CORDILLERAN
From identity of shame to Identity of Pride
“adak ikabain dak kina IGOROT ko”
IDENTITY REVIVAL OF IGOROTISM (1970s-1983)
CONFRONTING AND Learning Outcomes
ADOPTING IDENTITIES
At the end of this lesson, you will be able to:
Learning Outcomes
1) connect the resistance movement to the
At the end of this lesson, you will be able to: revival of Igorot identity.
1. Identify the effects of colonial naming on
highlanders; and
*Damming and logging projects in 1970s
2. Explain the nature of the political division of
the old Mountain Province. National Power Corporation – Chico River (Mt.
Province and Kalinga)
The plan was to build four dams from Sabangan
CONFRONTING AND ADOPTING IDENTITIES in Mountain Province to Tabuk in Kalinga.
What happened during the WWII? The project, which did not care to secure any
consent from the affected areas, was opposed
“Cultural Minorities”
by communities directly affected by the dam
Commission for National Integration (CNI) construction.
Discrimination – for being an Igorot Locals dismantled camps of the exploration
group and petitioned government agencies and
Malacanang to discontinue the dam.
Cong. Luis Hora - Igorot > Highlander > failed to
progress into law
PANAMIN – Presidential Assistant on National
BIBAK (Benguet – Ifugao – Bontoc – Apayao – Minorities
Kalinga)
- cultural expressions; sanctuary of
highlander students in Baguio ...the question of the dam is more than political.
The question is life—our Kalinga life. Apo
- mountaineer, native, highlander – Kabunian, the Lord of us all, gave us this land. It
depends on one liking is sacred, nourished by our sweat. It shall
become even more sacred when it is nourished
by our blood.
1966 division of Mountain Province – to bring
administration closer to the people
Benguet hold the economic burden
PD No. 1 of 1972
>killed the spread of acceptance of Igorots
Cellophil Resources Corporation – I nearby
REVIVAL OF IGOROTISM (1970s-1983)
Abra, a logging concession granted by the gov’t
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covering 200 hectares of Benguet pines (invited
Tingguian opposition)
NGO, Churches, Media, New People’s Army
Catholic priests – Conrado Balweg, Bruno
Ortega, Cirilo Ortega, Nilo Valerio Activist Groups
Cordillera Peoples’ Alliance (CPA) – an
autonomous Cordillera
The use of “Igorot” to bring to mind the
stereotype of a loincloth-wearing man with Cordillera Peoples’ Liberation Army (CPLA) – Fr.
unkempt hair playing gongs, warrior spirit, Conrado Balweg – breakaway group of the New
revive historic and successful Igorot resistance Peoples’ Army (NPA)
against colonizers.
“Kaigorotan” – inclusivity/ redefined Cordilleran appealed to many because of its
unadulterated meaning and history. It is also
favored over its ethnic neutrality, making it
“Cordilleran” Identity (1983-1987) more inclusive to all residents of the Cordillera
Central regardless of their ethnicity.
Learning Outcomes
At the end of this lesson, you will be able to:
Sipat - Executive Order No. 220 signed on July
1) identify the shift to “Cordilleran” as identity; 15, 1987, establishing a transition regional
and setup called Cordillera Administrative Region
2) tell the story of how the Cordillera (CAR), effectively removing the provinces from
Administrative Region (CAR) came about regions I and II.
Because of the absence of a single In 1995 another political division in the region
administrative unit that would unify the entire happened with the separation of Kalinga and
region, another geographical term was adopted Apayao. Through Republic Act 7878, Kalinga
to group people of the old Mountain Province and Apayao finally became distinct provinces.
and Abra. As a geographic jargon, Cordillera
refers to parallel mountains, and for northern
Luzon Cordillera includes Sierra Madre, Malaya Philippine Congress passed two laws for
range, and Cordillera Central. Cordillera autonomy, one in 1990 and the
second in 1998.
These were supported in a plebiscite only by
It is from Cordillera Central that “Cordillera” Ifugao in 1990 and Apayao in 1998. Because the
and “Cordilleran” were derived as a new label Philippine Supreme Court decided that a single
for the region and its people. The term province cannot constitute an autonomous
competed with Igorot as an identity in the region, Cordillera regional autonomy remains
1980s and the 1990s, and a number of key elusive.
players for the autonomy named their groups
with “Cordillera” in it.
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