July 16 a special non-working holiday in CAR

BAGUIO CITY, Philippines — President Rodrigo Duterte has declared Monday, July 16, 2018, a special non-working holiday in all six provinces in the Cordillera Administrative Region — Abra, Apayao, Benguet, Ifugao, Kalinga, Mountain Province and the cities of Tabuk and Baguio City.

The Palace said the holiday will allow people to enjoy the celebration of CAR’s 31st founding anniversary as an administrative region.

Proclamation No. 536, signed by Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea on July 12, 2018, stated that “it is but fitting and proper that the people of CAR be given full opportunity to celebrate and actively participate in the celebration of the region’s founding anniversary with fitting and appropriate ceremonies.”

The Regional Development Council in the Cordillera earlier requested the president to declare July 16, 2018 a special non-working holiday in the region instead of July 15, 2018, which falls on a Sunday.
       
CAR was founded on July 15, 1987 when President Corazon C. Aquino signed law Executive Order No. 220 into law.

Under Batas Pambansa Bilang 1, the provinces of Abra, Benguet, Mountain Province and Baguio City were formerly part of the Ilocos Region while the provinces of Ifugao and the then Kalinga-Apayao were with the Cagayan Valley Region.

The establishment of the CAR, meant to prepare the region for autonomy, was an offshoot of the Mount Data peace accord between the government and the Cordillera Bodong Administration – Cordillera Peoples Liberation Army (CBA-CPLA), a splinter group of the CPP-NPA.
       
This year, Ifugao province is hosting the festivities that started with the week-long “Unity Gong relay” which started in Banaue, Ifugao last July 9, 2018 and will end in Lamut, Ifugao on July 14, 2018 prior to the main program on July 15, 2018 at the Don Bosco gymnasium in Lagawe, Ifugao.