Natonin is a 4th class municipality in the province of Mountain Province

Mountain Province

Mountain Province is a landlocked province of the Philippines in the Cordillera Administrative Region in Luzon. Its capital is Bontoc and borders, clockwise from the south, Ifugao, Benguet, Ilocos Sur, Abra, Kalinga, and Isabela.Mountain Province is sometimes incorrectly named Mountain in some...

, Philippines

Philippines

The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...

. According to the latest census, it has a population of 9,431 people in 1,768 households.

Barangays

Natonin is politically subdivided into 11 barangay

Barangay

A barangay is the smallest administrative division in the Philippines and is the native Filipino term for a village, district or ward...

s. The town is composed from people of different tribes, foremost of these tribes are the Balangaos and the Majukayongs.

• Alunogan
• Balangao
• Banao
• Banawel
• Butac
• Maducayan
• Poblacion
• Saliok
• Santa Isabel
• Tonglayan
• Pudo

Geography

The municipality is very mountainous, with very little level ground lending itself to agriculture. The barangays are geographically isolated by high (700m) mountains covered in jungle.

Transportation

Transportation throughout Natonin is largely undeveloped roads. The only paved roads (as of 2007) are in Poblacion proper. Roads frequently become impassable in the rainy seasons. Some barangays (notably Maducayan) are inaccessible by road. Maducayan lies one mile beyond a recent road extension from the center of Saliok to the western most situ of Saliok.

Economy

The primary crop is rice, although a lack of arable land, lack of mechanization and no access to fertilizers limits the harvest to a subsistence level only. Families rely on small livestock populations to supplement the diet. Fruits and wild coffee are harvested from the forest. Poblacion boasts of numerous family ponds which raise tilapia for consumption. Due to the terrain, rice is planted on terraced fields. Locals consider the rice terraces of Natonin to be equal or surpassing those of Banaue to the south.

People and Culture

The people of Natonin are from two distinct ethnic groups. Most of the population are of Igorot stock. The Madukayyong tribe identifies itself as Igorot, in that they are geographically in Igorot territory, yet many of their traditions and dialects are more closely related to Kalingan. It could be argued that the Madukayyong are the southernmost Kalingan tribe. Head hunting was practiced in Maducayan as late as the mid-1930s, and was set aside in favor of Christianity and education after World War II.

Points of interest

• The Legendary Silent Mountain of Binaratan - located in Barangay Maducayan.
• The Apatan Rice Terraces
• The Balococ Waterfall
• The Naropaan Waterfall

External links

• Philippine Standard Geographic Code
• 1995 Philippine Census Information
• 2000 Philippine Census Information
• 2007 Philippine Census Information