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Friday, August 31, 2007

Ifugao - Land Of The Eighth World Wonder



Brief Description
Ifugao is home to a thriving ancient culture and host to the famous rice terraces carved from the base of the mountainsides to the top, which appear to be massive green stairways reaching to the sky. The famous terraces had been inscribed in UNESCO’s World Heritage List in 1995 as “a continuing cultural landscape” and likewise considered by the U.S. Association of Civil Engineers as an engineering marvel built by unschooled and free men not of slave labor.

It was a credit to the inherent wisdom of the Ifugao forefathers that a forest and watershed management system was instituted to help sustain the terraces that serve as the basic food source of the sturdy Ifugaos.

The Ifugao native huts could probably be among the world’s first prefabricated houses that do not use a single nail or metal to fasten their parts.

Geography
Ifugao, a land-locked area located at the foot of the Cordillera Mountain Range, is bounded on the west by the province of Benguet, Nueva Viscaya on the south, Isabela on the east, and on the north by Mountain Province, with a total land area of 251,778 hectares. It is 322 kilometers north of Manila.

Political Subdivision
As of 1988, the province is politically sub-divided into 11 municipalities and 178 barangays, with Lagawe serving as the provincial capital town.

Climate
The climate of the province is described as having the dry season from November to April and the rainy season during the rest of the year. The hottest months are March and April while the coolest months are November up to February.

Population
NSO 2000 census data indicated that Ifugao has a total population of 161,634

Language / Dialect
The English language is widely spoken and understood among the populace, second to its mother tongue which is the Ifugao dialect, and followed by the Ilocano dialect and then Tagalog

Major Industries
Farming; trading industry (gift, toys & house wares); services; manufacturing (garments & textiles); and food & beverages

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