KWF unveils Bantayog ng Wika marker for Benguet’s Ivadoy dialect

THE KOMISYON sa Wikang Filipino (KWF), the Office of Senator Loren Legarda, and the Onjon ni Ivadoy Association, Inc. unveiled on Wednesday evening the language monument or “Bantayog ng Wika” for the Ivadoy language at the Ibaloy Heritage Garden here.

The Bantayog-Wika for Ivadoy, more popularly known as Ibalóy, is the third language monument built in the Cordillera Region and the 10th in the country, next to Surigao City’s Surigaonon, which was inaugurated earlier this month.

The Ivadoy language marker was designed by installation artist Luis “Junyee” Yee Jr.

“The most important instrument in protecting the country’s tangible and intangible cultural heritage is preserving the country’s native dialect,” Senator Loren Legarda said in a message read by National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) chairperson Virgilio Almario.

Legarda said the

ng Wika is a nationwide project of KWF that seeks to identify areas, where languages originated.

“The program aims to put up monuments that symbolize and recognize native Filipino dialects, given the important culture, ways, tradition, and historical facts that these symbolize or represent,” she said.

Onjon ni Ivadoy Association, Inc. president Franklin Cocoy told the Philippine News Agency (PNA) that the Bantayog ng Wika marker is a reminder that there is an Ibalóy language in the Philippines.

“It is but proper and fitting, especially here in Baguio and Benguet, that the said monument was erected in Baguio because the first settlers here are Ibaloys and their language is Ivadoy,” Cocoy said.

For his part, Jimmy Fong, KWF Commissioner for northern cultural communities, said that although only four percent speak the Ivadoy language in Baguio, a recent survey shows more than 100,000 have revealed they are Ibaloys.

“Buhay na buhay ang wikang Ivadoy," Fong said.

Fong added aside from Baguio, the language is also spoken in the municipalities of Tuba, Itogon, Sablan, La Trinidad, Tublay, Kapangan, Atok, Bokod, Kabayan, all in Benguet, and also in Kayapa, Nueva Vizcaya.

“For decades, the language has been used in pop musical compositions and music videos, which are now on YouTube,” Fong noted.

He said the Ivadoy is also used in multi-lingual education in some schools.

Ivadoy language tutorials, he cited, are being conducted for free to the public every Saturday at the Ibaloy Heritage Garden, also to cater to the many young people, who do not know how to speak the language.

“Inaamin namin na kahit una ang Ivadoy na salita dito sa Baguio, marami na rin sa mga kabataan ang hindi na marunong magsalita nito,” Fong said.

Earlier in March, the KWF unveiled the second marker in the country, which was for the Tuwali dialect of Ifugao. This was the first in the Cordillera, and was erected at the Ifugao State University campus in Lamut town.

After Ifugao, Cordillera received the second-for the Kalinga dialect-at the Kalinga State University in Tabuk City in June.

Legarda had earlier assured funding for the installation of language markers for all 131 languages in the country.

“We need to comprehensively document all active, endangered, and dying languages of our ethno-linguistic groups in the country and we should promote the continued use of such languages,” she said.

“To complement the language markers project of KWF, the Department of Tourism (DOT) and the local government units (LGUs) can provide language tours to include discussions on how the language started and was embraced by the community in order to widen the perspective of the youth, students, and tourists, when visiting various tourist sites in the country,” she added.

The KWF is almost halfway in installing 22 language markers across the country for this year.

So far, the 10 language markers already unveiled nationwide are for the Kinaray-a in Antique, Tuwali in Ifugao, Mandaya in Davao Oriental, Kalinga in Kalinga, Mangyan in Occidental Mindoro, Binukid in Bukidnon, Ayta-Magbukun in Bataan, Tagalog in Batangas, Surigaonon in Surigao City, and Ivadoy or Ibalóy in Baguio City.