Tuesday, September 2, 2014

Ifugao Special Holiday September 2nd

  1. Malacañang has declared in Proclamation 856, the commemoration of the Fall of Yamashita, on 2 September 2014 as a special holiday in Ifugao and will give the people of this province time to commemorate properly Philippine National Victory and Liberation Day. 
  2. Ifugao is a landlocked province of the Philippines in the Cordillera Administrative Region in Luzon with a total land area of 2,628.2 km².
  3. Its capital is Lagawe and borders Benguet to the west, Mountain Province to the north, Isabela to the east, and Nueva Vizcaya to the south.
  4. It is named after the term "i-pugo" which means "i" (from/people) and "pugo" (hill), thus it means people of the hill.
  5. The Rice Terraces of the Philippine Cordilleras and Banaue Rice Terraces are the main tourist attractions in the province. These 2000-year-old terraces were carved into the mountains, without the aid of machinery, they used their "bare" hands to provide level steps where the natives can plant rice. In 1995, they were declared as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
  6. The people of Ifugao province are called Ifugaos, but mistakenly called by non-Cordilleran as Igorots. Ifugaos, despite the similarities in some cultural traditions and practices, are considered a separate ethnic group from Igorots.
  7. Ifugao Representative Teddy Baguilat Jr. filed House Bill 2938 declaring September 2 of every year a special nonworking holiday in the province due to the significance of the Victory Day celebration and the bill was passed on third reading last 22 August 2014. 
  8. Ifugao became the center of warfare in the last year of World War II when Gen. Yamashita launched his last stand against the American and Philippine Commonwealth forces at Mount Napulawan.
  9. It was on 2 September 1945 when Japanese Imperial Army General Tomoyuki Yamashita, the Tiger of Malaya, informally surrendered to Captain Grisham of the 6th US Army in the Philippines based in Kiangan, Ifugao, before he was flown to Camp John Hay where he formally surrendered marking the end of World War II. 
  10. This year’s event, with the theme, “Sustaining Peace through Advocacy and Development,” will start on 1 September 2014 with a morning mass and candle lighting at the Yamashita surrender site in Kiangan town.
  11. Ifugao has been commemorating the event as “Victory Day” since 1991 to pay tribute to the sacrifices and valor of Filipino and American soldiers as well as Ifugao guerrillas during the war.
  12. "It is but fitting that the public will remember on this day the valor of our heroes, the veterans who are all too often forgotten. We salute our heroes, for our country may be entirely different, perhaps a darker place to live in, if not for their sacrifices." said Congressman Baguilat.
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