By Ramon Dacawi
BANAUE, Ifugao -- The partnership between expatriates and locals envisioned by the late Rex Botengan Sr. for the development of the Cordillera will be pursued in the 7th biennial International Igorot Consultation which started yesterday until April 15 here at the Banaue Hotel.
Some 150 expats led by Ray Baguilat Jr., president of the Igorot Global Organization founded by Botengan, were expected for the consultation on the theme “Nurturing our culture and resources to chart and secure our destiny”.
Program committee chair Philian Weygan said current issues affecting the Cordillera will be discussed today in parallel presentations divided into six panels, including two on the involvement of Cordillera expats in regional development.
Victoria Tauli, chair of the United Nations’ Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, will head one panel on overseas participation in development with an update on the UN declaration on the rights of indigenous peoples.
She will be with Ceasar Castro of the BIBAK Vancouver and Bayaihan Health Society in Canada who will dwell on health program assistance and London-based Engr. Edmund Bugnosen who will focus on environmental conservation.
Specific projects in support to the Cordillera will be handled in another panel by Carol Weygan-Hildebrand of the Hawaii Workforce Development Council, Lambert Sagalla, president of the St. Mary’s School Alumni Association, and engineer. Dan Peckley, president of Japan Igorots.
Another panel on “Culture: Pride of the Igorots”, will feature Patricia Afable of the Smithsonian Institute, Catholic priest Patricio Guyguyon and Nora Linda Mondonedo, president of the Cordillera News Agency.
Together under “Culture in Transition” are Dianne Dakker of the Summer Institute of Linguistics on “A mother tongue-based multilingual education innovation in Kalinta”, Gaston Kibiten of St. Louis University on the practice of clan reunions among Kankanaeys, and regional director Amador Batay-an of the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples on the status of the government’s program for indigenous peoples.
The regional perspective will be presented by regional economic and development director Juan Ngalob, regional police director, Chief Supt. Eugene Martin, education superintendent Ellen Donato and former mayor Edna Tabanda of La Trinidad, Benguet.
Still under another panel are Ifugao. Gov. Teddy Baguilat on vanishing culture and the preservation of the rice terraces, lawyer Marvic Leonen on land rights, and former Cordillera Executive Board director Fernando Bahatan on “The Aging Population of Ifugao”.
The discussions will lead to three workshops and strategic planning on the panel themes of culture, development and overseas participation in development.
Igorot youth from all over will have their own consultations and planning sessions, aside from community exposure.
Weygan said the ceremonies will include the presentation of a posthumous award to Botengan who was instrumental in the establishment and firming up of the biennial consultation and other programs and projects of BIBAK chapters in various parts of the world.
BIBAK stands for Baguio, Benguet, Ifugao, Bontoc (Mt. Province), Apayao, Abra, Kalinga, the city and provinces making up the Cordillera region.
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