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.
Wow. Seems like athletes from Baguio are winning — should we say, dominating — the third Philippine Olympic Festival for Central Northern Luzon which is being held in Subic Bay, Olongapo. Here’s a report from the Inquirer on the feats of Baguio athletes. You can read the earlier reports here and here. Go, Baguio. Continue Reading…
Here’s an interesting story about the packaging of Bontoc as a tourism destination. Just some quick comments for the one who wrote the story hehe.
* Bontoc is part of the highlands. It may be lower in elevation than Sagada or Banaue but it is very much a part of the Cordillera highlands.
* People of Bontoc are iBontocs/iFontoks and not Ifugaos. Ifugao is a separate province so its not correct to say that Bontoc has an “Ifugao heritage”.
* What exactly does “descendants of old tribes” mean?
Anyways, according to this report, there is a plan to build an airport on top of one of them thar mountains and iFontoks are resisting the idea.
If I am from Bontoc, I would also resist it. Well, I’m from neighboring Sagada so maybe I should also join the resistance hehe. The problem with tourist-oriented projects like this is that they are conceived to please the tourist.
Nothing wrong really with trying to attract tourists but if the primary reason for planning an airport is to make it easy for them to go traipse in the boondocks for a day then I’d say it is a bad idea. And those who resist this idea, i.e., “the descendants of old tribes”, should not be portrayed, as this article (or its source) slightly does, as anti-development.
Anyways, in our bid to attract tourists we should also be mindful of the social costs of tourism. I believe that sacrificing the ancestral domains of the “descendants of old tribes” for an airport designed for tourists is, at the end of the day, going to be more costly than the income we’ll get from tourism.
Now, if the people of Bontoc themselves are clamoring for an airport then maybe you can justify an airport. Continue Reading…
Kudos to Ifugao Governor Teddy Baguilat for working out this deal which will result in more tax money (in the tune of P57 million) flowing into Ifugao. Equal kudos goes to Isabela Governor Grace Padaca for agreeing to the deal. Finally, the court which brokered the agreement also deserves kudos. As Trublue says, “Cheers to you all!”
BAGUIO CITY – Ifugao and Isabela have agreed to split a P114-million transfer tax paid by the new operators of the 360-megawatt Magat hydroelectric power plant, easing the tension between the two provinces over the power facilities’ profits.
Ifugao Gov. Teodoro Baguilat Jr. said he and Isabela Gov. Maria Gracia Cielo Padaca agreed to a 50-50 percent split during a six-hour meeting at an Isabela resort on Monday.
It was the first meeting set to resolve their legal and boundary problems, which resurfaced when Magat was sold to the SN Aboitiz Power Inc. (Snap) in 2007, Baguilat said.
The Bureau of Internal Revenue said taxes were paid to Isabela in the last few years of the Magat plant operations because the facility was located in what had previously been acknowledged as Isabela territory.
Magat’s main plant is located in Ramon town. But Baguilat said some of the areas attributed to Isabela are Ifugao lands. Continue Reading…
Congratulations to these two groups of students from the Mt. Province General Comprehensive High School (MPGCHS) in Bontoc who won blogging awards sponsored by the Southeast Asian Ministries of Education Organization, Regional Language Center (SEAMEO-RELC) in Singapore. Here’s the report courtesy of the Philippine Information Agency. Continue Reading…
Arggh. We almost missed blogging about this. Bad, bad us. We actually planned to blog about the Lang-ay Festival which ends tomorrow with a street dancing parade in Bontoc but we’ve been busy hehe. Anyways, its better late than never.
Mountain Province celebrates the Lang-Ay Festival Manila Bulletin
Mountain Province is staging the fourth “Lang-Ay Festival” in celebration of Mountain Province Day on April 7. The weeklong festival starts on April 1 and culminates on April 7.
The “Lang-Ay Festival” was the biggest crowd-drawer event in the province when it was launched in 2004 to promote the wine production business in the province. With the success of the first “Lang-Ay Festival,” it was made part of the annual cultural activities of Mountain Province Day. Continue Reading…
It’s not often that Cordi legislators land in the news for their legislative initiatives so this news report is interesting. Not sure what to say about it yet but we hope to get a copy of the bill to understand it more clearly hehe.
Based on the report below however, it seems like the bill is out to do a lot of things: sanction impersonators (does this include anti-Gloria impersonators?); prohibit religious or racial discrimination; prevent unnecessary, unjustified, illegal and degrading search because of his or her clothing, religion, color, creed and ethnic identity; discrimination of job applicants because of his or her name, religion or ethnic background; etc.
Quite a tall order. By the way, I heard some stories about our Muslim brothers and sisters having to change their names to non-Muslim sounding ones just so they can have a chance to get employed. Apparently, some employers/recruiters will reject a candidate’s resume simply because of his/her Muslim name.
How bad is that? Very bad. And we have the gall to call ourselves “the only Christian nation in Asia”. What a shame, no?
