“Indigenous peoples are all peoples who have a sense of territorial belonging and who have a linguistic affinity to each other… Every Filipino is an indigenous person…”
– Briggs Pawid, Ibaloi
Land is life. And the Philippine archipelago provides lifeblood for the Filipino people, especially those who prefer to preserve their traditional way of life. Its fertile soil, forest-covered mountains and flowing rivers are their source of necessities. The brown-skinned natives foraged, hunted, fished, farmed, and thrived since time immemorial. As they progressed, they learned to weave cloth, forge metal, carve wooden sea-vessels, create their own writing system, establish their own governing systems, and trade with merchants from other lands. They were eventually able to fashion their own traditional literature, music, dances, visual arts, and even their own social norms and religious beliefs. Indeed, indigenous Filipinos owe much of their simple lives and rich culture to the land that they deem sacred.
Preserving Identity amidst Foreign Domineering
This culture treasured by the natives has been kept intact even when consecutively faced with the Spanish rapier, American revolver, and Japanese bayonet. The rugged Cordilleran landscape and inherent fearlessness of the Igorot people were instrumental in repelling foreign threats, while the religious zeal and strong valor of the Moros and Lumads of Mindanao kept foreign dominion at bay until the early half of the 20th century. The same can be said for the other tribal and aboriginal peoples who had their nature-oriented beliefs, indomitable valor, and rugged terrain, as well as their resourcefulness, for allies in their struggle to protect their way of life.
The rich culture of our indigenous groups established our national identity, our being Filipino, long before foreign explorers set foot on our soil. According to KATRIBU Partylist, these indigenous peoples account for 15% of the Philippine population. Almost every island of the Philippine archipelago has at least one indigenous group whose culture is unique compared to the area’s general populace.
The Mountain Princesses of Panay
Whoever thought that somewhere in the far-flung mountains of Tapaz, Capiz in Panay Island, there dwells a tribe called the Tumandok? Relying on nature’s bounty and living in an isolated community composed of traditional huts, they have a long-held practice of choosing a girl to be the “binukot” or “village princess”.
The veiled binukot is once an important figure for the Tumandok village due to her task of learning the tribe’s dances, songs and epics so that she can pass on the tribe’s traditional arts to the next generation. In return, servants from the village bathe her, groom her, serve her only the best food, and lift her on a hammock (so that her feet won’t touch the ground), much like a real princess, though she was also not allowed to play, or go to school to get an education, or do much physical work.
Through her and her successors, the literature and culture of the Tumandok are preserved. That line of succession almost dissipated especially during World War II. Due to their lack of capacity to run (or even walk), these “mountain princesses” became the one of the first victims of the Japanese invaders’ rape of the archipelago. Following those brutal events, many families stopped raising a binukot and this tradition, along with their people’s epics, was almost lost forever. Now many of these princesses remaining have grown aged. Their own daughters and granddaughters refuse to live the royal yet austere life of the binukot and opt instead to go to school for them to accomplish their future goals.
Nevertheless, actions are being done in order to preserve a literary and artistic heritage that could have faded away. In Iloilo’s Garangan mountain, small schools called “balay turun-an” have been established by the natives themselves to pass on their oral traditions and dances to their young people so that they can preserve their tribe’s culture without compelling their women to become binukot.
Recently, Elena Gardoce, the most famous binukot of Panay, died at the age of 98. Seven binukots, ranging from 70 to 100 years of age, are said to remain in Panay as of now.
Twangs and Thumps of the T’Boli
An artistic tradition is also being kept alive on Sebu Lake in Mindanao. A T’boli girl’s dance is accompanied by the strum of kudyapi (a stringed instrument) and the beat of blowon (a type of gong). The melody imitates sounds found in nature like those of the birds, the wind, and the water. Nature is also the basis of the T’boli women’s weaving patterns.
The T’boli tribe’s high regard for nature originates from their belief in the Great Spirit Dwata who is said dwell upon everywhere: land, water and sky. This people’s reverence for Dwata and respect for nature is not just heard in their chants of invocation; they also put it into practice every time they partake of the earth’s bounty. Avoiding the use of inorganic fertilizers in agriculture, shunning mine operations in their place, living simply and taking only whatever necessities (wood, bananas, etc.) they need have made the T’boli a people living in harmony with the earth.
“We had everything in abundance. We had our carabaos, had our rice… we had so much rice that sometimes it would get spoiled… and we had our bells, and our horses, and the exchange… and now this is gone”, recounts Ursula Schoer, advocate for preservation of T’boli culture.
In spite of modernization’s progress, “civilized society” also poses disadvantages for the T’boli. When missionaries came “…and money was issued, it became a threat to our wealth because now we are poor” said Schoer.
The prevalence of city life is also drawing the youth of the T’boli tribe away from the treasured traditions of their elders and ancestors. Thus, the School of Indigenous Knowledge and Helobung School for Living Traditions was established in the T’boli area of Lake Sebu in order to maintain their tribe’s culture and to share it with other peoples visiting the place.
