| Flag Size: | 120x80px | ||
| Seal Size: | 100x80px | ||
| Image Map1: |
| ||
| Pushpin Map: | Philippines | ||
| Pushpin Label Position: | left | ||
| Pushpin Map Caption: | Location within the | ||
| Subdivision Type: | Country | ||
| Subdivision Name: | Philippines | ||
| Subdivision Type1: | Region | ||
| Subdivision Type2: | Province | ||
| Subdivision Type3: | District | ||
| Established Title: | Founded | ||
| Established Date: | 1908 | ||
| Parts Type: | Barangays | ||
| Parts Style: | para | ||
| P1: | (see Barangays) | ||
| Leader Name: | Jerome B. Tudlong, Jr. | ||
| Leader Title1: | Vice Mayor | ||
| Leader Name1: | Eusebio S. Kabluyen | ||
| Leader Name2: | Maximo Y. Dalog Jr. | ||
| Leader Title3: | Municipal Council | ||
| Leader Title4: | Electorate | ||
| Leader Name4: | voters (electorate_point_in_time}}|) | ||
| Elevation Max M: | 1833 | ||
| Elevation Min M: | 804 | ||
| Population Density Km2: | auto | ||
| Population Blank1 Title: | Households | ||
| Timezone: | PST | ||
| Utc Offset: | +8 | ||
| Postal Code Type: | ZIP code | ||
| Demographics Type1: | Economy | ||
| Demographics1 Title2: | Poverty incidence | ||
| Demographics1 Info2: | % | ||
| Demographics1 Title3: | Revenue | ||
| Demographics1 Title4: | Revenue rank | ||
| Demographics1 Title5: | Assets | ||
| Demographics1 Title6: | Assets rank | ||
| Demographics1 Title7: | IRA | ||
| Demographics1 Title8: | IRA rank | ||
| Demographics1 Title9: | Expenditure | ||
| Demographics1 Title10: | Liabilities | ||
| Demographics Type2: | Service provider | ||
| Demographics2 Title1: | Electricity | ||
| Demographics2 Title2: | Water | ||
| Demographics2 Title3: | Telecommunications | ||
| Demographics2 Title4: | Cable TV | ||
| Blank1 Name Sec1: | Native languages | ||
| Blank2 Name Sec1: | Crime index | ||
| Blank1 Name Sec2: | Major religions | ||
| Blank2 Name Sec2: | Feast date | ||
| Blank3 Name Sec2: | Catholic diocese | ||
| Blank4 Name Sec2: | Patron saint | ||
Bontoc, officially the Municipality of Bontoc (Iloko: Ili ti Bontoc; Tagalog: Bayan ng Bontoc), is a 2nd class municipality and capital of the province of Mountain Province, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 24,104 people.
Bontoc is from Manila, from Sagada, and from Baguio.
Bontoc is the historical capital of the entire Cordillera region since the inception of governance in the Cordillera. The municipality celebrates the annual Lang-ay Festival.[1]
Bontoc is home to the Indigenous Bontoc people. The town also hosts the UNESCO tentatively-listed Alab petroglyphs.
Samuel E. Kane, the American supervisor and then Governor, established the capital here after the Philippine Commission passed the Mountain Province Act in 1908,[2] building a provincial building, hospital, doctor's office, nurse's home, a school, and provincial prison.[3] He also built the Tagudin-Bontoc trail, which by 1926, could accommodate a small car.[3]
Bontoc was one of several municipalities in Mountain Province which would have been flooded by the Chico River Dam Project during the Marcos dictatorship, alongside Bauko, Sabangan, Sagada, Sadanga, and parts of Barlig.[4] However, the indigenous peoples of Kalinga Province and Mountain Province resisted the project and when hostilities resulted in the murder of Macli-ing Dulag, the project became unpopular and was abandoned before Marcos was ousted by the 1986 People Power Revolution.[5]
See main article: Cities of the Philippines. In the 19th Congress of the Philippines, house bills were filed by various representatives which seeks Bontoc including other capital towns of provinces with no current component cities, independent component cities or highly urbanized cities to automatically convert into cities.[6] [7] [8]
Bontoc is politically subdivided into 16 barangays. Each barangay consists of puroks and some have sitios.
Most inhabitants speak the Bontoc language, with other major languages being Kankana-ey and Ilocano. Minor languages spoken include Tagalog, Pangasinan, Cuyonon and Butuanon.[9]
The local economy depends largely on small trades and agriculture. This capital town's biggest economic potential is tourism with its smaller rice terraces in Barangay Bay-yo, Maligcong and other areas.[10]
See main article: Sangguniang Bayan. Bontoc, belonging to the lone congressional district of the province of Mountain Province, is governed by a mayor designated as its local chief executive and by a municipal council as its legislative body in accordance with the Local Government Code. The mayor, vice mayor, and the councilors are elected directly by the people through an election which is being held every three years.
Members of the Municipal Council (2019–2022):[11]
The highland town of Bontoc is home to two National Cultural Treasures of the Philippines. These are the Stone Agricultural Calendar of Bontoc and Petroglyphs of Alab.[12]
The Alab petroglyphs are ancient figures carved on mountain walls by the prehistoric people of Bontoc.[13] The petroglyphs are the most important ancient rock art carvings in the Cordilleras and the second oldest in the entire country, second only to the Angono petroglyphs of Rizal. Due to its high significance, it was submitted by the National Commission for Culture and the Arts of the Philippines to the UNESCO Tentative List of Heritage Sites in 2006, pending its inclusion in the World Heritage List along with the Singanapan charcoal-drawn petrographs of southern Palawan, Angono petroglyphs of Rizal province, charcoal-drawn Peñablanca petrographs of Cagayan, and the Anda red hermatite print petrographs of Bohol.
Mountain Province State Polytechnic College is the first tertiary institution in the municipality that offers various undergraduate and graduate courses.
XiJen College of Mountain Province is the only private tertiary institution that also offers technical-vocational courses.