BONTOC, Mtn. Province – The long wait is over!
The Office of the President has finally approved the request of the provincial government for the recognition of a new logo being used by the national line agencies and the provincial government.
It is to be noted that there are two faces of the province as there are two logos being used differently by the national line agencies and the provincial government offices.
Most national line agencies with access through the internet use the red one recognized by the Philippine Heraldry Committee now the National Historical Commission of the Philippines since 1972 and another change in the logo was made in 2004, albeit, with no official provincial ordinance supporting it, being used by the provincial offices.
Noting this disparity, the Provincial Historical Committee has requested the Sangguniang Panlalawigan to once and for all update and recognize only one logo for the province.
Only in September 15, 2020. the Sangguniang Panlalawigan enacted Provincial Ordinance No. 383 that created one face logo of the province that will be commonly used by the national line agencies and the provincial offices.
The newly created logo is similar to the Dalog-crafted logo in 2004 currently being used by the provincial offices.
The new feature under the Malacañang approved emblem has ten stars in the upper portion within the shield to represent the ten (10) municipalities of the province, the one being used now has only five (5) representing the five provinces of the old Mountain Province.
Another feature is the string of beads that represents the 144 barangays of the province, more than the beads in the current logo.
The last feature are the three mountains that represent the ethno-cultural clusters of the western municipalities of Sagada, Besao, Sabangan, Bauko, Tadian; eastern composed by Barlig, Natonin, and Paracelis; and central mountain composed of Bontoc and Sadanga which are made similar in height unlike in the currently used logo wherein the center mountain was higher to represent where the capital town is.
The Office of the President under former President Duterte never acted on the request for approval of the logo by the Sangguniang Panlalawigan.
It is only now, during the administration of President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. that the request was promptly acted upon.
Naealla Bainto Aguinaldo, Deputy Executive Secretary for General Administration, approved on August 7, 2023 the logo as recommended by Dr. Emmanuel Franco Calairo, chairman of the National Historical Commission of the Philippines.
Engr. Andrew Magwilang, Assistant Department Head/Board Secretary V of the Sangguniang Panlalawigan, in an interview referred to the implementation of the use of the logo to the provincial governor.
“The provincial governor will have to come up with a mechanism to implement the use of the new logo”, he said.
Atty. Michael Patting, Executive Assistant V, invoking the authority from the provincial governor, said that “Governor Bonifacio Lacwasan, Jr. will issue an Executive Order mandating the common use of the new logo by the national line agencies, the provincial offices, the municipal and barangays local government units, the non-government organizations, or practically all the communities of the province”.** Roger Sacyaten
