Bontoc, officially the Municipality of Bontoc ( ilo, Ili ti Bontoc; tl, Bayan ng Bontoc), is a 2nd class
municipality
A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate.
The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...
and capital of the
province
A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or sovereign state, state. The term derives from the ancient Roman ''Roman province, provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire ...
of
Mountain Province
Mountain Province is a landlocked province of the Philippines in the Cordillera Administrative Region in Luzon. Its capital is Bontoc. Mountain Province was formerly referred to as ''Mountain'' in some foreign references. The name is usually short ...
,
Philippines
The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no),
* bik, Republika kan Filipinas
* ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas
* cbk, República de Filipinas
* hil, Republ ...
. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 24,104 people.
Bontoc is from
Manila
Manila ( , ; fil, Maynila, ), officially the City of Manila ( fil, Lungsod ng Maynila, ), is the capital of the Philippines, and its second-most populous city. It is highly urbanized and, as of 2019, was the world's most densely populate ...
.
Bontoc is the historical capital of the entire Cordillera region since the inception of governance in the
Cordillera
A cordillera is an extensive chain and/or network system of mountain ranges, such as those in the west coast of the Americas. The term is borrowed from Spanish, where the word comes from , a diminutive of ('rope').
The term is most commonly u ...
. The municipality celebrates the annual
Lang-ay Festival.
Bontoc is home to the
Bontoc tribe, a feared war-like group of indigenous people who actively indulged in tribal wars with its neighbors until the 1930s. Every Bontoc male had to undergo a rite of passage into manhood, which may include headhunting, where the male has to journey (sometimes with companions) and hunt for a human head. The Bontoc also used the jaw of the hunted head as a handle for gongs, and as late as the early 1990s, evidence of this practice can be seen from one of the gongs in Pukisan, Bontoc. The town also hosts the UNESCO tentatively-listed Alab petroglyphs.
History
Samuel E. Kane, the American supervisor and then Governor, established the capital here after the
Philippine Commission
The Philippine Commission was the name of two bodies, both appointed by the president of the United States, to assist with governing the Philippines.
The first Philippine Commission, also known as the Schurman Commission, was appointed by Preside ...
passed the Mountain Province Act in 1908,
building a provincial building, hospital, doctor's office, nurse's home, a school, and provincial prison.
[Kane, S.E., 1933, Thirty Years with the Philippine Head-Hunters, New York: Grosset & Dunlap] He also built the
Tagudin
Tagudin, officially the Municipality of Tagudin ( ilo, Ili ti Tagudin; tgl, Bayan ng Tagudin), is a 2nd class municipality in the province of Ilocos Sur, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 41,538 people.
Etymology
...
-Bontoc trail, which by 1926, could accommodate a small car.
[
Bontoc was one of several municipalities in Mountain Province which would have been flooded by the ]Chico River Dam Project
The Chico River Dam Project was a proposed hydroelectric power generation project involving the Chico River on the island of Luzon in the Philippines that locals, notably the Kalinga people, resisted because of its threat to their residences, ...
during the Marcos dictatorship
At 7:17 pm on September 23, 1972, President Ferdinand Marcos announced on television that he had placed the entirety of the Philippines under martial law. This marked the beginning of a 14-year period of one-man rule that would effectively last ...
, alongside Bauko
Bauko, officially the Municipality of Bauko is a 4th class municipality in the province of Mountain Province, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 32,021 people.
Bauko is from the provincial capital Bontoc and fr ...
, Sabangan
Sabangan, officially the Municipality of Sabangan is a 5th class municipality of the Philippines, municipality in the Philippine Province, province of Mountain Province, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 9,621 peop ...
, Sagada
Sagada, officially the Municipality of Sagada is a 5th class municipality in the province of Mountain Province, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 11,510 people.
Sagada is from Bontoc, the provincial capital ...
, Sadanga
Sadanga, officially the Municipality of Sadanga is a 5th class municipality in the province of Mountain Province, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 8,427 people.
Sadanga boundaries both provinces are Abra to the ...
, and parts of Barlig
Barlig, officially the Municipality of Barlig is a 5th class municipality in the province of Mountain Province, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 4,796 people.
Geography
Barlig is bounded in the east by Natonin i ...
