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…
So you woke up one day and said, “Aha. I should buy myself a car. I need one to get to work on time.” But then you remember your mom saying, “Heh, cars. Do you really need one? Just get up early so you can get to work on time.”
Defensive, you say, “Of course I get up early. But my work starts quite early too. Last week my boss breathed down my neck because I was late. I don’t want him to do that again.”
Then you imagine your mom saying, “Whatever. You gotta do what you gotta do.”
Anyways, for those of you planning to buy a car and who would like to do it through a financing plan, you might want to check out the Car Loan section of bestleadinglenders.com.
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…
Anyone of you looking for industrial-type products like gas springs, drive belts, gaskets, and surveyors? Or do you have companies that produce these things or other industrial products and you would like your company to be listed in an online directory for free? Then you might want to check out Zycon, a website directory for industrial products .
So if you are, say, an engineer or a contractor and you need a hard-to-find product for that building project you are doing, Zycon could be a good place to start that search. Of course, as we said above, manufacturers and distributors can also have their contact information listed in the Zycon directory for free.
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…
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