Christianity in Cordillera

Introduction

I am an Igorot. Let me be treated as I deserve- with respect if I am good, with

Cordillera is one of those provinces in the Philippines that are rich in cultures
and traditions they are proud of and keep holding on. They are called Cordillerans
and prefer to call themselves Igorot, a name given by the Spaniards or Torogis in
this present generation. As History tells, Igorots existed having their own belief and
practices before the Spanish came to conquer their territory. But their origins and
how they were able to come across and live in the mountainous area are not yet
known. They firstly encounter Christianity when the Spanish came to take control of
the province because of gold.
Animistic is the primary belief of Cordillerans and many are still engage
practicing the belief. Priests and missionaries trying to Christianized before were
often killed in cruel deeds like cutting-off their head and sudden ambush attack.
They faced Christianity as a threat to their lands and selfhood. The coming of the
early protestant missionaries in late 19th century brought a change in their
perspective and the gospel slowly penetrated the lands of trees and gold though the
natives were not so receptive.
In this present time, the people of Cordillerans continue to protect the belief
system- their own songs, folklores, rituals and dances and ancestral lands. Some
were Christianized and some endeavor to continue what the early missionaries
planted. In order to know what makes their coherency to fight and preserve their
own tribal is that one must fully understand and carefully study the nature of their
practices, celebration of festivals and way of living.
Spanish Regime
Christianity arrived when foreigners invade their territory. According to
William Scott in his book The Discovery of the Igorots, the Igorots had their first
contact with the Spaniards as a result of the fame of their gold mines in mid
16thcentury. In their search for gold, they have a hard time conquering the
mountaineers. The Igorots defend themselves from being slave and under the rule
of the Spaniards. They hardly fought for their own and liberty to enjoy their native
land. If other places in the Philippines warmly accepted the conquistadores, the
Igorots avoid them. Friars testified that they eat human flesh, they are cruel that

when some Christians fell into their hands, they mutilated and disfigured them in a
minute, it is inhuman cruelty that the church can avenge by making war against
them.[1] The Igorots in general are very agile people, bold, well-built and feared by
other tribes around, when they killed someone they make many feasts and light
many fires around the hilltops.[2]
Esteban Marin was the first apostle in the Gran Cordillera recorded in
Agustinian hagiographies. He started his carrier in Tagudin which is frequently
inhabited by the Igorots in the year 1584. He headed the place alone with only one
servant and a cross with him. And after persisting the pagans in their reluctance to
his religion he was shot by an arrow at his back. His killers cut his head, burned his
body, killed his servant and waited for the coming troops.[3]Its not easy for pagans
to give up their ancient practices and absorbed the word of a priest.
In 1605, the Dominicans took charge of Manaog, Pangasinan for the
purpose of proselyting the Igorots.[4] Their efforts in hiking the terrace and
dangerous curve mountains were not wasted. Domingo Dogarat was the first Igorot
convert baptized by Father Thomas Gutierez in Ambayabang.[5] But though they
were starting to gather more converts there were numerous accounts on how
unsuccessful they are in reaching out the Igorots.
In November 1619 the Augustinians, Dominicans, Franciscans, and Jesuit
theologians discussed whether a war will be held against them. The decision was
affirmative, founded on grounds that the pagans inhumanly killed and robbed the
Spaniards and any man trying to Christianized their family. But even when the
decision was affirmative, the Igorots had protected their lands. During the time the
Fort del Rosario was being built near Antamoc-Itogon (now part of Benguet) in 1620,
the Igorots will attack when the rainy season would make the Spanish muskets
useless, eventually killing the also Filipino field marshall and others. The Spaniards
retreated leaving the Fort unfinished.[6]
In 1624, the Spaniards were insistent letting Captain Alonzo Martin Quirante
to lead another expedition to rebuild the Fort and look for more gold. But the
problem arise was that the expedition was to expensive costing to P33, 000 and
many lives, but no profit. Therefore, the Spanish Royal Audencia cancelled the
entire project withdrawing all the forces.[7] Expedition and mission were after
another when one beaks down. As they continue to quest for gold the Spaniards
quest for souls also. In one hand, the quest for soul served as a gateway to conquer
their lands.
In 1756, there is a decrease of war made by the mountaineers to its nearby
villages and they dont make war anymore. It was listed by Father Vivar that 1,772
Igorots are registered by the missionary fathers and 463 were baptized.[8] Gaining
the trust of the Igorots through their religion they took advantage to implement
their wrong motives.

