The Kankanaey Town of Buguias

Long time ago there was a hunter from Kiangan named Lamia-en who frequently travel to faraway places in pursuit of a game. During one of his hunting trips, he reached the village of Tinoc or Tinec. There he met a woman named Dacal-le. He courted her and not long after, they agreed to get married.

They were married near the hot spring in Buguias. On the eve of the wedding, pigs and cows were butchered. At night, worms rapidly spread on all the meat to the consternation of the gathered well-wishers. In the morning however, the worms transformed into beautiful butterflies and filled the vicinity with different colors dancing to the songs of various birds in the nearby flower fields and woodlands. The elders quickly interpreted this as a good omen for the new couple and that they will receive countless blessings. The couple are ancestors of the peoples of Buguias and most of the people living there today can trace their lineage to this famed hunter.

At the dawn of the century during the American regime, Buguias was a thickly forested area. Logging was the primary activity in the municipality up until the time of then President Ferdinand Marcos. This explains how communities came about in the highest places like Natubleng, one primary location of the many sawmills in Buguias. After most of the trees were felled, however, the workers started to look for other means of livelihood. Thence, they began farming and planted vegetable seedlings brought by the Chinese and Americans. Due to the government’s neglect to reforest, the trees slowly vanished until there was no more forest to speak of. The municipality then slowly and surely transformed itself into a farming town.

Although the dominant dialect or language in Buguias is Kankanaey, the original language of their ancestors can be traced to Kalanguya, similar to Nabaloi or Ibaloi language. Interactions and intermarriages with the neighboring towns of Kibungan, Bakun and Mankayan who are likewise Kankanaeys, their dominant language slowly saw transformation. Kalanguya, nevertheless, is still spoken in the boundaries of the municipality close to the province of Ifugao. Today, many speak two languages, the Kankanaey and Iloko. In their interactions with vegetable merchants, they have learned to understand and speak Tagalog or Pilipino. There are countless Elementary Schools and few High schools scattered in the municipality. But eventually after high school, most of the students go to the City of Baguio to pursue their college education.

Up to the present, the main livelihood in the municipality is vegetable farming. In higher altitudes, like Natubleng and Sinipsip, climates are much colder that plants grow slower than in the warmer places like Central Buguias. It was noted however that vegetable that matures longer tastes better. The municipality has always been famous with their beautiful vegetable terraces especially when most fields turn vegetable green. With the introduction of different and imported plant seedlings and insecticides, however, more resistant pests have invaded the municipality destroying millions of crops every year consequently forcing many farmers to look for alternative livelihood.

Going to Buguias today, one would notice but a few trees in some areas, far in between. Most if not all available areas had been terraced and tilled as vegetable farms. There are probably no more wild animals to be hunted in the remaining wooded areas where Lamia-en and the legendary Apo Anno used to hunt. Incidentally, Buguias is also a tributary of the major Agno River that supplies three hydroelectric dams. One of which is Ambuklao Dam, whose efficiency and performance have dismally deteriorated due to heavy siltation through the years. If the state of the Agno River and the its surrounding environs remain unchanged, soon the other dams downstream, Binga and San Roque, will likewise meet the fate of Ambuklao.

Having grown up in Buguias, this writer, an eighth generation offspring of Lamia-en, has seen the last of the few remaining Benguet pine trees on many of the land tracts before they have been transformed into vegetable gardens that we now see. Unless the descendants of the great hunter Lamia-en start to maintain check-and-balance between nature and their way of life, we may never again experience the once exceptional state of Buguias; times when weddings, festivals and town gatherings are embellished with native flowers and flamboyant butterflies dancing to the sounds of vibrant birds ever abundant in the forests nearby.

Beer bash in the Park

Benefit jam at the Pine trees of the Wold last Sunday. About a hundred and fifty people gathered to enjoy bone fire under the pine trees with music and free flowing beer and pulutan. For those asking for their souvenir photos, you can get it here. If you need the higher resolution, just email me the number and I'll send it to you.

For those who helped make this event a success, we thank you. The family of our beneficiary thanks you all.

Dances with lights

He Ain't Heavy He's My Brother

Mr. Aaron Tudlong, a former NLRC sherif and a father of two was only 27 years old when he was diagnosed with Kidney Failure in 2006. Replacement of the kidney was the best option, however, efforts to find a donor was next to impossible. As his condition worsens, he had to give up his job. After 3 years of battling with the disease, resources of his family and friends have been depleted and became hardly enough to cover the thrice-a-week dialysis, additional medications, not to mention other family needs and the education of his children.

Hence, this appeal to generous individuals to help him with his expenses and to sustain his family's needs. Hopefully, enough funds will be raised to set up a small family business that will further help sustain his and his family's needs.

Pine Trees of the World Park
February 22, 2009 at 6 to 10 pm

Enjoy the night with bonfire under Baguio's Benguet Pine trees with round-the-clock music from Jun Utleg, Daluyon and other bands. Fight the cold night with free flowing beer and pulutan! You may even get lucky and win prizes from our sponsors!

He ain't Heavy. he's my brother Part one is a project of the Beta Sigma, Baguio Forumers Club, The Molmolites, Mid Rock Quary Brgy. in cooperation with the City of Baguio

Half Moon

Taken last week along Session Road. Guess where.

Igorots: The so Called Savages of the Cordilleras

For more than 300 years the Spaniards and Americans fought the people of the Cordilleras called Igorots. They were called savages and uncivilized or ignorant by these invaders. These colonizers wanted to eradicate these people’s customs and traditions and enforce their western cultures and religions. The savages fought back. They wanted their cultures intact.

