See Also: Income and Income Classification of Benguet (based on the average income for the past 5 years), How Benguet Got Its Name, Board Resolutions

Brief Profile

Located at the Southern end of the Cordillera Mountain Range is the Province of Benguet.  Bounded on the South by Pangasinan, on the west by La Union and Ilocos Sur, on the north by Mountain Province and on the east by Ifugao.  Benguet serves as the gateway to the highland provinces of the Cordillera Region.

Population of Benguet from 1948 to 2007

Year	Population
1948	80,819
1960	133,221	52,402
1970	179,012	45,791
1980	225,376	46,364
1990	301,792	76,416
1995	313,833	12,041
2000	330,129	16,296
2007	372,533	42,404

Data Source - PPDO files

Income and Income Classification of Benguet (based on the average income for the past 5 years)

Data Source -PPDO files

Agriculture has been the traditional and still the major source of  employment  for   the  people in  the province.  At least 54% of the labor force are engaged in vegetable/cutflower farming.  Vegetable products from the province supplies 80% of vegetable needs of the metropolis. Vegetables grown are, cabbage, Chinese cabbage, broccoli, cauli flower, potatoes, carrots and other temperate veggies.  Cutflower production is also gaining attention because of its promising ventures. These are  roses, mums, lilies, , carnation,  Shasta and others.    The “Rose Garden of the Philippines” is located in the province particularly  Barangay Bahong, La Trinidad.

Vegetable Production	Strawberry Production	Cutflower

Mining Industry(large scale and small scale) is still second in  providing employment to 30% residents and from other provinces.

Aside from Mining and vegetable farming, manufacturing is likewise  a major activity in the province like loomweaving, knitting, fruit processing, bamboo craft, woodcarving and tiger grass craft.  Based on resources, the province holds great potential for ore processing, silk fibercraft, rootcrop, white potato, mushroom and strawberry processing. Replica of a gold bullion

Tourism as an industry is a resource and means for economic growth in the province and is now being recognized and manifested in the present day policies and programs.

Tourism development in Benguet is sustainable as it focuses on ecotourism.  Sustainable development is meeting the needs of the present generation  without compromising the ability of the future generation to meet their own needs.  Similarly, sustainable tourism is making tourism as instrument of economic progress considering its viability and effectiveness for future generations.  Within this framework sustainable tourism aims to imbue the Filipino with greater sense of identity, pride of place and commitment to the nation enlisting everyone to participate in the protection/conservation and preservation of our natural and cultural heritage.

Eco tourism is a form of sustainable tourism within a natural and cultural heritage area where community participation, protection and management of natural resources, culture and indigenous knowledge and practices and environmental conservation are fostered.  Benguet’s tourism focus which is principally nature and culture-based aimed at bringing economic growth and development to host communities in urban and largely rural setting.  In the forefront of tourism activities and development are the tourism councils organized in the municipalities, with active participation of the community residents, barangays and  in partnership with the provincial  government.

Tourist Sceneries

Benguet nestled in the Cordillera mountain range is a tourist haven. It is guarded by mountains clad with majestic towering pines, terraced fields of rice paddies and vegetables shaped into immense flight of steps soaring and reaching for the skies and heavens where crisp, refreshingly cool mountain air, and mist wafts the land, nook and valleys dotted with burial caves, waterfalls and hotsprings, and home to indigenous people of distinct culture and traditions.

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How Benguet Got Its Name

The name Benguet was first pronounced in La Trinidad, a thriving settlement at the crossroads to the lowland trading sites during the period of Spanish expeditions. La Trinidad then was a settlement around a lake alive with wildlife, wallowing carabaos dotted with patches of taro, rice, gabi and camote. In one expedition, a curious Spanish conquistador who saw this settlement noted that the people wore cloth coverings wrapped around their head several times. When he inquired about it, the native explained that the heavy head covering which the people wore as protection from the searing cold and winds is termed “benget”. With the western accent of the colonizers “benget” was mispronounced as “benguet”. In time, it eventually became a general reference to the territories of the Iggorotes peopled by the Ibaloi, Kankanaey, Kalangoya, and other minor tribes.

