Module 1 Topic 1 1

Sociological Perspectives and Ethnicity

This module will introduce you to the sociological approaches and concepts that will be
used in the study of Philippine indigenous communities. After reading this module, you are
expected to:
1. manifest an understanding of sociological perspectives and concepts; and,
2. identify and describe the factors contributing to the marginalization and discrimination
of indigenous cultural communities/indigenous peoples.

Sociological Perspectives: (Henslin, 2010)

1. Functionalism – views society as a whole unit, made up of interrelated
parts that work together. When all the parts of society fulfill their functions,
society is in a normal state or in an equilibrium/harmony. It suggests also that
whenever we examine a smaller part, we need to look for its functions and
dysfunctions to see how it is related to the larger unit.
2. Conflict Theory – suggests that society is composed of groups that are
competing with one another for scarce resources
3. Feminist perspective – argues that women have been systematically
oppressed and that men have been historically dominant as proved by the
institutionalization of patriarchy, an ideology which posits that sexual differences
are related to differences in the male/female character, behavior, and ability
justifying a gendered division of social roles and inequality in access to rewards,
positions of power, and privilege; therefore, this perspective aims to locate the
sites of social inequities and how to address such as well as highlight the
participation of women in the varied dimensions of social life
4. Symbolic Interactionism – views society as composed of symbols that
people use to establish meaning, develop their views of the world, and
communicate with one another; argues that the labels we learn affect the way
we perceive people. Labels cause selective perception; that is, they lead us to
see certain things while they blind us to others. We shake off evidence that
doesn’t fit.

Definition of Terms (Giddens, 1994):

Ethnicity – refers to cultural practices and outlooks that distinguish a given
community of people: language, history, ancestry (real or imagined), religion,
and styles of dress or adornment; these differences are wholly learned
Culture - the set of distinctive spiritual, material, intellectual and emotional
features of society or a social group that encompasses not only art and
literature, but lifestyles, ways of living together, value systems, traditions and
beliefs (UNESCO)
Minority group – as understood in sociology, a minority group has the
following features:
 Module 1 Topic 1 2

1. Its members are disadvantaged due to discrimination against them by

others. Discrimination exists when rights and opportunities open to one
set of people are denied to another group
2. Members have some sense of group solidarity, of belonging together.
Experience of being the subject of prejudice and discrimination usually
heightens feelings of common loyalty and interests – tend to see
themselves as ‘a people apart’ from the majority.
3. Usually to some degree physically and socially isolated from the larger
community; tend to be concentrated in certain neighborhoods, cities,
or regions of a country; little intermarriage between those in the
majority and members of the minority group

Indigenous Peoples (the politically correct term for minority ethnic groups) -
are descendants of the original people or occupants of lands before these
lands were taken over or conquered by others. Many indigenous peoples have
maintained their traditional cultures and identities (e.g., way of dressing,
language and the cultivation of land) and therefore have a strong and deep
connection with their ancestral territories, cultures and identities. The 370 million
indigenous peoples around the world contribute to enriching the world’s cultural
and linguistic diversity. (UNESCO)

The UNDRIPS adopted Martinez Cobo’s “working definition” of indigenous

peoples:
Indigenous communities, peoples, and nations are those which, having a
historical continuity with pre-invasion and pre-colonial societies that
developed on their territories, consider themselves distinct from other
sectors of the societies now prevailing on those territories, or parts of them.
They form at present non-dominant sectors of society and are determined
to preserve, develop and transmit to future generations their ancestral
territories, and their ethnic identity, as the basis of their continued existence
as peoples, in accordance with their own cultural patterns, social
institutions, and legal system … an indigenous person is … one who belongs
to these indigenous populations through self-identification as indigenous
(group consciousness) and is recognized and accepted by these
populations as one of its members (acceptance by the group). This
preserves for these communities the sovereign right and power to decide
who belongs to them, without external interference.

Indigenous Cultural Communities/Indigenous Peoples — refer to a group of

people or homogenous societies identified by self-ascription and ascription by
others, who have continuously lived as an organized community on communally
bounded and defined territory, and who have, under claims of ownership since
time immemorial, occupied, possessed and utilized such territories, sharing
common bonds of language, customs, traditions, and other distinctive cultural
 Module 1 Topic 1 3

traits, or who have, through resistance to political, social and cultural inroads of
colonization, non-indigenous religions, and cultures, became historically
differentiated from the majority of Filipinos. ICCs/IPs shall likewise include
peoples who are regarded as indigenous on account of their descent from the
populations which inhabited the country, at the time of conquest or
colonization, or at the time of inroads of non-indigenous religions and cultures, or
the establishment of present state boundaries, who retain some or all of their
own social, economic, cultural and political institutions, but who may have been
displaced from their traditional domains or who may have resettled outside their
ancestral domains (RA 8371)

Marginalization – the controls some peoples traditionally exercised over

their local societies (and their own lives) are taken from them, such that their
remaining autonomy of action does not conflict with the wider system (Eder,
1993)

Deculturation – a restriction of social relations, little or no cultural

replacement, and few new cultural forms developing from local sources of
technological and economic growth (Eder, 1993)

Ethnic Antagonism, Prejudice and Discrimination (Giddens, 1994)

Prejudice – opinions or attitudes held by members of one group about
another; involves
holding preconceived views about an individual or group, often based on
hearsay rather than
direct evidence, views which are resistant to change even in the face of new
information
Discrimination – actual behavior towards another; the activities which
serve to disqualify the members of one grouping from opportunities open to
others
The Attitudes of Majority Groups. Merton (as cited in Giddens, 1994)
identified four possible attitudes of the dominant groups toward the minority
groups:

1. All-weather liberals – unprejudiced towards minorities and avoid

discrimination, even when it may be personally costly like losing his job
or be physically attacked
2. Fair-weather liberals – consider themselves unprejudiced but will ‘bend
with the wind’ if costs are involved
3. Timid bigots – hold prejudices against minorities but because of legal
pressure or financial interests act in an egalitarian way
4. The active bigot – holds strong prejudices against other ethnic groups
and practices discrimination against them
 Module 1 Topic 1 4

General Factors (Giddens, 1994)

1. Ethnocentrism – a suspicion of outsiders, combined with a tendency to

evaluate the cultures of others in terms of one’s own culture
2. Closure – the process whereby groups maintain boundaries separating
themselves from others; the devices include the limiting or prohibiting of
intermarriage between the groups, restrictions on social contact or economic
relationships like trading, and the physical separating of groups from one
another
3. Allocation of resources – inequalities in the distribution of wealth and
material goods results when one ethnic group/s is/are in a position of power
over another ethnic group or when an ethnic group emerges as economically
dominant over others

Historical Perspectives on the Correlation between Colonialism and Racism

(Giddens, 1994)

1. Opposition between white and black as cultural symbols was deeply

rooted in European culture. White had been associated with purity, black with
evil – having dark or deadly purposes, malignant; pertaining to or involving
death, deadly; baneful, disastrous, sinister … indicating disgrace, censure,
liability to punishment. These symbolic meanings tended to influence the
Europeans’ reactions to blacks when they were first encountered on African
shores … although the more extreme expressions of such attitudes have
disappeared today.
2. The coinage and diffusion of the concept of ‘race’ itself. The notion of
‘race,’ as referring to a cluster of inherited characteristics, comes from European
thought of the 18th and 19th centuries. Count Joseph Arthur de Gobineau
proposed that three races exist: the white, black and yellow. The white race
possesses intelligence, morality and willpower superior to those of the others,
and these inherited qualities underlie the spread of western influences across
the world. He further argued that the blacks are the least capable of three
races, marked by an animal nature, lack of morality and emotional stability. It
did not help that English poet Rudyard Kipling popularized in his poem the White
man’s burden – a justification of White imperialism. And in 1913, a German
scientist, Dr. Eugen Fischer, who later served Hitler, published the results of his 2-
month field work in South-West-Africa measuring his mixed-race subjects from
head to foot and scrutinizing their physiognomies. He concluded that “the
bastards are racially superior to pure negroes but inferior to pure whites. There
might therefore be a useful role for people of mixed race as colonial policemen
or lower officials. But any further racial mixing should be avoided.” Such an
argument had a strong influence on Hitler’s Mein Kamp where he argued about
the superiority of the Aryan Race. (Ferguson, 2011)
 Module 1 Topic 1 5

3. Exploitative relations that the Europeans established with non-white

peoples. The slave trade could not have existed were it not widely held by
Europeans that blacks belonged to an inferior, perhaps even subhuman, race.
Racism helped justify colonial rule over non-white peoples, and the denial to
them of the rights of political participation which were being won by whites in
their European homelands. … racism played an important part in the group
closure whereby Europeans were the rulers, and non-whites the ruled.

To understand the marginalization and discrimination of the indigenous peoples

(IPS) in the Philippines, do read the following excerpts that focused on the
experiences of the Cordillera IPs. Their experiences could be similar to what
other Filipino IPs were subjected to.

Reading 1: The formation of a minority group. Doyo, M.C.P. (2015). Macli-ing

Dulag: Kalinga chief: defender of the Cordillera; with an anthropological
study by Nestor T. Castro. Quezon City: The University of the Philippines
Press)

Although the Cordillerans form the vast majority of the population of

the Cordillera region, they have always been referred to as "minorities," that
is, "national minorities," "cultural minorities," or "ethnic minorities."
The Philippines is made up of more than a hundred ethnolinguistic
groups. The possession of a language distinct from that spoken by other
groups is a primary criterion for ethnic identity although other factors also
contribute to this identity, such as history, religion, and subsistence pattern.
The cultural diversity of the Philippines is not surprising given the
archipelagic character of the country.
Despite the multi-ethnic character of the country, only eight (8)
ethnolinguistic groups constitute about 87 percent of the entire population.
These are the Tagalog, Sugbuhanon (or Cebuano), Iloko (or Ilocano),
Hiligaynon (or Ilongo), Bikol, War ay (or Samar-Leyte), Kapampangan (or
Pampango), and Pangasinan. These eight groups, therefore, make up the
numerical majority of the country's population while the rest, including the
Cordillerans, are the minority.
The term "minority," however, has its political undertones. It has come
to mean that these peoples have cultures that are different from the
dominant lowland Christian majority. The Spaniards called them tribus
salvajes or savage tribes. The Americans, on the other hand, referred to
them as "non-Christian tribes" and formed in October 1901 a specific
agency, the Bureau of Non-Christian Tribe (BNCT), to "civilize and
Christianize" these peoples.
Prior to the coming of the colonizers, however, the cultures of the
lowlanders were not very different from that of their counterparts in the
 Module 1 Topic 1 6

hinterlands. Based on early Spanish chronicles, the Visayans of the sixteenth

century wore G-strings, tattooed their bodies, and engaged in endemic
warfare just like the Kalingas of the twentieth century. Thus, colonization
can be considered as the trigger process that brought about the
dichotomy of the Filipinos into the "majority" and "minorities." Those who
have been acculturated to the ways of the colonizers have become the
majority while those who have managed to resist Westernization have
become the "minority."
Specific to the Cordillera, the peoples in the area became distinct
from the rest of society because they were successful in thwarting Spanish
incursions into the area. While the Spaniards managed to establish politico-
military districts in Lepanto and Amburayan, these were short-lived due to
continuous Igorot revolts.
On the other hand, the neighboring Ilocanos and Pangasinenses
succumbed to Spanish colonial rule. Prior to the latter's hispanization, the
lifestyles/ culture of the Ilocanos and the Pangasinenses were no different
from those of the Cordillerans. Linguistically, for example, the Ilocano
language is closer to Kankanaey than the latter is to Ifugao. Similarly, the
Pangasinan language is more related to Ibaloy than the latter is to Bontok.
Moreover, there is anthropological evidence indicating that the Ibaloys
and Pangasinenses had a common ancestry. The Ibaloys trace their origins
to Lingayen Gulf, but the group traveled upward to the Cordillera during
the prehistoric period by following the Agno River." The link between the
upland Ibaloys and the lowland Pangasinenses was severely curtailed,
however, during the Spanish colonial period. Thus, it is not an exaggeration
to say that the present Pangasinenses are basically Igorots who have been
hispanized.
The Americans were relatively more successful in their pacification
campaigns in the Cordillera. Unlike the Spaniards, they did not resort to a
purely military strategy. They co-opted the native elite by appointing them
as petty officials within the colonial political structure. These included, for
example, the Carinos, Carantes, and Fianza families among the Ibaloys. In
Ifugao, there were cases where the American governors took Ifugao wives
from those belonging to kadangyan (upper rank) families thus assuring their
acceptance by the community and the recognition of their sociopolitical
status.
The American colonizers also employed the divide-and-rule strategy
against the Filipinos. They encouraged and reinforced the mistrust of the
minorities on the lowland Christian groups. Thus, the cultural differences
between the Cordillerans and the lowlanders were maintained and, to a
certain extent, even institutionalized. Of course, the Cordillerans also
benefited from this policy by being able to preserve their indigenous
culture.
 Module 1 Topic 1 7

The Americans were able to consolidate their political control in the

Cordillera with the establishment by the Philippine Commission of the
Mountain Province in 1908. This new province, with Bontoc as the provincial
capital, had seven (7) sub-provinces: Benguet, Amburayan, Lepanto,
Ifugao, Bontoc, Kalinga, and Apayao. There was a governor for the entire
province and one lieutenant governor for each sub-province.

Partitioning the Cordillera. While the country gained formal

independence from the Americans in 1946, many of the colonial policies
vis-a-vis indigenous peoples were continued by the Philippine state. The
former BCNT established by the Americans was transformed into the
Commission on National Integration (CNI) which, as its name suggests,
aimed to integrate the national minorities into the mainstream of society.
This would imply that the minorities were considered as "deviants" from what
Filipino culture "ought to be," that is, the same as the culture of the lowland
Christian groups. The Philippines was projected as the only Christian nation
in Asia. Thus, to be non-Christian was "un-Filipino."
On June 8, 1966, the Mountain Province was subdivided into four (4)
provinces-namely, Benguet, Ifugao, Mountain Province, and Kalinga-
Apayao. Large portions of the former sub-provinces Amburayan and
Lepanto were ceded to Ilocos Sur and La Union while the rest was divided
between Benguet and Mountain Province.
Since then, the Cordillera was administered separately by the
Philippine government through two administrative regions: Region I (Ilocos
Region) and Region II (Cagayan Valley Region). Benguet and Mountain
Province belonged to Region I while the provinces of Kalinga-Apayao and
Ifugao were under the jurisdiction of Region II.
The splitting of the Cordillera was in line with the government's
strategy of treating the region as resource areas for Ilocos and the
Cagayan Valley. Because of this, there was dissatisfaction from among the
Cordillerans that development thrusts in northern Luzon were primarily
geared towards the lowland areas while the Cordillera itself has largely
remained underdeveloped.
Thus, in the early 1970s there was a movement initiated by Cordillera
intellectuals to call for the establishment of Region XIV, which was to be
composed of the Cordillera provinces. This movement, however, did not
prosper because of the declaration of martial law in 1972.

Reading 2: Ambivalence toward the Igorots: An interpretive discussion of a

colonial legacy. Bacdayan, A.S. (2001). In towards understanding peoples
of the Cordillera: A review of research on history, governance, resources,
institutions and living traditions. Volume 1. UP College Baguio: Cordillera
Studies Center. SC-Cor 959.917 N213
 Module 1 Topic 1 8

[T]he negative stereotyping of the Igorot which is at the root of the

ambivalence toward him in Philippine society at large, is a legacy of
colonialism, particularly Spanish colonialism. Records of early colonial
Filipino society do not reveal any ill will and radical cultural separation
between lowlanders and highlanders. There apparently was free and easy
movement through trade between the two groups relating to equals. There
were cultural similarities: head taking, family organization, animism, and use
of the breechclout or G-string. Highlanders making extensive contacts with
lowlanders today, especially in rural areas, are often amazed by the
similarities of some superstitious and magical folk beliefs the two groups
share.
The rich common cultural ground was largely forgotten as the
negative stereotype developed. It grew out of the frustrating inability of the
Spaniards, helped wittingly or unwittingly by their Hispanized lowlander
allies, to impose their will, their religion, and their law, on the technologically
and politically simple indigenous societies of the Gran Cordillera Central.
The stereotype was well entrenched in the conventional wisdom and mind-
set of the lowland Christian population by the end of Spanish rule in 1898,
surviving into the period of American colonial rule and on to this day. …
The first statement of the Spanish anti-Igorot view was occasioned by
the efforts of the governor general to legitimize the launching of the first
major expedition in 1618 to search for the mines from whence the Igorots
got their gold. The Spaniards got wind of these gold mines shortly after
establishing Spanish authority at Cebu in 1565. Since the return of Juan
Salcedo to Manila in 1572 from his expedition to the Ilocos which
established the existence of these gold mines, Igorot gold had come to be
seen by the crown as a lucrative source of revenue. Thus, when the royal
treasury was depleted by the Thirty Years War, the King sent a Royal Order
on December 19, 1618 to the governor general in Manila commanding him
to go after the Igorot gold with all due speed and by whatever means he
thought best, including offering economic incentives to participants in the
effort and enlisting the help of the religious orders. An expedition to
expropriate Igorot gold was in order!
Appreciating that the Igorots would resist such an undertaking and
perhaps feeling awkward about striking the first blow, the governor general
convened a conclave of theologians to consider and decide whether or
not a war against the Igorots was a “just war.” The charges against the
Igorots were that they were “highwaymen, bandits, and murderers who
killed for purposes of revenge, robbery, intimidation or extortion and
mutilated the bodies of their victims.” Further, it was charged that “they
prevented other Filipinos from becoming Christians, kidnapped baptized
children to be raised as pagans and gave refuge to ex-convicts,
lawbreakers and delinquents. Worst of all they prevented innocent
 Module 1 Topic 1 9