In 1759, the missionaries were upset by the abrupt end to their Igorot
missions. The Igorot tried their best to be a good Christians but the fathers had
betrayed them and delivered them over captivity, death, and destruction. They
were force to pay tribute, form towns and live civilly and politically, a difficult
undertaking because of the way of living in which they were raised, complete
freedom, subject to no authority, without any ambition rather than just to trade with
its neighboring provinces. As they always are, they fought for their independence.
[9]
Christianity slowly deepens by the persistent work of the friars until it was
established in the year 1890. Missionaries could hardly go on performing an
average of 35 weddings, 60 funerals and 182 baptisms a year and also minister to
the nine primary schools established and new 59 converts in Bontoc. The early
missions began in the foot of Gran Cordillera- Kapayapa, Panuypuy, Ituy to the area
of Ifugao going westward to Bontoc, Mankayan and going to the south.[10]
The Igorot defense of the Gran Cordillera, according to Scott, was no doubt
the 320-year fight of the mountaineers for their liberty with every means at their
disposal. Their resistance was deliberate, self-conscious, and continuous. That it was
largely successful is indicated by the fact that by the end of the Spanish regime, the
last census still listed one-third of the estimated mountain population as completely
independent.[11]

American regime
The war against the Americans was an uphill fight for the Filipinos from the
start wherein the native of Cordillera and Caraballo played their part in this kind of
war. The Filipino forces were driven northward. General Gregorio H. Del Pilar with his
men use Tirad Pass yet defeated by many forces. General Emilio Aguinaldo escaped
to Bontoc via Cervantes, Ilocos Sur. When he was captured, the whole BontocLepanto area was already occupied by the Americans.[12]
While these events were happening, the foreign missionary enterprise
gained momentum in the churches of the Western world. So when the Philippines
was brought open to foreign missions the Baptist, Methodist, and Presbyterian
leaders met together to discuss how to penetrate the archipelago.[13]
American took place the Spanish regime with the Igorot in mind yet with the
search for soul too. The early Americans and missionaries did not completely stop
the resistance of the Igorots. Head-hunting is still practiced as they were constantly
feuding. There were still other ancestral tribes and belief practiced. But benevolent
assimilation was started in which early Americans and post- Spanish missionaries
ministered to the Igorots. The traits of hard work, obedience, and good education
were inculcated to them. And instead of being antagonistic, they integrated

themselves with the natives, learned their tongues and cultures, and labored with
them.[14]
During the early missionaries meeting in Manila in 1901, the allocated
geographical mission site of the United Brethren Missionaries was in Mountain
Province and La Union. The protestant Episcopals, who considered the Roman
Catholic church as sister body and that they should work only among the nonCatholics, decided to minister to the animistic tribes also referring to the
Cordillerans. In 1903, Bishop Brent and Walter Clayton Clapp hiked into Bontoc
where they baptized two natives and received seven others started the earliest
Anglican missions to be established in the Philippines, later known as All Saints
Mission.[15]
In 1907, other group of post-Spanish missionaries started the CICM
(Immaculate Conception Missionaries) in Mountain Province and established their
first settlement in Baguio City. In the late 1940s and early 1950s, the Lutheran
church began training the Igorot pastors and laymen. There were also medical
mission started. Recently, Peoples Action on Cultural Ties (PACT) was established by
the NCCP (National Council of Churches in the Philippine) to help enhance the
cultural identity and to strengthen the ethnic group.[16]

Personal Reflection
It is an act of ignorance for us Igorots, if someone think of uncivilized people
living in unmannered ways. People who would be in this category must learn his/her
history. In some history books, Filipinos were subject to slavery under the Spanish
period but certainly this is not true of the Igorots. The Europeans, suffering from a
disease that only be cured by gold using religion as a way to rule over them called
them stubborn, unlearned and stupid because they resisted them with every means
of their disposal.
However, though early missionaries have been rejected due to severe
resistance their humble works that were established became seedbed to expand
Christianity in the province. I am proud to be an Igorot. We salute the missionaries
who sowed seeds Christianity in our soil so that our generation and the next
generation may know God too. Yet may our culture and identity remain and be
respected as we together continually reach my fellow Igorots to God.