Igorot Culture – Struggle for Territory
Whether Kalinga, Isneg, Bontoc, Ibaloi, Kankana-ey or Ifugao, the Igorot seem to be a hallmark of Cordillera region in northern Luzon. Most Filipinos recognize the Banawe Rice Terraces that the Ifugao dug out by hand 2,000 years ago; some might even be familiar with the Ifugao epic “Hudhud”. Maybe those who visited Baguio have already partaken in an Ibaloi Pesshet feast in which livestock are butchered and prepared amidst a festive dance with gong music.
The Igorot are diverse even in their dialects but one thing they have in common is their ties toward the land they live in. Mountains and river valleys seem to more of a uniting factor than an obstacle for the Igorot of Cordillera. Forested peaks, elevated terraces, and secluded river valleys have been protectors and providers for these peoples and their ancestors. Also, the rugged terrain may have tested the endurance of the Igorot warrior who may have hunted for wild boar (or headhunted for that American explorer). Territory, tradition and life are intertwined for the Igorot people; they are even willing to die defending and fighting for it.
Not all modern influences are favorable to the Igorot as progress, especially of those with self-interest, can also bring a threat to their land, culture and life. This threat only proves their dedication and courage as a people. A testament to those Igorot traits is Kalinga chieftain Macliing Dulag during the Martial Law era. He, along with the Bontoc, staunchly opposed the Chico dam construction which could have led to the loss of their ancestral domain and disruption of the Kalingas’ way of life. As his hut (with him inside) was strafed by the military, his martyrdom for indigenous people’s rights earned him a place amongst the valiant heroes of the Marcos period.
“Malaking kahambugan ang umangkin ng lupa sapagkat tayo itong inaangkin ng lupa. Paano natin aangkinin ang bagay na naririyan pa rin kahit wala na tayo? Tanging ang lahi ang maaring umangkin ng lupa sapagkat ang lahi ay walang kamatayan,” Macliing spoke in protest of foreign corporate encroachment upon his people’s ancestral land.
The Igorot struggle for territorial security still continues as more impending threats arise from dam construction, large-scale mining, and corporate logging. Cultural groups in the Cordillera like the Dap-ayan ti Kultura iti Kordilyera (DKK) and Salidummay support that struggle, as well as those of other indigenous groups and the greater struggle of the marginalized sectors, through their music and performing arts.
Play Ethnic
Most Filipinos are music lovers. Ironically, Filipinos put more high regard on foreign pop, rock, and hip-hop music over their own local sounds. Most of the original Pinoy music (OPM) we hear nowadays is even derived from Western melodies. Although foreign influence abound in our modern music, it is a good thing that some Filipino artists have ingeniously went back to their cultural roots and somehow generated a resurgence of patriotism by fusing current trends with indigenous beats.
Joey L. Ayala of Ang Bagong Lumad takes pride in his cultural upbringing from Mindanao through his incorporation of new pop and old native tunes (hence, “Alter-native” or “Bagong Lumad”). The same trend has been done before by Asin and Ang Grupong Pendong back in the 70’s, 80’s, and 90’s. Pendong Aban Jr. and Mike “Nonoy” Pillora (who were both band members of Asin) even lived with various Lumad communities just to learn their music and their way of life.
Indigenous melodies are also incorporated by artists of the Filipino protest music genre. Some songs of Pol Galang, Patatag, and Inang Laya often have ethnic flavors and patriotic undertones in order to reawaken nationalist sentiment among its listeners in protest demonstrations for society’s marginalized sectors.
Joey L. Ayala and Pendong Aban Jr. are still active performers, playing their music throughout the country and even abroad. Even the new generation has produced some performing groups, namely Pinikpikan, Kadangyan, Kontra Gapi (of UP Diliman) and Makiling (formerly Makiling Ensemble). These groups, both old and new, continue to promote indigenous culture and love of country through their performances in schools and colleges, gig bars, festivals, and cultural centers, and concert stages.
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“If we lost the history of the tribal people, all the indigenous people, we also lose the history of humanity. We are part of that history,” mentions Helobung School coordinator Maria Todi Wanan of the T’boli. These indigenous peoples or cultural minorities are our only link to our rich past long before the foreigners arrived. Although globalization is the current trend to modern progress, tradition and heritage must be preserved so that future generations can also have the opportunity to appreciate their own culture. The only way to do this is that the government and various sectors of society should conduct more measures to promote and maintain indigenous people’s culture, welfare and rights.
Kadangyan vocalist and true-blooded Cordilleran Bhaba Mitra would always say that “the beauty of every place in the world is in its own culture.” As roots are being rediscovered, identities are also made clear. We Filipinos ought to know that we ourselves are Filipinos, through our people’s culture because the moment that we forget our culture, we also forget our identity as a people.
* Special acknowledgement to the Tolentine Star which originally published this article in its “Re-Unwritten” (June-November 2010) issue
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