Luba, Abra
Encyclopedia
Luba is a 5th class municipality in the province of Abra
Abra province
Abra is a landlocked province of the Philippines in the Cordillera Administrative Region in Luzon. Its capital is Bangued, and it borders Ilocos Norte and Apayao on the north, Ilocos Sur and Mountain Province on the south, Ilocos Norte and Ilocos Sur on the west, and Kalinga, and Apayao on the...

, Philippines
Philippines
The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...

. According to the 2007 census, it has a population of 6,363 people in 1,138 households.

Geography

The municipality is located at the southern part of Abra at longitude 17 deg 14’ 25” to 17 deg 23’50” north and latitude of 120 deg 35’ 00 to 120 deg 45’ 10” east. It is around 44 kilometers south of Bangued, the provincial capital and about 200 kilometers north of the city of Baguio. It is bounded on the north is the municipality of Manabo; northeast is the municipality of Boliney; on the east is the municipality of Tubo; on the south is the municipality of San Emilio, Ilocos Sur and on the west is the municipality of Villaviciosa.

Specifically, the perimeter boundary line starts at Mount. Peswey proceeding south down to the Agabaab Creek to Damanil River then to Caliskisen Creek to Caburao - Ginabang - Minoli - -Pingas Bila the boundary of Tubo, Luba and San Emilio Ilocos Sur, then proceeding west through Maganay ranges to cross run following the ridge up to Dozong-Suyao-Daldalican-Tapaw-Bagoang down to Daddau Crrek-Abra River - Masiwsiw up to Mount Peswey. It is accessible from Benguet/Baguio by vehicle via Naguillian Road down to San Fernando City traversing the province of Ilocos Sur fill the municipality of Narvacan thence to Bangued. The Bangued-Luba route is seasonal for vehicular traffic (November - June). However the Bangued-Salnec,Bucay Road is an all weather one and that an intermittent section along the Manabo-Luba Road is not passable during typhoons/storms, and the only way to go to and from the town is by crossing the Abra River twice.

Barangays

Luba is politically subdivided into 8 barangay
Barangay
A barangay is the smallest administrative division in the Philippines and is the native Filipino term for a village, district or ward...

s.
Barangay Pop. (2007)
Ampalioc
1,127
Barit
589
Gayaman
1,028
Lul-luno
394
Luzong
893
Nagbukel-Tuquipa
573
Poblacion
1,100
Sabnangan
659

History

The earliest known settlement in the municipality of Luba was in Barit. It was then a thickly forested area with tall and big trees interconnected with myriads of rattan vines called barit. The early settlers were hunters as the place was blessed with wild pigs, deer and fruit trees.

The home of very fine quality of rattan, Barit increased in population so that another settlement in a nearby place emerged. They called this Barit-Luzong. Southwest of Barit, another settlement occurred and they called this Barit-Lulluno. Barit-Amtuagan soon followed . It is only after a considerable period of time that the settlement of Bancagan (now the capital of the municipality) took place. The old folks has it that the river banks were being avoided due to the presence of a deadly reptiles called “ buaya”. But in the middle part of the 18th century settlement near river banks begun to flourish the old folks surmised that half a century earlier, settlers from the uplands had turn to “slash and burn” farming. A destructive method that almost dissipated the tall and big premium hardwood trees. As a consequence flash flood occurred that resulted to siltation in the deep river bed portion virtually neutralized the hiding place of these “buayas” . Exposed to attack, their number were kept into a minimum.

The first formal collective name of the municipality of Luba was Barit-Amtuagan, presumably to include all other settlers from the east side of the “kayan” (river). This is located south east of Barit near the Damalin River, the biggest tributary of the Abra river. After sometime, some influential leaders from Barit-Lulluno had caused the transfer of collective capital from Barit-Amtuagan to Barit-Lulluno. For many years, Barit-Lulluno lingered until the onset of the American Regime.

In 1917 or probably earlier, the name of Luba was formally adopted as the official name of the municipality. Accordingly, it was a fusion of the first two letters of Lulluno and Barit.

Creation of the Municipality Luba, founded in 1912 or probably earlier finally appeared in the population census in 1918. One and a half centuries earlier, the core settlement at Barit has gradually transformed into a “pueblo” in the middle part of the 18th century and believed to be a part of the military district of Villavieja.

The first capital of the town and seat of the municipal government was in Luzong, 4 km away from the original settlement at Barit. But in 1920, Caoatig Valera, the third “presidente” of the municipality of Luba transferred the town capital to Bancagan (now Poblacion) in answer to the clamor of some influential people in that sitio.

Luba now consist of 8 barangays scattered in a 20,850 hectares territory with an average of 3 km apart. It has 2 valleys-the upper and the lower. The town’s geographical location has been a major factor in her slow-paced development that she is often tagged as a marginalized community of Abra. Her mountainous characteristics and the presence of the Abra river that traversed into two separate valleys seem to be a disadvantage. But then, the mountains are source of premium quality hardwood, rattan and honeys. The river on the other hand is a convenient source of protein rich fishes and crustaceans not to mention the super delicious “ludong” that is highly prized.

External links

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