Area

• Total 28,228.83 km2 (10,899.21 sq mi)

Population
3,451,410 As of 2015

Festivals
Vakul-Kanayi Festival{ Batanes}
Sabtang Island just held its first-ever Vakul-Kanayi Festival this year.
Starting from April 25 to 27, activities are made from indigenous outdoor
games and cultural shows to colorful parades and street dancing
competition. Vakul is the headgear worn by women and kanayi are the
vests wrapped on men when they work. It was made from Philippine date
palm and they are still worn up to this day
At the end of the day, Philippine fiestas are not only beneficial to the
locals. These important events have proven to invite “balik-bayans” and
foreign tourist to celebrate with the Filipinos. With the rich culture and
heritage of the Ivatans shown during these fiestas, it just goes to show that
Batanes has more to offer than its picturesque sceneries.

Bambamti {isabela}
A SCARECROW is a human-like figure that guards crops from marauding
birds, and is usually made of sticks and old clothes stuffed with straw, held
up by a frame over a field — and can be a farmer’s best friend. The province
of Isabela celebrates these farmer’s helpers — known in the province as
bambanti — with a festival every fourth week of January.

Isabela holds the Bambanti festival in thanksgiving for the previous year’s
harvest. The celebrations includes a trade fair, parades, street dancing, and
competitions.

This year there were 34 booths at the provincial capitol where each
municipality sold its specialties. Each booth was decorated with
scarecrows, not just of wood and straw but also made with corn seeds,
mung beans, rice, assorted vegetables, and bamboo.
The festival was introduced in 1997 during the term of former governor
Benjamin Dy, and the first festivals were held in May — the province’s
founding month.

BAYOMBONG, Nueva Vizcaya: Ammungan Festival, the grand annual

founding anniversary celebration of this province, will wrap up today its
week-long celebration focusing on the rich history and culture of its native
sons.The festivities that started on May 21 commemorates the 179th
founding anniversary of the province on May 24, which since 1985 has been
declared by then-President Ferdinand Marcos as a special non-working
public holiday.Since 2014, former governor Ruth Padilla, wife of former
congressman, now Gov. Carlos Padilla, has initiated a special program to
teach young indigenous peoples (IPs) about their vanishing cultural
traditions.The province of Nueva Vizcaya, one of the most colorful and
culturally diverse provinces in the country, is located within the majestic
mountain ranges of the Cordillera, Caraballo and Sierra Madre.It is home
to 18 IP groups that have made it their home for centuries.The major tribes
here include the Ifugaos of the towns of Quezon, Bagabag and Kasibu; the
Gaddangs of Solano and Bayombong; the Isinais of Dupax del Sur,
Bambang and Aritao; the Kalanguyas of Santa Fe; and the Bugkalots of
Alfonso Castañeda and Dupax del Norte.“Ammungan” is a Gaddang word
that means “gathering,” while its Ilocano counterpart is “ummungan,”
which has the same meaning and is widely understood among the ethno-
linguistic groups.

Tourist destination
The Palaui Island Protected Landscape and Seascape is a protected area
and national park in the town of Santa Ana in Cagayan, Philippines. It is
located off the northeastern extremity of Luzon Island, the largest island in
the country.

Callao Cave is one of the limestone caves located in the municipality of

Peñablanca, Cagayan province, in the Philippines. The seven-chamber
show cave is one of 300 caves that dot the area and the best known natural
tourist attraction of the province.
Basco Lighthouse is a lighthouse in the town of Basco in Batanes, the
northernmost province in the Philippines. Located in Naidi Hills in
Barangay San Antonio, the lush green hills and the open sea provide a
beautiful backdrop for the lighthouse. The place can easily be reached by a
1.2-km hike from the Port of Basco.

Products
Ttilapia
Citrus [calamansi, orange, and pomelo]

Langguage
Ilocano Ibanag
Ivatan Itawis
Gaddang Yogad
Isinay Ilongot
Tagalog Englisho

HISTORY
Archaeology indicates that Cagayan has been inhabited for half a million
years, though no human remains of any such antiquity have yet appeared.
The earliest inhabitants are the Agta, or Atta, food-gatherers who roam
the forests without fixed abodes. A large tract of land has lately been
returned to them.[citation needed] The bulk of the population are of Malay
origin. For centuries before the coming of the Spanish, the inhabitants
traded with Indians, Malays, Chinese, and Japanese. In the nineteenth
century the prosperity found in tobacco cultivation caused many Ilokano to
settle here. Tobacco is still a major factor in the economy of Cagayan,
though a special economic zone and free port has been created to
strengthen and diversify the provincial economy.

During Spanish times Cagayan Valley had a larger territory than what it has
today. It included the territories of the above-mentioned provinces and the
eastern parts of the Cordillera provinces of Apayao, Kalinga, Ifugao and
Benguet. As the historian and missionary Jose Burgues, said, "The old
Cagayan Valley comprises the province of Cagayan, Isabela and Nueva
Vizcaya as well as the military Districts of Apayao, Itaves, Quiangan,
Cayapa and Bintangan, plus the area of the Sierra Madre to the Pacific
Ocean in the said trajectory."[4]

During World War II at Balete Pass in Nueva Vizcaya, the retreating

Japanese under General Tomoyuki Yamashita dug in and held on for three
months against the American and Filipino forces who eventually drove
them out; the pass is now called Dalton Pass in honor of General Dalton,
USA, who was killed in the fighting.

THINGS TO DO
Visit Palaui Island
Watch Pottery Making and Blacksmithing
Visit Callao Cave
Swim in Pinacanauan River
Visit Baggao‘s Blue Lagoon
Visit St. Peter’s Cathedral
Visit Nassiping Church Ruins
Watch Rice and Corn Planting
Watch Aggao Nac Cagayan Festival
Go on a Foodie Tour

ACTIVITIES
MOUNTAIN CLIMBING
GOING TO THE BEACH

ISLANDS
Palaui island
Babuyan island
Calayan island
Camiguin island
Fuga island
Batan island