passage to Spanish vassals from one area under Spanish jurisdiction to

another.”
… Most likely reflecting their experience with the Igorots in the foothills
of the Cordillera such as northern Pangasinan, La Union, Ilocos Sur and
Ilocos Norte, rather than in the Cordillera proper, the image portrayed is
interesting in being already so negative so early. … In any event, the list
may have been considered validated and added to by the experiences of
the three or four gold-seeking expeditions that followed. The first one lost
the heads of two lowlanders who wandered off from camp at Boa, and the
commander was laughed at when he started to ask the people to
become vassals of the King and to accept Christianity. The second
expedition was tricked into thinking that the Igorots wanted peace, only to
be attacked when supplies ran low, necessitating that the expedition’s
survivors run for dear life. The third one managed to find some mines but
failed to get gold because working them ran away, staying beyond musket
range, shouting at and deriding the expedition. In any event, the ores
tested were of poor quality. So the disheartened force withdrew. In his
report the leader of this last expedition expressed the view that Igorots are
dumb and stupid and are wont to be treacherous. The final gold-seeking
expedition also did not get any cooperation from the people who had
pretended friendship. …
These attributes were to be further reinforced in the course of the
subsequent efforts of the Spaniards to induce the highlanders to join the
Hispanized society that was rapidly evolving and solidifying in the lowlands
through what is called reduccion – Christian converts to settle in a town
where religious instruction and supervision and where town life would be
guided by rules and duly constituted authorities. … It is not surprising that
concerts became the enemies of those who remained true to the original
animistic faith and culture. Attacks on the towns of the “reduced” were not
uncommon. Apostasy or reversion to animism with the apostates turning on
and killing those who remained faithful Christians was experienced in
Kalinga, Ifugao, the Magat area, in Aritao and elsewhere. Igorots also
feigned conversion and willingness to pay tribute to put off the invaders
and then reverted to the old ways when conditions turned favourable. …
It is arguable that the lowland Filipino had a more deep-seated
visceral or emotional response to the Igorots than did the Spaniards.
Although the incredible resistance of the Igorots to religious and political
subjugation hurt Spanish pride as well as cost them some lives, it was
lowland society that bore the brunt of the Igorot resistance. The Spanish
forces consisted mostly of soldiers and civilian auxiliary personnel recruited
from the ranks of Hispanized lowland Filipino groups – Pangasinanes,
Ilocanoes, Pampangoes and Tagalogs. Quite naturally most of the
casualties of the long and protracted anti-Igorot campaigns would have
been from these groups. Therefore, the families – wives, children and
 Module 1 Topic 1 10

relatives – that suffered the anguish of the loss of loved ones at the hands
of the Igorots for centuries were mostly lowland Filipino families especially
from the aforementioned groups. Given the lowlanders’ expectation that
the Igorot should be subject to Spanish Authority as they were, and should
surrender his territory, his religion and way of life to the invaders, it was
logical for them to blame Igorot bloodthirstiness, recalcitrance and
unreasonableness for their losses rather than their Spanish governors. Most
likely no thought was ever given to the perspective that to the Igorots the
invasion of their homes and villages was a life and death situation. The
negative beliefs and attitudes toward the Igorots, forged and nurtured
throughout the long years of conflict, eventually became a deeply
imprinted mindset among the lowlanders. Subsequent developments
starting with the American period which resulted in ever-widening avenues
of contact between the lowlanders and the mountaineers by and large
failed to shake those attitudes. …
Further reinforcing the negative stereotype among the lowland
Filipinos was the Igorot exhibition at the Saint Louis Exposition in Saint Louis,
Missouri in 1904 and the use (implicit and explicit) of the undeveloped
status of the non-Christian groups, including the Igorots, in the anti-
Philippine independence campaign by the Republicans in the United
States. The Igorots and their village in fact captivated the Exposition and
were visited by large crowds of people to the chagrin of the lowland
Filipinos both at the fair and at home here in the Philippines. There was
concern that the Igorots would be seen by the American people as a
reason for not giving independence to the Philippines. What should be
taken into consideration, of course, is the fact that they were only a
fraction of the total Philippine exhibit. There were other representative
groups of the Philippine population included. The Americans who were
against the independence movement considered that the non-Christian
would not receive proper attention and consideration from the Christian
majority. Dire warnings from such Americans focused more attention on the
Igorots, and by extension their separateness from the mainstream. It should
be said that in the Mountain Province, the Filipino officials who took over
from the Americans served the people just as fairly and as well as their
American predecessors. …
Conclusion. Colonialism created a cultural chasm between the
lowlanders and the highlanders and set the conditions for the destructive
stereotyping experienced even today. It seems clear that the origin and
persistence of the stereotypical lowlander view of the Igorot grew out of
the resistance of the Igorots to the pressures of the Spaniards and the
Hispanized Filipinos. It has endured in part because of the durability of
stereotypes and in part because of the close attention the Igorots received
from the American successors of the Spaniards. One wonders what the
 Module 1 Topic 1 11

highland-lowland social geography would be like had it not been colonial

rule. …
… the cultural and social realities of the Igorot past which helped to
engender the negative stereotype have changed: there is no more
headhunting (the current so-called tribal war notwithstanding); the people
are now Christians for the most part; the ordinary daily wear is now shirts,
pants, skirts and blouses; Igorots know how to use soap and groom
themselves; they have proven their industriousness and intelligence by their
educational competitiveness and achievements. And, for the most part,
Igorots are circumspect and honourable in their interactions with
lowlanders, at the least not reinforcing the stereotype and at best belying
it. About the only thing that has not changed about the Igorots is their pride
in being people of the mountains whether this is expressed by answering to
the generic name Igorot or to the specific ethno-linguistic labels as Ifugao,
Kalinga and Bontoc.
But the ambivalence of the lowlanders to the Igorots and the
negative stereotyping persists. In a curious way, they may have endured
also because of the increased contacts between the two groups arising
from acculturative forces laid out by the work of the Americans in the
Cordillera highlands. It may be that rather than making for closer
understanding, these contacts between the sides of the social divide have
provided the self-proclaimed superior group an opportunity to assert its
superiority over the presumed inferior group, through contempt. Or the
contact situation may have raised the need to maintain social distance
from a group regarded as inferior lest the false veil of superiority be lifted
and exposed for what it is. This is given credence since the negative
stereotype persists in spite of the narrowing of the cultural gaps between
the Igorots and the lowlanders and the myriad avenues of contact –
political, educational, social and economic – between the two groups. …

Similar to the arguments of the first two reading materials, Rodil (1994),
in his book, The minoritization of indigenous communities of Mindanao and
the Sulu archipelago, noted that “for so long, the minority peoples of the
Philippines have suffered the agony of being treated as such. … these
indigenous peoples … once had superficial control over territories which,
put together, would easily constitute nearly one-half of the entire national
territory of the Republic of the Philippines, were transformed into minorities
in their own lands.
… The indigenous peoples in the Philippines, now also known officially
as indigenous cultural communities (ICC), … They are more popularly
'referred to as cultural minorities. Once the masters of their own lives, now
the majority of them are poor and landless. In the old days, many of them
lived in the plains. But as a result of population pressures and resettlement
 Module 1 Topic 1 12

programs from among the majority, they have moved to the forest areas.
Now, their forests are devastated and, their cultures are threatened. And
so, they have learned to fight for survival. Their voices reverberate from
North to South, from the Cordillera to the Lumads to the Muslims (or Bangsa
Moro or simply Moro) of Mindanao and Sulu. They demand recognition
oftheir right to self-determination; they demand' respect for and protection
of their ancestral domains, of their cultures, of their very lives. Within the last
twenty years, one group after another of the ICCs have launched their
struggles for self-determination, upholding as the most crucial issue their
fundamental human right to their ancestral domain.
The present majority-minority situation is a product of Western
colonialism that has been carried over to the present. In the time of Spanish
colonialism, it was more an unintended product of colonial order. In the
time of the Americans, it was the result both of colonial and colonial
design. When the Republic of the Philippines assumed sovereign authority,
the various administrations not only carried over whatever the Americans
had left behind, they also institutionalized the status of cultural minority
within Philippine society. … Once the masters of their own lives, now the
majority of them are poor and landless. In the old days, many of them lived
in the plains. But as a result of population pressures and resettlement
programs, from among the majority, they have moved to the forest areas.
Now, THEIR FORESTS ARE DEVASTATED AND THEIR CULTURES ARE
THREATENED.” …

Global Patterns of Intergroup Relations (Henslin, 2010)

1. Genocide – the dominant group tries to destroy the minority group;

systematic killing of one category of people by another; Ethnic cleansing – a
policy of eliminating a population; includes forcible expulsion and genocide
2. Population Transfer – indirect transfer is achieved by making life so
miserable for members of a minority that they leave “voluntarily”; direct transfer
occurs when a dominant group expels a minority
3. Internal Colonialism – dominant group exploits minority groups for its
economic advantage; dominant group manipulates the social institutions to
suppress minorities and deny them full access to their society’s benefits
4. Segregation – separation of racial or ethnic groups; allows the
dominant group to maintain social distance from the minority and yet to exploit
their labor as menial workers
5. Assimilation – process by which a minority is absorbed into the
mainstream culture; forced assimilation – the dominant group refuses to allow
the minority to practice its religion, to speak its language, or to follow its customs;
 Module 1 Topic 1 13

permissible assimilation – allows the minority to adopt the dominant group’s

patterns in its own way and at its own speed
6. Multiculturalism (Pluralism) – permits or even encourages racial-
ethnic variation; the minority groups can maintain their separate identities, yet
participate freely in the country’s social institutions, from education to politics

Module 1 Topic 2: Cultural Appropriation

This module discusses the varied forms of cultural appropriation and its harmful
effects on indigenous peoples. Although the material in this module is an excerpt from a
study about cultural appropriation in the US, what is important is you will be clarified about
the varied forms of cultural appropriation, and guided by your understanding of cultural
appropriation you can browse the Web for relevant examples in the Philippines.
After reading this material, you are expected to:
1. explain the concept of cultural appropriation and its effects on indigenous
peoples; and,
2. give relevant examples of cultural appropriation in the Philippines and propose
measures on how to address it

Excerpt from: Dianne Lalonde (2019). Does cultural appropriation cause harm?,
Politics, Groups, and Identities, DOI: 10.1080/21565503.2019.1674160

Culture

.... Charles Taylor describes culture as having “a language and a set of

practices which define specific understandings of personhood, social relations,
states of mind/soul, goods and bads, virtues and vices, and the like” ... cultures
are not static, but hybrid. Whether it be due to interactions with new peoples,
technologies, or environments, cultures rarely remain the same throughout time.
A culture that attempted to stay eternally true to one definition of itself would
seem to be problematic as it would involve essentializing the culture to match
one reified definition and policing cultural members to match that definition …
Culture does not, however, need to be defined in an essentialist way if the
hybrid nature of culture is recognized. Alan Patten, for instance, promotes a
non-essentialist definition of culture that focuses on social lineage or how culture
is “constituted by the exposure by some group of people to a common and
distinctive set of formative conditions”.
 Module 1 Topic 1 14

There are a number of normative justifications for culture including those

from communitarians … and liberals …, in addition to others who are concerned
with the resulting oppression when people’s freedom to things like culture is
interfered with or denied ... These accounts take the view that culture carries
meaning for individuals and so the ability to engage with one’s culture must be
secured. … culture is a primary good ... Primary goods are:

various social conditions and all-purpose means that are generally

necessary to enable citizens adequately to develop and fully exercise their
two moral powers [capacities for a sense of justice and a conception of
the good], and to pursue their determinate conception of the good. …

Since primary goods are something that all individuals want, even on a
“thin” conception of the good, it is possible to assess how just a society is based
on the distribution of these primary goods. Culture being denied, degraded, or
destroyed is thus harmful, while culture being protected helps to promote an
individual’s ability to pursue their idea of the good and, therefore, their agency.

A strong element in the persistence and growth of culture is cultural

property. It is in part through cultural property that cultures are able to protect
and embody their specific understandings of the world, including the possible
sacredness of certain pieces of property.

Cultural property

Something is the cultural property of a collectivity if and only if a) it was

legitimately acquired by the collective or its members – that is, not taken without
consent or justification from others — or possession of it has been made
legitimate by changes in circumstances; b) the item plays an important role in
the religious, cultural or political life of people of the collectivity by functioning
as a symbol of collective ideals, a source of identity for its members, as a
ceremonial object, a focus of historical meaning, an expression of their
achievements, or as a link with founders or ancestors.

Cultural appropriation

It is often defined as the “taking – from a culture that is not one’s own – of
intellectual property, cultural expressions and artifacts, history and ways of
knowledge” ... There are at least three forms of cultural appropriation …: subject
appropriation, content appropriation, and tangible object appropriation ...
 Module 1 Topic 1 15

Subject appropriation consists of a representation of culture by an outsider, for

instance a cultural outsider writing a book about the culture. Content
appropriation involves an outsider presenting cultural property as their own or
utilizing pieces of cultural property for their work. Appropriation of Indigenous
imagery and names for team names and mascots is an example of content
appropriation. Finally, tangible object appropriation occurs when an outsider
takes physical items from the culture. Tangible object appropriation is one of the
most well-known forms of cultural appropriation. Its history stems from the taking
of land, artifacts, and human remains; many of which are now in museums.

Three potential harms of cultural appropriation

Recognition

To understand why nonrecognition and misrecognition are harmful, one must

first have an idea of what recognition is and what it confers. Theorists of
recognition largely draw on Hegel. In comparison to a social ontology that views
individuals as formed prior to social interaction, Hegel notes that identity is
formed in dialogue with others ... He writes that “[s]elf-consciousness exists in
itself and for itself, in that, and by the fact that it exists for another self-
consciousness; that is to say, it is only by being acknowledged or ‘recognized’”
... What Hegel is referring to is the way in which knowledge of oneself relies, in
part, on recognition from others. It is through engagement with others and
other’s perceptions that an individual comes to form an understanding of
themselves. That is not to say other’s formulations about the individual fully
determine that individual’s consciousness. Rather, the individual reworks and
plays with these materials. Hegel’s contribution to political theory was to assert
the impact that others have on consciousness. Individuals are not formed in
separation from others around them, they are a negotiated presence amongst
them.

Since a sense of personhood relies on recognition, denial of recognition

can feel like self-negation and carries significant personal and social
consequences. Nancy Fraser argues that “[t]he ‘struggle for recognition’ is fast
becoming the paradigmatic form of political conflict in the late twentieth
century. Demands for ‘recognition of difference fuel struggles of groups
mobilized under the banners of nationality, ethnicity, ‘race,’ gender, and
sexuality” ... These demands come in response to the denial of recognition
through nonrecognition and misrecognition. ... Nonrecognition occurs when a
culture is rendered voiceless or invisible through structural power relations.
Misrecognition, on the other
 Module 1 Topic 1 16

hand, arises when cultural groups are routinely labeled in a skewed and
disrespectful way. Often, misrecognition involves the production and use of
stereotypes. Taylor argues that both nonrecognition and misrecognition
constitute harm as:

our identity is partly shaped by recognition or its absence, often by the

misrecognition of others, and so a person or group of people can suffer real
damage, real distortion, if the people or society around them mirror back
to them a confining or demeaning or contemptible picture of themselves.
Nonrecognition or misrecognition can inflict harm, can be a form of
oppression, imprisoning someone in a false, distorted, and reduced mode
of being.

Fanon further captures how people suffer psychological harm when others
ignore or demean them since this lack of recognition or distorted recognition
can become internalized and result in self-loathing ...

Nonrecognition

There are two main processes of nonrecognition that can be present with
cultural appropriation: voicelessness and invisibility. The aphonia or voicelessness
that occurs in nonrecognition can be seen as a form of epistemic injustice as
cultural members’ epistemic contributions regarding their culture and cultural
property is prejudicially denied or ignored ... In cultural appropriation, it is
specifically cultural property ownership claims that are denied. While it is
possible, and necessary, to question cultural property and appropriation claims,
nonrecognition involves ignoring the claim and appropriating the material
without regard to the culture. Cultures reasonably have a concern here as their
proposed property claims are being prejudicially discounted. Of particular
concern is the background relations of power as it is mainly the property claims
of marginalized cultures that are not respected. Akin to the land taken through
past and current colonial acts, cultural property is believed to be unowned and
available. Deborah Root argues the assumption of availability in cultural
appropriation is due to a sense of entitlement – “If we think we already own
something, why would we ask anybody’s permission to take it?” ... We is relevant
here as it is the privileged who determine what is available for the taking while
other voices are silenced or ignored.

Invisibility, in comparison to voicelessness, focuses on how cultural groups

are erased in the media and more broadly in society. Referring back to the
appropriation of Indigenous imagery and names by sports teams, it is important
to consider the overall lack of media representations of Indigenous Peoples,
 Module 1 Topic 1 17

both in quantity and quality … The psychology of invisibility developed by

Stephanie Fryberg and Sarah Townsend shows how a lack of representation in
the media can limit the social identities available to a person ... Individuals are
formed in part through their engagement with the social environment and the
possible ways of being that are presented to them. Lack of media
representation can, therefore, constrain the amount of ideas or images
individuals have to orient themselves in the world ... Some groups, like white
individuals, have an abundance of contemporary representations in media, so
they have multiple references for ways of being (e.g., artist, doctor, teacher,
scientist). In comparison, Indigenous Peoples are commonly portrayed as
eighteenth-century figures like Pocahontas or a warlike figure. A content analysis
of the 345 most viewed US primetime television shows between 1987 and 2008
found that only 3 regular characters out of 2336 (0.001%) were Indigenous ...
There is a dual consequence for this lack of recognition that impacts both
Indigenous Peoples and other’s understandings of Indigenous Peoples:

These historical omissions keep Natives from recognizing that the struggles
their group experiences are based on an ongoing process of oppression,
rather than their own individual shortcomings; and non-Native individuals
may not recognize the ways in which their attitudes and actions may be
biased by a sterilized history that romanticizes the relationship between
Native Americans and European Americans. …

Nonrecognition results in cultural members and their epistemic contributions

not being acknowledged. It propagates dispossession as cultural property is
seen as available for the taking and it heightens misrecognition as there are not
various voices and ways of being available to combat stereotypes.

Misrecognition

Misrecognition occurs when a culture is essentialized or confined to a set of

properties. Often, misrecognition takes the form of stereotypes. When these
stereotypes are pervasive, they are extremely difficult to contest as they seem
natural and, thus, unnoticeable. Daniel Hausman finds that:

Stereotyping harms members of some identifying group mainly by affecting

the beliefs and hence the actions of non-group members … it operates on
a structured group mainly by influencing the attitudes of group members or
by changing the material circumstances with which the group must deal.
…
 Module 1 Topic 1 18

The possible consequences of stereotyping are threefold: (1) it causes non-

group members to view the group stereotypically, (2) it influences group
members to view themselves and the group in a stereotypical manner, and (3) it
changes the sociopolitical environment within which the group lives and works.

