the city, Dadiangas, is from the Ziziphus spina-christi tree that was once abundant in the area and is now a protected species under Republic Act 8371 or the Indigenous Peoples Right Act of 2007. The Blaan now lives alongside the city's new generation of settlers and other immigrants.

Beforehand, the Blaan would have been forced upland into the surrounding hills after the Muslims settled in the area under the rule of the Sultanate of Maguindanao.