BAGUIO CITY – Mayor Mauricio G. Domogan urged the present and future generations of Cordillerans to continue the age-old practice of respecting the elders in their communities and pass on the same to the upcoming generations.
The local chief executive said that he was taught during his younger years in the hinterlands of the Cordillera to listen to the wisdom of the elders who had been time and again reminding the youth in their village to have their faith in the Lord and learn to distinguish the good and bad acts to help them to grow as responsible citizens of their communities.
Domogan was one of the Cordillera leaders who delivered a message during the culmination of the Indigenous Peoples (IP) month celebration last Monday held at the FVR youth center.
“We would like to reiterate to our younger brothers and sisters to learn to continue upholding our age-old practice of respecting our elders because they are in the know on how to guide us in the right direction in life. Let us always seek the wisdom of our elders in every endeavour that we do,” Domogan stressed.
He said that as an individual who grew up in the care of an elder after he was orphaned at an early age, he learned these elders always have the wisdom in providing simple but applicable advise to guide the youth in meeting challenges that come their way.
According to him, it is always best for the youth to always seek advise from the elders before coming out with life-changing decisions to guide them in making wise decisions that will help them to climb the ladder to success.
He claimed that elders often reminded him and others in his youth to save portions of their earnings to meet emergency and future needs.
In terms of work, Domogan urged the youth to value any available work and love their work because this be the source of the needed resources they could use to move on to greater heights and climb up the ladder of success.
He explained elders have the practical solutions to the problems gained from experience that may be helpful for people in achieving success, thus, it is important to swallow one’s pride and seek advise from elders, then reflect on these advise before coming out the right decisions in life.
More often than not, he noted, elders share their ideas by providing concrete examples from experience that provide young ones with simple thoughts in life and hurdling challenges.
The IP month celebration was spearheaded by the Cordillera office of the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP-CAR) in collaboration with the different NCIP provincial offices in the different parts of the region.
By Dexter A. See