| Born
on October 1, 1946 in the remote village of Bila, Bauko, Mountain
Province, Governor Maximo Dalog shares the usual gloomy past,
which never foretold his present circumstances. His parents,
Paulino and Teresita Dalog, who are both unschooled, depended
primarily on farming to sustain the needs of their children.
The
second among seven children, he got his primary education
at the Catholic church-run Bila Sacred Heart School, and continued
his elementary studies at the nearby Otucan Elementary School
where he graduated in 1957. At an early age, he left home
to get his high school education in the neighboring municipality
of Tadian, about ten kilometers away. He would walk home after
their class on Fridays and return back to his boarding house
every Sunday afternoon carrying on his back his personal effects
and food supply for the week. He would later confess that
the difficulties he experienced in high school, walking barefoot
every weekend under the searing heat of the sun, taught him
the virtues that greatly influenced his outlook in life. He
graduated salutatorian of his class and was awarded Best in
Religion.
Dalog attended college at the St. Louis University, through
the Study Now-Pay Later scheme, where he obtained his Bachelor’s
degree in Secondary Education. In the same year of his graduation,
in 1967, he was employed to teach at St. Louis University
Boys’ High School, then transferred to Baguio City High
School in 1971. While teaching, he enrolled in Bachelor of
Laws at the Saint Louis University, graduated in 1973 and
passed the Bar that same year. He was an academic scholar
for the whole stretch of law school.
He went back to Mountain Province to practice his profession.
Aside from being a practicing lawyer, he was also a part time
instructor at the Mountain Province College when he met his
wife, Cecilia Yawan of Bontoc.
He
was elected Senior Board Member of the province in 1980 until
1987. He won the governorship in 1992 and was re-elected for
the same position in 1995.
During his six years as governor, he consolidated the provincial
workforce into a dynamic machinery, always ready to serve
the constituents. He also rallied the people and the different
sectors in the province to work behind the vision of making
the province a better place to live in. Thus, crafting the
slogan, “Gawis ay Mountain Province.” His efforts
bore fruit when the province won regional and national awards
such as the search for the Cleanest and Greenest Province
and the Best Provincial Peace and Order Council.
Dalog
returned to private life in 1998 but bowed to public pressure
to redeem the governorship in 2004 where he posted the most
lopsided victory in the political history of the province.
That same year, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo appointed
him chairman of the Regional Development Council for the Cordillera
Administrative Region.
His
performance, as guided by his program of government acronymed
PRESTIGE, enabled him to win another term as chief executive
of this land-locked province in the just concluded May 11,
2007 elections. He was likewise elected as Regional Chairman
of the Cordillera Administrative Region to sit as member of
the National Executive Board. He was likewise appointed as
the LPP’s permanent representative to the National Disaster
Coordinating Council.
He and his wife are blessed with six children - all of whom
excelled in their respective field of endeavors.
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