Consider the case of sports teams appropriating their names and mascots
from Indigenous Peoples. These teams tend to promote the image of Indigenous
Peoples as warlike fighters or noble savages ... A study by John Chaney,
Amanda Burke, and Edward Burkley found that individuals often have a
negative implicit bias toward these mascots as people find them unpleasant ...
Their finding contradicts claims that these mascots honor and appreciate
Indigenous Peoples. Their study further sought to see if the negative implicit bias
towards mascots would lead to stereotyping of American Indian people. To do
so, they measured participants’ implicit bias towards American Indian mascots
and then told participants that they would be working with an American Indian
partner to complete a variety of tasks. They found that a negative stereotype
bias toward American Indian mascots predicted how participants assumed their
American Indian partner would enjoy nonacademic tasks (cultural and
environmental tasks) over academic tasks (math and verbal tasks). Furthermore,
those who held a stronger negative bias towards American Indian mascots were
more likely to perceive their American Indian partner in a stereotypical manner.
Their findings show how stereotypes, even when not explicitly known or stated,
affect the lives of others. In this study, the impacts directly relate to educational
and occupational limitations as Indigenous Peoples are less likely to be
considered as enjoying academic tasks. In other cases, the impacts of
misrecognition through stereotyping could include an increased risk of
imprisonment, child welfare involvement, physical and mental health concerns,
and (re)victimization.

When misrecognition becomes internalized, it can lead individuals to feel

shame and

self-loathing. A study by Stephanie Fryberg, Hazel Markus, Daphna Oyserman,

and Joseph Stone found that exposure to stereotypical Indigenous mascots and
representations (including Pocahontas and Chief Wahoo, former mascot of the
Cleveland Indians) led to American Indian high school and college students
feeling lower personal and community worth and having lower achievement-
related expectancies ... To understand how internalization occurs, it is useful to
turn to Fanon ...

Fanon argues that misrecognition has been an intentional weapon of

colonizers and oppressors. These groups impose an image of inferiority upon
perceived others by misrecognizing others while promoting the superiority of
themselves. As an exemplification, Fanon describes an experience where a
 Module 1 Topic 1 19

white child he passed on the street said: “Look, a N*gro” followed by “Maman,
look, a N*gro; I’m scared!” ... Fanon says that self-objectification is the result as
“incapable of confronting the Other, the white man, who had no scruples about
imprisoning me, I transported myself on that particular day far, very far, from
myself, and gave myself up as an object” ... The objectification or
depersonalization of people denies their own creation of meaning. In Fanon’s
case, he shares that “Since I realize that the black man is the symbol of sin, I start
hating the black man. But I realize that I am a black man”. This internalization of
the oppressor’s prejudicial and hateful gaze can result in self-loathing and
shame. It is, therefore, extremely limiting and harmful to well-being and self-
esteem.

Nonrecognition and misrecognition through appropriation create a hostile

environment wherein cultural groups are silenced or made invisible, and subject
to stereotypes that impact their self-recognition and the recognition of others.
Imbalanced access to resources furthers the impacts of appropriation as
marginalized groups often do not have the social, political, and economic
resources available to constantly battle nonrecognition and misrecognition. Still,
many cultures have fought back against cultural appropriation and asserted
their cultural understandings. One way we can see this is through the numerous
repatriation claims made to have cultural property returned to cultures,
including the activism that led to the passage of the Native American Graves
Protection and Repatriation Act ... Another way is through the continued
activism aimed at ending the appropriation of Indigenous imagery and names
for mascots and logos ... Cultural appropriation, like other tools of oppression,
can threaten and harm cultural groups but many cultural groups have shown
their resilience in the face of

such threats. Still, cultural resilience does not undermine the necessity of
addressing the threat of appropriation and challenging oppression.

Before moving on to exploitation, it is worthwhile to pause and consider

the objection that cultural appropriation is not harmful since it is done in
appreciation of the culture and therefore offers the cultural group recognition.
News outlets in particular often frame the issue of cultural appropriation as one
of “Appreciation versus Appropriation” … By taking Indigenous imagery and
names, corporations are said to be recognizing the beauty of the culture and
promoting cultural understanding. Redsk*ns owner Daniel Snyder has stated that
“the name really means honor, respect” ... Going a step further, it could be
argued that not engaging in cultural appropriation is a form of nonrecognition
since the contributions of cultures are not being recognized by outsiders.

However, the harms of nonrecognition and misrecognition give us strong

reasons for doubting if cultural appropriation does engage in cultural
 Module 1 Topic 1 20

appreciation and meaningful recognition. An individual painting their face and

wearing a headdress to be like a mascot does not necessarily mean they will be
aware of dilemmas faced by Indigenous Peoples. There is no automatic
connection between engaging in cultural appropriation and knowing about or
caring for the cultural group. While putting on a costume, for instance, may be
an attempt to engage with or “try on” the culture, it is done on the terms of the
appropriator and their interests. Furthermore, it is often done without an
awareness of how cultural members may have been historically or are currently
being denied the ability to express their culture. My account of appropriative
harms allows us to respond to this objection by noting that recognition requires
avoiding nonrecognition and misrecognition. Simply donning cultural apparel
that one deems beautiful or that one appreciates is not recognition.

Exploitation

Exploitation is strongly related to recognition as material conditions, like

distributive injustice, underlay recognition struggles ... Exploitation occurs when
cultural property is unfairly taken in a way that harms cultural members, while
benefitting the appropriator. Exploitation, in this case, is structural since what
matters is not only an unfair transaction between two parties, where say one
cultural piece is undervalued in a face-to-face transaction, but rather a
structural imbalance of power produced by injustice in the political and social
environment ... Appropriation masks power imbalances as it appears that
society is accepting the culture since cultural imagery and names are being
sold and shared widely but, in reality, these cultural materials may not reflect the
culture accurately and most often do not financially benefit the culture.
Exploitation theory is useful in showing how situations, like appropriation, that
may appear to be just can indeed be harmful. I will focus on two exploitative
harms: loss of economic potential and commodification.

Loss of economic potential occurs when cultural property is “wrongfully

exploited for financial gain” ... The volume of economic potential taken could
be very significant and even a driving force behind cultural appropriation, as
evidenced in Joane Cardinal-Schubert’s statement: “Money, that is what
appropriating is about. Whether the issue is land or art or iconography or
ceremonial reliquiae, the focus of the deprivation is money” ... Currently, profit is
gained through the cultural appropriation of knowledge, medicines, exercises,
spiritual practices, names, stories, styles of art, and pieces of tangible property
sold or kept in museums. Even if cultures that were appropriated from did try to
get into the market at this point, they would likely not be able to compete with
large companies in producing and disseminating distinctive goods from their
culture ...
 Module 1 Topic 1 21

Appropriation from Indigenous Peoples for team names and mascots is,
no doubt, related to money. These teams do not treat Indigenous Peoples as a
contemporary group, but as a cipher for making money ... One blatant
example of this treatment is the appropriation of Chief Illiniwek, the former
mascot of the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign, in the production of
toilet paper. Clem Iron Wing, an Illini Native, shares that:

The eagle feather (which accompanies Chief Illiniwek) is the primary

religious symbol of the American Indian. We would like to know how many
persons of faith would like their religious symbols used to wipe human
excrement? … Remember the brown stain on the eagle feather and you
will know what their honor means. …

While corporations claim that they are respecting or honoring Indigenous

Peoples through appropriation, examples like this call into question if
appropriation is little more than a money-making tactic.

A further example can be found in appropriations of Indigenous imagery

and names by Urban Outfitters, a lifestyle retailer based in the USA … Often
under the label of “Navajo,” they have dreamcatchers, moccasins, totem
poles, Pendleton blankets, and headdresses ... Many of these pieces by Urban
Outfitters were not commissioned by those in the Indigenous community and
the profits did not go back to Indigenous Peoples. When Urban Outfitters takes
and sells these products without consultation and consent of the culture, they
seize a large source of potential direct revenue from the culture ... They also
make it more difficult and competitive for the Navajo Nation to sell distinctive
goods with their name due to overcrowding and competition. Indeed, the
Navajo Nation sued Urban Outfitters for trademark dilution in 2012 but their
claims were denied as Navajo was deemed not famous enough to be eligible
for protection ...

Commodification, on the other hand, has more to do with how cultural

property is transformed into a commodity through appropriation. ... Sandel notes
two objections to commodification: the fairness objection and the corruption
objection. The fairness objection captures how some individuals may be forced
to sell their cultural property as a result of the dire circumstances they are
placed under due to colonialism, imperialism, and other forms of oppression. It
may be dealt with through the establishment of fair bargaining conditions and
consent. Going back to the case of Urban Outfitters, they did eventually reach
a settlement with the Navajo Nation regarding their use of the “Navajo” name in
the marketing of their products. While the details of the settlement are largely
unknown, one piece agreed on was that the Navajo Nation would collaborate
with Urban Outfitters to produce jewelry ... Here, the Navajo nation seemed
most concerned about fairness. The production of Navajo necklaces was not
 Module 1 Topic 1 22

objectionable. What was problematic was the lack of consultation,

involvement, and reciprocity with the Navajo people.

The corruption objection, on the other hand, rejects the commodification

of cultural

property even if the background bargaining conditions are fair. When cultural
property is bought and sold on the market, the property is encoded with market
values and seen as a tool for profit. These market values can conflict with how
the culture values the property as something meaningful or sacred. For instance,
the appropriated Indigenous headdresses and war bonnets that are on mascots
and donned by sports fans carry deep spiritual significance to many Indigenous
Peoples, so they are not something to be bought and sold for everyday use ...
When cultural property that is deemed to be uncommodifiable is taken and
commodified, cultures have the ability to protect what is deemed to be most
sacred to them hindered thus resulting in nonrecognition, misrecognition, and
exploitation all at once.

The tendency to take and commodify cultural property is not an isolated

phenomenon, but part of a broader system of dispossession. Rosa Luxemburg
argues that the accumulation of capital requires that:

Force, fraud, oppression, looting are openly displayed without any attempt
at concealment, and it requires an effort to discover within this tangle of
political violence and contests of power the stern laws of the economic
process. Bourgeois liberal theory takes into account only the former aspect:
“the realm of peaceful competition”, the marvels of technology and pure
commodity exchange; it separates it strictly from the other aspect: the
realm of capital’s blustering violence which is regarded as more or less
incidental to foreign policy and quite independent of the economic sphere
of capital. …

Luxemburg highlights how appropriation is often guised in the rhetoric of

cultural sharing or commodity exchange, when it is, in fact, only obtained
through dispossession. Her point again challenges those who argue that
appropriation is an example of cultural sharing or appreciation ... Those
promoting this view tend to present appropriation as occurring in cultural
markets where merchants willingly share their distinctive goods and histories. To
them, appropriation is a positive aspect of globalization and enables creativity
and innovation ... Rather than a positive exchange, Luxemburg shows how
appropriation is part of ongoing colonial and imperial practices where groups
have their bodies, land, and property violently taken from them. Instead of
promoting creativity and innovation, appropriation simply steals and reproduces
cultural property.
 Module 1 Topic 1 23

Overall, we should be wary when seeing cultural goods up for sale. Who is it
that produced the good? Who is receiving the profits from the sale? Were fair
bargaining conditions in place? Is it something that should be sold? The answers
to these questions result in serious consequences for cultures that face
exploitation due to loss of economic potential and commodification.

Combining the three potential harms

The three potential harms … must fit into a broader account of harm to explain
why cultural appropriation may be harmful. One popular account of harm is
consequentialism wherein actions are judged by the consequences they
produce. The three potential harms and their consequences detailed herein
would seem substantial enough on a consequentialist account for cultural
appropriation to be considered harmful, especially given that the cultures
appropriated from are likely to be those most marginalized... For example,
consider the counterfactual account of harm where harm is a wrongful setback
to interests ... If we have an interest in being recognized, as Hegel argues we do,
then misrecognition and nonrecognition are a setback. We furthermore all have
an interest in economic security, so appropriation from marginalized cultures
who are often in a precarious financial position is obviously a setback to their
interests.

Judging if cultural appropriation is harmful, and potentially how harmful,

requires considering whether the potential harms listed herein are present. Each
potential harm may not be present in every case of cultural appropriation.
Furthermore, how the potential harm operates within individual cases of cultural
appropriation may differ as well. It may be, for instance, that some cases of
cultural appropriation are extremely exploitative due to their explicit and
undeniable commodification of cultural property and that these cases also
engage in blatant nonrecognition and misrecognition through prejudicial
stereotypes. Other cases, in comparison, maybe more blurred so that there
appears to be recognition but there is still exploitation as profits do not go to the
culture recognized. As such, the application of these potential harms will look
different depending on the case of cultural appropriation under examination. ...

Young argues that the real issue is not appropriation but the
marginalization or oppression of Indigenous groups. What he misses is how
appropriation is a tool of oppression with a distinct history and means of
operating. Cultural appropriation carries very real dangers in the form of
nonrecognition (voicelessness and invisibility), misrecognition (stereotyping and
self-loathing), and exploitation (potential economic loss and commodification).
Any worthwhile account of appropriation must, therefore, deal with and
 Module 1 Topic 1 24

respond to these specific harms even though they operate within a broader
context of oppression.

How to avoid cultural appropriation

A question remains about whether cultural appropriation, and its associated

harms, could ever be completely avoided. One suggested way to avoid cultural
appropriation is to seek permission to use cultural property. In order to assess
how gaining permission impacts the potential harmfulness of cultural
appropriation, it is useful to investigate an example.

Based on a real-life scenario, the Intellectual Property Issues in Cultural

Heritage Project explores a case study of Indigenous imagery and names being
appropriated by game designers … The game designers wanted to create a
board game about Māori warriors and sought permission from a Māori elected
official for their project. By seeking permission, the game creators better
enabled recognition to occur since the Māori were acknowledged so
nonrecognition was addressed. There was also the possibility to address
misrecognition as the culture could grant permission only when they are being
properly recognized without stereotypes. The harm least likely to be addressed
through permission is exploitation. While seeking permission can minimally ensure
that the cultural property is not something that should not be commodified, it
does not necessarily involve the sharing of economic benefits.

Although seeking permission to take cultural property is certainly better

than not doing

so, there are still a number of issues that permission alone does not address. First,
as already detailed, a lot depends on how permission is gained including
whether there is review for misrecognition and whether financial benefits are
shared. These are not pieces that permission can guarantee. Second, permission
may not always be gained in a free and fair way. Sandel highlighted the
necessity of fair bargaining conditions with his focus on the fairness objection ... If
the background conditions are such that the group is forced to give permission
due to financial constraints or undue pressure, then permission was not fairly
gained. Third, there may be questions about whether the person or organization
granting permission has the authority to speak on behalf of the culture. This issue
came up in the Māori warrior board game case study ... When the game was
released, there were a series of problems including misspellings of Māori names,
the problematic inclusion of sacred deities, and some non-Māori motifs.
Questions arose about who would permit the game and it came out that
permission was only obtained by an individual who was not regarded as a
 Module 1 Topic 1 25

cultural steward and so was unauthorized to grant permission. Thus, what

seemed like a promising instance of avoiding cultural appropriation turned out
to still have harmful effects.

The difficulty with obtaining permission points to the complexity, but not
impossibility, of avoiding cultural appropriation. The best way to ensure that
cultural appropriation is not harmful is to put the work into building cultural
knowledge, fostering relationships, and following cultural protocols; these are
pieces that the game developers above missed. An example where cultural
appropriation was avoided is the video game Never Alone (also known as
Kisima Ingitchuna in Iñupiaq) initiated by the Cook Inlet Tribal Council ... The
Council partnered with E-Line Media, a non-Indigenous owned company, to
produce a game based on an Iñupiaq story “Kunuuksaayuk” that they gained
permission to share and alter. The Council was motivated to create Never Alone
to become “more financially self-sufficient” and to transfer “cultural knowledge
from one generation to the next” … These motivations speak directly to what is
lost when something is appropriated: potential financial gain (exploitation) and
recognition.

Never Alone does not seem like an instance of cultural appropriation

because there was

partnership from beginning to end. It was the Council that initiated the
relationship with the company, there was extensive consultation throughout,
and the release of the product was done under E-Line Media and Upper One
Games, the first Indigenous-owned game company created with help from the
Council. In creating the game, there was a cultural ambassador, Amy Fredeen,
and the lead writer, Ishmael Hope, was a storyteller and poet of Iñupiaq and
Tlingit heritage. The E-Line Media team also made visits to Alaska to hear stories
and seek images for the game, in addition to sharing their progress. Doing so
involved some learning and changes as ideas were discussed and
reformulated. The Founder and President of E-Line Media shares how: “When
people hear about the game, they think that we went and made a game
about the Alaska Natives culture. That’s not really true. We made our game with
our Alaska Native partners” …

While Never Alone avoided cultural appropriation, the example also

highlights how easily a project can veer into harmful cultural appropriation.
When the E-Line Media team first started exploring Indigenous characters in
video games, they found that “[i]t ran the gamut from being terrible stereotypes
to just appropriation” ... The most common experience seems to be companies
unilaterally deciding to use Indigenous imagery and names without any
consultation, recognition, or compensation. This could have been the case if E-
Line Media simply decided to create the story or use the story without
 Module 1 Topic 1 26

partnership. Another issue is when permission or discussion occurs at the

beginning of the process but does not continue throughout the project. For
example, E-Line Media Producer Matt Swanson shared how the villain of the
game changed from a raven after input from the community:

As Westerners, we have lots of stories where [the raven] is a trickster

character, and things like that. And they pushed back on that and said,
‘Look, that’s not really culturally appropriate. The raven in our culture is a
much more sort of sacred character’. …

If that review and partnership were not present then the resulting product
could have involved harmful cultural appropriation even with permission. What
seems to make the difference then is not exclusively permission but a full and
equitable partnership.

