Tabuk, Kalinga

Tabuk became the Cordillera's second city after Baguio on June 23, 2007, when 17,060 voters ratified Republic Act No. 9404. On November 18, 2008, the SC voted 6-5 to revert Tabuk City, among other 15 cities', status back to municipalities. However, on December 21, 2009, the Supreme Court reversed its first decision, returning the 16 back to cities. It contended that these cities were not covered by Republic Act 9009 – the law enacted in June 2001 that increased the income requirement for cities from P20 million to P100 million – as proven by transcripts of Senate debates while crafting RA 9009.

But on August 24, 2010, the SC made a reversal again, reinstating its November 2008 decision. It concluded that the Local Government Code as amended by RA 9009 should be followed, without exception.

Finally, on February 15, 2011, the 16 became cities again after the SC made a third reversal. This time, the High Court acknowledged, among others, that the 16 cityhood laws amended RA 9009, effectively amending the Local Government Code itself.

Tabuk is politically subdivided into 42 barangays. [2]

Tabuk is home to two indigenous languages, the Kina-linga language which is used throughout the Kalinga province a town in Mountain Province, and the Malaweg language which is used in Tabuk and southwest Cagayan province. In the 1970s, Ilokano and Kankanaey migrants came to the province and imported the Ilokano and Kankanaey languages during the martial law era.