MANKAYAN, Benguet – The municipal government will be celebrating the town’s founding anniversary on March 10, 2022 with a very simple program in compliance with the implementation of the minimum public health standards to contain the rapid spread of the dreaded Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) triggered by the more infectious and more transmissible Omicron variant.
Mayor Frenzel Ayong underscored that the municipal government does not want to take risk in the conduct of public gatherings to celebrate the upcoming founding anniversary of the municipality so it wants to ensure there will be no untoward incident that will trigger another surge in COVID-19 cases.
He added he will be convening the concerned members of the organizing committee to discuss and agree on the parts of the simple program of the municipal government to celebrate the town’s founding anniversary on March 19, 2022.
Last year, Mankayan celebrated the town’s founding anniversary with a simple program where Benguet caretaker congressman and AntiCrime and Terrorism through Community Involvement and Support (ACT-CIS) Party-list Rep. Eric Yap was the guest of honor and speaker which was highlighted by the launching of paragliding as the municipality’s added tourist attraction.
The Mankayan District of Benguet where Lepanto is located has been a major source of copper as far back as the 12th century when Chinese traders were reported to have exchanged their wares for copper ingots from Mankayan. Mining there flourished even during the Spanish regime when Mankayan became the country’s key source of metals. In fact, it was the Spaniards who named Sitio Lepanto of Mankayan as such, reportedly because the hostility of the natives reminded the Spaniards of their encounter with the Ottoman Turks in the “Battle of Lepanto” in 1571. In 1864, the Cantabro Filipino Company became the first organized group to operate the mine. Their operation ended 10 years later with the death of the founder, Don Jose Maria Santos.
On September 21, 1936, several prospectors led by Americans Victor Lednicky and Melvin Arick incorporated the Lepanto Consolidated Mining Company. The Company built the country’s first copper concentrator which initially operated at a capacity of 400 tons per day, increasing to 1,000 tons per day prior to the outbreak of the Second World War.
Mayor Ayong appealed to the residents to understand the decision of the municipal government to significantly reduce the activities lined up for this year’s celebration of the town’s founding anniversary because of the prevailing health crisis to protect the overall health and safety of everyone.
He urged the residents to sustain their compliance to the minimum public health standards and not to let their guards down so that recovery will be much easier to help in reviving the economy that had been heavily impacted by the pandemic over the past 2 years since the implementation of the series of lockdowns.