Nabalawag Mountains

For the municipality, see Nabalawag.

Nabalawag Mountains
Kabalukan
Highest point
Elevation	43 m (141 ft)
Naming
Native name	Palaw sa Nabalawag
Geography
Country	Philippines
Region	Bangsamoro Soccsksargen
Province	Cotabato (Special Geographic Area)

The Nabalawag Mountains are a mountain range in the island of Mindanao, the Philippines. ^[1] It is located in the province of Cotabato, Soccsksargen, in the southern part of the country, 900 km south of Manila City, the country's capital. Currently, its geography is divided into two, after the formation of the Special Geographic Area (SGA) under Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM).

Nabalawag Mountains

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Located in the Nabalawag Mountains in the Philippines.

The area around the Nabalawag Mountains is almost entirely covered by agricultural land. ^[2] There are about 222 people per square kilometer around the Nabalawag Mountains, which makes it quite densely populated. ^[3] The climate is subtropics. ^[4] The average temperature is 25 °C. The warmest month is February, at 26°C, and the coldest is July, at 24°C. ^[5] The average rainfall is 2,567 millimeters per year. The wettest month is October, with rainfall of 296 millimeters, and the driest month is December, with 146 millimeters. ^[6]

History

Nabalawag Mountains, also known by the name of one of its mountain peaks, namely Mount Kabalukan. These mountains are known by their local Maguindanao names as Palaw sa Nabalawag or Palaw sa Kabalukan. This is a series of mountains that stretch from northwest to southeast, starting from the Tamontaka River which is known as the Nabalawag Bend (Tuka na Nabalawag), to the eastern part of Datu Piang, along the Bakat River near Datu Salibo, passing through many barangays in Rajah Buayan, until it ends at the northwest edge of Sultan sa Barongis. ^[7]

On the north side of the mountains there is the Tamontaka River which originates in the Liguasan Marsh, and serves as a natural boundary between the provinces of Maguindanao and Cotabato. Although almost all of these mountains are part of Maguindanao, the other bank of the Tamontaka River is part of the municipalities of Midsayap (split into Nabalawag) and Pikit (split into Ligawasan) in Cotabato. On the south side, there is another body of water, namely the Bakat River (locally called Lawas a Bakat), which flows water from a cave basin called Labuhan a Samal, located in barangay Masulot, Sultan sa Barongis. ^[7]

In the past, these mountains and the surrounding lowlands were the birthplace of the Sultanate of Buayan and its rulers, and a sanctuary of epic resistance since the Spanish colonization. The ruler of Buayan, also known as Sultan Anwarud-din Utto or Datu Uto (the 18th Sultan of Buayan), who ruled from 1875 to 1888, hid here. In a desperate attempt to take full control of the Buayan region, the Spanish colonial rulers established Fort Reina Regente in February 1896, just a few miles from here in what is now known as Rajah Buayan. ^[7]

These mountains are also the final resting place for prominent local figures in politics and religion. The bayuk song, for example, mentions tampat (holy place) which is a Maguindanao term for the grave or tomb of a political or spiritual figure. During the American occupation at the turn of the 20th century, another brave son of these mountains, Datu Ali of Salunayan, fought and guerrilla until he died at the hands of the invaders in these mountains. During the Japanese invasion of Mindanao during World War II, General Salipada Pendatun and other local sons bravely fought against the invaders and became examples of regional or national leadership afterward. ^[7]

During the martial law in the 1970s, the bayuk song itself immortalized the brave resistance of Kagi Nuk and his men, it is said that during the revolution in Padian sa Dilampung at the stone intersection on Mount Kabalukan. When Marcos' troops arrived in Maguindanao land, they plundered and looted the land, all the young fighters at the stone crossing were in a miserable and miserable condition. When Marcos' troops occupied the interior of Zapakan, they had two tanks with iron wheels, steel walls, and supported by machine guns. So, not long after, the Zapakan civilians informed Chief Kagi Nuk, "Be alert! Be prepared, all of you, because the whole of Zapakan is occupied by Marcos's troops who are threatening to trample the stone crossing (on Mount Kabalukan) to create chaos there". ^[7]

It is also noted that even the founding chairman of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, Salamat Hashim, is genealogically connected to the ruling family of this mountainous region. Even today, the lowlands near Kabalukan, known in Philippine military parlance as the "SPMS Box" (Shariff Aguak, Pagatin, Mamasapano, and Datu Salibo), still has traces of defiance against the central government and is skeptical of the current peace process in the Moro conflict. ^[7]

References

1. Nabalawag Mountains at GeoNames.Org (cc-by); post updated 2012-02-02; database download sa 2015-11-25
2. "NASA Earth Observations: Land Cover Classification". NASA/MODIS. Retrieved January 30, 2016.
3. "NASA Earth Observations: Population Density". NASA/SEDAC. Retrieved January 30, 2016.
4. Peel, M C; Finlayson, B L (2007). "Updated world map of the Köppen-Geiger climate classification". Hydrology and Earth System Sciences. 11 (5): 1633–1644. Bibcode:2007HESS...11.1633P. doi: 10.5194/hess-11-1633-2007 . Retrieved January 30, 2016.
5. "NASA Earth Observations Data Set Index". NASA. Retrieved January 30, 2016.
6. "NASA Earth Observations: Rainfall (1 month - TRMM)". NASA/Tropical Rainfall Monitoring Mission. Retrieved January 30, 2016.
7. Limba, Mansoor L. (March 31, 2022). "MARGINALIA: Mt. Kabalukan: Past, present, and beyond 2022 presidential race". mindanews.com. MARGINALIA. MindaNews. Retrieved September 22, 2025.