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Thursday, May 13, 2010

High up there…

(Last night we were discussing about how the Mountain Province was so ideal for the summer vacations that Filipino families always look forward to. I'd like to share this little glimpse on the history of the place.)

Like gigantic stairways extending up over a thousand feet to the mountain sides are the rice terraces. Reportedly, when these are placed end to end, it is estimated to go halfway around the world at
12,000 miles. Such is this main tourist attraction of the Province of Ifugao.

Since the elementary grads we were taught how people from this mountainous region toiled for many, many years to make this most admired scenic spot in the Philippines. For so long now, the rice terraces are considered the 8th wonder of the world. If other wonders of the world are edifices realized by the incessant labors of the slaves like the pyramids of Egypt, our rice terraces are persistently built by free men to support themselves and their families because they loved life.

Where is the Province of Ifugao? You have to go up to the central Cordillera Mountains of Northern Luzon to reach Ifugao Province. It has rugged terrain and peaks. The Valley of the Magat River which is considered one of the most fertile places in the Philippines lies on the western part.

People here engage in agriculture and forestry. One important home industry in Ifugao is woodcarving. Rice is their main agricultural product that is grown in the beautiful terraces. These terraces are irrigated by a complex system of canals and big ditches extending into miles in length. They also grow crops like potato, taro, cotton, and vegetables – pea, beans, onions, and others.

During the first half of the 19th century, Guillermo Galvey, the Spanish explorer, led about 45 expeditions to the mountain.

At the outbreak of the Philippine Revolution in 1896, the Mountain Region was in a way unaffected by it. At the end of the Spanish rule, though, the region of the old Mountain Province was divided into several politico-military ‘comandancia’ – one of these was the ‘comandancia’ of Kiangan, presently called Ifugao.

Filipino soldiers who retreated to the central and northern Luzon went to the district of the Mountain Province during the Filipino-American war. General Emilio Aguinaldo, on his way to Palanan, Isabela retreated to Benguet, Bontoc, Ifugao and Kalinga.

August 18, 1908 – the Mountain Province was created as a separate province and divided into sub-provinces headed each by a lieutenant-governor by virtue of Republic Act 1876 of the Philippine Commission. At that time, the sub-province of Ifugao was still a part of Nueva Vizcaya when the latter was created into a regular province in 1839. Ifugao was later separated from Nueva Vizcaya and made into a sub-province of Mountain Province.
It was during the American occupation that Col. William C. Early became the Deputy military Governor of Ifugao in 1927. The last designated American Deputy military Governor was Col. William E. Dosser.

General Tomoyuki Yamashita, called the “Tiger of Malaya” established his ‘Yamashita Pocket’ here during the Japanese occupation. He was the commander of the 14th Area of the Japanese Imperial Army in the Philippines. His headquarters was in Kiangan, Ifugao and the Bontoc Area.

It was in Kiangan where Yamashita finally surrendered to the joint Filipino – American Forces in 1945. His admission of defeat marked the liberation of the Philippines from the Japanese forces.

On June 18, 1966, by virtue of RA No. 4695, the sub-province of Ifugao was created into a regular province along with Benguet, Kalinga-Apayao, and the Mountain Province.

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