Nagbukel

 town, municipality, third-level administrative division

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Municipality of Nagbukel, Province of Ilocos Sur
ZIP code: 2725

Nagbukel is a landlocked municipality in the province of Ilocos Sur in the Philippines. It had a population of 4,938 people as registered in the 2010 Census.

History of Nagbukel

Etymology

As gathered from the old folks, there are three versions of stories that account on how the municipality of Nagbukel got its present name. One legendary story tells about the existence of a high mountain somewhere in the eastern part of the town that could be seen afar which was so round appearing like the top of a hat. When the people saw this, they exclaimed, “Anian a Nagbukel” (How round it is!). Because of this, they gave the place the name “Nagbukel”.

Some folks also related that because of the presence of three small round hills nestling amidst the ricefields at the southern part of the town which could be seen when one is at the heart of the Poblacion, the town was given the name “Nagbukel” (round).

The third story which was gathered from prominent leaders is politically related. According to this story, the four original barrios (Mission, Bandril, Poblacion East, and Sarmingan) that constituted the town appeared to be scattered because between them were some barrios of Narvacan. One elder man of the village uttered in the Iloco dialect “Nawara, masapul a buklen” (they are scattered, they have to be united). Maybe the elder village leaders negotiated with the leaders of Narvacan (Nagbukel then was part of Narvacan) so that all places east of the Cayapa River be constituted as one area. After the successful negotiation, the people exclaimed “Nagbukel”. From this incident and word “Nagbukelan”, the people since then up to the present call the aggregated area which later became a regular municipality “NAGBUKEL”.

Creation of the Municipality

The barrios which compose the municipality of Nagbukel were formerly parts of the Municipality of Narvacan. In 1896, Nagbukel became a township under the Spanish government. It was only in mid-1900’s when the town became a regular municipality.

Nagbukel is administratively subdivided into 12 barangays:

-Balaweg
-Bandril
-Bantugo
-Cadacad
-Casilagan
-Casocos
-Lapting
-Mapisi
-Mission
-Poblacion East
-Poblacion West
-Taleb