iBOONDOCK

Shall we have a running tally of this emerging rivalry? Even if Kalinga Representative Manuel Agyao has been appointed as “caretaker”, we hope Mt. Province officials will lobby to have a special election held so the peoples choice will come out. Eh matagal pa naman ang 2010 elections.

Kalinga solon appointed as Mountain Province congressional caretaker
By Dexter See/Northern Philippine Times

BONTOC, Mountain Province – House Speaker Prospero Nograles appointed first-term Kalinga Rep. Manuel S. Agyao as the caretaker of the congressional post of this province which was vacated by the demise of veteran lawmaker Victor S. Dominguez last Feb. 8.

Nograles appointed Agyao even as some politicians in the province endorsed Baguio City Rep. Mauricio G. Domogan as caretaker of the vacant congressional post for over two months now.
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UN representative baptized as princess of Bontoc’s Chico River
GMA Network

BONTOC, Mountain Province – Suneeta Mukherjee, the representative of the United Nations Fund for Population Activities (UNFPA) in the Philippines, was baptized as “wagchas” or the “Princess of Chico River” by local government officials in an elaborate ceremony here.

Does that mean that Mukherjee, an Indian national and a strict vegetarian, would be able to partake of pork, the favorite food in Bontoc?

“No,” said Gov. Maximo Dalog. “But this is our way of saying that we are serious in our thrust for population management and development.”

Mountain Province and nearby Ifugao were among the few provinces in Northern Philippines that passed a code for comprehensive reproductive health.

Dalog said that the implementing rules and regulations of the code, as well as the Gender and Development Code were approved recently.

Mukherjee said local government units should not wait for the House and Senate to pass the National Reproductive Health Code.

*****

OUR TAKE: Hmmm. Princess of Chico River? What a title. Hindi kaya magalit ang mga bading sa Bontoc because that title should be bestowed to one of them not to some “interloper”. Hehe. Joke lang, UNFPA Representative.

Anyways, it’s good that Cordi local government units (LGU) view reproductive health as an important issue. Kudos goes to Ifugao for being the first province in the entire country to pass a reproductive health ordinance. Mt. Province followed and is the second province in the Cordilleras to do so.

Now, after passing their ordinances, the officials of Ifugao and Mt. Province should now buckle down to work to make their ordinance a reality. Let’s hope they won’t back down if the Catholic Bishops threaten them with excommunication, deny them communion, or anything like that.

Ito naman kasing mga obispo sa Pilipinas, biro mo ba namang they equate using condoms or other birth control methods with killing life daw. How very 19th century, ano?

Here’s a video report from GMA News on the recently concluded Lang-ay Festival. The video itself isn’t very good (it’s blurred in some parts) but it features an interview with Governor Maximo Dalog, the wedding of Dave and Janice Gulian in Sagada, and some shots of our favorite Anglican priest, Fr. Ben Solang.

Related: Lang-ay 2008 Video

Video source: GMANews.TV

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.
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Image credit: Imagezoo.com

The above cartoon illustrates the state of affairs in Mt. Province where political forces are fighting to determine who should temporarily fill up the congressional position of the departed Rep. Victor Dominguez.

We have already said the things we have to say on this matter here and here. But here’s the latest developments according to a report by Dexter See. Let’s take the claims of both sides with a grain of salt.
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Bayyo. Bontoc. Mt. Province. Photo: Gloria Tuazon.

What do you do during Easter? I used to attend an ecumenical Easter sunrise service but my lazy bones are cranky and are not willing to be hauled early in the morning to attend the service held in the other edge of town. But I should be going to church to fellowship with other Igorots in the city. Happy Easter to all of us. Have fun hunting those Easter eggs. Thanks for all your support.

We keep “stealing” from the Inquirer but we can’t help it, it’s in our naycha. Or that seems to be the nature of blogging. Anyways, here’s a report from Vincent Cabreza about a study which found out that OFWs are a new power bloc in their communities. I’m sure you kinda know that already but it’s good to have your anecdotal evidence established by members of the academe. From the Inquirer:

Ngoddo’s study looked at how indigenous communities in Sadanga, Mt. Province, coped with modern life and a cash economy that “eroded” traditional community partnerships.

Villagers often cooperated in the annual cleaning of communal irrigation canals, but have been hiring contractors to do the task because money, some traced back to OFWs, was available, she said.

Ngoddo said OFWs were being counted among the villages’ more influential people to whom residents turn to solve community problems.

So is it a sad development when people no longer work together as a community because there’s money to pay contractors who’ll do the work anyway? We think it is. Maybe Marcos, for all his faults, had a good idea when he organized those Sanggunian this, Sanggunian that, community patrols, barangay brigades, etc. etc. ano?