Lang-ay 2008: Sen. Revilla, guest speaker, says “monitor Halsema”

Lang-ay 2008 Festival Revisited

The fourth staging of the Lang-ay Festival with theme, “Living tradition: We care and share” was observed with the rich culture of Mountain Province, a display of its abundant local products, and Senator Ramon Revilla as the guest of honor.

An agro-industrial fair kicked off the activity with a display of local products with a contest of Pinaka and the best booth. A farmers’ forum was also held. Coffee Arabica was served to the public.

Tribal sports on ‘Gimata’ race and pounding rice, indigenous games, cultural dance presentation combined with street dancing parade, indigenous sports, day-eng contest, and cultural fashion show highlighted cultural practices among the Balangao, Baliwon, Aplai, Kankana-ey and Bontoc tribes living in the Mountain Province. An indigenous worship and concert highlighted the event.

The street dancing was composed of two groups: the Children Street Dancing and the Mixed-age Group of all ages with a minimum of 60 to a maximum of 100 performers to include dancers, musicians and prop-bearers.

Lomban di amam-a ya inin-a (marathon for the elderly) was open to men with ages 50 years old and above for the 5km run and women 45 years old and above for the 3km run.

Other activities include mountain trekking, skills fair/showcase, search for Ms. Mountain Province, Lang-ay Theme song competition and oratorical contest with the theme “Gawis ay Mountain Province”

A medical/dental mission and a job fair also highlighted the event,
People from Mountain Province who came home from other places and categorized as 11th Municipality had a special Socials Night.

The Regional Development Council also held its meeting here.

Special guest Senator Ramon "Bong" Revilla Jr. called on the people of Mountain Province to continuously monitor the multi- billion peso Halsema Highway. He bared the that the on-going improvement of the Halsema Highway is one of the infrastructure projects in the country being monitored by his committee, the Senate Committee on Public Works.

Revilla stressed that the rehabilitation of the 85- kilometer highway will shorten travel time and this will benefit the people of Mountain Province in terms of delivery of goods and tourism.
"Lang-ay means oneness. Let us also practice this spirit not only during the festival. We must all be onein ensuring that this road will last longer," he added.

From the P1.5 million allocation in 2007, the provincial government increased the Lang-ay allocation for 2008 to P2 million. Financial assistance of P50, 000 was given to each of the ten municipalities to defray cost of coordination, and rehearsal for street dancing, props and costumes, and honorarium of municipal coordinator/choreographer.

Source: Lang-ay Magazine 2009