IN A bid to make the Ayyoweng di Lambak ed Tadian Festival an annual event, alderman in Tadian, an Mountain Province has moved to institutionalize the festival through Municipal Ordinance No. 7.
Authored by Committee on Indigenous People, Culture and the Arts Chairman Ventura Bitot, the alderman said the staging of the yearly festival starts on the second week of February until the first Sunday of March.
In the ordinance, Bitot said the festival aims to preserve Tadian’s cultural heritage geared towards peace, unity and progress; bring about cultural awareness and reaffirm identity; boost the socio-economic situation through enhanced product development and production; opening up of tourism opportunities; boost commerce and industry; enhanced preservation and protection of environment and natural resources.
The festival also hopes to enrich participation, unity and camaraderie among the constituents of the town, improve research and documentation on Tadian culture on oral literature such as folk tales, lexicon, legends, history and ethnic performing and visual arts such as dances, sounds, chants and rituals and to provide venue for education of children indigenous knowledge through cultural theatre practice ad festivals and strengthen inter-LGU agency relationships.
An executive committee was formed to oversee the staging of the festival composed of mayor, vice-mayor, local council, tourism officials, department heads and the 19 barangay chairmen.
The committee may include memberships from non-government organizations, people’s organization, private stakeholders and all other stakeholders.
The group is tasked to implement and evaluate the activities such as the famous indigenous game “bahagketball” (basketball in g-strings), gating volleyball (traditional wrap around skirt for Igorot women) and other indigenous games, street dancing and cultural presentation, bamboo musical instrument exhibition, and the Anap di Gatan ya Bangan di Tadian(Mr. and Ms. Tadian).
The ordinance was signed by Mayor Anthony Wooden and has allotted P500,000 as funding for the annual celebration while all other fees and donations collected from the staging of the festival will be deposited in a trust fund which will be considered and exclusively used as a revolving fund for the yearly Ayyoweng Festival.