History of Barangay Dinaga
Barangay Dinaga is another of the five barangays that constitute the poblacion of Canaman. It is bounded on the north by the Canaman Creek. It’s southern side is a flat stretch of rice lands that reach all the way to the barangays of San Vicente and Del Rosario. Dinaga’s eastern part shares its boundary with Baras and Haring, while to its west is the barangay of Pangpang, the common boundary of which runs straight down the middle of the town’s Catholic church.
It may be accurately said that Dinaga is a spinoff of Pangpang, and that Dinaga evidently came into official being during the Spanish times, perhaps during the latter part of the 1600s. Before that, the area was a low, marshy place which went under water the high tide from San Miguel Bay caused the waters of the Bicol River to back up and prevented the creek from emptying into it. These daily tidal floods were worsened whenever it remained, thus the people had no desire to live in the swampy place.
Over time, however, as its population increased, the smallsized settlement of Pangpang began to run out of space. Pangpang’s northward expansion was geographically (and in a sense, culturally) limited by a natural boundary that was the Canaman Creek; westward, similarly by a branch of the same then-deepflowing “sulong”, across which lay what was to be known as Tibgao, an area thick with tall grass that posed a health hazard while providing marginal livelihood to the people. The logical point for expansion therefore was towards the eastern flank of Pangpang, in the low, swampy area east of the Catholic church, particularly since a major trail already lay in that direction.
Oral history says that before the people moves into the low-lying area, they patiently dumped earthfill into the place in order to keep the daily tidal flood away from their new homesites. Obviously, the work—most likely done by a combination of community “honglonan” and corvee labor, or polo—stretched over time, with the inhabitants first building up the site where they had settled in, on the western portion of the present barangay, immediately beside the church. Later on, as more people settled the place which later on became part of the central settlement (casco de la poblacion), they dumped more earthfill on both sides of the trail leading towards the cemetery, the parallel earthfill just wide enough to build houses on. Thus the raised portion of Dinaga is axed-shaped, with its western end the head and its eastern side the handle. It also helps explain why houses on its eastern portion are laid out in a lineal pattern, as against the grid pattern in the western side as well as in adjacent Pangpang.
Logically, too, the people originally referred to the place as “dinagaan” (“filled with earth”), Later, usage shortened the referential name to Dinaga, and it is the name that the barangay carries some three centuries later, although for a while in the early 1900s it went by the name “Bagongbayan”.
The Principal livelihood of the people are farming and fishing, supplemented by backyard animal production (poultry and hog raising).
Source: Canaman Through the Centuries: A Portrait of an Historied Bikol Town and Its People by Jose V. Barrameda
Physical Characteristics
Barangay Dinaga is bounded on the north by the Canaman Creek. It’s southern side is a flat stretch of rice lands that reach all the way to the barangays of San Vicente and Del Rosario. Dinaga’s eastern part shares its boundary with Baras and Haring, while to its west is the barangay of Pangpang, the common boundary of which runs straight down the middle of the town’s Catholic church.
It has an aggregate area of 50.3638 has. or 1.16% of the total land area of the municipality. It is made up of 6 puroks.
Educational, Health and Service Facilities
Immediate need for health services in the barangay is undertaken by 3 Barangay Health Workers and supplemented by twice a month visitation by the Municipal Midwife. The residents can also access the services of the Municipal Health Office located in the town proper situated at barangay Pangpang just beside Dinaga. Serious cases can be brought directly to Naga City which is about 5.5 kilometers from the barangay.
Barangay Dinaga has no elementary school. However, public elementary school can be accessed in the poblacion which is less than a kilometer away or in the neighboring barangay of Poro which is about a kilometer away. The nearest High School is located in Barangay Sta. Cruz, Canaman which is about 1 kilometer from the barangay.
Tertiary Education facilities can be found in Barangay Baras (about 2.5 kms. from the barangay) and Naga City (about 5.5 kms from the barangay).
A Day Care Worker (funded by the barangay with municipal counterpart) undertakes day care services to the children aged 3-5 years old.
Mode of Public Transportation
The entire 6 puroks of the barangay is traversed by a concrete provincial road Given the road condition, public transportation for barangay Dinaga is highly accessible, which are usually available as early as 4 a.m. and as late as 12midnight.
Credit Institutions
The barangay is served by several credit institutions (private and government) including those offered by private individuals. TSPI and CARD Bank, are the more prominent private lending institutions in the barangay. The Municipal Government also offers micro-lending services to identified sectors, including the micro entrepreneurs and farmers. Private individuals (5-6 or bumbay type) and compradors also offer credit services to individuals in the barangay.
Water & Electric Supply
Barangay Dinaga is serviced by the Metro Naga Water District. However, some of the people in the barangay do not use the water from the pipeline for drinking, some of them get their drinking water from water lorry that ply the area for a fee (at P6 per 16 liter container). Others who can afford buy from water purifying stations that deliver water to their doorsteps at P35 per 16-liter container. This situation is amplified by the CBMS results which revealed that 66.5% or 236 of the total 355 households in the barangay have no access to safe water.
As to electricity, all the six puroks of the barangay has electrical facilities through CASURECO II. However, there are still several households with no electrical connections due to economic reasons.
Waste Management
The barangay has no Materials Recovery Facility and no established waste management system. Every Monday, Wednesday and Friday a “padyak” roves around the entire 6 puroks of the barangay to collect garbages as early as 7 o’clock in the morning. But still some of the residents dispose their wastes thru burning or in open pits. It can be mentioned that the barangay is reached by roving “Bote-Bakal-Plastic” buyers.
Peace and Order
The barangay is generally peaceful. Peace and order in the barangay is handled by the Barangay Tanods with regular detail duties and foot patrol every night. CBMS 2009 data shows that 9 households said that they were victimized by crime against property.
Barangay Officials
Barangay Dinaga has the following Barangay Officials, to wit:
Barangay Officials 2007-2010:
Punong Barangay: Roy Gumba
Barangay Kagawads:
1. Romulo S. Santos
2. Macario Jommel P de la Rosa
3. Raulito R. Pante
4. Gregorio M. Vargas, Sr.
5. Elthon S. Aguilar
6. Jose M. Gerona
7. Ana Maria A. Gamboa
8. Neil Tristan A. Requejo – SK Chairman
Barangay Secretary: Lani M. Melitante
Barangay Treasurer: Fatima C. Santos
Barangay Officials 2010-2013:
Punong Barangay: Virgilio Hermoso
Barangay Kagawads:
1. Jose C. Tesoro
2. Nestor Africa
3. Elthon S. Aguilar
4. Raulito R. Pante
5. Arnold S. Atencia
6. Prudencia B. Gerona
7. Ofelia B. De Vera
8. Alfonso S. Ayo – SK Chairman