78-year-old building marks North Cotabato's centennial

NORTH COTABATO, Philippines — A school building in Midsayap town built in 1936 was chosen as symbolic centennial edifice for North Cotabato's founding celebration on September 1.

Honored as the "oldest structure" in the province, the Gabaldon school building of the Midsayap Pilot Elementary School located in the heart of Midsayap had withstood the ravages of World War II in the 1940s and the Mindanao Moro uprising in the 1970s.

The school will receive a P50,000 cash prize from the provincial board.

To date, classes are still being held in the structure made of steel and concrete with galvanized corrugated roof sheets despite the test of time.

Built before the Japanese occupation in the 1940s, the school houses were named after late Nueva Ecija Rep. Isauro Gabaldon, who authored a law setting uniformity in structural designs of government schools before World War II.

North Cotabato is now preparing for its finale centennial anniversary celebration on September 1 featuring street dances and cultural events to depict how local folks work to build a progressive, peaceful community marked by cultural and religious pluralism.

The provincial government began with the celebration in late 2013 and capped off with a series of activities meant to showcase local eco-tourism potentials, and the cultures of the area's tri-people community of Moro, Christian and non-Moro highland indigenous groups.

In recent months, Gov. Emmylou Taliño-Mendoza led the launching of dozens of infrastructure projects in far-flung areas as part of the provincial government's "centennial development packages."

The projects include farm-to-market roads, water systems, covered courts, and post-harvest facilities, now benefiting the tri-people peasant communities.

Honoring predecessors

The provincial government, meanwhile, is mourning the demise of North Cotabato's oldest residents, Tabeta Gamueda and Carlos Melchor of Kabacan and Mlang towns, respectively.

Gamueda passed away on June 30 at the age of 102, while Melchor died in his sleep last July 1. He was 113 years old.

Gov. Mendoza and the 2014 Binibining Pilipinas Universe Mary Jean "MJ" Lastimosa were supposed to hand over special awards to Gamueda and Melchor on September 1.

Lastimosa herself was born and raised in Barangay Sibsib in North Cotabato's Tulunan town, about 30 kilometers southeast of the provincial capital Kidapawan City.