iBOONDOCK

Friends, let’s not be too snotty thinking that wisdom does not spring forth from the mouth of artistas. Here’s the words of wisdom from artista/Senator Ramon “Bong” Revilla, Jr. during the recently held Lang-ay Festival where he was the guest speaker: “Lang-ay means oneness. Let us also practice this spirit not only during the festival.”

Oo nga naman. Oneness. Who would go against that, ano?

Bontoc folk urged to value Mt. Province road rehab
Bernadette E. Tamayo/Tempo
SEN. Ramon Revilla, Jr. has called on the people of Mountain Province to show appreciation of the rehabilitation of the multi-billion peso Halsema Highway by actively helping in its maintenance.

Revilla made the appeal during the commemoration of the Lang-ay Festival, the annual cultural event commemorating the charter of the province.
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Good luck to my good friend Philian Weygan and the rest of those organizing and joining the International Igorot Consultation this 12-15 April 2008 in Banaue, Ifugao. Visit Philian’s site for the schedule of activities or program overview as well as a backgrounder on the IIC.

Photo shamelessly stolen from Philian’s site.

Here’s a photo collection (in video format) of the recently concluded Lang-ay 2008 festival in Bontoc. Video courtesy of Rafael Manuel Jr.

Since, you will be watching a lot of the peoples of Mt. Province in the video, maybe this is a good time to talk a little bit about them. According to the National Statistics Office the population of Mt. Province is broken down as follows:

Applai: 2,947
Balangao/Baliwon:18,886
Bontok/Binontok: 2,510
Ibontoc: 17,234
Ilocano: 6,968
Kalinga: 2,468
Kankanai/Kankaney/Kankanaey: 72,694
Other Local Ethnicity: 16,197
Other Foreign Ethnicity: 22
Not Reported: 413

Total Mountain Province Population (Year 2000): 140,339

Apparently, because Kankanaeys compose a slight majority of the population, the NSO ridiculously dubbed Mt. Province as “Home of the Kankanais”. Hah, maybe we should encourage our Bontoc and Baliwon/Balangao activist-friends to make “sugod” the NSO to change their ill-advised title/description for Mt. Province. What you think, Layad?

Anyways, Applai is a Kankanaey sub-tribe so they should be included in the Kankanaey total. The Bontok/Binontok and Ibontoc are, of course, one group and should not have a separate count. Meanwhile, in case you are wondering, the Balangaos/Baliwons are from the eastern part of Mt. Province particularly Natonin and Paracelis.

I hope the NSO made a breakdown of the 16,197 who are listed as “other local ethnicity” but maybe they’re busy spending all their time coming up with trying-to-be-catchy-but-actually-silly titles like “Home of the Kankanais”.

Hala, let’s make sugod na the NSO so it will change that ridiculous title with an inclusive one.