BAGUIO CITY – Mayor Mauricio Domogan pointed out the importance of preserving the unique culture and heritage of the Cordillera region and pass on practices that are still applicable to the younger generation.
He made this assertion during the Onjon ni Ivadoy seminar-workshop last Wednesday at City Hall where the group tackled guidelines on its internal rules and regulations with lawyer Moises Cating and educator Jimmy Fong as resource persons.
Led by president Eroll Tagle, the Onjon is the largest organization of Ibaloys in the Summer Capital and Benguet province.
The Mayor said the whole-day activity shows the group’s earnestness in preserving its Ibaloy culture and heritage.
“Our culture and heritage are the identity we have as people of the Cordillera region. With the influence of outside factors in these modern times, if we do not preserve our culture and heritage, these will be lost,” he warns.
The Mayor said the virtues of respecting elders and having a “bayanihan spirit” that are embedded in the Cordilleran culture, must be preserved and inculcated in the minds of younger generations so that these practices will not be forgotten.
The Ibaloys are the original inhabitants of Baguio formerly known as “Kafagway” where its patriarch, Mateo Carino, was named by the Philippine Centennial Commission as a Centennial National Hero in 1998. His bust is at the Luneta Park in Metro Manila with other Centennial heroes. /Gaby Keith
