Abstract—National Steel Corporation popularly abbreviated as NSC was once the pride of the Philippines for its dream of fully industrializing the country and making it a tiger economy. Organized in 1974, NSC bestowed economic prosperity to Iligan City. NSC’s prosperity was the brainchild of the establishment of Steeltown Subdivision in 1987, an exclusive village for NSC employees. With NSC in operation, the village gained prominence in Iligan City. NSC employees manifested distinction from the rest of working class in Iligan City and village created uproar in Iligan City. But in 1995, the sun finally set on NSC, after its privatization, it was start of the troubled years of the company, accompanied with financial problems, mismanagement, and Asian financial crisis, etc., NSC ceased operation in 1999. The closure came as a surprise and brought distress to employees and to Steeltown subdivision. The company’s demise was the beginning of social and economic decay of the village. This paper narrates the dramatic transformation of Steeltown Subdivision from being an exclusive to common village. It aims to share moral values and lessons that can be glimpsed out of people’s experience involved in the study. Index Terms—Collapse, industrialization, national steel corporation, steeltown subdivision. I. INTRODUCTION After the harnessing of the energy potentials found in the Agus River, Iligan City from a “sleepy town” in the late fifties begun its booming years. Further development came when Iligan chartered into a City on June 16, 1950 after Pres. Elpidio Quirino signed R.A. No.525. Iligan City then became known as the Industrialize City of the South. The first remarkable step towards industrialization was the construction of Maria Cristina Hydroelectric Plant together with a companion fertilizer plant- Maria Cristina Fertilizer Plant. The fertilizer plant became one of the three big customers of NPC in Iligan. The other two were the government-owned steel mill called National Shipyard and Steel Corporation and the city’s electric franchise holder called Iligan Electric Company. [1] Manuscript received June 7, 2013; revised August 8, 2013. This work is supported by History Department, Mindanao State University-Iligan Institute of Technology, Tibanga, Iligan City, Philippines. The authors are with the History Department, Mindanao State University- Iligan Institute of Technology, Iligan City, Philippines (e-mail: xandelynracelreyes@y7mail.com). II. METHODOLOGY In dealing with the study, the authors used the qualitative research approach. Authors faced the common problem in dealing with local history studies, the scarcity of written sources. However, in order to strengthen the argument in the paper interview method was heavily employed. Selections of respondents were carefully screened. The large number of informants were former NSC employees and at the same time resident of the village. Residents from Sta. Elena were also interviewed since they were witness of the transformation of Steeltown from being exclusive to common village. Researchers also interviewed residents who, after NSC’s collapse were able to acquire house units from the employees. Interviews were recorded and then transcribed. List of respondents are provided in the table below (Table I). TABLE I: LIST OF INTERVIEWS Name of Respondents Type of Interview Date of Interview 1.Abalde, Celbert Personal Interview November 16, 2009 2. Alicaway, Ruperto Personal Interview January 24, 2010 3.Balazo, Jesus Personal Interview January 24, 2010 4.Borres, Geneil Personal Interview December 22, 2009 5.Camanan, Calixto Personal Interview January 24, 2010 6.Caye, Macapado Personal Interview January 21, 2010 7.Laguindab, Ali Personal Interview January 22, 2010 8.Mendoza, Kris Personal Interview January 19, 2010 9.Monteron, Eleonor Personal Interview January 19, 2010 10.Montesclaros,ReyLuis Personal Interview December 10, 2009 11.Nietes, Nelson Personal Interview November 10, 2009 12.Pagunsan, Nicholas Personal Interview January 20, 2010 13.Pareno, Odette Personal Interview November 16, 2009 14.Saritado, Medilisa Personal Interview January 21, 2010 15.Sumaylo, Dominico Personal Interview December 23, 2009 16.Tawingan, Pacita Personal Interview January 24, 2010 III. BRIEF HISTORY OF NATIONAL STEEL CORPORATION The abundance of supply of iron scrap after World War II gave birth to the establishment of National Shipyard and Steel Corporation in Iligan City. The company primarily produced steel ingots, billets, reinforcing bars, angular channels, steel shapes and rods. But after supply became scarce the steel bar manufacturing turned into an integrated steel mill, a project assisted by United Nations. Based on studies, Philippines were only second to the Japanese of constructing an integrated steel mill before the Koreans and Taiwanese. [2] However, the need to purchase US equipment and services led to the negotiations of $62.3 million loan From Exclusive to Common Village: Steeltown, before and after the Collapse of National Steel Corporation, Iligan City, Philippines Xandelyn Racel B. Reyes, Celyn J. Teatro, Annalou C. Dimantaga, and Froumilyn L. Ochea 54 International Journal of Social Science and Humanity, Vol. 4, No. 1, January 2014 DOI: 10.7763/IJSSH.2014.V4.318