Introduction 

Folk Tales of the Old Mountain Province

Yvonne Kay-an Belen

These folk tales were taken from Folk Tales of Mountain Province: Retold for Children-Grade V. 1st ed. Baguio City: n.p., 1960. 

They were produced by Area - A during a Division Curriculum Workshop held in Baguio City, Philippines on February 9-17, 1960. The workshop’s theme was “Enriching the Curriculum Through the Development of Local Materials.”

“Division” in Division Curriculum Workshop refers to a school division of the Department of the Education. It could have been then the “Mountain Province Schools Division.” 

The folk tales in this category were written when the old Mountain Province existed in the Philippines. From the early 1900s until the mid-1960s, the old Mountain Province was made up of the sub-provinces of Bontoc, Ifugao, Benguet, Apayao and Kalinga (BIBAK). 

When Republic Act No. 4695 was implemented on June 18, 1966, the old Mountain Province was subdivided into five provinces namely: Benguet, Ifugao, Kalinga, Apayao and Mountain Province. 

On June 15, 1987, the then-President Corazon Aquino issued the Executive Order 220 establishing the Cordillera Administrative Region. The provinces included Abra, Apayao, Benguet, Ifugao, Kalinga and Mountain Province. (The sub-province of Bontoc was renamed Mountain Province.)  

The chartered cities are Baguio City and Tabuk City.ykb23/10/2022.