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Butac Village: en route to progress

AGUINALDO, Ifugao (Aug. 13) — Sixty-four year old Carlos Malabong recalls how he worked hard for the separation of Sitio Butac from its mother barangay, Monggayang, when he was a barangay councilman back in the 1970s. Barangay Butac is one of the remotest and farthest barangays of the 16 barangays in this municipality. Located near the boundary of Natonin, Mt. Province, Butac is 12 kilometers away from the town center and is powered by solar energy.

“I told the mayor that I was willing to compromise my freedom if only to bring improvements to this neglected sitio,” Malabong said. Malabong believes public service necessitates sacrificing one’s self for the good of the community.

Malabong who never had formal education said he wanted Butac to stand as a separate barangay for it to be developed and have a school and health facilities of its own.

“There were no improvements in this sitio and I knew then that development will be fast tracked if this will become a barangay,” Malabong said in the Ifugao dialect.

However, population was a hindrance to his vision since one of the criteria in the creation of a barangay is population. There were just few people in Butac then. He thought of getting people from the neighboring town of Natonin, Mt. Province to migrate to Butac. When he referred this to former Mayor Marcelo Homecgoy, the first elected mayor in 1986, the latter refused to adhere to the plan and cautioned Malabong that all of them might go to jail if he will approve such plan.

Determined to pursue his plan, Malabong went to Natonin and convinced people there to migrate to Butac, offering a portion of the sitio for agricultural purposes. He then invited the mayor to see for himself that there were enough people to meet the population requirement of a barangay. The mayor was convinced that Malabong was sincere in his efforts to convert this sitio to a barangay when the Natonin people decided to settle permanently in Butac.

In 1987, Butac was separated from Monggayang and Malabong volunteered to become the temporary barangay captain for eight months. He said he did not run for barangay captain during the 1988 barangay elections to show to the people that he had no political motive but just to bring development to the place.

Barangay Butac now has a total population of 1,145 and true to Malabong’s wish, already a recipient of various government programs and projects such as its own elementary school, solar power and a farm to market road from the national government.

Beaming with pride as he sat under his native house and feeling fulfilled with his dream, Malabong said he is willing to donate a portion of his land for a health center.

Meanwhile, Butac residents asked that they be provided with an electric line or grid. Of the 27 households here, only 17 households are energized by solar power, which they said is only limited to providing light and cannot support household appliances.

In an interview with Engr. Jaime Pe Benito of the Ifugao Electric Cooperative (IFELCO), he said the cooperative could not energize a community that has been reported as energized at the national level.

He, however, advised the barangay officials of Butac to submit a resolution to their office asking for reconsideration to energize their area through the grid in order for them to have basis for sourcing out funds for the electrification of the said barangay. # Vency Bulayungan / PIA Ifugao

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