Veep pursues Ibanag culture education

By Benjie S. De Yro

Thursday 2nd of August 2012

TUGUEGARAO CITY, Cagayan, Aug 2 (PIA) -- The Ibanag language will be retaught to pupils of Ibanag towns in this province and some parts of Isabela.

Vice President Jejomar Binay, founding chairman of the Ibanag Heritage Foundation, Inc. (IHFI), said the Ibanag mother-tongue based-multi-lingual education (MTB-MLE) program is set to be implemented next month in 15 municipalities and two cities in Cagayan and Isabela.

Binay said the program will be rolled out in San Pablo, Cabagan, Tumauini, Santo Tomas, Santa Maria, Gamu, Naguilian, Reina Mercedes and the City of Ilagan in Isabela; Pamplona, Abulug, Aparri, Camalaniugan, Lal-lo, Iguig, Solana, and Tuguegarao City in Cagayan.

“We are targeting a total of 34 pilot schools for the implementation, one central and one barangay school in each of the selected nine localities in Isabela and eight in Cagayan,” Binay, in a press statement, said.

The pilot implementation of the MTB-MLE program is in line with the Department of Education Secretary Armin Luistro’s approval of the request to have the Ibanag language involved in the native tongue to be used in DepEd’s program this year.

In March, Binay wrote Luistro and recommended the inclusion of Ibanag, considered the lingua franca of Cagayan Valley, in the MTB-MLE program.

Part of the program is a dialect survey and a workshop for Cagayan and Isabela teachers.

“We are focusing on the development a robust set of indigenized instructional materials that would be easy for the teachers to teach and the pupils to learn,” Binay said.

Binay said the official inclusion of the Ibanag language in the MTB-MLE program of DepEd is a big step in the IHFI’s efforts to increase the number of native speakers and preserve the language.

Earlier, the foundation identified 10 program areas to ensure the preservation of the Ibanag culture: the language, history, folklore and literature, cuisine, historical and religious landmarks, tourist spots, festivals and traditions, indigenous industries, endemic flora and fauna, and people-to-people partnership with local and foreign cultural organization.

In time for the city fiesta of Tuguegarao, Binay said the soft launch for the Ibanag Museum and Library will be at the 4th floor of Tuguegarao city hall on August 16.

Binay’s mother, Lourdez Gatan Cabauatan, is from Cabagan, Isabela. (BSY-PIA 2, Cagayan)