A. Location

The city of Tabuk is bounded by Pinukpuk in the North; Rizal in the East; Quezon, Isabela in the Southeast; Paracelis, Mt. Province and Tanudan in the South; and Lubuagan and Pasil in the Southwest. It is 548 kilometers away from Manila via the Cagayan Valley and 514 kms via Bontoc, Mt. Province. It has an altitude of 200-500 feet above sea level. The town is drained by two major rivers (Chico River and Mallig River) and numerous tributaries, creeks and streams. The western portion is characterized by interlinking mountain steep slopes, isolated flatlands, plateaus and valleys while the eastern portion consists of low lands and wide plains of rice fields.

B. Land Area and Political Subdivisions

The town has a total land area of 77,447.25 hectares (774 sq. kms.) and now composed of forty two (42) barangays, with Bulanao, Casigayan, Dagupan Centro, and Dagupan Weste as urban centers; and the rest are rural barangays. With the completion of the LGU-Urban Waterworks Project, barangays San Juan, Appas, Magsaysay and Laya East are now included under urban barangays since the presence of a water system is a prerequisite for an urban barangay. There were two (2) newly created barangays last December 2003, namely Bulanao Norte and Ipil. Please see Table 1 on the following page the list of barangays in Tabuk and the corresponding land area of each barangay. As gleaned from the data, Bulanao has the largest in area still including the areas of the newly created barangays of Bulanao Norte and Ipil. The barangay houses the Public Market and most of the national agencies and it is the seat of the Provincial Government of Kalinga.

C. Land Use

D. Language

The majority of the populace speaks the Ilokano dialect. It consists 50.7% of the 53 registered dialects in the municipality. Some locals also speak English, Japanese and Chinese.

E. Climate

The general climate of Tabuk is classified as the Third Type wherein the seasons are not very pronounced. The cool months start at September until February while the short dry season occurs during the summer, from March to May. Typhoons frequently visit the town especially from July to December. The average rainy days per month are eleven days, registering October as having the highest rate of rainfall every year and March as the lowest. The average temperature is 26.4 degrees Celsius. It reaches its peak during the summer at 30-35 degrees and its lowest at December to February ranging from 20-25 degrees.

E. Terrain

The city of Tabuk has a terrain which ranges from flat to very steep or from 0 degrees to above 50 degrees. The flat portions from 0 degrees to 3 degrees slope and 120 m to 150 m above sea level are from San Juan to Cabaruan and the flat portions to undulating or 3 degrees to 8 degrees slope whose elevation 150 m to 300 m above sea level are from Balong, Dilag, Bulanao up to Malalao to include portions of Calaccad and Cudal. From moderately sloping to rocky and to moderately steep or 8 degrees to 30 degrees are portions of Masablang up to Calanan, Bado Dangwa to Dupag and portion of Magnao to Guilayon including Suyang, Amlao, Balawag whose elevation from 300 m to 1060 m above sea level.

The steep portions from 30 degrees to above 50 degrees slope and more than 1060 meters above seal level are portions of Dupag, Naneng, Lucog to Guilayon, Magnao and Nambucayan.