. However, the indigenous peoples of Kalinga Province ; tl, Lalawigan ng Kalinga)
, native_name =
, other_name =
, settlement_type =
, image_skyline =
, image_caption = (from top: left to right) Bum-bag Rice Terraces, Pasil Valley, ...
and Mountain Province resisted the project and when hostilities resulted in the murder of Macli-ing Dulag
Macli-ing Dulag (customarily referred to by his first name, also spelled Macliing or Macli'ing; c. 1930 – 24 April 1980) was a ''pangat'' (leader) of the Butbut tribe of Kalinga province in the Philippines. He is best as one of the leaders of t ...
, the project became unpopular and was abandoned before Marcos was ousted by the 1986 People Power Revolution
The People Power Revolution, also known as the EDSA Revolution or the February Revolution, was a series of popular Demonstration (people), demonstrations in the Philippines, mostly in Metro Manila, from February 22 to 25, 1986. There was a ...
.
Geography
Barangays
Bontoc is politically subdivided into 16 barangay
A barangay (; abbreviated as Brgy. or Bgy.), historically referred to as barrio (abbreviated as Bo.), is the smallest administrative division in the Philippines and is the native Filipino term for a village, district, or ward. In metropolitan ...
s. These barangays are headed by elected officials: Barangay Captain, Barangay Council
The Sangguniang Barangay, also known as the Barangay Council, and formerly as the Rural Council and then the Barrio Council, is the legislative body of a barangay, the lowest form of government in the Philippines. The term is coined from the Tag ...
, whose members are called Barangay Councilors. All are elected every three years.
Climate
Demographics
Most inhabitants speak the Bontoc language
Bontoc (Bontok) (also called Finallig) is the native language of the indigenous Bontoc people of the Mountain Province, in the northern part of the Philippines.
Dialects
'' Ethnologue'' reports the following locations for each of the five Bont ...
, with other major languages being Kankana-ey and Ilocano. Minor languages spoken include Tagalog, Pangasinan
Pangasinan, officially the Province of Pangasinan ( pag, Luyag/Probinsia na Pangasinan, ; ilo, Probinsia ti Pangasinan; tl, Lalawigan ng Pangasinan), is a coastal province in the Philippines located in the Ilocos Region of Luzon. Its capit ...
, Cuyonon
Cuyonon is a regional language, regional Bisayan languages, Bisayan language spoken on the coast of Palawan and the Cuyo Islands in the Philippines. and Butuanon.
Economy
The local economy depends largely on small trades and agriculture. This capital town's biggest economic potential is tourism with its smaller rice terraces in Barangay Bay-yo, Maligcong and other areas.
Government
Bontoc, belonging to the lone congressional district of the province of Mountain Province
Mountain Province is a landlocked province of the Philippines in the Cordillera Administrative Region in Luzon. Its capital is Bontoc. Mountain Province was formerly referred to as ''Mountain'' in some foreign references. The name is usually short ...
, is governed by a mayor designated as its local chief executive and by a municipal council as its legislative body in accordance with the Local Government Code. The mayor, vice mayor, and the councilors are elected directly by the people through an election which is being held every three years.
Elected officials
Culture
The highland town of Bontoc is home to two National Cultural Treasures of the Philippines
National may refer to:
Common uses
* Nation or country
** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen
Places in the United States
* National, Maryland, c ...
. These are the Stone Agricultural Calendar of Bontoc and ''Petroglyphs of Alab''.
The Alab petroglyphs
A petroglyph is an image created by removing part of a rock surface by incising, picking, carving, or abrading, as a form of rock art. Outside North America, scholars often use terms such as "carving", "engraving", or other descriptions ...
are ancient figures carved on mountain walls by the prehistoric people of Bontoc. The petroglyphs are the most important ancient rock art carvings in the Cordilleras and the second oldest in the entire country, second only to the Angono petroglyphs of Rizal. Due to its high significance, it was submitted by the to the UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...
Tentative List of Heritage Sites in 2006, pending its inclusion in the World Heritage List along with the Singanapan charcoal-drawn petrographs of southern Palawan, Angono petroglyphs of Rizal province, charcoal-drawn Peñablanca petrographs of Cagayan, and the Anda red hermatite print petrographs of Bohol.
Education
Secondary education
Tertiary education
Mountain Province State Polytechnic College is the first tertiary institution in the municipality that offers various undergraduate and graduate courses.
XiJen College of Mountain Province is the only private tertiary institution that also offers technical-vocational courses.
References
External links
Bontoc local government website
* Philippine Standard Geographic Codebr>Philippine census information
{{Authority control
Municipalities of Mountain Province
Provincial capitals of the Philippines
Populated places on the Rio Chico de Cagayan