BASCO, Batanes, Philippines – Vice President Jejomar Binay recently cited the importance of local government support in cultural preservation, as he lauded the Ivatans for their efforts to keep their traditions as an indigenous people.
Addressing the Ivatans during the 231st founding anniversary of the province at the five-hectare athletic grounds here, Binay said, “It is important that our LGU (local government unit) and local leaders be supportive of cultural preservation and historical research. For we are a people rich in heritage, gifted in the arts, and blessed in His bounty.”
Binay himself has Ibanag roots as his late mother, Lourdes Cabauatan, hailed from Cabagan, Isabela.
This is why, he said, he is seriously promoting the preservation of the Ibanag culture and dialect which “in the next two decades… might together be things of the past.”