Pinili, Ilocos Norte—This garlic-producing third-class municipality, which became Ilocos Norte's 17th town on Jan. 1, 1920, has shifted gear in preparation for its centennial next year.
Local Government Unit and Municipal Tourism officials of the town, 453 kms from Manila, have started meeting up with Piniliños residing beyond the town's borders to inform them of the lined-up programs, projects and activities in the runup to the day-long celebration.
Officials led by Vice Mayor Maynard Bumanglag met up first with officers of the Pinili-Metro Manila Residents Association (PMMRA) in the metropolis, to be followed weeks later by similar meetings with Piniliños in Hawaii and California, where there are large concentrations of people from Pinili.
This month, the Centennial Committee, chaired by Tourism officer Meggy Coloma, has scheduled competition for digital logo making and Iloko lyrics of the Centennial Song, which will be sung for the first time on Jan 1, 2020.
These are apart from the English Essay Writing Contest, open to all the top essayists of the three high schools of the town, sponsored by the Prof. Honor Blanco Cabie Awards for Literature, now in its 11th year, in cooperation with the Pinili Local Government Unit.
The centennial is themed “Panangipateg ken Panangitandudo iti naindaklan a Gapuanan, Puersa iti Masakbayan” (Upholding standout past deeds, driving impetus for the future).
Bumanglag, SB Member Amor Bagarino and Tourism officer Meggy Coloma, sought out the PMMRA officers for cooperation, ideas and suggestions to make the centennial a memory.
PMMRA, registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission in 1993, is a civic, non-profit, non-government organization which has been conducting annual medical outreach missions in the town's 25 barangays.
In the next few months, the officials said there would be, among others, competitions in music composition, scriptwriting/playwriting, mural painting alongside the launch of the Outstanding Piniliños Award.
On Jan 1, 2020, officials said Pinili's history will be re-enacted at the town square after a Thanksgiving mass in Kullabeng, the site where the rebel Catholic priest Gregorio Aglipay used to meet with elders of the area before it became a town.
Pinili, weaned out from the mother towns of Paoay, Badoc and Batac, became a municipality after then Gov. Gen. Francis Burton Harrison signed his Executive Order which created Ilocos Norte's 17th town.