For centuries they flourished in these mountains as farmers and hunters. Although they have occasional quarrels with their neighboring tribes, they were protected by their common law called “budong” (peace pacts). They lived in harmony with nature. For years they never exploited their natural resources to extinction. They cut only the trees they need for building houses and hunt only the animals they need for food. Their way of exchanging goods were mostly through gold or their local commodities (e.g. exchange rice for g-strings or animals).

The Budong

Peace pacts in those days are significant protection for the people. Once a quarrel against another tribe arises, It would be brought to the attention of their elders or peace pact holder. These tribal leaders were regarded much respect. A council with other peace pact holders especially with the conflicting tribe would ensue. They would be the one to decide whether there will be war or the conflict would be settled amicably. Often time the instigator of the quarrel pays for his action with goods such as domestic animals. Apparently weaker tribes always go for peaceful settlements.

Head hunting expeditions which happens when peace pact holders severe the peace pact against a rival tribe does not always occur. In contradiction to what other people thought, war is also upsetting to them because it takes too many resources and the lives of their warriors. But they don’t hold back once they were ordered to go to war. They only kill their enemy’s warriors. Rarely would they include women and children.

Living in Harmony with Nature

The Igorot people never lack the basic necessities in life. Rice, meat, clothing and shelter. Each household has a rice field to till. Every community work hand in hand to plow and plant their fields. They know the timetable of the rain to water their plants. If one does not follow the crowd, his plant suffers the consequences. The bulk of pests would invade his plants.

This maybe is a myth in the mountains as a punishment of Kabunyan to the one who does not follow his laws, but it has an explanation in today’s scientific studies. Field rats live in a colony. When there are enough foods they multiply. When there’s scarcity of food, their numbers would decrease.

When the plants start to bear fruit, the rats’ populations also starts to increase. However, since the vastness of the field has been planted, no matter how fast the rats multiply their presence are barely felt by the farmers. And before their number increase to become uncontrollable pests, the rice fields are already ripe for harvesting. The goods are kept in the rice barns that are inaccessible to the pests. If someone did not follow the multitude and planted earlier or later than the rest, the bulk of the pest will feast on his field during the time it’s the only one yielding fruit.

The poor people in a community also do not have to beg to live. They work in the fields and would be paid rice for their wages. They would supplement these with edible fruits and vegetables from their forests and kaingins or swidden (slash and burn) farms. They also hunt wild pigs in the forests including the field rats for their meat supplies.

The forests thrive with wild animals and plants. The people only cut the trees for their basic necessities like firewood and for building huts and rice barns. Their forests are sacred not only because it is the source of their water and other important necessities but also the home of spirits. They fear of punishment from their ancestors or the "anitos" if they exploit these sacred places. Their taboo beliefs are instrumental in the balance of nature.

The Western Influence

For centuries, the most important treasures for the Igorots are their animals and fields. The rich have more carabaos, cows and pigs. The poorer usually have their pigs and chickens. When the colonizers introduced the power of money, the usual practices are no longer important. Exchange of goods has also changed. People would accumulate more money than animals and land.

The west has also introduced logging. With the opportunity to earn money, people discarded their beliefs and joined in the exploitation of the forests. The industry has destroyed more forest products in just the first two decades of the American time than what the Igorots have used up in centuries.

The same influence has caused many to abandon their fields and find other money-making ventures somewhere. They sold their fields and animals and joined the vast number of people migrating to the cities. Many went to work in mining companies.

With the influence of rampant violence and the lack of respect to the elders, the original essence of Budong is slowly deteriorating. Peace pact holders are often times not consulted and vengeance are exacted without the usual budong consultations.

Crimes in the past days pertain only to stealing and killing. They don’t rape and disrespect their women. They follow the courtship law. Men and women used to bath in the rivers together naked and without malice. The vile acts were introduced by the colonizers who pillaged their lands, burned their huts and fields and raped their women.

And these savages are the people who brought us the so called Christian Religions. Religions that are laden with the old pagan traditions of Rome (e.g. celebration of Christmas day on December 25 which was actually celebrated in Rome as the birthday of Saturn; existence of Purgatory that is not found in the Bible but actually part of the Greek and Roman Mythology, etc. etc.)

We were called uncivilized and savages then. But I do believe that even when we didn't have guns and machines we are more civilized in our ways that those who came to conquer us. When they came to influence us, our natural resources we fought so hard to keep were wasted to corruption. (Here one ironic example: When the Japanese came, we fought hard not to lose what's left of our resources to them. After the war, 90 percent of our forest products went to the rehabilitation of Japan. Our fathers fought hard for it only to be given by our western influenced corrupt leaders to the very people we're keeping it away from. And these leaders are the country’s richest today.)

Are we to blame the Western World for the influence and changes in our cultural upbringing? To me it’s yes and no. Yes because they did bring us a lot of influence to abandon our beliefs that enforce respect to nature and to our elders. No because what’s happening is global. Change will come to us one way or the other.

This is just yet another battle for the Igorots to fight. To learn from the old beliefs and traditions, learn its scientific benefits and incorporate it to the new generations’ teachings. It’s a fight to bring balance to the old and new traditions and to the people and environment.

It is another fight to be able to maintain their unique identity while able to compete worldwide in every aspect of undertakings. Being knowledgeable in our culture, history and its scientific significant at the same time expert in the ways of the western world can give them edge over the rest of the competitors.

The Chicharon Guy

On a round trip travel to Pampanga.