Dungog Kabataan: An Intercultural Youth Camp

As a cluster head for the Iloko/Bago communities, I was tasked to select youth representatives to the program Dungog Kabataan, an intercultural youth camp initiated by the Subcommission on Cultural Communities and Traditional Arts (SCCTA) of the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA).

From among several applicants, Cullen Abellon and Robin Aguinaldo of Iloko group of Ilocos Norte and Jhaper Lipaen and Daisy Mae Carbonell of Bago group from La Union, qualified to represent their respective communities. 

They attended the said program on May 27-30, 2012 held in Roxas City, Capiz. There were around 150 delegates representing the different indigenous groups of the Philippines. It was an all expenses paid trips of delegates funded by NCCA.

Dungog is a Visayan term which means pride. It is Pride of the Indigenous Youth. Several activities were done on this program. There were lecture series, team building exercises, games, groupings, tours, and workshops for visual arts, literary arts and performing arts.

As a culminating activity, the entire delegation staged a performance night at the capitol grounds. They have showcased some of the epics coming the Central, Southern and Northern clusters especially the Hudhud and Biag ni Lam-ang. They presented their presentations with innovations. It was an incredible performance of the indigenous yout representatives attended by no less than the Capiz Governor Victor Tanco.