Kibungan, Benguet

Kibungan
—  Municipality  —
Seal
Map of Benguet showing the location of Kibungan.
Kibungan Location in the Philippines
Coordinates:
Country	Philippines
Region	Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR)
Province	Benguet
District	Lone Congressional District of Benguet
Founded
Barangays	7
Government
• Mayor	Benito Siadto
Area
• Total	255 km2 (98.5 sq mi)
Population (2007)
• Total	15,700
• Density	61.6/km2 (159.5/sq mi)
Time zone	PST (UTC+8)
ZIP code	2611
Income class	4th class

Population Census of Kibungan
Census	Pop.		Rate
1995	14,148		—
2000	15,036		1.31%
2007	15,700		0.60%

Kibungan is a 4th class municipality in the province of Benguet, Philippines. According to the 2007 census, it has a population of 15,700 people in 2,949 households.

The municipality is located 62 kilometers north of Baguio City.

Contents 1 Geography 1.1 Topography 2 Points of Interest and Tourism 3 Barangays 4 References 5 External links

Geography

Topography

Kibungan is well known in the province of Benguet as the town with unique grand mountains often mistaken to resemble those of the Switzerland mountains. Deep ravines and cliffs separate and isolate many sitios and some barangays. Although some plateaus, hills and small valleys can be seen in the locality, Kibungan is dominantly mountainous.

The municipality is within a cool highland mountainous zone with elevations at more than 2500 meters above sea level. During its coolest months of December - January, Barangay Madaymen experiences chilling temperature of 0 degrees Celsius causing the famous Frost of Madaymen.

Points of Interest and Tourism

Les-eng Rice Terraces

These magnificent terraces can be reached after 6-hour hike through lush pine forests in Barangay Tacadang.

Mayos River

Located at the northeastern part of Barangay Poblacion. It is approximately 2.5 kilometers in length and is about 3 kilometers away from Poblacion Proper. The river originates from ridges of nearby Barangays Madaymen, Palina and Tacadang; and supplies water to rice paddies and vegetable farms along the vicinity.

Palina Rice Terraces

In Barangay Palina at the foot of Mt. Kilkili believed to be a former volcano because of its conical shape. Constructed following a century-old system of rice terraces built with stone walls and neatly arranged one after the other. The rice terraces are at their best in December and June when the rice paddies turn golden yellow, near harvest time. The Palina rice terraces is known as the municipality’s rice granary.

A road network links the area to the town proper and other barangays but public transport vehicles are limited.

In order to promote the uniqueness of the municipality's ecotourism, the people want the tag "Switzerland of Benguet" removed as of 2007. The tag was created in good faith as the municipality is a mountainous region and has a cool climate that is associated with Switzerland. However, this gives the wrong impression that the municipality has snow-covered peaks for skiing.^[1]

Barangays

Kibungan is politically subdivided into 7 barangays.

• Badeo
• Lubo
• Madaymen
• Palina
• Poblacion
• Sagpat
• Tacadang

References

External links

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

Component local government units of Benguet Municipalities Atok Bakun Bokod Buguias Itogon Kabayan Kapangan Kibungan La Trinidad Mankayan Sablan Tuba Tublay Highly urbanized city Baguio (Administratively independent from the province, but grouped under Benguet by the National Statistics Office)