Bukidnon - Settlements

Bukidnon once lived in or near tulugan (communal houses with appended individual quarters) in groups of usually fewer than fifty related families presided over by a head datu (chief) and lesser datus. By the turn of the century, thanks to the efforts of Spanish priests and American colonial officials, all but a few of these had been replaced by settlements of single-family houses located for the most part along the main north-south road or along feeder roads. Today some Bukidnon continue to live in small, rather dispersed strip settlements located along trails and logging roads far from the highway. Houses in these remote villages are usually made of bamboo and thatch, and many are raised above the ground with floors of bamboo strips. More Bukidnon live in barangay along the highway or feeder roads, where small general stores are typically made of wood and cinder-block, as are some of the homes, and corrugated iron is the preferred material for roofing. Finally, a minority of the Bukidnon people live in towns like Malaybalay, Impasugong, and Valencia where their housing is indistinguishable from that of their migrant (usually Bisayan) neighbors.