April 30th, 2007 — Uncategorized
I’ve long wanted to share some blogging tips with you but that silly dog above kept destroying my notes. I’ve since disciplined the naughty dog, his name is Bondo by the way, so he’s kinda showing some manners now and is no longer getting in the way. But now, he’s playing the “Look at me, I’m so pitiful. My master is mean. I’m going to call the animal welfare activists” bit so I guess I have to give him some doggy style loving. Not that you silly, silly pervert!
April 30th, 2007 — Abra, Culture and Tradition
Here’s a video of our Tingguian/Itneg kailiyans dancing one of several courtship dances in the Cordilleras. Maybe our Itneg readers, kung meron man, can tell us the name of this dance. Kankanaeys (at least those in Sagada) have a similar dance and we call it “palakis”. [Tama ba ako, Pagano? Di ba this is palakis?]
I’m pretty sure those coming from other parts of the Cordillera, have a dance similar to this but would have a different name for it. So our different names for this dance and the different variations of it would be an example of what Dan Peckley was talking about regarding iCordilleras being diverse and yet having a common thread that binds us. So here’s a question, do you have a dance similar to this? If so, what do you call it?
April 30th, 2007 — Uncategorized
30 April: Yesterday, the Philippine National Police charged Juan Duntugan with murder before the prosecutor’s office in Lagawe, Ifugao. Duntugan confessed to killing Julia Campbell after she allegedly bumped him at the back.
According to his story, he thought that it was his neighbor, with whom he had a rift, who bumped him so he retaliated by hitting that person’s head with a stone. It turns out that that person was not his neighbor but Julia Campbell.
April 28th, 2007 — Banaue, Ifugao
Now that our kailiyan Juan Dontogan (or Duntugan) has confessed to and apologized for killing Julia Campbell, should we now end our coverage on this case?
Well, not yet. We will continue to cover the case but we won’t be posting as many updates as in the past. Also, our updates will be focused more on the forthcoming trial of our kailiyan since authorities will reportedly file a homicide case against him. Why he did what he did and the consequences of his crime are some questions which we hope will be clarified in the coming days.
April 28th, 2007 — Igorot Achievers, Sports
Are you a sports junkie? Well I’m not, but in one of my past lives, I used to do freelance work writing stories about athletes. So sports is a topic I’m somewhat interested in but not to the point where I qualify as a junkie. I follow Roger “The Greatest of All Time” Federer’s exploits though, but he’s not been winning lately so I’m kinda avoiding going to the tennis pages. What’s up Roger? Get a grip of yourself and start raising trophies again will you.
Anyways, our kids from the Cordilleras went down to Mindanao this week to compete in the Palarong Pambansa which, as you may already know, is our national athletic meet for elementary and high school students. So how did the kids from the boondocks do? Not bad, my friends, not bad at all.
April 26th, 2007 — Government, History
April 24th, 2007 — Outside Cordi
Dan Peckley Jr., an iFontok/iKalinga working with the University of Tokyo, sent us this article on the First Cordillera Day in Japan held last April 22. The event appears to have been a success. Dan writes: “Despite busy schedules (Palalo nan kinagaget nan kaka-ilyan takos na/Our kailiyans are really hard workers here) and the fact that no formal organizing committee was set up to prepare and coordinate the Cordillera Day, it was a success. Now that Cordillerans know each other better, one ka-ilyan suggested that we hold the next Cordillera Day at the Tokyo Dome.”
Thanks Dan! Congratulations on your successful event and we hope you continue to have more Cordillera Day celebrations. Wow, Tokyo Dome ha? That must be as large as the Araneta Coliseum. Go for it kailiyans in Japan!
April 23rd, 2007 — Uncategorized
Lots of things have been happening in our section of the blogosphere so it’s about time to do another blog roundup.
LET’S WELCOME OUR NEW BLOGGERS. My good friend Gina Dizon, a columnist and writer for Northern Philippine Times, started a blog version of their weekly newspaper here. If you are looking for news and opinion about Northern Luzon (The Cordilleras, Ilocos, Cagayan, and even Central Luzon), this is the blog to visit. Another new blogger is our kailiyan from Kalinga who studies at UP and who blogs about his school in Peyups Corner. These two blogs are fairly new, let’s send them some traffic and nurture them in the same way that you have nurtured this blog. Belated thanks to everyone 
LET’S THANK THOSE WHO NOTICED US. Our blogging on the Campbell case got some links from other bloggers [quezon.ph; mikeinmanila; and johncutter] and from a news website, lucianne.com [but the article is no longer available]. Thanks very much! To our readers: We will continue to cover the case for as long as necessary so visit this every now and then.
BACK TO THE BLOGOSPHERE. After some hiatus, Jocelyn Noe is once again posting at her blog. Some of you, of course, already know that we are a fan of Jocelyn’s poems so we are thrilled to find out that she reads our blog [see the last paragraph]. Thanks Jocelyn, you are an inspiration to other Igorot poet-wannabes.
BEST SMILE CONTEST. Images of Sagunto is running a best smile contest and “whoever gets the most votes will win two jars of blueberry jam to improve eyesight”. You might want to visit Images of Sagunto to cast your vote. [My pick is #7 hehe.] In case you don’t know yet, Sagunto is an upland barangay in Sison, Pangasinan populated by Bago Igorots. Vic Buaquen has an excellent article about the Bagos here. Thanks Omom for the tip.
WHERE SERVICE BEGINS. Dr. Marcos Ayangwa, the Municipal Health Officer of Paracelis, Mt. Province writes about bringing reproductive health services to the remote barangays of Paracelis. Quote: “Through ‘roadless rivers’ (the cobbled riverbeds as the road itself), ‘slippery-when-wet roads’ ( muddy ruts), riverine highways (silk-smooth banca ride during rainy season only) and rough and rugged roads (bumpy and dusty dirt roads in summer), CHOPP endeavors to deliver enhanced basic health services at the doorsteps of the villages, literally.” Read more at the Philmade Blog.
KAYNI VISITS CORDI. And writes a summary of her visit here. Like most people, she expresses concern about the direction that Sagada appears to be going and has this message to the town’s authorities: “Please keep Sagada pollution free and not let tourism trample the preservation of its culture and people.” Our belated condolence to Kayni, by the way.
April 23rd, 2007 — Mt. Province, Politics
In case you are looking for the list of candidates in Mt. Province, here it is. Unfortunately, this list does not include those who are running for the provincial board or for the municipal council. This list is courtesy of Juliet Saley of the Philippine Information Agency in Bontoc. We hope to publish a similar list for the other provinces if we come across them in the future.
Provincial Positions
Congressional race:
Carlito Afadchay (Independent)
Jupiter Dominguez (Independent)
Victor Dominguez (KAMPI)
Efren Joseph Lingwa (Independent)
Sario Malinias (Liberal Party)
Arnulfo Pilando (Partido Liberal)
Francisco Siblawan (Independent)
April 23rd, 2007 — Baguio, Politics
Last 18 April, Baguio Options conducted a mock poll on the various electoral races in Baguio City. Before we give you the results, we first want to caution everyone that the mock poll is not a random survey and, therefore, we should not draw any general conclusion from the results.
In other words, the results are not representative of the will of Baguio’s voters. It only represents the electoral preferences of the 135 registered voters who participated in the mock poll.
