黑料社

BAGUIO CITY鈥擩ane Cadalig was attending a seminar when she introduced herself as an Igorot to one of her fellow participants. But the response she got was this: 鈥淚gorot ka? Hindi halata (Are you an Igorot? It doesn鈥檛 show).鈥�

The 39-year-old Cadalig, a community paper editor in Baguio, said she would like to believe that it was meant as a compliment, but she still found it 鈥渙ffensive.鈥�

鈥淚 wanted to ask her to describe to me the Igorot she had in mind, but I just let her comment pass,鈥� shared Cadalig, a native of Sagada town, Mountain Province.

In other instances, people from the Cordillera would sometimes get the remark, 鈥淭aga bundok ka (Are you from the mountains)?鈥� according to University of the Philippines (UP) Baguio professor Ruth Molitas Tindaan, who teaches language, literature and the arts.

In her paper, 鈥淩ecreating Igorot identity in diaspora,鈥� published online by South East Asia Research on Jan. 5, Tindaan studied modern 鈥渃onstruction of identity鈥� and 鈥渧isual self-颅representation鈥� of indigenous Igorot from the Cordillera who have migra颅ted to the United Kingdom. She conducted the research from 2015 to 2017 under the doctoral studies program of the UP System.

Discrimination, Tindaan said, had often been experienced by Igorots from other Filipino migrants in the United Kingdom.

Recurrent story

Citing her conversation with members of Igorot Organisation-UK (Igo-UK), Tindaan said a recurrent story she heard was about other Filipinos鈥� impression that Igorots were from the mountains.

She said an Igorot woman was asked by a fellow Filipino from a 鈥渓owland鈥� province how she adjusted to life in London, with the remark 鈥淓h taga bundok ka pa naman (especially because you are from the mountains).鈥�

With this, Tindaan said the colleague implied that the Igorot woman 鈥渉as lesser aptitude to cope with life in a cosmopolitan city because of her place of origin.鈥�

And when another Igorot woman was told that she does not look like one, the statement implied further that the lowland colleague 鈥渃ondoned鈥� what she perceived as the Igorot woman鈥檚 act of hiding 鈥渂ecause apparently, she finds something wrong in that true identity.鈥�

England exhibition

According to Tindaan, these perceptions reflected the descriptions of the London newspapers in 1912 during the Shakespeare鈥檚 England Exhibition that Igorots were 鈥渂arbarians from the mountainous district of the Philippine islands.鈥�

She said such incidents showed that lowland Filipinos who are in the United Kingdom viewed Igorots as 鈥渆mplaced in the mountains and are associated with certain 鈥榤ountain traits鈥� 鈥� even in their move to another country.鈥�

Tindaan said these perceptions were informed by the so-called indigenous paradigm, which considers indigenous peoples as 鈥渁 different breed, unfit for the conditions and sophistications of contemporary life.鈥�

鈥淚n a mobile contemporary world, Igorots are still perceived as a static group of people bound to the mountains of the Cordillera,鈥� she wrote.

Resisted perceptions

Tindaan said Igo-UK members resisted these prevailing perceptions by traveling across the United Kingdom, bringing their ethnic attire and changing into these upon arrival in their destination for 鈥渟tyled photographs.鈥�

鈥淭hese photographs were subsequently posted on Facebook and generated threads of interactions among UK Igorots and other Igorots around the world,鈥� she said.

Tindaan added: 鈥淭hese photographs declare that Igorots are not or no longer relegated to the mountains.鈥�

These photographs could also be inspired by their desire to inform others how they, as Igorots in the United Kingdom, 鈥渉ave gone beyond the 鈥榖arbaric鈥� images of their ancestors frozen in colonial photographs,鈥� she said.

The late historian William Henry Scott said Filipinos born on the Gran Cordillera Central were generally called Igorots.

But he said they could accurately be referred to by the names of six different ethnolinguistic groups: Isneg (Apayao), Kalinga, Bontoc, Ifugao, Kankanay (Kankanaey) and Ibaloy.

鈥淏ut historically they all have one thing in common, whatever they are called鈥攖heir ancestors resisted assimilation into the Spanish Empire for three centuries,鈥� Scott wrote in the book, 鈥淭he Discovery of the Igorots: Spanish Contacts with the Pagans of Northern Luzon.鈥�

鈥榃rong notions鈥�

Recently, 鈥渨rong and offensive鈥� notions about Igorots, which used to be part of old textbooks, have found their way into workbooks sent to pupils who have been taking lessons online, or through television and radio broadcasts during the coronavirus pandemic, officials said.

Mountain Province Rep. Maximo Dalog Jr. has called out the Department of Education (DepEd) about the 鈥渟elf-learn鈥� module that portrayed the Igorot as having curly hair.

鈥淎ko ay si Diego. Isa akong Igorot 鈥� Kulot na kulot ang itim kong buhok (I am Diego. I am an Igorot. My hair is black and curly),鈥� went one passage in the workbook authored by Felicidad Remo and Avelina Espelita, and published by St. Mathew鈥檚 Publishing Corp.

But having curly hair is not the appropriate description of Igorots, which is one of the collective terms for people of the Cordilleras, Dalog said.

鈥淲e wish to inform the [textbook authors] that physically, we Igorots are generally similar to the Filipino majority like that of Dr. Remo and Ms Espelita,鈥� he wrote in his Feb. 4 letter to Education Secretary Leonor Briones.

Collective clamor

Dalog said his letter expressed a 鈥渃ollective clamor鈥� for the correction of entries in books and learning materials that erroneously depict Igorots.

He also urged the DepEd to conduct an investigation and sanction those responsible for the errors, especially when the wrong information had been taught to students attending classes online.

In a separate statement posted on the official DepEd social media page, DepEd Cordillera director Estela Cari帽o said textbook misrepresentation of Igorots must be corrected immediately.

鈥淭his may be accepted as truth, that is why there is a need to respond to it right away,鈥� she said, urging those responsible to make corrections immediately.

House resolution

鈥淲e are disheartened that these errors circulate nationwide but we hope our collective efforts will change wrong concepts of indigenous peoples like us, especially in areas [where] Igorots are not the majority,鈥� Cari帽o said.

Lawmakers from the Cordillera, led by Rep. Allen Jesse Mangaoang of Kalinga, have filed House Resolution No. 1522, calling on the DepEd to investigate and correct the erroneous learning modules.

Mangaoang chairs the committee on indigenous cultural communities and indigenous peoples (IP).

The resolution said it was the DepEd鈥檚 responsibility to ensure that textbooks, instructional materials and learning modules 鈥渉elp eliminate prejudice and discrimination鈥� and 鈥減romote tolerance, understanding and good relations鈥� among the indigenous cultural communities and the public.

The DepEd, it added, should help create awareness of the indigenous peoples鈥� identity and culture and 鈥渂e part of the system that corrects the misleading notions on IPs rather than perpetuating and ignoring them.鈥�

In its Feb. 9 statement, the education department said it was not to颅lerating discrimination based on race, gender, age, religion or sexual orientation.

It assured the public that there were 鈥渕echanisms in place to ensure this鈥� and complaints could be addressed to its monitoring program called 鈥淒epEd Error Watch.鈥�

Kharmin Yangot, a former youth representative to the Baguio City Council, said the prevailing discrimination against Igorots was 鈥渁 systemic problem that the DepEd alone cannot solve.鈥�

鈥淚t [discrimination] requires a total overhaul of the education system, a review of our existing laws, a rede颅finition of who is indigenous, a correction of societies鈥� varied set of beliefs, among others,鈥� Yangot said on her Facebook account.