PRAYERS and a ritual will kick off this year’s simple and toned-down celebration of the 120th Benguet Foundation Day on Monday, November 23.
Governor Melchor Diclas said this year’s foundation anniversary will kick off with a Eucharistic Mass followed by lunch and awarding of the beautification road projects in the province.
In the afternoon, the Kankana-ey ritual "Lubon" will be conducted, where one male and a female pig will be butchered while elders pray for the safety of stakeholders and stop the further transmission of the novel coronavirus.
The province will not celebrate this year’s Adivay Festival, a celebration that gathers all 13 towns of the province that highlights the products and cultures of each municipality.
In previous years, more than 20 pigs were butchered to feed guests and stakeholders from the 13 towns of the province.
The Provincial Board of Benguet earlier proposed a resolution asking the province’s legislative caretaker to sponsor a bill declaring November 23 of every year as a non-working holiday in the province.
“There is a need for the Congress to pass a law declaring November 23 of every year as a non-working holiday in the province in order to ease the burden of having to request for the issuance of an Executive Order from the Office of the President to declare November 23 as a non-working holiday every time Benguet Foundation Day is celebrated,” the resolution reads.
Benguet Caretaker Eric Go Yap filed House Bill No. 8037, declaring November 23 of every year a special non-working holiday in the whole province in commemoration of its founding anniversary, to be known as “Benguet Day.”
“Ngayong taon, ating ginugunita ang ika-120 na anibersaryo ng ating probinsya. Ito ay pagkakataon para muling balikan ang ating mga karanasan na humubog sa atin kung nasaan na tayo ngayon. Ang bawat tagumpay, maliit man o malaki, ay nakamit dahil sa pagsisikap ng bawat taga-Benguet,” Yap said.
Yap added he wants Benguet to become a world-class tourist destination, owing to its rich natural resources, culture and people’s heritage.
“Ang mga produkto na galing sa atin at gawa ng taga-Benguet, gusto natin makilala na Made in Benguet. Sa muling pagbubukas ng ating turismo, itutuloy-tuloy lang natin ang pag-promote sa probinsya. Nagsimula sa Miss Universe Philippines sa Benguet, asahan ninyo na marami pa tayong programa na parating,” the lawmaker added.
"Bawat sulok ng Benguet ay sinisikap natin mapuntahan para maiparating sa bawat kababayan natin na abot-kamay lang ang mga serbisyo mula sa ating pamahalaan,” Yap said.