BARANGAY PROFILE

HISTORICAL PROFILE

The Land

Tuliao is situated at approximately 16.0188, 120.3967 (16° 1’ North, 120° 24’ East) in the island of Luzon. Elevation at these coordinates is estimated at 9.5 meters or 31.2 feet above mean sea level. It has an approximate land area of 412.51 hectares as per cadastral survey located on the western end of Sta. Barbara. It is divided into nine zones for easier administration, each with its own set of officers.

Barangay Tuliao lies on the western part of the municipality of Sta. Barbara, which at a glance on the map, is shaped like a key. It was formerly comprised of Barangay Tuliao on the center, Barangay Alibago on the south and Sitio Calay on the north.

It is not known how Tuliao got its name. There was a legendary origin wherein a bird known before as kuliao used to inhabit in this place. Whenever people passed by, they shouts calling the bird kuliao until such time that the word kuliao became Tuliao.

Livelihood

Sugarcane fields used to abound where residential houses are now erected and school children would just cut canes, chew the juice then throw the dried fibers anywhere.

Harvest time was heralded by the simultaneous rhythm of the pounding of rice at night. Almost every nipa hut was provided with pestle and mortar. In the afternoon, every farmer, almost all families then, would go home with their share of harvest carried in their heads bedraggled attired, wet with mud. They were nevertheless happy after being cooped up for three lean months waiting for the palay to ripen, relying only in the rain for watering the fields. There was only one planting season. There was still no irrigation to double their production.

People

The damaged of the 1928 Record of Assessment of property in Tuliao brought irreparable loss to history. There was a reassessment in 1950 of the parcel of land declared in the names of subsequent owners but they are many. The records in the Municipal Assessor’s Office started in 1980 and the cadastral survey records in San Fernando, La Union of the Land Registration Office dates 1990. Real Estate documents were in the names of the male because the right of suffrage was not yet extended to women, the qualification of the males to vote and elected in office was property ownership.

School

During the term of the late Former President Ferdinand E. Marcos, there was a law enacted mandating that the barangays, especially in those far flung areas to establish their own barangay high schools to enable the primary graduates who have no means of pursuing secondary education because of distance to the Poblacion adhere high schools used to be exclusively located, to enjoy the privilege of attaining higher goals.

Culture

a. Residents of Barangay Tuliao are very resilient that when in times of calamities and catastrophe they still manage to rise above the challenge;

b. People of Tuliao are known for having a strong and close family ties. They place high regard and put importance on their family before anything else. So whether you are part of the immediate family or you belong to the third or fourth generation, you are treated as a family member. Sometimes, even the closest of friends are considered family, too.

c. Thanksgiving Day Celebration is very significant to the people of Barangay Tuliao as this is an opportunity to express our gratitude to God Almighty for all the blessings He has given unto us.

Barangay Tuliao Now

The residents started to enjoy electricity when DECORP gradually erected electric posts upon petition of the residents thru their Barangay Council. The streetlights that draw much appreciation and gratitude from motorists and passersby alike followed when every homeowner who desired to have his front lighted would agree to pay the monthly electric bills. The Barangay Council provided bamboo poles and fluorescent sets with the wirings connected to private houses until such time that it was replaced by iron rods.

The flood that ravage Tuliao several times a year obviously getting deeper and deeper each year have been abated by the construction of dikes and elevation and widening of the highway. The solution of the residents is the elevation of the foundation of new houses and surrounding of concrete fences around each lot resulting in the uneven distribution of waters that seek its own level.

The Annual Thanksgiving Celebration started in 1982 during the incumbency of the late Barangay Captain Cornelio A. Bustillo Sr. The idea was hatched that instead of a fiesta participated by only by the Catholics, it is better to have a Thanksgiving Day.

Tuliao is alive, the pride and love of all whose lives it has touched in one way or another. It is manifested in obstinacy of the people to excel, to cooperate, to contribute, to commensurate with one another if the occasion arises.