Community unity, resilience highlight Bontoc founding day

By Alpine L. Killa

BONTOC, Mountain Province – Unity, resilience, creativity, innovations, and adapting to changes to cope with the Covid-19 pandemic are the traits of the Bontoc community highlighted during celebration of the 113th Bontoc founding anniversary last Sept. 16 at the Bontoc Municipal Capitol grounds.
    By tradition, a grand celebration was held yearly to celebrate the Bontoc anniversary and Am-among Festival. Due to the health crisis and in compliance with health protocols, a thanksgiving mass celebrated by The Most Rev. Valentine Dimoc and a simple program were held with limited crowd this year.
    Mayor Franklin Odsey in his message said it had been a challenging year, and everyone has struggled to meet the challenges to stay strong and prepare for the changes and resetting of plans due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
    “It taught us many lessons and I know we will emerge from it, strengthened and enriched. This pandemic has shown us the value of partnerships as one community, and how, together, we can make a difference in people’s lives,” Odsey added.
Mountain Province State Polytechnic College (MPSPC) president Dr. Rexton Chakas, who was guest speaker during the celebration, reminisced joyous celebrations of the Bontoc founding anniversary and Am-among festival in the past years.
    “The celebration marks the beginning of a new year for Bontoc as well as to re-design our strategies and achieve our goals of sustainable development. The celebration is a way of stepping back to re-imagine the Bontoc we would like to live in, Chakas said.
    The guest speaker relayed his research on the significant initiatives and measures passed by the Sangguniang Bayan of Bontoc from 2015-2020 to address Sustainable Development Goals.These include eradicating poverty, ending hunger, ensuring health and well-being, and providing sanitation.
    He said he did this research because the constituents of this capital town are satisfied with the programs and services of the Bontoc local government.
    This was reflected in the survey conducted by the Research Section of the Mountain Province State Polytechnic College (MPSPC) under the 2018 Citizen Satisfaction Index System (CSIS) of the Dept. of Interior and Local Government (DILG).
    Mountain Province House Rep. Maximo Dalog, Jr., joined officials and the guest speaker in acknowledging that cooperation of everyone is a requisite of sustainable development.
    “Let us continue with the good cultural traits of ours such as the Og-ogfo, which is the best exhibition of our unique culture of helping one another as we endeavor to make life better for our people and our communities. Our oneness and cooperation, if done together, makes our burden lighter and life better especially during these trying times,” Dalog said.
    The lawmaker added that despite the pandemic, there have been many achievements of Bontoc that its people can be proud of. He lauded the Bontoc LGU as the only LGU in the entire Cordillera region qualified for the Performance-Based Bonus granted by the national government for the year 2020 and given this year 2021. Likewise, the Bontoc is a Seal of Good Local Governance (SGLG) Awardee which is one of the highest awards given by the DILG to LGUs which recorded exemplary performance in government service.
    Under the leadership of Mayor Odsey, the municipality of Bontoc passed the test of good governance for three consecutive years from 2017 and was the lone awardee in Mountain Province in 2018 and 2019.
    Gov. Bonifacio Lacwasan, Jr., in his message, said the government has to adjust and strategize with the policies, plans, and programs in response to the pandemic. Despite the adjustment to the “new normal”, Lacwasan mentioned that the pandemic has strengthened the Bayanihan spirit and family ties.
    Bauko Mayor Abraham Akilit who is also representing the League of the Municipalities of the Philippines (LMP)- Mountain Province Chapter is one with the officials in recognizing the “Bayanihan”/ Og-ogfo spirit” of all Cordillerans which is very much alive.
    Focusing on the theme, he cited need for the government to innovate its policies to contain the virus while ensuring that the negative effects are at the minimum possible.
    In closing, Vice Mayor Eusebio Kabluyen thanked everyone for extending their help in the current health crisis. Likewise, he joined the officials in conveying their felicitations to the Bontoc community in celebration of the 113th founding anniversary of this capital town.