Category Archives: Culture and Tradition

There’s Something About Marky

Of course this blog is not all about bootlickers, chicken wings, and community activism. We are also about artistas. So let’s do a post on our favorite artista, Marky Cielo. Here are six things you might not know about him.

1. Did you know that he was (is?) the Department of Health’s Youth Ambassador Against Tobacco? That’s him and DOH Secretary Francisco Duque III shaking hands. Photo courtesy of the DOH website.


Continue reading There’s Something About Marky

Party Poopers or Voice of Reason?

You decide. Statement from the Tungtungan ti Umili via Sunstar.

On Panagbenga funds:
“People have the right to know where their money was spent and how their elected officials spent it,”

On that cultural street dancing thing:
“Clearly, this is at the expense of exploiting Cordillera indigenous culture so rooted in our indigenous peoples’ history of cultural heritage. Commercializing causes its own slow death — and this death is tantamount to that of indigenous peoples when we lose our identity due to national oppression.”

Continue reading Party Poopers or Voice of Reason?

Very Interesting Reads

Miriam Coronel Ferrer has an article on Igorotness which you might find interesting. You can read it here. But here’s a quote:

… those who proudly self-identify as Igorots are generating more and more “Igorot” cultural resources to reproduce, enrich and somehow transform Igorot identity. Jimmy Fong’s presentation featured photos of children wearing t-shirts emblazoned with “Igorotak” (“I am Igorot”) followed by a dictionary-like entry that goes “n.Bibakese* – a statement asserting ethnic identity.” Fong also sampled exchanges in blogs among Igorots about Igorots. A hot topic were pop stars Paolo of Starstruck and Marky Cielo, both of Igorot descent, and their “Igorotness.” Or, in the case of Paolo, his shameful disowning of his identity ala the infamous quip, “My parents are Igorot but I am not.”

I’m not quite sure whether Paolo really did disown his identity. He was hesitant to reveal that he is part Igorot but there have been no reports of him expressly stating “na parents lang niya ang Igorot”. Maybe he did, maybe not. Pero may mga PaKoLI (parents ko lang Igorots) sa Quezon City (sa may E. Rod hehe). Hah, we coined PaKoLI ha. You read it here first.

Anyway, let’s go back to Coronel’s piece.
Continue reading Very Interesting Reads