Ultimately the best way to avoid appropriative harms is to avoid cultural

appropriation. Doing so involves partnership from conception to completion of
the product or project. It is through acknowledgement and consultation that
misrecognition and nonrecognition can be avoided. Likewise, partnership can
ensure that the property is something that can be commodified without
corruption and that there is sharing of the economic benefits. Interestingly, what
seems to have worked in terms of the partnership for Never Alone also aligns
with existing work on Community-Based Participatory Research (CBPR) that
focuses on “collaborative, equitable partnership in all phases” and “co-learning
and capacity building among all partners” ... Engagement with CBPR work and
principles may, therefore, be a fruitful avenue for future considerations on how
to avoid cultural appropriation, …

Module 2: The Mujer Indigena

This module begins with the ilustrados’ brief narrative about the pre-
hispanic Filipinos. Four readings about the roles of indigenous women and the
factors of their marginalization are included to illustrate some of the roles of the
mujer indigena that are presented by Prof. Habana in the lecture video. After
reading this module and watching the lecture video, you are expected to:
1. manifest an understanding of the prehispanic Filipino egalitarian
society;
2. explain the challenges to the continuity of the socio-economic-
political roles of indigenous women; and,
3. describe the lessons that can be learned by the Filipinos in general
from the indigenous women .
 Module 1 Topic 1 27

The indigena (native or indigenous) peoples of the Philippines were

conveniently classified by the Spanish colonizers into two groups – indios and
tribus infieles (infidel tribes). The indios were those who were Christianized and
accepted the Spanish policy of reduccion – abandoning their dispersed
settlement and residing in a nucleated settlement area that was accessible to
the Spanish friars. The tribus infieles, on the other hand, were the non-
Christianized Filipinos and who rejected the policy of reduccion (Thomas, 2016)
by nurturing their culture in the highlands and remote coastal areas that were
hardly accessible to the Spanish friars and administrators. These infieles would
later on be labeled as tribal or primitive Filipinos, cultural minorities, and now
indigenous cultural communities or indigenous peoples. The term “indigenous” is
given a new and narrower meaning contrasted from the general usage of the
word indigena that originally referred to all the natives of the country during the
Spanish colonial era.

The meaning of the term “Filipino” also evolved. Before the 1880s,
“Filipino” was used to refer to those who were born of Spanish parentage in the
Philippines. But in the late 1880s and 1890s, some of the ilustrados in their
scholarly writings started using the term as a label of collective identity
applicable to all the people of the Philippines transcending their linguistic,
religious, and physiological differences. (Thomas, 2016)

Thomas explained that one of the ilustrado writers, Trinidad Hemenegildo

Pardo de Tavera (of Spanish lineage), referred to the people who were first
encountered by the Spanish in the country as Filipinos and were of Malayan
origin. For Pedro Paterno (Tagalog-Chinese mestizo), aside from extolling his
Tagalog civilization and implying that it was the center of a broader Filipino
civilization as well as arguing the parity between the Tagalog and Spanish
cultures, he postulated that the Aetas were the “racial and cultural ancestors of
the Tagalog” - they (Aetas) being the descendants of the first wave of Malayan
migrants while the Tagalogs were the descendants of the second wave of
Malayan migrants - more advanced, adaptive, and whose language, beliefs,
habits, and customs later prevailed over the inferior descendants of the first
wave of migrants. Those who did not want to mingle with the new migrants
retreated to the harshness of the mountains and were excluded from the
benefits of the Filipino-Christian civilization. Their isolation in the mountains
preserved their traditions and made them stuck in the past. Compounded by
their inbreeding, they became unable to transform themselves unlike their
Tagalog counterparts. Paterno also theorized that the lack or slow social
transformation among the Aetas who retreated to the mountains could manifest
not only their perception that there is nothing in the Christian civilization that is
 Module 1 Topic 1 28

appealing to them but also the perception that European civilization is deceitful
- hypothetical teaching of morality, justice, liberty, and well being if viewed
against the reality of slavery, anarchy, and compulsory payments to a ruler that
were imposed in the country. (Thomas, 2016) Paterno added:

The study of the Ita was valuable for the progress of the advanced
peoples of the Philippines because it would help them recognize what
they needed to change or leave behind. For the advanced Filipino
peoples to fulfill their promise, they had to ‘know to adapt their ancient
traditions to progress’ and ‘succeed in harmonizing their ancient habits
and customs with new ideas.’ (Thomas, 2016, p.83)

If the Aetas were perceived to suffer from a lack of ability to transform

themselves, which is implied to be inherent in them, Isabelo de los Reyes argued
against such “idea of innate racial ability – or inability” and the idea of
promoting cultural change through racial mixture. He contends that cultural
change results from civilizational contact. As regards filiation of the different
ethnic groups in the country, he theorized that there are only two root races
(Negrito and Malay) in the country before the arrival of the Spaniards. Of the
two, the “Filipino-Malays” constitute the large and multilingual group that is
spread out all over the archipelago. It is because of this idea that while he
found filiation with the Tagalogs and Bicolanos, among others, he also found
filiation with “half-civilized neighbors, the Igorots and Tingguians – kinship of
languages, traditions, and other ethnological proofs.” (Thomas, 2016, p. 89).

What the three aforecited ilustrados similarly aimed to achieve in their

scholarly writings was to “search for the Filipino past – a product of, and a
stimulus to, nationalism” (Schumacher, 1996, p.105). Schumacher commented
that de los Reyes did not glorify the pre-Spanish Filipinos because his intent was
to look at the Filipino past as a source of national identity, implying the existence
of a Filipino nation, while being open to culture change.

A nation is defined by Anderson (2016) as:

an imagined political community … imagined because the members …

will never know most of their fellow members, meet them, or even hear of
them, yet in the minds of each lives the image of their communion …
imagined as a community, because regardless of the actual inequality
and exploitation that may prevail in each, the nation is always conceived
as a deep, horizontal comradeship. (pp. 6-7)

This definition of a nation suggests a need to discover and nurture the

variables that promote the cohesion of a larger community and this is where
 Module 1 Topic 1 29

Paterno’s suggestion becomes relevant and which suggestion was echoed by

Nick Joaquin (2004):

There are Filipinos upon whom no alien religion or culture was imposed,
and whose hearts must, therefore, possess the aboriginal purity we yearn
for – uncorrupted, undistorted, unravished …Our pre-Hispanic culture was
not annihilated; it has survived; and there are pre-Hispanic Filipinos among
us … verify what we were before the coming of Spain and Christianity. The
thing to do … see for ourselves what we would have been if we had
been left alone, to go and confront the Filipinos whom no foreign religion
or culture has depraved, so that, by learning what we might have been,
we may know what we are. (p. 78)

Paterno’s and Nick Joaquin’s suggestion of studying the Filipino past

through the culture of the indigenous peoples provides the rationale for the
succeeding modules that attempt to present the worldviews of the selected
indigenous cultural communities.

Locating the Mujer Indigena

If the residual culture of the indigenous communities is a window to their

precolonial culture, then it would be safe to infer that their societies were
basically egalitarian. Women were not given a subordinate position. They had
freedom and power, a big contrast from their counterparts in Spain. The
Spaniards were hostile to this and they used well-selected doctrines of the
Catholic Church to marginalize or subordinate the mujer indigena or Filipinas.
Brewer (cited in Woods, 2017) “argues that the Spaniards introduced ‘the
repressive hypothesis of Catholic sexual morality’” – the passive image of the
Virgin Mary was promoted as the model of a Filipina. Brewer further argued:

Traditionally there has been a diminution of the status of the women

associated with both institutionalized hierarchical religions and the
formation of the State. In the Philippine Archipelago, the introduction of
Spanish colonialism came inextricably linked with Catholicism. Indeed the
two were co-determining factors that brought and delivered a
concomitant concentration of power, authority and control into male
hands. In this process, the male supremacy and rationalism of Catholicism
provided the logic that instituted a transformation of sexual relationships.
(p. 243)

Phelan (cited in Woods, 2017) added that:

The Filipinos were no mere passive recipients of the cultural stimulus

created by the Spanish conquest. Circumstances gave them
 Module 1 Topic 1 30

considerable freedom in selecting their responses to Hispanization. Their

responses varied all the way from acceptance to indifference and
rejection. The capacity of the Filipinos for creative social adjustment is
attested in the manner in which they adapted many Hispanic features to
their own indigenous culture. Preconquest society was not swept away by
the advent of the Spanish regime. Rather, indigenous culture was
transformed during the seventeenth century, in some cases profoundly so
and in other cases only superficially. Significant though these changes
were, a substantial degree of continuity between the preconquest and
the Hispanic regime was preserved. (p. 246)

As some of the indigenous ethnic communities of indigenous peoples in

the Philippines are Christianized, the following lecture-video will give you
additional information about the pre-hispanic Filipina.

Watch this lecture video at:

https://arete.ateneo.edu/connect/finding-the-prehispanic-filipino-woman

or
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xb_Ionnsvr0

The following excerpts are only few of the examples of how indigenous
women are continuing some of the roles of the mujer indigena (that were
cited by Prof. Habana in her lecture) despite their marginalization.

Reading 1: Public/private domains: Gender relations in the Central Cordillera.

Prill-Brett, J. (2015). Tradition and transformation: studies on Cordillera indigenous
culture. UP Baguio: Cordillera Studies Center

This paper presents the Bontok case to describe gender relations in the
Cordillera highlands. Ethnographic data would show that gender models that
emphasize the gendered division of labor are not universally applicable.

The Bontok
The municipality of Bontoc, the capital of the Mountain Province,
occupies 22 square kilometers at an altitude of 1,680 meters. It can be reached
by land from Baguio City, which is about 150 kilometers to the south. There are
15 barangays (roughly equivalent to villages) in this municipality. In pre-colonial
Spanish and American periods, and up to the present, each village was
 Module 1 Topic 1 31

autonomous in the conduct of socio-cultural and, to a large extent, political

affairs.
Bontok settlements are situated in narrow valleys and on mountain
shoulders with elevations ranging from 500 to 1,300 meters above sea level,
wherever water sources are sufficient to irrigate rice terraced fields. The Bontoc
area has a total population of 17,093 distributed among 15 compact villages or
barangays. Village populations may range between 600 to 3,000 persons.
The Bontoc economy is largely based on subsistence wet rice agriculture,
cultivated on terraced mountain slopes, with one to two croppings annually.
Although wet rice agriculture appears to dominate Bontok subsistence
economy, swidden cultivation is considered as complementary to the rice
agricultural system. Sweet potatoes, a wide variety of beans, millet, maize,
sugarcane, taro, peanuts, and some vegetables and fruits are planted primarily
for household consumption. A minimal percentage of the produce is sold for
cash at the Bontoc town market.
The Bontok area, like the rest of the Cordillera, was able to resist Spanish
domination for almost 400 years (Scott, 1974). It became part of the Philippine
State through negotiation rather than conquest, during the American colonial
period (Fry, 1983).
… the men often perform the heavier tasks such as plowing (especially if
the water buffalo is used), and assist in the harvest and transporting of the
harvest to the village. The tasks of sowing, transplanting, and weeding the
paddy fields are mostly done by women. Overall, women are the primary
agriculturists.
Swidden farming activities also need the labor of both men and women.
Men clear the forest, pollard the trees, dry and bum the brush and branches.
The women do the planting, and both harvest and transport the produce to the
village.
The raising of poultry and livestock (chicken, pig, carabao, and cow) is an
important activity. Pigs and chickens are found in almost all households, since
these are ritual animals. The care of these livestock is the responsibility of
household members. Pig feed is gathered by women from the swidden and
carried home after work from the fields. Grandparent, husband, or wife-whoever
among them is left in the village-does the cooking of pig food and the
household meal. Male household members are usually responsible for the
grazing of carabao and cow in the communal pastureland. …

Men's Work vs. Women's Work

It is clear from the description of Bontok social life and resource
management that the nature/culture, domestic/public dichotomies, in relation
to gender differences and women's subordination and male domination, do not
seem to apply in the Bontok case. The division of labor clearly shows that Bontok
women are not confined to the "domestic" or "private" domain. Women are not
confined to the home, since both husband and wife work out in the fields or
 Module 1 Topic 1 32

forest in the daytime, while grandfather, grandmother, or older siblings care for
the baby or young children.
The "domestic" versus "public" spheres concept, where women are said to
be associated with domestic or private activities while men are considered to
operate in the public sphere, is not supported by the data. Both men and
women participate in public rituals and ceremonies. Male and female elders
perform public rituals for the community, although male elders have more
occasions to perform more ceremonies, such as those related to warfare,
peace-making, and inter-village conflict over boundaries brought about by
resource competition.
Social and economic activities involving women are carried out most
often outside the home. These activities are largely associated with food
production and some trading (e.g., the production and trade of hand-woven
fabrics, clay pottery, coffee beans, and some vegetables). Women often freely
socialize with their peers during public feasts and other social occasions. Women
inherit valuable productive property such as pond fields, which they often
manage, and largely control the allocation of produce.
In relation to the Bontok perception of work done by men and women,
there is no higher value attached to work done by men, in comparison to work
done by women. Women's work is not perceived as having low status. Although
viewed as different from each other, men's work and women's work are both
valued in the society - complementary and often interchangeable. Tasks usually
considered as "women's work," such as cooking the household meals and child-
care, are also men's concerns in Bontok society.

Sexual Equality in Bontok Society

There is a strong notion of sexual equality in Bontok society as shown by the
following observations:
1. Customary law on access to critical resources is gender neutral, with
primary emphasis on birth order in the inheritance pattern. Women inherit
valuable productive property such as pond fields, which they often
manage, and they also largely control the allocation of produce.
2. Women have a high degree of autonomy. Women may control
productive property such as pond fields, and the production of woven
fabrics and pottery for exchange.
3. They control their own sexuality without the intervention or control of
male kinsmen.
4. Women are not confined to the home, or to home activities. Men and
women equally share in domestic work such as cooking and childcare.
Women often freely socialize with their peers during public feasts and
other social occasions and form enduring social groups.
5. There are no dichotomies between men's work and women's work. There
is no assignment of a higher value to men's work and lower value to
women's work.
 Module 1 Topic 1 33

6. The preference for male children over female children is absent in

traditional Bontok society, since both are desired. This has been
validated by several ethnographic studies carried out in Bontok and
western Mountain Province communities (… Cherneff, 1981, 155;
Bacdayan, 1977; Jeffremovas, 1994).
7. The fruits of production resulting from the joint efforts of husband and
wife are jointly managed; both share in decision-making.
8. The tasks carried out by women in food production are complementary
to men's work and even interchangeable with the tasks of men.
9. Both men and women share production and reproduction
responsibilities. Both control to a large degree their own sexuality,
especially when not yet married.
10.The only exception has to do with defense and warfare-decisions
concerning these are necessarily the domain of men. The men of the
ator handle peace pacts, which entail the policing and defense of the
community's integrity from internal or external violations or threats.

The high rate of interchangeability of "women's work" and "men's work"

appears to be an important factor in gender equality among the Bontok. My
own study strongly supports Bacdayan's (1977, 285) finding in his northern
Kankana-ey study, particularly when he argues for the high degree of
mechanistic cooperation of males and females. This is defined by the high rate
of tasks done together. Bacdayan's data show that the 81 % of tasks found to be
interchangeable are the most frequently performed tasks necessary for the
operation and survival of the society. Most of these are agricultural tasks by
which the family or household is maintained. I should also add that based on my
own research, another important factor leading to gender equality in Bontok
society is women's ownership and control of valuable resources such as pond
fields, which are critical to the family's survival. Customary law supports the right
of women to inherit irrigated rice fields, equal with the right of males, based on
birth order.
Overall, there is a sharing of economic, social and ritual powers between
men and women in the domestic and public contexts. This is expressed in the full
participation of women in the ceremonial aspects of public life. There is also
freedom of women, similar to the men, to form associations or ties with other
members of the community and outside the community, such as the enduring
association of female peer groups (kapangis and khakayam). Thus, they are
neither confined to the house, nor isolated from other public (social) activities.
The dualistic models in which women have been identified with the
domestic sphere, and men with the public or social sphere do not necessarily
apply to most of the highland societies of northern Philippines, especially the
Bontok. This has been argued in this paper.
Finally, in the context of Bontok gender relations we return to Sacks (1974,
222), who argues that full social equality is attained when men and women's
 Module 1 Topic 1 34

work are of the same kind, which is the production of social use value.
Furthermore, as I have argued here, women's ownership and control of
productive resources critical to the production and reproduction of the family
and the interchangeability of tasks largely account for sexual or gender equality
in Bontok society.

