Tabuk was created as a municipality under the jurisdiction of Kalinga on June 23, 1950. It was then a quiet town with a few inhabitants from the various sub-tribes of Kalinga. It was a vast pasture land that served as a haven for agriculture and livestock raising through the past several decades. The condition of the roads then was that bad that is why travel to and from Tabuk was very difficult, especially among professionals and traders from other places outside the province wanting to transact business with the local government and other private engagements. Needless to say, it was also infested by members of the New People’s Army (NPA) that resulted to issues of peace and order being raised aside from the tribal wars among feuding tribes.
Gradually, development started to be introduced in Tabuk that served as the capital town of Kalinga where the vast tracks of pasture lands were converted into agriculture-producing areas that paved the way for the former quiet town to become the source of rice and other agricultural crops for the neighboring areas in the Cordillera. Development in the locality started to flourish through the efforts of various local officials who tried their best to change the image of the town from a quiet one to a vibrant locality capable of becoming a well-developed urban center in the future.
On June 24, 2007, Tabukeños ratified Republic Act 9404 or the law that converted Tabuk municipality into a component city of Kalinga through the plebiscite that was scheduled for the said purpose. Admits the constitutional issues that were raised against the creation of the 16 new cities, including Tabuk then, the Supreme Court (SC) ruled in the affirmative that spelled the difference on Tabuk’s journey to development. Early on, Tabuk established itself as the rice granary of the Cordillera because of the tens of thousands of hectares of rice farms that provide the stable rice supply not only for the Cordillera but also other parts of Northern Luzon aside from owning the distinction of being the country’s third largest city with a land area of more than 701 square kilometers behind Davao and Ilagan. Tabuk also owns the distinction of having wide road networks that comply with the prescribed standards for national roads which is more or less 60 meters wide from the center. As a matter of fact, part of the city’s comprehensive land use plan and zoning ordinance is that there shall be no business activities that will be allowed at least 100 meters from the center of national roads. Further, all city and barangay roads in the city have already ben concreted that makes it easier for farmers to transport their produce from the farms to the markets that will translate to cheap prices of basic goods raised in the city.
We can mention all the things that had undergone changes in Tabuk through the past several decades but there is only one thing that will happen in the future is for Tabuk to continue to grow under the stewardship of visionary leaders that will make it a future independent city once it will be able to meet the population and income requirements for independent component city or highly urbanized cities Lately, Tabuk was able to open the first phase of its proposed modern public market which is a clear indication that the best is still to come for the city’s business sector. Major food chains are now operational in the city apart from the operation of big government and private banks that highlights the confidence of investors to do business in a city with business-friendly officials and with the populace ready to embrace change and positive development.
However, what needs to be balanced at this point is the state of environment which should not be compromised in the first place because a well preserved and protected environment will be our gift for the future generations of inhabitants. We could not afford to be simply blamed by our successors for doing nothing to pass on to them a good environment because our forebears were able to do so and it is now our turn to protect our environment for the benefit of our children and our children’s children.
Laws, rules and regulations are already in place that is why it is just a matter of appropriately implementing the same for our wellbeing. Let us not be selfish but instead let us be forward looing into the future of people who want to live, st6udy, work and do business in Tabuk. Surely, Tabuk will reign as one of the well-developed cities in the country but let us not forget to protect it from the evils of our society that tend to be our hindrance towards achieving our goals. Let our empowered leaders lead us to greater heights for the sake of the Tabuk that we loved and cherished.
