BENGUET Board Member Sario Copas is seeking for the approval of an ordinance requiring the exercise of pertinent rituals pursuant to traditions and customs of the province.
Copas, the current Indigenous Peoples Mandatory Representative, stressed the ordinance draws to preserve the culture and tradition of the province by performing pertinent and appropriate rituals.
The province holds different ethnic tribes considered lingually different but not apart from the belief system.
“Our belief system is alike except with a little deviation in methods of performance but does not change the intent and purpose,” stated Copas.
The ordinance dubbed as the “Inayan ordinance of the province of Benguet” which believes in the existence of the unseen known as “Adi-Kaila” or “Mengos” thought to be the protector and benefactor of all things.
Although unwritten, the belief has stemmed in the customs and traditions preserved by native priests in the form of rituals and passed from one generation up to present.
The rituals to be exercised depend on the ethnic tribe, while the animals to be butchered depend on such orientation. A dog may be butchered if it will be done as part of the ritual required by the ethnic custom of the performer.
“Let us seek the information of the unseen so in executing projects, of course, be at peace with the unseen spirits,” said Copas adding the rituals seek to ask the unseen will thwart bad omen and avoid unwanted incidents and ask favor to bless a newly established project.
The proposed ordinance is anchored from the Philippine Constitution which declares the preservation of the Filipino culture and strengthened in the National Cultural Heritage Act of 2009.