First Instance, which was readily upheld by the Supreme Court, based on the Quo Warranto case filed by  Iligan against De los Cientos, had declared the replacement illegal, thereby, immediately restoring Iligan to the mayoral post.

The Charismatic De los Cientos

In November 1955,  De los Cientos ran and handily won the election, and from that time on, he began his illustrious political career that saw him climbing up rung after another on the ladder of local government leadership.

His magnetic charisma made him win the elections two times more in 1959 and in 1963, and catapulted him to an appointment as member of the Provincial Board of Davao del Sur in 1966 when Davao was divided into three provinces.

A year later, he was elected governor of Davao del Sur in sweeping victory, entrenching his hold on local politics.

The First Lady Mayor

Vice Mayor Elvira Villamin of the famed Aquino clan of Tarlac, a physician before joining the exciting world of politics, took the mayoral post left by De los Cientos.

She ran and won as the first lady mayor of Bansalan after the hotly contested and thrilling election in 1967.

In 1971, the supremacy of the Nacionalista Party, the country’s oldest political party, took a dip after the infamous Plaza Miranda bombing.

What Happened During Martial Law

In Bansalan, the same thing was happening with the election of Atty. Arturo A. Gallardo and Ernesto A. Mabunga, both of the Liberal Party as mayor and vice mayor, respectively.

The declaration of Martial Law on September 21, 1972 suspended all forms of electoral exercise, thus enabling Gallardo to serve the municipality for an extended term of nine years.

In 1980, when local elections were called as part of the few democratic reforms restored by President Ferdinand Marcos, De los Cientos exacted his political comeback and ran undefeated as mayor of Bansalan for the fourth time.

But like the supernova, De los Cientos’ political dazzle somehow faded when he was dislodged from his position after the world famous 1986 People Revolt that sent President Marcos and his family to exile in the United States and installed President Corazon Aquino at the helm of the national leadership.

The Freedom Constitution at that time had all government officials and employees with obviously Marcosian leanings replaced, and De los Cientos was among those who had to go.

The Grand Old Man

Atty. Ernesto de la Cruz, De los Cientos’ vice mayor, took the reins of the mayoralty after his appointment as officer-in-charge.  De los Cientos, who must have been girding up for the next political battle, was attending a fiesta in the barangays of Bonifacio on September 29, 1986 when, in a stroke of ill fate, death took him as its own in such a macabre manner.

Armed men jostled him away from a frightened crowd of fiesta revelers and took him to an isolated place where several bullets were pumped into his helpless body, their staccato of shots pierced the quiet wilderness nearby.

De los Cientos, who had since been referred to the honorary title “The Grand Old Man of Bansalan’, was deservingly accorded a hero’s burial.

In 1988, more than a year after the new Constitution of the republic was ratified, Gallardo was again elected mayor.  In 1992 and in 1995, he repeated the same electoral triumph which made him ineligible to run for another term.

The Gallardo administration stands at the portals of change,  particularly since it is during his term when the Local Government Code of 1991 was started to be implemented.

The Code has greatly enlarged the powers and responsibilities of local government leaders all over the country, and as elsewhere in the Philippines, it is being used in Bansalan as a tool for the attainment of economic development tempered with social enhancement.

The synchronized May 1998 national and local elections elevated Vice Mayor Peter Melchor J. Arches to the mayoralty position with Dr. Sherlina Manos-Hao as his vice mayor.  In 2001 and in 2004, Mayor Arches completed his 2nd and 3rd term as mayor with Rodolfo M. Cartin as his vice mayor.

New Breed of Politician Emerged

In 2007, a new breed of politician emerged.  Edwin G. Reyes, the first Bansalan born fellow, a businessman by profession, young and dynamic was elected as mayor.

This time, Atty. Arches slid back and took the seat  of the vice mayor.  During the synchronized national and local elections in 2010, Reyes was again given the mandate for his second term as mayor of the municipality with Arnel M. Gallardo as his vice mayor.

In 2013 local elections, Edwin G. Reyes for the third time won the mayoralty post with Arnel G. Gallardo as  vice mayor.

The Second Lady Mayor

In 2016,  Quirina T. Sarte, a second woman  who became a mayor of the town was elected into office  with Edwin G. Reyes as her vice mayor.

Today, Bansalan, stretching on the northwestern zone of the province of Davao del Sur and occupying a total land area of 23,717.9579  hectares after its former barrios of Magsaysay and Matanao had been sliced off to become independent municipalities themselves, is the home of  Bansaleňos who distributively populate the town’s twenty five (25)  barangays.

1.3 Physical Features

1.3.1 Geographical Location

The Municipality of Bansalan is situated in Region XI,  particularly on the northwestern part of the Province of Davao del Sur.  It is bounded on the southwest by the

Municipality of Magsaysay, on the southeast by the Municipality of Matanao, on the north east by the City of Digos, and on the northwest by the Municipality of Makilala, North Cotabato.  Geographically, the municipality lies between 6º10’30” and 6º15’20” north latitude and between 125º20’10” and 125º25’15” longitude.

Map 1.    Region XI showing the Province of Davao del Sur

Map 2.     Map of the Province of Davao del Sur showing the Municipality of Bansalan

1.3.2  Land Area

The municipality covers a total land area of 23,717.9578  hectares or about  12%  of the province’s area of   196,873  hectares .  It is  subdivided into twenty-five (25) barangays, namely: Alegre, Altavista, Anonang, Bitaug, Bonifacio, Buenavista, Darapuay, Dolo, Eman, Kinuskusan, Libertad, Linawan, Maguhay, Magunga, Managa, Marber, New Clarin, Poblacion Uno, Pobalcion Dos, Rizal, Sto. Niῆo, Sibayan, Tinongtongan, Tubod and Union.

The land area of the municipality which totaled to 23,717.9578  hectares was determined after the result of the political boundary survey conducted by the Land Management Services of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources.  Out of this, a total of 5,521.6659 hectares are  contested area,  a  part of Barangay Darapuay involving an area of 4,733.3583 hectares with the neighboring Municipality of   Makilala, North Cotabato  and a part of Barangay Managa concerning  an area of 788.3076 hectares with the adjacent City  of Digos.  The contested areas  are all situated in the forest land.

Of the twenty five (25) barangays, Darapuay has the biggest land area of 6,181.0250 hectares or 26.06% of the  total municipal area, however, 4,733.3583 hectares are contested area between the municipality and the Municipality of Makilala.  Barangay Buenavista has the smallest area of  174.3236 hectares or .73% of the municipality’s total area.

Table  14.    Land Area by Barangay

Source:  Land Management Services, DENR, Region XI

Map  3.   Map of the Municipality of Bansalan showing the 25 Barangays