Reading 2: Indigenous women's role in resource utilization and management:

The Cordillera experience. Fiagoy, G.L. (1996). In Bennagen, P.L. & Lucas-Fernan,
M.L., (1996). Consulting the spirits, working with nature, sharing with others:
Indigenous resource management in the Philippines. Quezon City: Sentro Para
sa Ganap na Pamayanan

Introduction. Indigenous peoples of the Cordillera have been able to conserve

and
utilize their resources through sustainable practices. At the base of this is the
indigenous peoples' concept of land: that land and its resources are necessary
to the people's survival. As custodians of the land, indigenous peoples take care
of the productive and reproductive power of the earth and its resources. This
harmonious relationship and rational management of the ecosystem define a
people's ethnic identity and also ensure the cultural continuity of the group. To
Indigenous Peoples, land and the environment are valued since these are the
sources of sustenance. The relationship between humans and the environment is
also symbiotic and spiritual. While humans get sustenance from the land, they
take the responsibility of caring for it by extracting only what is needed.
As communities who have resisted colonization and assimilation,
indigenous peoples remain repositories of a broad range of indigenous
knowledge which today is recognized as sustainable and viable. Also the
adaptability of these indigenous knowledge systems make them relevant and
useful despite the increasing threats from proponents of profit-oriented
economic growth. Indeed, the influx of the cash economy, state policies that
disregard indigenous peoples' rights and the ensuing development projects
have affected the viable way of life which indigenous peoples have pursued
through generations.
Moreover, the relationship between indigenous peoples and the
environment is breaking down as a result of over exploitation of nature's
resources as unsustainable practices are introduced in large-scale economic
production. For example, state encouragement of commercial agriculture
brought about massive deforestation and erosion as people converted
forestlands into vegetable gardens. In the same manner, large scale mining
operations polluted the river systems, greatly affecting agricultural lands in the
highlands as well as in the lowland areas.
A major problem confronting indigenous peoples is the state's non-
recognition of their rights to ancestral land. In the Cordillera, 'state laws and
policies which require paper titles as proof of ownership have resulted in the
 Module 1 Topic 1 35

disenfranchisement of the indigenous peoples from their lands. The laws have
also allowed outsiders to own land and exploit the natural resources in
indigenous peoples' territories. Thus, the transfer of control from the indigenous
peoples to state and corporate interests have resulted in irreversible ecological
destruction which has severely undermined the integrity of the indigenous
peoples' lives.
In addition, the development framework of the government, which is
usually tied to foreign development policy, calls for massive resource extraction
and input-intensive export-oriented agriculture. This development framework has
also helped in destroying not only the environment but also in undermining tried
and tested knowledge and practices. Ecological degradation and the
marginalization of indigenous communities will intensify with the ratification of
the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) and the implementation of
the Ramos government's Medium-Term Development Plan.
In subsistence communities, women as producers and carers are wholly
dependent upon the renewability of natural systems to provide food, fuel,
water, and shelter. Thus, they have collected knowledge on the utilization and
conservation of these resources. Women are responsible for survival tasks which
are essential for daily life. They grow most of the food crops and perform most of
the work which sustains the family. The task of the women does not end in the
fields. Among the Kankana-ey and Bontok, when they go home in the
afternoon, they bring vegetables from the swidden and a bundle of camote
(sweet potato) leaves for the pigs. Then they feed the domestic animals (e.g.,
pigs and chickens), cook for the family and look after the children.
Among the Kalinga, fetching water is traditionally the women's
responsibility. In communities where water is not piped to the village, the women
must walk to the spring to wash the pots to be filled with water for cooking and
drinking. They perform this chore in the morning and evening. Also, in places
where traditional rice varieties are used, the women pound palay (unhusked
rice) at least once a day or just before cooking. Since women spend most of
their time in the swiddens and rice paddies, they have gained considerable
knowledge about the rational use of land and resources. This knowledge
ensures continuous supply of food and materials needed for survival. The
methods used adapt to the environment and are sustainable without long-term
damage to the land.
The shift to commercial agriculture has eroded the importance of
women's role as food producers and relegated them to a position where they
are no longer in control of production. Many women, especially those who do
not have enough land, become part of the labor force in commercial
agriculture. In the vegetable industry, for instance, they not only get exposed to
dangerous pesticides which affect their health, but they are also given lower
wages.
In the struggle for survival, the women suffer multiple burdens. Aside from
biological reproduction, they have to ensure that their families have enough
 Module 1 Topic 1 36

food. The women have to spend so much time in the fields and pregnancy does
not deter them from working daily. Among the Kankana-ey of Besao and
Sagada, Mountain Province, women who are about to give birth bring extra
clothes to the fields in case they will deliver before reaching home.
Indigenous women are further marginalized by gender-blind
development which fails to recognize their role in production. Training programs
are usually participated in by men because the call is for heads of families. This
prevents the women from contributing their expertise and knowledge gained
from years of working the fields. The non-participation of women in
development programs has undermined ecologically sound indigenous
agricultural practices.
As active participants in economic survival, the women also become
repositories of knowledge on sustainable practices. Their exclusion from the
economic sphere as a result of corporate and state development programs has
led to the decline of women's role in resource use and management and in the
erosion of indigenous knowledge which the women have developed through
time. Women have become invisible in the western, male-dominated economic
framework which considers cash and profits as measures of productivity.
Statistically, women are not considered active participants in food
production and the economic development of the nation. The problem lies in
the fact that only women who participate in wage labor are counted. Those
who engage in subsistence agriculture and other food production activities
which do not entail wages are not recognized.
In recent years, however, development agencies have rectified this error
by integrating the women issue in their programs. However, the danger lies in
women's involvement in projects which train them to become a cheap source
of labor or which endanger their health in activities requiring the use of
hazardous chemicals.
In addition, this recognition of and support for women does not
guarantee that development projects will result in social transformation. The
interests of the poor women will not be carried by the elite who usually
dominate projects. Moreover, some development projects require that a
beneficiary must have a sizable land area. This immediately disqualifies the
majority in the community who have small or no landholdings at all.
Resource Management Practices. Agriculture is the major industry in the
Cordillera where most of the communities engage in subsistence food
production. When the cash vegetable farming was introduced, some
communities, especially in Benguet, completely shifted to this industry. In the
other Cordillera provinces, many areas still have rice paddies and swiddens
although they also engage in cash vegetable gardening.
Food production in subsistence agriculture directly depends on the
environment and the management of its resources. For instance, among the
Kankana-ey of Besao, Mountain Province, paddy field preparation is mainly the
women's task. After loosening the soil with a wooden hoe, they gather cut grass
 Module 1 Topic 1 37

and leaves of the wild sunflower growing around the paddies. They spread
these in the fields and, with their feet, push these under the loose soil. In some
communities, the women also add to the paddy recycled old thatched roofs as
organic fertilizer.
Another type of organic fertilizer used is the lamud or tadug. Women dig
in certain places in the mountains for this rock-like soil to be pulverized. The
powder is then scattered in the paddy. An analysis of this soil shows that it
contains nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium which further enrich the paddy
soil.
Seedbed preparation is also done by women who plant selected seeds in
a small plot. This ensures that the seedlings to be transplanted are of good
quality. The women, while caring for the paddy field through weeding and
keeping rodents away, continue to gather food. One type of weed which they
remove from the paddy is the saksakong. It is an edible plant which serves as
food for the family and at the same time is also used as animal feed.
In the past, women used to gather small fish and snails in the paddies. The
introduction of the golden apple snail in the seventies by the government
resulted in the disappearance of many native aquatic food sources. Originally
intended as an additional source of protein, the golden apple snail caused
havoc in the fields. It multiplied rapidly, competing with the smaller native snails,
and also led to the decrease in rice harvest since it thrived on the young rice
stalks.
The proliferation of the golden apple snail in the rice fields forced the
farmers to use molluscides, further depleting the native aquatic food sources. In
the commercial rice producing area of Tabuk, Kalinga-Apayao in 1989, the
Department of Agriculture recommended that the farmers use Aquatin to get
rid of the snails: The women and draft animals suffered as the strong chemical
corroded the carabaos' hooves and the women's toenails.
In addition to taking care of paddy fields, the women also work in the
swiddens (uma). Though men usually do swidden preparation, regular care is still
the women's task. While waiting for the paddy rice to mature, the women spend
time in the swidden, the source of root crops, beans, and fruits. In the early
morning, the women go to the swidden which can be a long distance from the
village. They then plant camote and other cultigens, and remove weeds and
vines to allow the plants to grow. By the late afternoon, they go home to the
village, carrying on their heads baskets of vegetables and fruits harvested from
the swiddens.
In some communities, camote plots are located near the house. These
are mainly used as livestock feed while those planted in the swiddens or in the
paddies drained after harvest are for human consumption. Communities with
pigsties near the house are supplied with a regular flow of organic fertilizer. The
pigsty, usually a wide hole lined with smooth river stones, is ,a veritable factory
for organic fertilizer. Traditionally, among the Bontok and Kankana-ey, this serves
as a toilet. Dried rice stalks are thrown into the area where pig and human
 Module 1 Topic 1 38

waste are collected to hasten drying. When the waste matter and rice stalks
have mixed well and dried
up, these are collected by the women and used as fertilizer in the adjacent
camote plots.
Seed selection is also done by women during the harvest season. The
seeds are kept for the next planting season.
Water is a resource necessary for domestic and agricultural use. Among
the Kalinga, water fetching is taboo for men. Therefore, in communities where
water still has to be taken from the springs or communal pipes, the women are
burdened with the said task. In communities where there are rice paddies,
irrigation water is allocated to the paddy owners. Women and children
sometimes sleep in the ricefields to prevent other paddy owners from diverting
the water supply to their fields even when it is not their turn to get the water.
During the American regime, the colonial government established
agricultural schools to ensure that the highlands will be able to produce
sufficient temperate vegetables for the colonizers. Demand for these
vegetables increased in the 1960s when the Chinese took over the industry.
Subsistence farmers in Benguet shifted to cash vegetable cropping.
Communities in Mountain Province and lfugao also followed suit. Those in the
vegetable industry became wage-earners but women are paid lower wages
than the men although they have the same workload. While both are subjected
to health hazards due to intensive use of chemical inputs, the women expose
not only themselves, but also the children that they bear.
Responses and Political Actions. Early anthropological literature shows the
Cordillera male as the warrior and the female as the food producer. Recent
studies show, however, that the women are also active in territorial defense
because, without land, the women will not be able to perform their task as food
producer. Examples would be the opposition of Kalinga women to the
construction of the Chico River Dam and the Bontok women to corporate
mining intrusion into their villages.
Also in the Cordillera, the warrior societies persisted because the women
were the major food producers while the men guarded the villages from
marauders. Among the Kalinga, an inter-village war can be postponed if the
women refuse to collect or produce the food needed by the men during the
conflict.
Women recognize that the survival of the community depends on the
people's ability to have control over their resources. Food sufficiency is ensured if
these resources are managed by the people whose indigenous knowledge and
socio-political systems lead to equitable distribution and conservation of the
resources.
In traditional Cordillera communities, the women do not have a direct role
in the community decision-making process. The council of elders is composed of
male members. Also, a female peace pact holder has no participation in
discussions and decision-making, her position being hereditary. Only the male
 Module 1 Topic 1 39

members of her family possess an active role. However, the women have shown
that non-inclusion in the formal decision making process does not deter them
from defending land and resources. It follows that those with the most
immediate interest in natural resources should be the ones to control their
development and protection, ensuring that their needs are met in the process.
In the early seventies Benguet Consolidated, Inc. attempted to build
tunnels in Mainit, Bontok. The people knew that this activity would affect the
water system which was the lifeline of the paddies. The Mainit women drove the
firm's employees away by baring their breasts and challenging them. In the
local culture, this meant that the women had no respect for the outsiders whom
they could also harm physically.
The resistance to the construction of the Chico River Dam was a
resistance to the state's attempt to disenfranchise the Bontok and Kalinga of
their ancestral lands. Not wanting to turn over their lands and resources to
destruction by the state, the women dismantled the tents of the National Power
Corporation (NPC) employees in Tomiangan, Kalinga and brought these to the
NPC office in Tabuk. The attempts of NPC to survey along the Chico River were
thwarted by people patrolling the area. Surveyors were driven away.
During the American colonial regime, the women in Talubin, Bontok
stopped the cadastral survey of their community which would have led to the
parcelling and privatization of ancestral lands, beneficiaries of whom would
have been outsiders.
In response to ecological degradation caused by deforestation, the
Ngibat women in Kalinga initiated agri-forestry activities such as planting of fruit
trees in woodlots and other arable areas designated by them. They also helped
enforce traditional rules on the gathering of fuel such as cutting only tree
branches.
These cases show how Cordillera women mobilize themselves to assert
their right to land and resources in order that the community can survive. In the
face of ecological degradation, some women can also group themselves and
come up with a plan to reverse the situation.
External factors like cash economy, development projects and state laws
impinging on indigenous peoples' land rights have gradually eroded traditional
resource sharing practices and also reinforced the concept of private property.
This has led to marginalization of the people by way of disenfranchisement and
differential access to resources. However, the persistence of indigenous
practices can still be perceived despite changes brought about by these
external factors which have attempted to transform communities to cash-based
activities. The idea that those who depend on the environment and its resources
should control their development
and conservation is a focal point in indigenous ideology. It has been a basis for
the defense of ancestral land. For the women, this is a rallying point of resistance
against domination, whether of gender, class or ethnicity, to enable them to
continue their role in production and reproduction.
 Module 1 Topic 1 40

Reading 3: Protecting the forest: Learning from the Agawa women of Besao, Mt.
Province. Alangui, W.V. & Caguioa, C.C. , in de Chavez, R. (2013). Indigenous
peoples, forests & REDD Plus, sustaining and enhancing forests through
traditional resource management. Volume 2. Baguio City: Tebtebba
Foundation.

Agawa Women’s History of Resistance

The history of the Cordillera people fighting against programs and projects
resulting to environmental degradation would always include the militant
participation of women. The Agawa women have their own stories to tell on
how they were able to oppose projects that threatened their forests and the
environment. The first involved an attempt to put up a sawmill operation in the
1940s, and the other, around 30 years later, revolved around an illegal resin-
tapping activity.
The stories below were gathered from the FGDs as well as from the key
informants.
The Sawmill Operation and the Agawa Women: Employing a Time-
Honored Form of Protest. Around the 1940s, an American miner named Odon
started a sawmill operation in the forest. The people believed that the operation
was just in preparation for a bigger activity, which they believed was mining. The
Agawa people back then did not want any mining operation in the area, and
so they opposed the sawmill operation. The elderly women drove Odon and his
team away by burning his house, and destroying tools and equipment. Another
method of resistance employed by the elderly women saw them exposing their
breasts while chasing Odon and his team with spears and bolos (a long, single-
edge machete). Disrobing is not an uncommon sign of protest among Cordillera
women, especially by the elderly. According to the women respondents, this
form of protest is employed to shame those on the other side who are mostly
men (in this case, Odon and his sawmill workers) with the belief that these men
should not dishonor their mothers, wives, sisters and grandmothers. In fact, the
women deserve full respect from their sons and grandsons, and must not go
against their will. The respondents also said that the active involvement of the
women in protesting against the sawmill operation also possibly avoided
violence and bloodshed that could have ensued had the Agawa men been
involved.
According to an official from the local government unit (LGU), this story of
women protesting against the sawmill operation by employing the time-honored
form of disrobing is embedded in the memory not of only of the Agawa adults,
but also among many adults in the whole municipality.
Resin-Tapping in Agawa: Women Employ Guerilla Tactics. In the 1970s, the
women noticed that clusters of pine trees in the forest were drying up. The
 Module 1 Topic 1 41

firewood too that they gathered from the forest were very brittle and had lost
the pine scent. They decided to investigate and found something sinister was
being done to the pine trees without the community’s knowledge: they found
plastic bags that were tied around the pine trees. The trees had incisions in the
barks spiraling downward, allowing the sap to pass through to the plastic bags
which collected them - whoever was doing it was harvesting the resin from the
pine trees. Further investigation revealed who were doing the tapping: to their
dismay, it involved some local people from Agawa as well as people from
nearby villages. The collected resins were then sold at PhP50.00 per bag to a
middle man from Manila.
Secretly the women formed a team who went into the forest in the dead
of night to remove the plastic bags, which they buried away from the site where
the resin-tapping operations were being done. Because the site was usually
unmanned at night, the women continually did their clandestine operation until
all resin-tapping activities stopped. They were never caught, and they never
saw who the tappers were. What was important to them at that time was to
stop the activity since they believed that it was destroying their forest. Later, the
Agawa people heard about the activities of Cellophil Resources Corporation
(CRC), a logging concessionaire, in the nearby municipality of Tubo in Abra
province.
The CRC and its sister company, the Cellulose Processing Corporation
(CPC), were awarded a Timber and Pulpwood License Agreement (TPLA) by
then Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos. The TPLA covered some 99,565
hectares of pine forests in Abra and Kalinga-Apayao. In addition, Cellophil (both
CRC and CPC) had quietly acquired almost 200,000 ha of mostly pine forests in
Abra, Kalinga-Apayao, Mountain Province, Ilocos Norte, and Ilocos Sur. The
project affected an estimated 145,000 inhabitants of the area (mostly
indigenous peoples). The mill was to produce the basic material for cellophane
to be exported to Japan and Europe. Both companies were owned by Henry
Disini, a known Marcos crony (Verzola 2008). The Agawa people speculated
that the resin-tapping activities in their forest must have been part of the CRC
multi-million project.
Continuing Campaign Against Logging and Mining Operations. Aside from
timber and other forest products, the mountain range where the Agawa village
is situated is also rich in minerals, one of which is a most precious mineral, gold.
This is the reason why the area has always been a target of mining companies
for exploration and other mining activities.
The women respondents said that they continue to oppose the entry of
big logging and mining activities in their community. They express their
opposition by actively participating in community meetings, signing petitions
against logging and mining operations. Some of them have joined protest rallies
and other mass actions at the regional and national levels against destructive
projects such as logging and mining.
 Module 1 Topic 1 42

Not surprisingly, the women respondents are aware of the continuing

threat of mining in their community. They said they are watchful of the activities
of the Malibato Mining Company, which started checking their area since June
2011. And while they lament the seeming indifference of the youth toward their
traditional practices, our women respondents continue to believe that the future
generation will not allow the destruction of their environment. Speaking in
Ilocano, one elderly key informant had this say about the threat of mining to her
community:
Haan mi ipalubos ti minas wenno uray ania nga proyekto ditoy Besao nga
mangdadael ti daga ken pagpag. Nataengannak ngem ammok nga
aniaman nga proyekto nga makadunor ti aglawlaw lalo ti pagpag ket
supiaten ti uubing, lallalo dagiti babbae ti Agawa. (We will never allow any
mining operation or any project in Besao that will destroy our land and our
forest. I am old but I am confident that any project that will destroy the
environment and the forest will surely be opposed by the next generation,
especially by the women of Agawa.