CAPSULE HISTORY OF BENGUET PROVINCE

• Act No. 48 dated November 22, 1900, established the  local civil government of Benguet with  the following townships  La Trinidad, Galiano, Itogon, Tublay, Atok, Kapangan, Balakbak, Palina, Ampusongan, Loo, Kabayan, Buguias, Adaoay, Bokod, Daclan, Sablan, Kibungan and Ambuklao.
• Act No. 49 dated November 23, 1900, established a civil government for the province of Benguet.
• On June 29, 1901, a proviso was inserted in Act no. 155 providing that a popular representative of Benguet Province be elected on July 4 of that year.
• Act no. 1396  otherwise known as the Special Government Act, dated September 14, 1905 repealed Act No. 49 reorganizing the Province of Benguet.
• When Baguio became a chartered city in 1909, the original 19 towns of Benguet province as embodied in Act No. 48 dated November 22, 1900 were reduced to 13. In its place, the town of Tuba was created. Eventually,  the towns of Ambuklao, Adaoay, Balakbak, Daclan, Galiano, Palina and Loo were abolished under Executive Orders issued by the Governor General of the Philippines
• Act No. 1646, dated May 15, 1907, authorized  the election of delegates to the constitutional convention to be held on July 13, 1907
• With the passage of Act No. 1876 on August 13, 1908, Benguet Province became a sub-province of Mountain Province.  The other sub-provinces are: Amburayan, Apayao,  Bontoc, Ifugao, Kalinga  and Lepanto.
• By operation of Act No. 2877 on February 4, 1920, the boundary of Benguet sub-province was amended resulting in the abolition  of the sub-provinces of Amburayan and Lepanto, part of Amburayan was placed under La Union and part of Lepanto was placed under Ilocos Sur.
• Republic Act No. 4695, dated June 18, 1966 divided  the old Mt. Province into the provinces of Benguet, Mt. Province, (referring to the sub-province of Bontoc) Kalinga-Apayao and Ifugao, Benguet province consist of the municipalities of Atok, Bakun, Bokod, Buguias, Itogon, Kabayan, Kapangan, Kibungan, La Trinidad, Mankayan, Sablan, Tuba and Tublay, with La Trinidad as capital.
• The Honorable Dennis Molintas, Sr. of Bokod, then Vice Governor of Mountain Province, was appointed and assumed the position of provincial governor on September 3, 1966 of Benguet pursuant to Republic Act 4695
• The Secretary of Finance issued an implementing directive  to the effect that all the four created provinces shall initially cause the enactment of their respective  budgets as operational effective April 1, 1967
• Other members of the first provincial board were Hon.  Ben Palispis of Tuba, Vice Governor, Hon. Andres Fianza of Itogon, and Hon. James Guanso of Mankayan, Board Members.  They took their oath before President Ferdinand E. Marcos at San Pascual, Tuba on March 22, 1967.  The first board meeting was held at the former Benguet subprovincial capitol, La Trinidad on March 27, 1967.
• The first elective provincial board as a result of the regular election on November 12, 1967 consisted of Hon. Ben Palispis, Governor, Hon. Bantas Suanding of Bokod, Vice Governor, Hon. Andres Fianza, Hon. James Guanso and Hon. Larry Ogas of La Trinidad, Board Members.

Board Resolutions

	A. Board Resolution No. 894, dated July 22, 1968 formally adopted  a Coat of Arms  for the Province of Benguet Depicted  are Benguet’s rich natural resources - water, mineral deposits,  lands, mountains and forests which are harnessed for economic development. The mining industry is represented by a miner’s pick and headgear, energy is represented by Ambuklao  spillway, agriculture is represented by the  terraced gardens and vegetable produce,  indigenous handicraft as represented by the “kayabang”, and eco-tourism as the pine trees and mountains.  At the center is the “gangsa” representing the distinct indigenous culture of its people. Beneath the symbolisms is the    enduring guiding dictum for all times and generations, “Unity, Industry,   Prosperity”.
B.  Board Resolution No. 16 dated January 7, 1969 adopted the “Everlasting” as   provincial flower of Benguet
C. Resolution No.  394, dated May 25, 1970 adopted “Benguet Highlands”, “Province of Benguet (my own) and “All Hail, Benguet Beloved” as official songs of the province of Benguet to be sung at functions or occasions when deemed appropriate. On November 8, 1971, the following were elected; Hon. Ben Palispis, Governor, Hon. Samuel M. Dangwa of Kapangan, Vice Governor; Baltazar Fernando of Bokod, Hon.  Alfredo B. Alumno of Atok and Hon. Simeon M. Campos of Mankayan, Board Members

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