The Igorot community in Davao celebrated with the coaches, chaperones, and athletes who are contingents of the Cordillera Administrative Region in the Palarong Pambansa 2019.
Col. Ezra Balagtey the spokesperson of Cordillera Mindanao, said during the solidarity night held jointly by the DepEd-CAR and Cordillera Mindanao (CorMinda) on the evening of May 2 at Kapitan Tomas Monteverde Elementary School, Ponciano Street where the contingent is billeted.
Balagtey said the supposed potluck dinner was turned into a mini-festival as the Igorots danced to the sound of gongs that reverberated in the gym of the school, as a way of celebrating the victory of some contingents, the solidarity of the Igorots, and the support shown by Igorots to their fellows.
During the Palarong Pambansa, the Igorots, who migrated and are now living in Mindanao, likewise showed their support to their kababayans as they went to cheer in some of their games and visited in their billeting area to boost the contingent’s morale.
Fidel Francis B. Pumihic, the vice president and one of the elders of CorMinda, expressed his happiness on the show of culture by the Igorot community and the contingents.
“Our culture of solidarity lives on even if we migrated here in Mindanao. The participation of our Kababayan in the Palarong Pambansa brought us back home in Cordillera and we reciprocated it by making them also feel at home,” Pumihic said.
The Davao Igorots were welcomed by the contingents led by their head delegation, Agustin Gumawang.
CorMinda is an organization of Igorots in Mindanao organized five years ago in Davao City to continuously ignite the love of the Igorots for their culture and sustain their solidarity although away from home. The group is presently headed by Dr. Jon Bayugan, the president of Davao Del Norte State College.