Herstory. One of the key informants of this research was Endena Cogasi, a
woman leader who has once been tagged by the military as “Mother
Cordillera” and “Commander.” At a time when Agawa women were pursuing a
guerilla-style operation against the resin-tapping activities in their forests,
Philippine society was a social volcano waiting to explode under the dictatorial
rule of former President Ferdinand Marcos. In the remote village of Agawa,
Endena blossomed into a human rights activist during the Martial Law years, and
her house in the village became a ‘halfway place’ for people with different
political leanings. Both the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and the
communist New Peoples’ Army (NPA) benefitted from her hospitality. But those
were dangerous times. Her hospitality was later misconstrued by the military and
she was put under the watchful eyes of the soldiers by setting up a military
checkpoint at the foot of the hill where her house was located. She was
eventually detained by the military for suspicions of being an NPA commander,
but released the following day, not by the good graces of the unit commander,
but because of her endless chatter that continued until sunrise, scolding the
soldiers, and irritating them to no end. Her detention gave her more resolve in
actively campaigning for the pull out of the military troops from Besao during the
worst years of military operations in the province (from the 1980s through to the
1990s). She joined rallies in front of military barracks in Bontoc, the capital of Mt.
Province, denouncing human rights violations and demanding a stop to
militarization.
On 9 December 2010, Endena was awarded the Gawad Tanggol
Karapatan (or award for human rights defenders) by the Cordillera Human
Rights Alliance in observance of the International Human Rights Day in
recognition for her “intense passion and unwavering commitment” in protecting
the land, life, and resources of the Igorot since the Martial Law period (Caguioa,
 Module 1 Topic 1 43

2010). The award was a fitting tribute to a woman who led the resistance
against the resin-tapping activities in Agawa in the 1970s. This initial involvement
in protecting the environment and the forests of her community eventually grew
into an awareness that went beyond the confines of her village. She was then in
her forties. Endena, now 86 years old, continues to fight for the rights of
indigenous peoples.
Women at the Forefront of Forest Protection and Restoration. Recent
events in Agawa saw community women continuing the tradition started by
their women elders by actively participating and contributing in efforts to
protect one of their important resources: the forest. During forest fires, women do
not sit idly by. On the contrary, they can be seen actively clearing areas and
perimeters to help stop the spread of fire. This was again evident in 2009 when
the village experienced widespread forest fires. While the men took charge of
putting out the fire, the women were not far behind as they joined the various
community fire brigades that were organized. Recently, the community women
were again called upon to help in a reforestation drive of the municipality, an
idea proposed by the Vice Mayor. The men got seeds and seedlings of native
trees and medicinal plants from the pine and mossy forests, and the women
were the ones who planted them around the vicinity of the village. While this
project had them cooperating with the local government unit, another project
saw them at odds with the elected officials who supported a road construction
project that would have passed through their rice paddies and necessitated the
diversion of the flow of the river. The women said they were suspicious of the true
intent of the project since the proposed road would lead directly to the foot of
the pine forest. Again, the Agawa women voiced their opposition to this road
construction project, which as of this writing, has not progressed.

Reading 4: Women who dare. Bagayaua, G.B. (2004). In Torres, W.M. (2014) Rido:
Clan feuding and conflict management in Mindanao. Quezon City: Ateneo de
Manila University Press)

“Kati-i ako! Si Babu iyo!” (I am here, your aunty!) These words, spoken by Tarhata
Lucman, a slightly built woman of royal blood, could barely be heard amid the
sound of gunfire that morning in Tugaya, a remote town in the neighboring
province of Lanao del Sur.
This was sometime in 1987, and the scene was not a shootout between
soldiers and rebels. It was a fight between young men belonging to two distantly
related families, which had been in conflict with each other for decades.
Princess Tarhata, in her 50s and governor of Lanao del Sur at the time, was
herself related to both families.
Bad blood between the two families-known in these parts as rido - started
in the ’50s, the result of rivalry between two suitors over a girl. This turned into a
full-scale war when one of the suitors murdered the other after they attended a
 Module 1 Topic 1 44

local gathering. Their families were soon locked in a war that lasted three
decades and killed many of the town’s promising young leaders.
Earlier that morning in 1987, another member of one of the families had
been killed by members of the rival family. The victim’s relatives were bent on
getting back at his killers. Blood could have flowed once again had Princess
Tarhata not positioned herself physically in between the warring camps.
Regarded highly among her people, she managed to calm down the
combatants enough to enable the victim’s killers to seek refuge in her Marawi
City home. She then prevailed upon the other family not to retaliate anymore,
stressing that the cycle of violence had to end.
To this day, Princess Tarhata remains a regal and commanding presence.
When NEWSBREAK interviewed her in September, she was still involved in
resolving at least 10 ongoing rido cases in Lanao even if she had long retired
from politics.
Why Women? Princess Tarhata is not the only woman here who is known
for intervening in conflicts between families. Paradoxically, in a society where
females often take the backseat, women, particularly those who are regarded
highly in the community, are often called upon to help resolve rido cases.
In Matanog town, this province, 54-year-old Hadji Sitti Imam is known to
have helped settle at least 10 rido cases. She once settled a case involving the
family of her uncle (her father’s brother) who was killed by her uncle-in-law (her
husband’s uncle).
By tradition, the family of the murdered man would have considered it
their duty to retaliate. It is all part of defending the family’s maratabat, loosely
defined as family pride.
To prevent more killings, Imam decided to intervene.
“I did not want any more trouble because they are neighbors,” she said.
She asked her husband’s family to have the culprit jailed and give the family of
the dead man blood money. After the victim’s family received the blood
money, a ritual gathering of the two clans - called kanduli - was held in
Marantao, the village in Matanog where the families live. During the ceremony,
the heads of the two families were made to swear upon the Koran that no
further hostilities would ensue.
At the moment, Imam is mediating a conflict between her uncle, the
former mayor of Matanog, and the incumbent mayor who is the nephew of her
husband.
As in other aspects of governance and politics here, women are often
given the backseat when it comes to official conflict mediation. But they play
crucial roles in settling conflicts between families because, as locals point out,
families here are often matriarchal in nature.
“On the surface, the men make the decisions. But at home, they always
consult their wives,” says Tarhata Maglangit, head of the Regional Commission
on Bangsamoro Women.
 Module 1 Topic 1 45

Losing Manly Pride. Women are both protected and highly regarded in
local Muslim society, explains Zenaida Tawagon, leader of a nongovernment
organization in Marawi City and herself involved in settling rido cases. A
woman’s murder during a rido, she says, commands a higher price in terms of
blood money. Thus, unless the rido started with the murder of a woman, a man is
considered a coward if he retaliates by killing a woman.
Perhaps for this reason, women are able to penetrate places where
nobody would go because there is an existing rido, says Tawagon. In one case,
she recalls, women were sent by the family of a man killed during a rido to get
his body.
Aminah Paglas of the Alliance of Concerned Women for Development in
Buldon, Maguindanao, says that women are sent as emissaries in conflict
resolution because they are often more patient and less hotheaded than men.
Paglas recalls that her mother had played peacemaker in conflicts between
their own relatives.
What makes women crucial in peacemaking is the concept of
maratabat, says Koko Lucman, a son of Princess Tarhata. “It is an insult for the
family of a man if he is the one to initiate peace talks,” Lucman says. “It’s like
losing your manly pride.” It is a lot easier if a woman initiates the talks, he
explains.
Qualifications. Not everybody can play peacemaker, though. One has to
be highly esteemed in society to be able to intervene in a rido, says Maglangit.
For instance, people in her town listen to Imam because not only is she the
daughter of a datu; she has been selected as the local bai alibi – a rank equal
to princess in the Christian world. Keeping the peace is one of the traditional
responsibilities of a bai alabi, says Princess Tarhata - who has been asked but
refused to serve as bai alabi. Her father, the late Senator Alauya Alonto, was a
Maranao sultan. Tawagon, on the other hand, is the wife of a sultan in Marawi.
The mediator must be able to show the parties involved that she is
impartial, Imam says. “She must be fair. Not the sort who betrays.”
Education, particularly knowledge of the Koran, is also important because
Koranic teachings are often cited by mediators in persuading combatants to
reconcile with their rivals, says Linda Burton, a professor at the Xavier University
who is studying rido cases. “Islam is peace,” explains Princess Tarhata. “This is
because our prophet is a trader. You can’t trade if there is war.”
Princess Tarhata, whose family owns the Jamaitul Philippine Al Islamiyah -
the first Islamic school in Marawi where both English and Arabic subjects are
taught - is considered very highly educated, Burton says. On the other hand,
while Imam may not have been schooled in the national education system, she
is considered highly learned in Islamic teachings. As a young maiden, her
daughter recalls, Imam was champion of a Koran Reading Contest in the former
town of Bugasan (now divided into the towns of Parang, Buldon, Matanog, and
Barira).
 Module 1 Topic 1 46

No Easy Task. Playing the mediator is not for the weak of heart if one fails
to handle matters well, one can invite trouble or unwittingly get caught in the
crossfire. Yet these women dare to break through the barriers between
combating parties in order to wage peace.
It has not been easy. Young men nowadays are much more hotheaded,
says Imam. And, she adds, guns are much easier to acquire now, unlike before
when men fought using only their bolos. Which is why Princess Tarhata, who
shares Imam’s views on the matter, is campaigning for a general disarmament.
To be an effective mediator, one also has to be a person of means
because sometimes the mediator is called upon to chip in for the blood money
required to appease an aggrieved party.
Tawagon recalls having to spend for the hospitalization of somebody
injured in an automobile accident to prevent hostilities between the family of
the injured and the family of the other party in the accident. She also hosted the
kanduli between the two parties at her own house. Tawagon was a relative of
one of the parties in the case.
Another case that Tawagon resolved involved a land dispute. To settle
matters, she had to buy the property in order to give it to the other family. That
family later paid her in installment but at a much-reduced price. But Tawagon
considers it money well spent. “This is how we help each other.”

Prepare for a graded recitation and or a quiz during our next F2F class.

Module 2 Topic 2: Indigenous Ethnic Communities and their Worldview

This module presents an overview of the prehispanic Filipino communities as classified

by Rodil, a brief description of the worldview of selected indigenous cultural communities,
and illustrations of the indigenous worldview.
After reading this module, you are expected to:
1. differentiate the five types of prehispanic Filipino societies;
2. describe the worldview of selected indigenous cultural communities; and,
3. identify the aspects of indigenous culture that can be tapped as cultural capital for
development
 Module 1 Topic 1 47

Excerpt: Rodil, B.R. (2004). The minoritization of the indigenous communities of

Mindanao and Sulu archipelago. Davao City: Alternate Forum for Research in
Mindanao.

Social Situation at Spanish Contact

Using the situation at the end of the Spanish regime as a frame of reference, the
various communities in the Philippine Archipelago may roughly be divided into
two broad groupings, those who were colonized, and those who were not.
Those who were colonized generally belong to the barangay communities
which composed the eight major groups (Tagalog, Cebuano, Hiligaynon,
Waray, Bikol, Doko, Kapampangan, and Pangasinan) … those who were not
may further be subdivided into those who fought and were not subjugated, and
those who successfully evaded contact with Spanish forces thereby escaping
colonization. Either way, they remained free throughout the period of Spanish
colonization. The first sub-group consisted of the Muslims of Mindanao and Sulu
and the Igorots of the Cordillera. The second sub-group … those who are
presently known as Tribal Filipinos. By an ironic twist of history, it was the
unconquered and uncolonized who were later to become the cultural minorities
of the twentieth century. … (In looking) at their social situation at the time of
Spanish contact, we start with the barangays, to be followed by the Muslims,
then by those which have been characterized by Dr. William Henry Scott, a well-
known scholar of Philippine history, as the warrior societies, the petty
plutocracies, and the classless societies.

The Barangay Communities

The barangays, basically clan communities, were associated with coastal
settlements, or those found at the mouths and banks of rivers, or were simply
lowland communities, who a long time past brought themselves from the other
islands of the Malay archipelago and Indonesia. They rode in sailing vessels with
that name, also known as balanghai or balangay, and landed in different parts
of the islands.
A … description of a Tagalog barangay: "The Tagalogs, having beached
their barangays, retained their clan organization, each clan settling down by
itself apart from the others, so that the name 'barangay' came to be applied to
the kinship group and its village. Each barangay, consisting of several families
acknowledging a common origin, was ruled by a patriarchal head or datu, who
led its people in war and settled their disputes according to the traditions
handed down from their ancestors. Not all in the clan village had the same
social status. There were those who were the equals of the datu in all respects
save authority; there were the wellborn (maharlika), bound to their lord by
kinship and personal fealty, owing him aid in war and counsel in peace, but in
all else free, possessing land and chattels of their own. There were the timaua,
who did not have the noble blood of the maharlika but were, like them, free.
 Module 1 Topic 1 48

The rest were alipin, less than free. Some were serfs, aliping mamamahay
(literally housekeeping dependents), owning house and personal property, but
tilling the land of the datu or the wellborn for a share of the crop, and bound to
the soil. Others, aliping sagigilid, (household dependents), were chattel slaves,
captured in war or reduced to bondage according to Malay custom for failing
to pay a debt.
Each barangay averaged from 30 to 100 families, was self-sustaining and
independent from the others. Exceptions were trading centers like Cebu and
Manila, the latter having been reported to have 1,000 families at Spanish
contact.
It is relatively easy to determine the traditional habitat of the various
language groups. They have lived there since time immemorial down to the
present day. The Ilocanos occupy the area up north-in Luzon, now aptly named
Ilocos Norte and Ilocos Sur. Next to them southward are the Pangasinans,
inhabitants of the province of the same name, and then the Kapampangans
who are residents of Pampanga. The Tagalog region begins from Nueva Ecija,
Aurora, Bulacan and Bataan and goes all the way down to the boundary of the
Bicol peninsula where we have Manila which has always been the central part
of it, Rizal, Cavite, Batangas, Laguna, and Quezon. The entire southeast stretch
called the Bicol region is the land of the Bicolanos.
In the Visayas, the Hiligaynons live in the island of Panay, the Cebuanos or
Sugbuanon, as they traditionally call themselves, in the Island of Cebu, and the
Waray in the Island of Samar and in the northern part of Leyte. The Cebuano
sphere of linguistic influence goes as far as the neighboring Visayan islands like
Siquijor, Bohol, and southern Leyte and northern and eastern Mindanao.

The Islamized Communities

The Muslim principalities were considered to be the most developed
communities in the entire archipelago, having reached the level of centrally
organized life. Leading the group was the Sultanate of Sulu whose sultanate
began as early as 1450. Though independent of each other at the time of
Spanish contact the principalities of Magindanao and Buayan were united by
Sultan Kudarat in 1619 into the Magindanao Sultanate.
The Islamized communities are traditional inhabitants of the southern
portion of Mindanao, the islands of Basilan and the Sulu archipelago, and
southern Palawan.
Islam first arrived in the Sulu archipelago towards the end of the 13th
century, estimated to be in 1280 AD., brought by a certain Tuan Masha'ika who
apparently got married there and thus established the first Islamic community.
Masha'ika was followed by a Muslim missionary named Karim ul-Makhdum
around the second half of the 14th century. With Rajah Baginda who came at
the beginning of the 15th century was introduced the political element in the
Islamization process. It was his son-in-law, Abubakar, whom he had designated
his successor, who started the Sulu sultanate. We do not know what level of
 Module 1 Topic 1 49

social development the people of Sulu have reached in the 13th century. What
we do know is that in 1417, a Sulu leader named Paduka Pahala led a trade
expedition of 340 people to China. They were said to have “presented a letter
of gold with the characters engraved upon, and offered pearls, precious stones,
tortoise shell, and other articles."
Islam came to Maguindanao with a certain Sharif Awliya from Johore
around 1460. He is said to have married there, had a daughter, and left. He was
followed by Rharif MarRja, also from Johore, who stayed in the Slangan area
and married the daughter of Awliya. Around 1515, Sharif Kabungsuwan arrived
with many men at the Slangan area, roughly where Alabang is now. He is
generally credited with having established the Islamic community in
Maguindanao, and expanded through political and family alliances with the
ruling families.
Maranao tradition speaks of a certain Sharif Alawi who landed in the
present Misamis Oriental in northern Mindanao; his preaching there was said to
have eventually spread to Lanao and Bukidnon. There is hardly any evidence of
this in the latter, however, except in some border towns adjacent to Lanao del
Sur. From the southern end, Islam came through marriage alliances with Muslim
Iranun and Maguindanao datus, specifically around the area of Butig and
Malabang.
Islam in Manila was a relative newcomer at the time of the Spaniards'
arrival. There were reportedly ten or twelve chiefs in the Manila Bay area, each
the acknowledged leader in his town, and one of them was the greatest and
was obeyed by all.
How did Islam come to the islands? It came with trade in a rather
roundabout way. After the death of Prophet Muhammad (S.A.W.) in 632 AD., a
general expansion movement followed. Through military conquests, the Islamic
world turned empire with dominance established in the Middle East, North
Africa, Spain, Central Asia, and Eastern Europe. The expansion movement
likewise took towards Southeast Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa, made possible
either by and through Muslim merchants or missionaries or both. It was through
the latter that the Malayo-Indonesian region and Mindanao and Sulu were
Islamized.
The trade route which led to the Islamization of Mindanao and Bulu was
the one that linked Arabia overland through Central Asia and thence overseas
to India, China, Southeast Asia, and Africa, especially in the period starting from
the beginning of the 9th century.
Overseas travel at that time was directly influenced by monsoon winds
and merchants had to establish trade stations along their route where they
tarried for long periods of time. In the course of these stays, merchants-
missionaries would marry into the local population thereby creating and
establishing Muslim communities.
It was in this way that the Islamization process was generally facilitated
and hastened in such places as Malacca, Pahang, Trengganu, Kedah, Java,
 Module 1 Topic 1 50

and others. By 1450, Malacca had become a leading center of Islam in the
Malay Archipelago. It was from the Malay Archipelago that Mindanao and Sulu
were Islamized. The establishment of Muslim trading communities in such places
as Mindoro, Batangas, and Manila in the northern Philippines came from the
same direction, more specifically from Borneo.
The combination of trade and Islamization presumably created the
necessary conditions that enabled the Sulus, and later, the Maguindanao, to
advance way ahead of the other indigenous inhabitants of the Philippine
archipelago.
To what extent did Islam revolutionize the recipient communities? Before
the advent of Islam in the Philippine archipelago, no community was reported
to be monotheist. Diwata and anito were essential features of their belief
system. Animists, they are called by social scientists nowadays. Believing that
"There is no other god but Allah, and Muhammad is His Prophet," Islam was the
first to bring monotheism to the Philippines. The next was Christianity which was
close to two centuries later.
In the course of its historical deveIopment, the Islamic world was able to
develop a social system distinctly its own, in consonance with the doctrine
revealed in the Qur'an and also embodied in the Hadith or Sunnah (tradition) of
the Prophet. Such institutions as the caliphate, the emirate and the sultanate are
part of this development.
The religion and the social system brought by Islam were radical
departures from the animism prevalent among the many lowland peoples of
the archipelago. Further, the stimulus provided by the Muslim traders combined
to push the Islamized communities far ahead of the others. They traded actively
with peoples of the other islands within the archipelago, and also with other
southeast Asian countries, including China.

