Kalinga (province): History
=== American occupation ===
Kalinga was taken from Cagayan and Isabela provinces and established by the US Government through Philippine Commission Act No. 1642 on May 9, 1907, as a sub-province of Lepanto-Bontoc.
Kalinga was later organized as one of the sub-provinces of Mountain Province, created by Act No. 1876.
In the early years, the subprovince underwent series of territorial changes. Part of Kalinga was transferred to another sub-province Bontoc through Executive Order No. 53 in 1914. In the municipal district of Pinukpuk, barrios were moved to Balbalan in 1926; as well as parts of it to Conner in Apayao in 1927.
Kalinga became part of a province along with Apayao when the old Mountain Province was divided into four separate provinces through Republic Act No. 4695 in 1966. Tabuk was designated as the provincial capital.
The beginning months of the 1970s marked a period of turmoil and change in the Philippines, as well as in Kalinga-Apayao. During his bid to be the first Philippine president to be re-elected for a second term, Ferdinand Marcos launched an unprecedented number of public works projects. This caused the Philippine economy took a sudden downwards turn known as the 1969 Philippine balance of payments crisis, which in turn led to a period of economic difficulty and social unrest.
With only a year left in his last constitutionally allowed term as president Ferdinand Marcos placed the Philippines under Martial Law in September 1972 and thus retained the position for fourteen more years. This period in Philippine history is remembered for the Marcos administration's record of human rights abuses, particularly targeting political opponents, student activists, journalists, religious workers, farmers, and others who fought against the Marcos dictatorship. The Kalinga-Apayao became known as a flashpoint of conflict between the Marcos dictatorship and the various indigenous peoples who lived in the area, because of the Chico River Dam Project, which, even if only the most essential part of it were built, would have encompassed the municipalities of Tinglayan, Lubuagan, Pasil, and parts of Tabuk in Kalinga, as well as numerous municipalities in Mountain Province; and would have displaced about 100,000 indigenous people. Because the great value placed on deceased ancestors who were buried within these communities, the issue was not just one of livelihood, but also one of sacred grounds. Marcos sent three armed brigades to quell down the protests, resulting in heightened tensions in the area. In 1977 alone, numerous Kalinga dam protesters — including tribal leaders Lumbaya Aliga Gayudan and Macli-ing Dulag, and even a 12-year-old child — were rounded up by these forces and incarcerated for up to two months.
The 24 April 1980 murder of Macli-ing Dulag became a turning point when coverage of the murder led to public outrage. It was the first time since the 1972 declaration of Martial Law where the mainstream Philippine press managed to report on the arrests of civilians under Martial Law, and the turn of public opinion against both the Chico River Dam and Martial law, coupled with the united anger of the various peoples of the Cordillera Mountains led the Ferdinand Marcos administration to give up on the dam project. As a result, the Chico River Dam Project is now considered a landmark case study concerning ancestral domain issues in the Philippines. …