THIS WEEK’S MILESTONES

April 19 to April 25

April 19, 2019

The critically endangered rufous-headed hornbill was successfully hatched at Negros Forest Park, formerly Negros Forest and Ecological Foundation Inc. Biodiversity Conservation Center, in Bacolod City, Negros Occidental province. Locally known as “talarak,” rufous-headed hornbill is also known as Walden’s hornbill, Visayan wrinkled hornbill and writhed-billed hornbill. The chick was hatched after 105 days of incubation in a tree trunk hole at the conservation center. The last successful captive breeding of a rufous-headed hornbill was in 2010 in Iloilo’s Lambunao town. This species is endemic to Negros and Panay islands. Hunting for sport, poaching for the illegal wildlife trade and deforestation are key factors to the species’ rapid decline in numbers.

April 23, 2019

The San Antonio de Padua Church in Pila town, Laguna province, was elevated to national shrine status. A pilgrimage site and tourist attraction, San Antonio de Padua Church was the 25th national shrine in the country. About 2,000 priests, nuns, government officials and laypeople attended the solemn declaration, which was held during a Mass presided by Archbishop Romulo Valles of Davao, president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines. The church was inaugurated in its original site in Pagalangan, a barangay in Victoria, another town in Laguna. The stone church was transferred in 1794 to Hacienda Sta. Clara, now known as Pila, due to consistent flooding in Pagalangan.

April 24, 1981-1984

Residents of the Cordillera, composed of the provinces of Benguet, Ifugao, Mountain Province, Abra, Kalinga and Apayao, celebrated the life of Macli-ing Dulag, a Kalinga elder who was murdered by government soldiers on April 24, 1980. Known as the “Macliing Memorial,” the event paid homage to Macli-ing, who led the opposition to the World Bank-funded Chico Dam project that would have displaced indigenous peoples. According to Cordillera Peoples Alliance, the Macliing Memorial led to the annual commemoration of Cordillera Day which started in 1985. The July 15 celebration of Cordillera Day commemorates the creation of the Cordillera Administrative Region in 1987 through Executive Order No. 220, signed by then President Corazon Aquino.

April 25, 1801

The province of Nueva Ecija was established when Spanish King Carlos IV ordered the separation of towns and parishes of upper Pampanga, near the Sierra Madre mountain ranges, as well as coastal towns of Tayabas, along the Pacific Ocean, into a corregimiento (administrative political-military unit), which became Nueva Ecija. Residents commemorate Nueva Ecija’s founding anniversary every Sept. 2 through Republic Act No. 7596, enacted in 1992. But in 2016, researchers of the National Historical Commission of the Philippines and the provincial government found documents that would prove that the province was actually established on April 25, 1801. The findings pushed the research team to recommend the passing of a new law that would change the province’s founding day.

Canceled events: Due to the national public health emergency in relation to the new coronavirus disease, the Panaad sa Negros Festival and Hinugyaw sa Hinigaran in Negros Occidental province as well as the Bahaghari Festival in Pinamalayan in Oriental Mindoro province, scheduled between April 19 and April 25, have been canceled by the local governments concerned. Compiled by: Kathleen de Villa, Inquirer Research Sources: Inquirer Archives, officialgazette.gov.ph, cbcpnews.net, cpaphils.org, psa.gov.ph, chanrobles.com, mnh.uplb.edu.ph, pna.gov.ph