The Warrior Societies

Like the barangays, the warrior communities were also kinship bound. Dr. Scott
who has done extensive studies on the matter calls them warrior communities
because they were "characterized by a distinct warrior class, in which
membership is won by personal achievements, entails privilege, duty and
prescribed norms of “conduct, and is requisite for community leadership." He
adds that "the major occasion for exercising military skill among these societies is
during raids called mangayaw into unallied territory, but individual attacks are
made by stealth or as opportunity presents itself, including suicidal one-man
forays."
Speaking of their sources of livelihood, Dr. Scott says that "all societies with
warrior chiefs live by swidden farming, although the Kalingas have adopted
terraced pond fields in the recent past. Braves clear their own fields like
everybody else - for which reason mangayaw raids tend to be seasonal -
except among dependents and so qualify as a sort of ‘parasite class.'
Agricultural surplus is produced by increasing labor force through polygyny,
 Module 1 Topic 1 51

sons-in-law, dependents by blood or debt, or slaves. Their heirloom wealth

necessary for high social status consists of imports like porcelain, brassware and
beads, or local manufactures like weapons and gold work. It is accumulated
mainly through brideprice, wergeld and legal fees, and is thus more likely to be
the result of personal power than the cause." Among those falling within this
category were the Manobo, the Mandaya, the Bagobo, the Tagakaolo, the
B'laan, and the Subanon of Mindanao; also, the Isnegs, the Kalingas, and the
Tinguians of the Cordillera.

The Petty Plutocracies

The petty plutocracies are confined only to the Cordillera central in northern
Luzon, more specifically to the Ifugao, Bontoc, Kankanay, and Ibaloy. They were
described as such because "they are," Dr. Scott says, "dominated socially and
politically by a recognized class of rich men who attain membership through
birthright, property, and the performance of specified ceremonies; and 'petty'
because their authority is localized, being extended by neither absentee
landlordism nor territorial subjugation. "

The Classless Communities

The classless communities, Dr. Scott claims, are so characterized "because they
distinguish no class or group which exerts authority or advantage over other
classes or groups by virtue of ascribed or, acclaimed status." Very good
examples of these were the llongots of northern Luzon, the Katalangan of
Isabela, the Ikalahan of Nueva Vizcaya, the Mangyans of Mindoro (now known
to be divided into six distinct language groups, namely, Iraya, Alangan,
Tadyawan, Hanunoo, Buhid, Tawbuid and Batangan), the Batak of Palawan,
the Tiruray of Maguindanao and Sultan Kudarat in Mindanao, the Sulod of
Panay, and the Negritos who are known by different names (generally Aeta,
Eta, or Ita to the Tagalog"; Baluga, Alta or Dumagat to the Tagalog of Baler; Atta
to the Ibanag in Cagayan; Agta among the Isneg; Pugut meaning black or very
dark colored to the llocano; also, kulot or curly to the Ilocano neighbors in Abra;
Ata and Magahat in the island of Negros in the Visayas; Ata in Davao, and
Mamanwa in Agusan-Surigao). What must be stressed because it is taken for
granted by so many people is the fact that the Negritos have traditionally
inhabited practically the entire stretch of the Philippine archipelago, from
Cagayan southward along the entire stretch of the Sierra Madre to Camarines
Norte; also, in Zambales in west central Luzon; in Panay and Negros in the and
Agusan-Surigao and Davao in Mindanao.
According to Dr. Scott, "all these societies either farm swiddens or hunt
and gather forest products for their sustenance - or, in the case of some of the
Dumagats, live off fish and turtles." None of them had any concept of land
ownership. To them, said Dr. Scott, "the land itself is the property of supernatural
personalities whose permission must be ritually secured for safe and fruitful use,
and, similarly, wild forest products or game are either the possessions of, or under
 Module 1 Topic 1 52

the protection of, spirits whose prerogatives must be recognized by ritual or

even token payments in kind. The products of the land, however, are owned by
those who grow them and may be alienated or loaned. Fish and game taken in
group enterprises are divided equally among the participants and their
dependents, or according to an agreed schedule which divisions of labor, risk,
or leadership." None of them, too, adds Dr. Scott, had "traditional means of
dealing with aliens at a political level, although the formalization of chieftaincy
has been a frequent response to contacts with more powerful groups.”

Locating the IPs in the Philippines

Table 1 (IFAD, 2012) is a list of the indigenous cultural communities in the
Philippines. The list may not be complete since some ethnolinguistic groups have
their respective subgroups.

Table 1. List of indigenous people in the Philippines

Ethno-linguistic group Location of domains

Cordillera and Region 1
Eastern Bontok (Balangao, Tonglayan, Sakki, Mt. Province
Madukayan, Barlig)
Central Bontok (Bontok, Sadanga, Alab) Mt. Province
Isneg Apayao, Ilocos Norte
Tinggian (Adasen, Binongan, Ilaud or Itneg, Abra
Masadiit, Banao, Gubang, Mabaka, Maeng,
Mayudan, Danak)
Northern Kankanaey (Kankanaey Iyaplay) Mountain Province
Kankanaey Ibenguet Benguet
Kalanguya Benguet, Ifugao
Karao Benguet
Mandek-ey Benguet
Ibaloy Benguet, Baguio City,
Pangasinan
Ayangan Ifugao
Ifugao Ifugao
Tuwali Ifugao
Kalinga (Banao, Mabaka, Salegseg, Guilayon, Kalinga, Apayao
Cagaluan, Guinaang, Balatoc, Lubuagan,
Malbong, Naneng, Taloctok, Mangali, Lubo,
Tinglayan, Tulgao, Butbut, Basao, Dacalan,
Sumadel, Dananao)
Apayao Kalinga, Apayao
Bago La Union, Ilocos Sur
 Module 1 Topic 1 53

Region II and Caraballo Mountains

Agta Cagayan, Quirino, Isabela
Kalanguya Nueva Vizcaya
Bugkalot Nueva Vizcaya, Quirino
Isinai Nueva Vizcaya
Gaddang Nueva Vizcaya, Isabela
Aggay Cagayan
Dumagat Isabela, Cagayan
Ibanag Cagayan
Itawis Cagayan
Ivatan Batanes
Rest of Luzon/ Sierra Madre Mountains
Aeta, Negrito, Baluga, Pugot Zambales, Bataan, Tarlac,
Pampanga
Abelling Tarlac
Agta Aurora, Palayan City,
Camarines Sur
Dumagat Quezon, Rizal, Aurora,
Dumagat
Remontado Rizal, Laguna, Quezon
Bugkalot Aurora
Cimaron Camarines Sur
Kabihug Camarines Norte
Tabangon Sorsogon
Abiyan (Aeta) Camarines Norte, Sur
Isarog Camarines Norte
Itom Albay
Pullon Masbate
Island groups
Agutaynon Palawan
Tagbanua Palawan
Dagayanen Palawan
Tao‟t Bato Palawan
Batak Palawan
Palawanon Palawan
Molbog Palawan
Iraya Mangyan Mindoro Occidental/Oriental
Hanunuo Mangyan Mindoro Occidental/Oriental
Alangan Mangyan Mindoro Oriental
Buhid Mangyan Mindoro Occidental/Oriental
Tadyawan Mangyan Mindoro Occidental/Oriental
Batangan Mangyan Mindoro Occidental
 Module 1 Topic 1 54

Gubatnon Mangyan Mindoro Occidental

Ratagnon Mangyan Mindoro Occidental
Ati Romblon
Cuyunon Romblon
Ati Iloilo, Antique, Negros
Occidental, Capiz, Aklan
Sulod/Bukidnon Iloilo, Antique, Capiz, Aklan
Magahat Negros Occidental
Korolanos Negros Oriental
Ata Negros Oriental
Bukidnon Negros Oriental
Escaya Bohol
Badjao Cebu, Bohol
Kongking Leyte, Samar
Southern and Eastern Mindanao
Manobo Agusan del Norte, Agusan
del Sur
Mandaya Davao Oriental
Mansaka Davao del Norte
Dibabawon Davao del Norte
Banwaon Agusan del Sur
Bagobo Davao del Sur, Davao City
Ubo Manobo Davao del Sur, Davao City
Tagakaolo Davao del Sur
Talaingod, Langilan Davao del Norte, Davao City
Mamanwa Surigao del Norte
Higaonon Agusan del Norte, Agusan
del Sur
Blaan Davao del Sur, Saranggani,
South Cotabato
T-boli South Cotabato
Kalagan Davao del Sur
Tagabawa Davao City
Manobo B‟lit South Cotabato
Matigsalog Davao City, Davao del Sur,
Davao del Norte
Tigawahanon Agusan del Norte, Agusan
del Sur
Sangil South Cotabato, Saranggani
Central Mindanao
Aromanon North Cotabato
 Module 1 Topic 1 55

Tiruray Sultan Kudarat,

Maguindanao, Cotabato
City
Bagobo North Cotabato
Ubo Manobo North Cotabato
Higaonon Lanao del Sur, Iligan City
Subanen Lanao del Norte
Maguindanao Maguindanao
Maranao Lanao del Norte, Lanao del
Sur
Iranon Maguindanao, Lanao del Sur
Karintik North Cotabato
Blaan North Cotabato, Sultan
Kudarat, Maguindanao
Lambangian Sultan Kudarat
Dulangan Sultan Kudarat
Northern and Western Mindanao
Subanen Zamboanga del Sur/ Norte,
Misamis
Occidental/Oriental,
Zamboanga City
Talaandig Bukidnon
Higaonon Bukidnon, Misamis
Oriental/Occidental
Matigsalog Bukidnon
Umayamnon Bukidnon
Manobo Bukidnon
Kamigin Camiguin
Yakan Basilan
Sama Tawi-tawi
Badjao, Sama Laut Tawi-tawi, Basilan, Sulu
Archipelago
Kalibugan Zamboanga del Sur/del
Norte
Jama Mapon Sulu Archipelago

Indigenous Peoples’ Worldview (Relevant to Resource Use and Management)

 Module 1 Topic 1 56

Worldview, as defined by Jocano (2001), refers to the “way people look at their
surrounding world and the way they respond to it” (p.2). He further argued that
worldview is:
the people’s picture of the universe, … constitutes the culturally defined
internal models of external realities. Internal models refer to the images of
things and events in our minds, our feelings about them, and our attitudes
towards them. … What we do is largely based on these mental images – be
such images physical, emotional, relational, ethical, moral, aesthetic,
teleological, and ideological. In this context, we can say that worldview is
the essence of our way of life, the motive force that gives meaning to what
we do – to see things the way these are experienced or ought to be
experienced in everyday life. … (as stated in) an old Filipino proverb …
‘How we look is what we see; how we see is what we feel; how we feel is
what we do.’” (pp. 2-3)

Worldview of the IPs whose prehispanic ancestors were classified under

classless societies. The Aetas gather only what they need. They believe that a
disease is a form of punishment for a wrongdoing by a supreme or lesser anito
(spirit). An example is the belief that a small pox could be the consequence of
cutting down a tree or killing an animal that belongs to a spirit, or an illness is
caused by cutting a bamboo that offended the spirits that owned it (Rovillos,
2000). For the Agta, they consider the springs, waterfalls, rivers, and mountains as
sacred grounds. They consider taboo all areas within a half-kilometer range from
known burial sites so as not to offend the spirits that are known to inhabit those
places. They also abhor the idea of being used as living museums for tourists to
gaze upon (Castro, 2005).
For the Ikalahans, they believe that a woman built the first rice field. She got
seeds to plant and prayed to forest spirits for continuous irrigation of the rice
field. The blessing given to the woman as culture-bearer signifies taking good
care of the land the productivity of which is sustained through the preservation
of the watershed (Garming, 2007). In addition, the right to be a steward of the
land is earned through one’s investment of labor in that land and planting
permanent crops. This practice serves as a regulatory mechanism for “controlled
ownership.” And as regards inheritance, their code of conduct discourages the
selling of one’s inheritance; however, if necessity dictates the need to sell it, the
offer to sell shall follow this order of preference - first to the siblings, to blood
relatives, or to any member of the community. Selling the inherited land to
outsiders is not encouraged. (Daguitan, 2010)
For the Buid Mangyan, land is not subject to private ownership for it belongs
to the spirits of the earth (though at present, they want a land title and some are
working for the titling of their ancestral domains after many years of being
dispossessed by the Christian migrants). As long as these spirits are not offended,
the land is freely available to whoever wanted to farm it. The person owns only
what s/he planted and when the last productive cultigen was harvested, all the
 Module 1 Topic 1 57

claim to the plot lapsed. It is taboo to flatten the earth, to use plow and water
buffalo, to construct large settlements for such will attract a variety of evil spirits,
and to plant a tree whose life expectancy is longer than that of a planter.
Breaking any of these agricultural taboos will anger the spirits of the earth which
are also angered by the existence of discord within a household and by the
marriage of those who are too closely or too distantly related. The anger may
result in the withdrawal of protection for growing crops and children.(Gibson,
2015)
Coben (2009) noted that:
The Mangyan have had a long history of avoiding war and violence. When
threatened by Muslims and by Spanish and American colonizers in the past,
or more recently, by Tagalog and Visayan migrants, the Philippine military,
or the New People’s Army, their typical response was simply to move away
from danger. Their first impulse at the slightest rumor about death and
destruction was to flee in ‘fear and horror.’
Despite their reputation in non-Mangyan world for being cowardly
and passive, their closest neighbors feared their magical powers and
cursing abilities. While killings were rare, and violent behavior in general was
abhorrent to them, the Taubuid used curses as a form of defense or
vengeance. They also had a reputation for engaging in malevolent magic
so that if anyone died while a Taubuid was visiting a neighboring village,
the visitor could be accused of causing that person’s death. (pp. 185-186)
For the Teduray, they consider their environment an extension of their lives
and bodies. They deem it necessary to preserve and maintain people’s
closeness to and good relationships with the environment - not to do anything
that will destroy the environment (Buendia et al., 2006). Doing such results in
kefiyo fedew (peace of mind), the foundation of justice and economic systems.
(Carino, Regpala, & de Chavez, 2010)
Worldview of the IPs whose prehispanic ancestors were classified under
plutocracies. For the Ibaloi, Sagada Kankanay, and Bontoc, they observe an
animist superstructure and spirituality that gives high respect and value to nature
– trees/forests, water and any source or body of water, mountains/agriculture.
They have a mutually nurturing relationship with mother earth and the
environment. (Solang, 2017)
For the Ibalois, they observe the penganan which is a reserved portion of
parents’ property, like rice fields, as social security to be inherited by the child or
relative who takes care of the parents until they die. The sale of inherited land
gives priority to kinsmen unless no kin is interested or can raise the amount. If the
kin who bought it will sell it in the future, the offer will be to the member of the
same kin group (Prill-Brett, 1992). To secure property ownership, community
members are increasingly placing emphasis on documents as proof of land
ownership. Legal pluralism is also observed – that is, different legal conceptions
(customary vs national law) in which people use these conceptions in various
purposive strategies – whichever law favors their claim (Prill-Brett, 1992).
 Module 1 Topic 1 58

For the Sagada Kankanay and Bontoc, they observe these mores: (a)
Inayan – a term applied to an action that is considered to be universally wrong
(Comila, 2007); caution against violating cultural norms and taboos (lawa)
(Solang, 2017); (b) Ayew – resources are scarce – calls for responsible
stewardship: do not monopolize and waste anything (Solang, 2017); (c) Ipeyas
nan Gawis (share the good) – whatever is good or beneficial in all aspects of ili
life should be shared (Solang, 2017); (d) Kasiyana – value that counsels for a
positive attitude amidst crisis (personal, disaster, pestilence, etc) ) (Solang, 2017);
(e) Fetad/Betad – mass mobilization and collective action for defense of territory
and life like tribal war in the past; development aggression at present,
community contingency – house or forest fire, accident – drowning or during
disasters ) (Solang, 2017). For Sagada Kankanay in particular, the individually
owned lot should be sold to immediate or distant relatives to ward off non-
Sagadans from owning lands unless married to a local folk (Carino, Regpala, &
de Chavez, 2010).

Worldview of the IPs whose prehispanic ancestors were classified under

warrior societies. For the Manobos, they believe in the presence of the spirits
around them and ought to be recognized and respected. They acknowledge
that human beings should maintain a harmonious relationship with these spirits,
whether these spirits are good or bad. (Masinaring, 2011)
For the Kalingas of Banao, they also recognize the interconnection
between the material and spiritual worlds, that is, resources are to be shared
with the spiritual world and must be taken care of (Fiag-oy, 2010). To illustrate
this, the mine operators or tunnel owners in Banao give students some sacks of
gold ore instead of the latter spending time digging for ore. The ball mill owners,
on the other hand, allow these students the use of their ball mills and other
equipment for free. This practice is a major source of financial support for most
Banao college students (Fiag-oy, 2010).
For the B’laans, they believe that the D’wata (God) lives in the upper
portion of Amtotong (Mt. Matutum), which they consider to be sacred. The Molo
(evil one who takes bad souls) resides in the lower portion. Hence, anyone who
climbs the mountain is admonished not to make noise to avoid untoward
incidents that may be caused by the spirits which live in the mountain.
(Masinaring, 2011)
For the Maranao, Islam provides general principles for the conduct of
religious, social, cultural, economic, political, and legal affairs. They also observe
Awidan – reciprocity system – which obligates one to distribute a part of
whatever benefit he receives and to assist a relative who is confronted with a
problematic situation (Torres III, 2014).

