Apayao Province, Philippines

By James Barcelona

Tourist Attractions

Dibagat river in Apayao.

Spanish Church in Pudtol

Say-Am Festival of Apayao which is celebrated every February 14. It is in celebration of the founding anniversary of the province and Isnag’s grandest feast or celebration. A feast featuring and ushering the traditional way of Isnag’s thanksgiving to the Higher Supreme unseen being called “ALAWAGAN” executed and commenced through rituals spiced with pep songs, native chants and dances called the “TALIP and TAD-DO”. The holding and celebration of Say-am in the older days connotes status – that the family is respectable and well-to-do.The Festival highlights the Agro-Tourism and trade fair which showcase the different products and beauty of natures of Apayao,Isnag Indigenous games,Sports,Street dancing and the Search for Miss Dayag ti Apayao which showcase the Beautiful and intelligent Ladies of Apayao.

Lussok Crystal Cave

Pudtol Town Fiesta, Pudtol

Last Thursday, Friday, and Saturday of May, Agro-Trade Fair Pageant and Sports.

Fruit Harvest Festival

September and October in Kirikitan, Conner. Harvest season of Rambutan, lanzones, durian, oranges and pomelo.

Apayao is a landlocked province of the Philippines in the Cordillera Administrative Region in Luzon. Its capital town is Kabugao.

Pudtol Festival

The province borders Cagayan to the north and east, Abra and Ilocos Norte to the west, and Kalinga to the south. Prior to 1995, Kalinga and Apayao comprised a single province named Kalinga-Apayao, which was partitioned to better service the needs of individual ethnic groups.

With a population of 112,636 (as of 2010) covering an area of 4413.35 square kilometers, Apayao is the least densely-populated province in the Philippines.

History

Spanish period

Although Apayao, which was then part of Cagayan, was among the earliest areas penetrated by the Spaniards in the Cordilleras, the region, inhabited by the Isneg tribe, remained largely outside Spanish control until late in the 19th century. As early as 1610, the Dominican friars established a mission in what is now the town of Pudtol. In 1684, the friars again made attempts to convert the people and established a church in what is now Kabugao.

Fruit Harvest Festival

The Spanish authorities were then able to establish in Cagayan the comandancias of Apayao and Cabugaoan in 1891, which covered the western and eastern portions of what is now Apayao. The comandancias, however, failed to bring total control and the Spanish government only maintained a loose hold over the area.

American period

The Americans established the Mountain Province on August 13, 1908, with the enactment of Act No. 1876. Apayao, along with Amburayan, Benguet, Bontoc, Ifugao, Kalinga, and Lepanto, became sub-provinces of this new province.

World War II

In 1942, Japanese Imperial forces entered Apayao, starting a three-year occupation of the province during the Second World War. Local Filipino troops of the 1st, 2nd, 12th, 15th and 16th Infantry Division of the Philippine Commonwealth Army and the military forces of the USAFIP-NL 11th and 66th Infantry Regiment, supported by the Cordilleran guerrillas, drove out the Japanese in 1945.

Kalinga-Apayao

On June 18, 1966, the huge Mountain Province was split into four provinces with the enactment of Republic Act No. 4695. The four provinces were Benguet, Bontoc (renamed Mountain Province), Kalinga-Apayao and Ifugao. Kalinga-Apayao, along with Ifugao, became one of the provinces of the Cagayan Valley region in 1972.

On July 15, 1987, the Cordillera Administrative Region was established and Kalinga-Apayao was made one of its provinces.

Kalinga-Apayao splitting

Finally, on February 14, 1995, Kalinga-Apayao was split into two distinct provinces with the passage of Republic Act No. 7878.

The merged outlines of Apayao and Kalinga resemble a bust of a man akin to former President Ferdinand Marcos (looking toward his home province, Ilocos Norte) whom the media called as the "Great Profile" during the Marcos Era.