TABUK CITY, Kalinga – The provincial board declared barangay Bugnay in the municipality of Tinglayan as a heritage village in the province to ensure the preservation and protection of its rich historical and cultural status and appropriated funds for the realization of the said endeavor.
Ordinance No. 2017-003 enacted by the provincial board headed by Vice Governor James Edduba stated the local legislative body deemed it appropriate to declare Barangay Bugnay as heritage village in the province in honor and in memory of the bravery of the late Macliing Dulag and Pedro Dungoc.
Under the ordinance, Edduba stated the provincial government shall provide funds for the establishment, improvement and maintenance of the concrete grave of Macliing Dulag and declare it as a memorial historical landmark because of its importance to the Cordillera and national history.
Barangay Bugnay is located along the mighty Chico River of the municipality of Tinglayan in the central Cordillera, north of Sadanga, Mountain Province, west of the municipality of Tanudan and south of the municipality of Lubuagan, both in Kalinga.
The ordinance noted that Bugnay is the home barangay of Macliing Dulag, a pangat or village elder, who bravely fought for the protection of the lands of the people from being unilaterally being taken by the national government in exchange for the implementation of the derailed Chico dam project and his supposed aide Pedro Dungoc, both risked their lives to spare their village from being submerged by the ambitious dam project.
Dulag was brutally murdered while Dungoc was seriously wounded for strongly leading the struggle and strong opposition of the villagers against the World Bank-funded Chico dam project under the Marcos regime in the late 1970s.
The ordinance added the Cordillera heroes led the strong opposition because the planned Chico dam project was designed to inundate the sacred indigenous peoples houses near the Chico river from south of Bontoc, Mountain Province to north of Tomiangan, Kalinga-Apayao to provide electricity to the lowlands.
However, the untimely death of Dulag strengthened the unity of the Cordillerans against the dam project that was eventually shelved by the government after the stiff resistance shown by the villagers who displayed their one of a kind unity to thwart the ambitious project that could have become the largest dam in Asia that time.
Edduba explained during the culmination of the Butbut Tribe Bodong Congress and the 37th commemoration of Dulag’s and Dungoc’s memorial that it was the consensus of provincial officials led by Gov. Jocel C. Baac to declare Bugnay as a heritage village because of its significant contribution to the region’s history and to guarantee the preservation of the way of life of the people, the state of the environment and the age-old culture and traditions of the villagers for them to successfully pass on to the present and future generations such unadulterated culture and history.
Edduba the province wants Bugnay to be the model of indigenous peoples communities not only in the region but also in the country because of its well-preserved and protected history and environment as well as culture. By HENT