(REPOST): Pakibasa pag may time para maliwanagan: The Media Depicts the Ifugaos and Igorots as... Primitive If I were given a penny for every Filipino who has a wrong idea about the people of Ifugao, I would have been very rich by now. Every time I answered the question, “Where are you from?” with “I am from Banaue, Ifugao,” I would get the following follow-up questions: (1)“Oh, you are from Baguio?” (2) “...in Sagada?” (3) “You are an Igorot?” And worse: (4) “You are an Aeta?” And the most annoying set of questions: (1) “Are there still headhunters in your place?” (2) “Are the roads okay?” (3) “Why are you not wearing G-strings?” So to answer those questions once and for all, let me start with the basics. The Cordillera Administrative Region in northern Luzon is one of the 17 regions of the Philippines. Its name was derived from the fact that it is a mountainous region. It is composed of 6 municipalities- Kalinga, Apayao, Abra, Benguet, Mountain Province, and Ifugao- and 2 chartered cities- Baguio City and Tabuk. The provincial capitals are Tabuk (Kalinga), Kabugao (Apayao), Bangued (Abra), La Trinidad (Benguet), Bontoc (Mountain Province), and Lagawe (Ifugao). Each province, including the city of Baguio, has its own identity, culture, and traditions distinctive from each other. Banaue, famous for its rice terraces, where the American wakeskater Brian Grubb recently performed some stunts, is a town in Ifugao. Sagada, known for the hanging coffins and the renowned caves, is a town in the Mountain Province (which is, by the way, the only province in the country with an English name). In case you missed Bontoc, please read this paragraph all over again. An Igorot is a native of the Mountain Province and an Ifugao is a native of Ifugao. More importantly, there are no Aetas in the Cordilleras and don’t ask me why. By the time this paragraph has ended, I assume I have already cleared out the confusion regarding the identities of the provinces in the Cordilleras. Now, as to the annoying questions, I have to admit that I get really irked whenever I am asked if I wear G-strings at home, not because the question seems pretty ridiculous to me, but because of the obvious ignorance and lack of information about this region where one of the most notable world wonders is located. I used to think that whoever asked me that question was ignorant, uneducated, irrational, and tactless. However, as I was slowly putting these things together, I realized that there is one big factor that caused all these misinformation regarding the Cordilleras. The media is to blame. I once watched a segment presented by Rovilson Fernandez on the KTV channel, a youth-oriented local TV channel, that featured Banaue, Ifugao. After showing all the processes of harvesting rice and the lifestyle of the people in the barrios, I waited for the show to feature the downtown area where the economic activities take place. To my disappointment, it didn’t happen. And to add insult to injury, the show was concluded with the host’s statement, “The lifestyle of the Ifugaos did NOT significantly change since 100 years ago,” leaving the impression (especially to the youth who are the channel’s target audience) that all Ifugaos are still living the aboriginal way of life. That really struck me to the bone! As an Ifugao, I was outraged. I thought he must be pertaining to the far-flung barrios- the most rural areas of the town and not Ifugao in general. Indeed, we Ifugaos still plough ricefields manually and pound rice on stone mortars. But not everybody does that. Not anymore since the invention of rice mills ages ago. I never experienced ploughing myself but on rare occasions, I do pound rice grains. While that still remains a lifestyle of the people in many areas, people in the congested urban-like barangays are too busy with work or school to manually process the rice grains, hence rely on commercial rice or rice millers to do the work for them. In all town centers of all the provinces of the Cordillera region, there are numerous economic and commercial establishments that should be evidence that the region has coped with the modernization of the country, therefore, there is no reason why the media should claim that the lifestyle of the Ifugaos hasn’t changed since the dawn of time. That also explains why, to satisfy one’s curiosity, there are no men running around in G-strings. Come on, people! Can you think of a rational objective why people wear G-strings in their day-to-day living in this modern world? Don’t get me wrong, men of our ethnicity do wear G-strings- in special occasions but not at work! In light with the nation’s economic activities, transportation was developed, so there should be no reason why someone has to worry about getting to the provinces of the Cordilleras. For example, one can reach Banaue by either bringing his own car or travelling by bus. The town has its own bus terminals for at least 3 bus operators. Accommodation isn’t a problem as well. In Banaue, there are numerous hotels, the largest of which is the Banaue Hotel, even larger than the Hotel Intercontinental in Makati or the Heritage Hotel in Pasay City. The media’s depiction of the provinces of the Cordilleras as a primitive region has not only happened once. It happens all the time whenever there is a program that advertises the region. That is why, people who never heard of or who have never been to this region would definitely think that this is an area far from modern civilization, which is precisely a false presumption. I don’t criticize the media for featuring the traditional practices and life of the Cordilleras, the Ifugaos, the Igorots, etc. because that is, after all, what brought them to the spotlight. All I am saying is that, when it does, the media should present the two sides of the Cordilleras: the modern side and the traditional side, because it is totally unfair and insane that we are perceived as primal when in fact, we are in line with the pace of modern lifestyle. And just so you know, our girls wear Prada, Louis Vuitton, Chanel, etc. and are updated with what’s in and what’s not. Therefore, in order to stop this “deception,” I say, do not totally rely on what the media portrays about Ifugao, the Mountain Province, Benguet, and the rest of the Cordilleras, for the media only relays what it thinks will profit them and gain them widespread patronage. Instead, I encourage you to visit the Cordilleras and experience first-hand what makes this region a wonderful, unique, and surprising modern community.
Posted on: Thu, 21 Nov 2013 10:48:10 +0000
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