July 26th, 2008 — Culture and Tradition, History
This is interesting. Using Google translate to convert a Spanish article on the Cordilleras to English produces an interesting, maybe “eyebrow-raising”, results. Consider this:
Spanish:
Los miembros de la tribu Igorot hace ya algunos años que dejaron de vestir su tradicional taparrabos o “bahad”, que ahora portan en ocasiones especiales, como bodas o festivales, y las mujeres tampoco lucen a diario el “tapis”, una falda blanca, negra y roja que deja al descubierto todo su torso.
July 6th, 2008 — Baguio, History
Remember the Boon Awards which we started last year to honor people or groups who are doing something positive for our communities? We haven’t been giving it for some time but here’s another awardee: The Center for Ibaloi Heritage and Loakan History.
Vincent Cabreza’s article below will tell you why they deserve the award. Kudos to the people behind the Center particularly in light of the following:
Continue reading →
June 13th, 2008 — History, Ifugao, Tourism
I don’t know about you but this video bugs me a lot. I visited the Kiangan War Memorial ten years ago and I really appreciate what the government did in putting up this shrine which commemorates the bravery of our foreparents during World War II. So I’m a little shocked and quite irritated that this guy and his companions are using the shrine for their rappelling activities.
Dude, it’s a shrine. A shrine is almost like a church or any place of worship. It is almost like a burial ground hallowed by the dead who lie there.
November 27th, 2007 — Culture and Tradition, History
We are giving our next Boon “You Are Doing a Good Thing” Award to the people behind the Ibaloi Dictionary Project. We learned about this project from the blog of our good friend, Danilova Molintas.
So why are we giving a Boon Award to this group? Because instead of simply crying about the fact that their language might die (and we must admit that this blog is also guilty of this “crying but doing nothing else” thing), the group is actually doing something to address the problem. Let’s hope that the other ehtno-linguistic groups in the Cordillera will follow suit.
November 14th, 2007 — Culture and Tradition, History, Ifugao
Here’s a really cool video featuring the different Ifugao dances. Video credit to Ifugaoland. Haggiyo!
November 13th, 2007 — History
Hey you, Manila based readers. Are you looking for interesting things to do? Then check out the following activities of Philippine Nikkeijin 2007. In case you are wondering, Nikkeijin refers to the descendants of Japanese immigrants to the Philippines (and other countries).
A significant number of Nikkeijins are in the Cordilleras where Japanese workers who were hired to help build Kennon, Halsema, etc. settled and married the locals.
Anyways, check out the following events organized by the University of the Philippines Asian Center, the UP Vargas Museum, The Japan Foundation, National Commission for Culture and the Arts, and Filipino-Japanese Foundation of Northern Luzon, Inc. Our thanks to Michiyo Yoneno-Reyes for sending us the information.
October 27th, 2007 — Benguet, Culture and Tradition, History
Wagering the Land is a book on the town of Buguias, Benguet written by Martin Lewis. You can read an online version of the book here.
It is an interesting read on the history of the town and its people, traditional land management practices, the rise of the town’s vegetable industy, and many others.
October 21st, 2007 — Bontoc, Culture and Tradition, History, Mt. Province, Tourism
Here’s an interesting video that you should watch. The first part contains footages taken at the Bontoc Museum and its artifacts of the past. The second part contains some footages of present-day Bontoc with its tricycles and all. It makes an interesting comparison between “then” and “now”. [UPDATE: Oops, as two of you pointed out, this really is not present-day Bontoc since the video must have been taken 20 to 25 years ago. Thanks for the correction Anonymouses 
Our mistake, we should have known better. Cheers.]
October 2nd, 2007 — History, Sagada
The “then” photo is believed to have been taken by Eduardo Masferre while the “now” photo was taken by Daniel Ziegler, an ex-Peace Corps volunteer who was based in Sagada. Thanks to Kent Sinkey for sharing these photos with us.
It is interesting to note that Sagada appears to have more pine trees now than in the past. It should give hope to Art Tibaldo and the Bantay Busol Movement.
September 1st, 2007 — Activism, History
Over the past week, newspapers reported about the volatile situation in Kasibu, Nueva Vixcaya where some of our kailiyans are fighting to prevent the continued exploration of an Australian mining firm in their community. Details at the following links: Scores hurt as residents, militiamen clash at mine site; Aussie firm told to stop exploration; and Bishop steps in as Vizcaya mining row gets violent.
Although things have calmed down a bit, the situation remains volatile. If the mining company pursues its plan to build a mine in the area, there is the danger that succeeding news reports from Kasibu will not only be about clashes but about deaths and bloodshed.
