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.[5] 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.[5]
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.[6]
Currently, Kabacan is known as an Ilocano-speaking area since 65% of its population Ilocano immigrants and their native born descendants.[citation needed]
In 2023, the Bangsamoro Parliament approved the creation of eight new municipalities in the area.[12] Those barangays were organized into Old Kaabakan (Bangsamoro Autonomy Act No. 44)[13][14] following ratification in a plebiscite on April 13, 2024.[15]
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.
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.
In the 2020 census, the population of Kabacan, Cotabato, was 77,164 people,[3] with a density of 170 inhabitants per square kilometre or 440 inhabitants per square mile.
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.
University Laboratory School (science-curriculum based High School located in the University of Southern Mindanao)
St. Luke's Institute
Kabacan Wesleyan Academy
Asian Colleges and Technological Institute
Notre Dame of Kabacan, Inc.
Berean Christian School
Elementary
Public:
Kabacan Pilot Central School
Katidtuan Central Elementary School
Osias Elementary School
USM Annex Elementary School
Lower Paatan Elementary School
Upper Paatan Elementary School
Cuyapon Elementary School
Kilagasan Elementary School
Dona Josefa E Marcos Elementary School
Private:
Enhanced Childhood Learning Center, Inc.
DD Clemente Academy-Montessori
Kabacan Wesleyan Academy
Notre Dame of Kabacan, Inc.
Berean Christian School
Tourism
Pisan Cave at Pisan, Kabacan.
Waterfalls and spring at Tamped, Kabacan
Nangaan Cliff at Nangaan, Kabacan
Nangaan Caves and Waterfalls
Kabuling Waterfalls at Simbuhay, Kabacan
Simbuhay Waterfalls at Simbuhay, Kabacan
Matibuhaw Cave at Simbuhay, Kabacan
Kalasan Waterfalls at Pedtad, Kabacan
Crocodile Farm at Cuyapon, Kabacan
Garagan Spring Resort at Katidtuan, Kabacan
University of Southern Mindanao located at Kabacan town proper. A State University with research and training centers, open amphitheaters, sports facilities and pilot agricultural projects.
^ ab"About". Local Government Unit of Kabacan. Archived from the original on January 2, 2019. Retrieved July 31, 2019.
^Kent Holmes, Wendell Fertig and His Guerilla Forces in the Philippines: Fighting the Japanese Occupation, 1942-1945 (Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland & Co., 2015), p. 112.
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