BARANGAY SHILAN

BARANGAY SHILAN

MISSION/VISION/GOALS

Vision

We envision Shilan to be a flower and vegetable center combined with commerce and eco-tourism where a healthy, empowered, self-reliant and God-loving people live in peaceful community where justice and effective governance prevail.

Mission

  • To provide a technology for the production of good quality vegetables and cut flowers;
  • To provide accessible farm to market roads;
  • Development and preservation of the communal forest and rivers as tourist spots of the barangay;
  • To provide adequate health services and;
  • Comprehensive services in good governance with the active participation of the community members.

Goals

  • To provide seminars and trainings on modern technology for vegetables and cut flowers production;
  • To source out funds from GOs and NGOs for the improvement of farm to market roads;
  • To source out funds for the development of the communal forest and rivers as tourist spots in the barangay;
  • To encourage investors to engaged in commerce in the barangay;
  • To provide adequate health services and facilities;
  • To support and encourage spiritual growth;
  • To promote peace and justice by nurturing civic consciousness;
  • To disseminate information on the preservation of the communal forest and all existing natural falls;
  • To construct potable water system and;
  • To promote people empowerment thru active participation in community activities.

BARANGAY SHILAN

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

Pre-Spanish Period

During the pre-Spanish times, Shilan was once part of Takdian.  Takdian was composed of Bahong, Shilan, Alno, Alapang, Tawang, Camp Dangwa (formerly known as Camp Holmes), and Acop.  It is said that there were two waves of migration into the Takdian Valley during the 14th and 18th century.

Shilan served as a strategic place in the barter trade between lowlanders and highlanders.  The people from the Northern part of Benguet travelled to and from Naguilian and Pangasinan to barter goods particularly salt, gold, forest products and venison.  Shilan served as a resting place to and from the trade sites.  These traders came from as far as Atok, Bokod, and Kabayan.

The people of Shilan were very receptive to accommodate these early traders.  The practice of trade developed into the practice of arranged marriages, locally termed as “kaising” where a trader maintained more than one family over a dispersed area.

Only the “Busul” were unwelcome in Shilan.  They were known as headhunters and had the reputation of being enemies for the reason that they stole the animals and jars of the people.  The “Busul” came from the areas of Banao and Naguilian.  Early accounts also traced the origins of the “Busul” to Kabayan and Bokod.

And so it came to be that the place was named “Shalan” which means “the way to and from”.  As a result of trade, the people of Shalan intermarried with people from Atok, Bokod, and Kabayan, thus earning for its cultural identity of the Ibaloi.

Spanish Period

In the organization of La Trinidad in the arrival of the “Commandancia Politico-Militar”, La Trinidad was said to have been divided into different Rancherias.  Shilan was Part of the Rancherias de Bahong then composed of the present day Bahong, Tawang, Cruz, Alapang, Alno, Camp Dangwa and Caponga.

The shift of the name of the barangay is traced to a Kapitan Del Barrio who mistakenly recorded the barangay as “SHILAN” instead of SHALAN.

Agricultural History

Shilan’s primary crops are cut flowers primarily gladiola.  Gladiola is produced in commercial quantity and quality.  In recent times, it now appears to have replaced the commercial vegetable gardening that earlier replaced the cultivation of rice as the major livelihood activity of the residents.

The introduction of cut flowers took place in the middle of 1950’s which probably coincided with the extensive cropping of vegetables in the postwar period.  Prior to the introduction of gladiola, roses were first introduced.  Its introduction was accounted to an Ibaloi employee of Camp John Hay Military Air Base who has a relative in Shilan.  He was believed to be responsible for the provision and introduction of the first rose plants, its technique and pruning and budding, and the introduction of the first gladiola bulbs.

A popular variety known as “JAPANESE” or the popularly called “RED-JAP” have been introduced by Ibaloi employees of the Baguio Tourism Office.

The Agro Food Industries Corporation started producing mushrooms in the area sometime in the late 70’s.  Today, the barangay is the major mushroom industry in the province.

But on the late 1990’s, gladiola was no longer the primary crops.  It was replaced by chrysanthemum, aster and anthurium.