Kabacan officially the Municipality of Kabacan (Maguindanaon: Inged nu Kabakan, Jawi: ايڠد نو كباكن; ; ; ; ), is a 1st class municipality in the province of Cotabato, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 77,164 people. The town is predominantly composed of rice farms made possible by the influx of Ilocano-speaking people from northern Philippines. The University of Southern Mindanao is in Kabacan. It is strategically located between the cities of Cotabato and Davao from west to east and the cities of Cagayan de Oro and Iligan from the north and General Santos from the south.

History

Kabacan got its name from the word "ka-abacan" which means the source of abundance. People from far-flung barangays used to come to this place and, upon returning home, they brought with them many commodities of their livelihood. The municipality of Kabacan was a barrio of the municipal district of Pikit before its creation as a district political body. It was created as a regular municipality by virtue of Executive Order No. 82 dated August 18, 1947, issued by President Manuel Roxas of the Republic of the Philippines. Growth was gradual under the domain of Datu Mantawil; that influx of settlers from Luzon and Visayas arrived in the 1930s. This was made so when the McLareen family sold its hacienda to Jose Yulo Alano, Rafael Alunan and party who organize a company under the cooperate name of Rio Grande Estate. The company became the people's place of business and social center. Recognizing his immense power and leadership over the area, the provincial governor of Cotabato organizes the Kabacan into a Municipal District with Esteban Somera Abellera Sr. its first mayor in 1935.

World War II

After the Japanese landing on Davao, the Miura Detachment then proceeded to advance towards Kabacan but had to struggle fighting the remaining Filipino-American resistance. Soon, they succeed in capturing Kabacan on May 3, 1942. The Rio Grande Rubber Estate was sold by the Filipino Incorporators to the Japanese Imperial Government. It became the site for the provisional municipal government with Cenon Doctolero as the appointed mayor. The Japanese garrison was attacked October 25, 1942, by guerrilla forces under U.S. Lieut. Col. Wendell Fertig. During a fourteen-day siege sixty-eight of the seventy-six Japanese garrison were killed. Only the arrival of reinforcements saved the garrison and caused the guerrillas to withdraw. Currently, Kabacan is known as an Ilocano-speaking area since 65% of its population Ilocano immigrants and their native born descendants.

Partial inclusion to the Bangsamoro

In 2019, seven barangays were among the 63 in the province which became part of the Special Geographic Area of the newly created Bangsamoro, after having the affirmative vote won to join the autonomous region in a plebiscite held on February 6. Nanga-an, Simbuhay, and Sanggadong were among the 39 in the province that unsuccessfully voted for the inclusion in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao in 2001, while the other four were proposed to be part of the Bangsamoro, which replaced ARMM by virtue of Republic Act No. 11054. In 2023, the Bangsamoro Parliament approved the creation of eight new municipalities in the area. Those barangays were organized into Old Kaabakan (Bangsamoro Autonomy Act No. 44) following ratification in a plebiscite on April 13, 2024.

Geography

Kabacan is centrally located in Cotabato province, bounded on the north by Pres. Roxas, on the east by Matalam, on the south by M'lang, and on the west by Carmen, Cotabato and Datu Montawal. It is approximately 94 km from Cotabato airport, 194 km to Davao airport and 188 km to General Santos International Airport. The landscape is characterized by almost regular landscape of flat terrain. The high mountains and rolling hills leaping close to the river plus the narrow plains have varied topographical features. Other features are moderately sloping and strongly sloping. The Kabacan River is a tributary of the Pulangi River, discharging at Kayaga Kabacan, Cotabato.

Barangays

Kabacan is politically subdivided into 17 barangays. Each barangay consists of puroks while some have sitios.

Climate

Type B climate prevails in the municipality. It is characterized by dry season for one to three months with less than 76 millimeters or more rainfall per month throughout the year. The wettest month has more than three times the rainfall of the driest month. This type of climate is conducive to intensive rice cultivation and plantings of bananas and other fruit trees.

Demographics

In the 2020 census, the population of Kabacan, Cotabato, was 77,164 people, with a density of undefined PD/km2.

Economy

Commercial activities are in the Public Market and along the National Highway and USM Avenue. Kabacan serve as a business and trading center for the adjacent municipalities of Carmen, Pagagawan, Pikit and Matalam. The majority of the commercial establishments are engaged in general merchandising, sari-sari and dry goods. One big shopping center and drug store owned by a big company are along the National Highway. There are four banks and three gasoline stations. Other small-scale industries are electronics and repair shop, car/motor vehicle body builder/repair shop, vulcanizing and machine shop, shoe and appliance repair shops hollow blocks/culvert making basket/mat weaving, dressmaking/tailoring, balut making, bakery and Mascovado factory in Barangay Malanduage.

Natural resources

Primarily agricultural crops include corn, rice, soybeans, peanut, mongo, cassava and other field crops. This town is popularly known as the "Rice Production Center", the "Rice Granary of the Province of Cotabato". Its populace has devoted most of its fertile domain to rice production. Corn is the secondary crop of this town.

Education

Public: Private: Public: Private:

Tourism