Republic of the Philippines SULTAN KUDARAT STATE UNIVERSITY College of Teacher Education ACCESS, EJC Montilla, Tacurong City HISTORY OF BARANGAY DIDTARAS LAMBAYONG, SULTAN KUDARAT By: Richelyn L. Navales Introduction: History of a Barangay A barangay also known as barrio in its former name is the smallest local government unit in the Philippines and is the native Filipino term for a village or district. Municipalities and cities are composed of barangays. The word barangay is sometimes abbreviated as “Brgy” or “Bgy.”. In pre-Hispanic times, a barangay was a sailboat that carried early settlers and traders to the Philippine archipelago from Indonesia and Borneo. These early inhabitants built settlements also called “barangay”. They were simple communities, with a head man and a group of families clustered about. During Spanish colonial times, when the barrio system was imposed, the barangay as a sociospatial unit lost its original significance. Under the current organization, the barangay is the smallest formal unit of government. Each barangay itself is composed of perhaps ten smaller social units called “puroks or pooks”. BARANGAY DIDTARAS, LAMBAYONG SULTANG KUDARAT Barangay Didtaras is one of the barangays in the Municipality of Lambayong, province of Sultan Kudarat, Region 12 island of Mindanao. We are tasked to find a place and know its history and other information about the specific place that we are about to know. For my part, I chose Barangay Didtaras, where I currently lived in. I want to know more about Didtaras and their origin of it, I wasn’t born in Didtaras, and that’s why I wanted to conduct an interview with the people who lived decades here in Didtaras, Lambayong, Sultan Kudarat. Honestly, we are tasked to find famous locations and landmarks in Sultan Kudarat, but instead of choosing places from other municipalities, barangay Didtaras pays my attention and I want to focus on this area. To start with, I interviewed 3 people and ask them the following questions: 1. 2. 3. 4. Tell me more about the history of Didtaras and its origin. What was happening during your time? How it differs from ours? What is the importance of this place? What was your unforgettable event that happened in Didtaras, Lambayong Sultan Kudarat? Respondent No. 1: Question No. 1 answer: Question No. 2 answer: Question No. 3 answer: Question No. 4 answer: Respondent No. 2: Question No. 1 answer: Question No. 2 answer: Question No. 3 answer: Question No. 4 answer: Respondent No. 3: Question No. 1 answer: Question No. 2 answer: Question No. 3 answer: Question No. 4 answer: What is the importance of this place? “We live in a world of rapid and often disorienting change: shifting demographics, new technologies, political polarization, instantaneous communication, changing consumer tastes, gentrification, extreme weather, and the global pandemic are all turning community upside down. However, if I have learned anything over my 40 years in the community, it is this: change is inevitable, but the destruction of community character and identity is not. Progress does not demand degraded surroundings. Communities can grow without destroying the places and things people love.” “For me, the place is more than just a location or a spot on a map. A sense of place is a unique collection of qualities and characteristics – visual, cultural, natural, and social – that provide meaning to a location. Sense of place is what makes one location your hometown different from another location, but the sense of place is also that which makes our physical environment valuable and worth caring about.”