Reading 1: Sacred Sites [Prill-Brett, J. (2015). Tradition and transformation: studies

on Cordillera indigenous culture. UP Baguio: Cordillera Studies Center]; Mari-it
and its Impact on Ecosystem Protection and Conservation (Panay Island).
 Module 1 Topic 1 59

Magos, A.P. (1996). In Bennagen, P.L. & Lucas-Fernan, M.L., (1996). Consulting
the spirits, working with nature, sharing with others: Indigenous resource
management in the Philippines. Quezon City: Sentro Para sa Ganap na
Pamayanan

Sacred Sites
Bontok villagers view their land as a gift from "the one in the highest"
(entutong-cho). To them land is the source of all life; "it belongs to no one or to
everyone." They have reverence for the land. All of their ancestors who lived
and died before them were buried in the soil, where their bodies merged with
the earth and became part of it. They believe that the spirits of the departed
(leng-ag) still remain in the soil. The soil (luta) is invoked during oath-swearing
rituals (sapata) whenever a person is accused of a crime where there are no
witnesses and the spirits of the dead are invoked to witness and punish the
wrongdoer.
Specific localities within the village territory are considered sacred. One is
the papatayan ("where sacrifices are offered"), a group of pine trees above the
village where rice cultivation rituals are performed on village rest days. The
guardian spirits of the village who reside here communicate a prognosis on
village welfare through the butchering of sacrificial animals and the reading of
their bile sacs and gallbladders. Cutting trees or branches from this site is
punishable by fines and supernatural sanction, the latter usually invoked.
Also located above the village is a sacred grove for weather ceremonies
(peray). Whenever storms hit the village with winds strong enough to damage
the rice crop, a ceremony is performed at this site by the village hereditary priest
(pumapatay). This ceremony is believed to stop the strong winds and calm the
storm. A third sacred grove is located above the entrance to the village. This is
for the feast of merit and fertility (chuno), provided to the village by upper-
ranking families.
There are other sites with sacred associations such as springs, used in
bathing rituals for births and deaths. Some sections of the river are ritual sites
related to head-hunting, while other sections are fishing sites that belong to
corporate groups. A cliff close to the settlement is believed to be the spirit
abode of babies who died in infancy or before they were born. Some localities
are considered the abode of spirits of the upper rank who occupy a different
space from those of the lower rank. The spirits of the dead are believed to
occupy a horizontal world that is neither "underworld" nor "skyworld." People who
die of natural causes (old age or illness) are buried in individual burial places or
corporate-owned tombs (par-yung) built on corporate-owned land within the
village. Those who die of violent deaths (e.g., murder, drowning, or falling
accidents) and those who die during childbirth are considered "polluting" and
are not buried
within the settlement.
 Module 1 Topic 1 60

They are buried at the edge of the village facing the direction where they
met their death. Women who die in childbirth are buried below the settlement
where drainage passing through the grave will not pollute house lots or gardens.
Shrines related to warfare are situated on the outskirts of the village territory,
each shrine facing a neighboring village or one of the traditional four directions:
upstream, downstream, where the sun rises, and where the sun sets. Ward (ator)
sites, which usually occupy an area 4.5-6 m wide by 6-9 m long, are generally
concentrated at the center of the village. They are considered permanent
occupation sites (Prill-Brett 1975, 1987) that may not be removed-even
abandoned ward sites are included in rituals-since they have acquired sacred
rights to the site. A ward site contains a ceremonial open-court platform and,
behind this, a sleeping hut for boys, bachelors, and widowers; this place is taboo
to women. The open space is paved with flat river rocks, has upright backrests
polished by generations of body contact, and serves as a daytime lounging
place for men during compulsory agriculture rest days. The yard surrounding the
ward is planted with sweet potatoes for pig feed. The sweet potatoes are
harvested immediately before the ward feasts are held because they might get
trampled during the feast.
There are other sites, such as village entrances and exits that are
associated with community welfare ceremonies (e.g., ceremonies to ward off
epidemics, evil, or bad luck). Scattered in small localities around the settlement
are sacred sites where sacrificial food and drink are offered to ancestor spirits or
"unseen guardians" of the village. There are designated times of the day, from 11
a.m. to noon and from 5:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m., that are believed to be dangerous
when walking on mountain trails. These designated times are during dusk
and the hottest part of the day, times when malevolent spirits that push people
over mountainsides are believed to be roaming around.
Beliefs like these are based on the assumption that for all activities, there is
a proper time and place to be observed and respected in order to be in
harmony with the supernatural beings in the area. This is the Bontok's way of
structuring their relationships with the environment, since they perceive
themselves to be sharing the land with these supernatural beings that hold them
responsible for their stewardship of the land.

Mari-it and its Impact on Ecosystem Protection and Conservation (Panay Island).
… the key to development is people. It need not be that a country should be
very rich in natural resources in order to progress for we know that there are
countries much less endowed than the Philippines, but they have progressed
because of their people – for people are not only the object for progress; rather,
they are the prime movers of progress. They cause progress to happen when
they know how and what to utilize in their environment. They know how to care
for the needs of the generations to come. And here, we come close to the
concept of sustainable development, the most recently articulated and widely
acclaimed social objective defined as “the ability to meet present needs
 Module 1 Topic 1 61

without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs as

well.” …
I would like to put forward here the idea that folklore can contribute to
sustainbale development by making use of certain folk beliefs that can help
preserve the balance of the ecosystem. Where many of our laws on fishing and
logging are difficult to implement, we can identify and utilize certain folk beliefs
and their associated taboos to help impose laws which are difficult to enforce,
especially those affecting our marine resources. Under article 8, Sec. 161 No. 4-g
of the Local Government Code, it states that “the Municipal Planning and
Development Coordinator shall promote citizen participation through
development planning at the barangay level.” One way of encouraging the
citizenry to contribute to development is to start where they are. This way,
whether such participation in development is to start where they are. This way,
whether such participation in development is conscious or not, there is a free
flow of effort which need not be a heavy burden to perform in contrast to some
of the laws which are difficult to adhere to because they do not have a cultural
base.
… sustainable development can be realized through folk participation by
knowing their concept of mari-it (supernaturally dangerous places). … the
concept of a sacred or spiritual environment includes an unwritten obligation
between mortals and supernaturals, which is stronger than the written law
because it has transcended time. Before a land, pond or water is to be
exploited, certain ritual practices like the bugay (a rite to buy the land from the
environmental spirit beings residing in that place) is performed. … we have
also a rite called buruhisan. This is performed yearly to pay taxes to the
environmental spirits. Padul-ong (“to send off”) also is a ritual performed for the
spirits of the sea when the catch has been especially poor. Another is the
samba (comes from the Visayan word, amba – “to sing”) which is held yearly on
the sea coast and in the hills as a peace offering to ancestral and
environmental spirits.
All these rites have to be observed to ensure safety at sea/land, a
bountiful harvest, or to prevent calamities, sickness, and pestilence.
One can view the relationship which formed not only between humans
and the spiritual beings but man with the physical and social environment as
something that is bonded with respect. Since the Makaako owns the earth and
everything in it and has apportioned some areas to be inhabited by the
environmental spirits, humans are just a part of it and, therefore, have no right to
do as they please. They just cannot wantonly overfish, cut down trees or exhaust
marine life, because they know the consequence of such an act. …
The data on Panay coastal areas as well as those from the interior showed
spirit beings form a part of the people. Specifically, it showed the prevalence of
the concept of mari-it which refers to dangerous places inhabited by spirits. …
Since caution, if not fear, is engendered by places believed to be mari-it,
people avoid these places. If one destroys, misuses, or greedily appropriates for
 Module 1 Topic 1 62

oneself the resources in the mari-it places, it is strongly believed that danger will
befall him/her. I suggest, therefore, that we make use of this folk belief to
generate ecological consciousness by including them in songs or ballads,
slogans, radio dramas, films, comics, in stories for children …
If most of our mountains are bald because of indiscriminate logging, if
some of our reforestation efforts fail because people keep on cutting trees,
replanting them with trees believed to be spirit-inhabited (e.g., bubog, akasya,
Talisay) could make people think a dozen times before these are cut.
Laws on fishing, particularly involving the use of dynamite, are difficult to
impose but we can highlight the Filipino concept of gaba (curse caused by the
ire of supernatural beings) to warn fisherfolk and capitalists of an impending
disaster in the future when marine resources get depleted. Harm could also
befall their physical bodies and their social prestige could be tarnished when
they get too greedy and exploitative.
Conclusion. Today unregulated fishing, logging, and related activities
have led to the rapid depletion of our natural resources. These activities have
affected the physical, social and even spiritual dimensions of traditional life and
culture. If the biodiversity in our immediate environment is destroyed, cultural
diversity is also destroyed. There is a battle between so-called scientific
technologies and those based on beliefs and practices. Folk beliefs and
practices may appear mysteriously unexplainable to many but these have been
proven to be very powerful and effective in combating the over-exploitation of
our marine and forest resources. They can be properly identified and utilized.
Since mass media serves as a major and powerful tool to reach out to the
greater populace, we can make use of the same tool to disseminate enduring
values inherent in folk beliefs and practices that can combat the destructive
effects of modern fishing, mining, and logging technologies. We need to be
more creative in dealing with people.

Reading 2. Excerpt: Leyaley, R. G. (2016). Inayan: The Tenet for Peace among
Igorots. International Journal of Advanced Research in Management and Social
Sciences, 5(2). 239-256.

In a society where tribal conflicts are very evident, a group of individuals has a
very distinguishable practice in maintaining a culture of peace among
themselves. They are the Igorots. The Cordillera region of Northern Philippines is
the ancestral domain of the Igorots. It is comprised of the six provinces of Abra,
Apayao, Benguet, Ifugao, Kalinga, and Mountain Province plus the lone city of
Baguio. The Igorots are grouped into six ethnolinguistic groups, the Bontoc,
Ibaloi, Ifugao, Isneg (or Apayao), Kalinga, and the Kankana-ey. They are
referred to by a generic term, Igorot, a word coined from the root word, "golot"
meaning mountain …
The peace-loving Igorot people are influenced by their belief that they are
answerable to Kabunyan in whatever actions they do toward others. The strong
 Module 1 Topic 1 63

bond of the Igorots to Kabunyan inspired them to love what they are doing
towards others and their work for prosperity. They strongly believe that it is only
when everyone is in harmony with man and nature that Kabunyan will bring
blessings to their life. For these reasons, the Igorots practice the principle of
Inayan to enjoy a peaceful life.
Inayan is a lexicon in the Kankanaey language, which is spoken mainly by
the Kankanaey ethnologies group inhabiting the western part of the Mountain
Province covering the municipalities of Bauko, Besao, Sagada, and Tadian. It
means to hold back or to prevent an individual from doing something
unpleasant towards others.
A deeper investigation of the word in the Kankanaey language culture is
the fear of a Supreme Deity called Kabunian (God) who forewarns or dissuades
one from doing anything harmful to others. This concept is deeply rooted in the
culture specifically of the Sagada and Besao Kankanaey tribes… To them,
inayan embodies all virtues and morals of tribal members – humility, truthfulness,
fidelity, honesty, and commitment, among others ...
… Inayan has a religious overtone as it cites a moral from the Ten
Commandments, … popular significance of inayan as a warning or caution in
the conduct of things and uses inayan as an exclamation to express
disappointment or annoyance. Because of inayan (be careful attitude and fear
of the unknown) one tends to avoid taking risks, but on the other hand, it also
keeps one from engaging in some bad or unwanted deeds.
… According to Solang, Inayan is a community value similar to the
popularly known karma or the concept of “you reap what you sow”. This value
he said cautions an individual against violating cultural norms or taboos. It is a
cultural value that instills discipline, order and harmony among individuals within
families and clans, within the village or tribe, and with the environment. …
... According to Fiar-od, Inayan is a factor in attaining development. It is
viewed as a value, belief, strategy, customary law …, natural law
or principle, strategy for discipline, biblical commandment, and a process
towards reconciling culture, religion, and education for transformation. Her
findings are: a) The protection of the communal forest system referred to as
batangan or saguday of Besao and Sagada is rooted in the concept, “The
higher level of adherence to the sense of Inayan, the higher the degree of
protection of the communal forest.” As a result, fewer forest burns, and less
illegal logging. b) In the cultural aspect, adherence to Inayan is sometimes for
the purpose of shaking – off curses or counter curses in times of ordeals like
sapata of which a consequence (sakem) is expected. Sakem to the highest
degree may result in death or any misfortune. This is commonly observed in
immoral acts among couples. …
Fiar-od further found out that inayan is reflected in different ways …: a) As
a value, there was justice, harmony, and sharing of resources as manifested in
weddings, baptism, wakes/funerals, and other events; b) As a cultural belief,
inayan was invoked along attainment of spirituality, peace, prosperity, and
 Module 1 Topic 1 64

abundance, either personally, morally, socially, religiously, purposely; c) As a

customary law, inayan was invoked towards environmental protection, land use,
and management through community rituals/rites or ceremonies like begnas; d)
As a natural law/principle, inayan was invoked in the optimistic
assurance implied in the utterance “kasiyana, wadas Kabunyan” meaning “
have faith in the Almighty.” Nature will take its course.; e) As a control measure,
it is a wake-up call to act as a social being rather than just a human being. A
social being observes ethical and moral standards for fear that consequences
may happen in one’s life.; f) As a Biblical commandment, inayan, is the local
version of “ thou shall not...” or “thou shall...”
Inayan is defined to be the only command given by Kabunyan to the
Igorots to have a peaceful and progressive life; it is a principle that breeds all
values like respect, love, and peace; and it is a principle of not doing bad acts
towards others. Igorots believe that inayan has much to do with the preservation
and maintenance of peace in society. …

Reading 3. Excerpt: Dictaan-Bang-oa, E.P. (2010 May 7). Traditional Water

Management Practices of the Kankanaey. Cultural Survival Quarterly.

The issue of water among the iBesao (people from Besao) is an issue of
survival for a people who consider themselves the stewards of the land. Among
the Besao, traditional management of water resources is intricately woven in the
belief of spirits inhabiting elements of nature, nakinba-ey, and the morality
embodied in the Inayan that governs the peoples’ day-to-day behavior. The
spirits or supernatural beings inhabiting water sources are believed to be the
primary forces in the production, and thus, supply of water. It is therefore
necessary for the people not to displease the spirits otherwise they will stop the
flow or production of water. Among the culturally prescribed taboos or inayan in
relation to water sources and the nakinba-ey is the prohibition against grazing or
butchering animals near water sources. Animal wastes are believed to repulse
the nakinba-ey. Another is the avoidance of carrying human or animal corpses
along a path near a water source as this displeases the nakinbaey. Inayan,
literally, is sort of a warning equivalent to the English “Be careful!” which, in
Besao, is replete with the moral responsibility to consider the effects of one’s
actions on other people.
Water is a resource that cannot be owned by any private individual even if
it is found in the privately held property. The landowner can only be accorded
the right to prior use. Rights to water according to customary law belong to
those who first tapped the source for their use but do not include a right to divert
water from its natural flow and deprive those who claim ‘natural rights’ by virtue
of being located along the natural course of the water. In agricultural areas, the
dumapat system is still being practiced today. The dumapats are groups of rice
field owners sharing a common water source for their irrigation use. Aside from
these, dumapats, today’s equivalent of formal irrigators’ association, claim their
 Module 1 Topic 1 65

right to a water source based on prior claim and natural flow. Water sources
found in privately held lands for example Kapusean in Suquib, Besao, cannot be
privatized. The landowner may have a prior right to use the water but not to stop
or divert it from its natural flow.
Maintaining water supply involves dumapat cooperation, labor, and
resources. Cleaning, weeding, and rehabilitating canals and intakes to facilitate
water flow are responsibilities of all members of a dumapat. Each member
family sends a representative to offer labor in cases where major rehabilitation
works are needed like the annual cleaning during the dry season. When the
water supply is depleted, especially during the dry season, the dumapats take
turns directing the water flow to their fields as agreed among themselves and
without prejudice to other fields. The process of taking turns is referred to as
banbanes and ensures that each one gets his or her turn. Field owners keep vigil
at night to make sure that their fields are watered according to schedule. Local
water disputes are taken to the dumapat level. If not resolved at this level, they
are brought to the dap-ay. Besao residents, however, cannot recall any major
water dispute among themselves. Community rebuke and taunting are seen as
enough punishment for abusive dumapat members.
An important aspect of the water management in Besao is sustaining the
forestlands. Approximately 69% of Besao’s land area is classified as forestland.
This is further sub-classified into two types based on use. One is the batangan or
the pinewood forest and the other is the kallasan or mossy forests. The batangan
is generally used for fuel and timber needs while the kallasan serves as the
hunting and gathering grounds. To sustain these, local ordinances like banning
logging for commercial use, have been imposed. People are also very
conscious of preventing forest fires so that even in the cleaning of the uma, fire
lines are established before any burning is done. In cases of fire, community
members voluntarily mobilize themselves to put it out and secure valuable
properties like houses, rice granaries, and animal pens.
Religious practices contribute to water management as well. Traditionally,
the legleg, a sort of thanksgiving and propitiating ritual, is performed in water
sources yearly in Besao. Performance of the legleg is believed to please the
nakin-baey, and prevent it from leaving. Such traditional rites reinforce the high
value and regard for water, thus, maintaining its quantity and quality through
culturally prescribed and environmentally sustainable use as well as reaffirming
man’s relationship with nature.

Reading 4. Excerpt: Degawan, M. (2020 April 8). KASIYANNA: Particular

Challenges of Indigenous Peoples in Facing COVID19. Cultural Survival
Quarterly.

Now, four months into the worldwide crisis brought about by COVID 19, the
situation of Indigenous Peoples is slowly coming to light with the dissemination of
reports from different Indigenous organizations. Indigenous Peoples are facing
 Module 1 Topic 1 66

particularly challenging times due to some basic facts including the

susceptibility of Indigenous communities to infectious diseases due to their lower
immunity and, their lack of, or limited access to information, among others.
Some of these realities are consequences of poor planning by national
governments, and others are the result of discrimination and disregard for
Indigenous Peoples. The impacts of the many exploitative projects in Indigenous
territories, such as mining and mono-crop plantations are an added threat and
challenge. All of these contribute to the further marginalization and greater risk
Indigenous Peoples face, especially in times of crisis.
Coping Mechanisms. Indigenous Peoples are no strangers to disease and
disaster. Through generations, Indigenous Peoples have established responses
and coping mechanisms – grounded in traditional knowledge, customs, and
practices – to different circumstances affecting their communities. These are all
founded on one fundamental principle: to ensure that the community survives.
A common response across Indigenous communities is that of closing-off
the community to all – this means no one can enter the community until
deemed safe. Such community closures are done for different reasons. In the
Cordillera, Philippines, such practice is regularly observed during the agricultural
cycle. Before or after the fields are ready for planting and harvesting, the
community declares ubaya/tengaw which basically means everyone stays at
home, and no hard labor is to be done by anyone. This is a time for the
community and the earth to rest and typically lasts a day or two.
The ubaya/tengaw is also declared in times of epidemics or other disasters.
Rituals to shut off the community from outsiders, including bad spirits, are
performed by elders all directed at expelling whatever harm is in the
community. The ubaya/tengaw is not meant just to protect the community but
also outsiders who might want to visit. The signs that a community is in ubaya is
very simple – a knotted piece of branch/leaf is placed at the entrance of the
community – yet a powerful deterrent.
During extended community lockdowns, traditional community practices
come into effect, such as the binnadang/ub-ubbo which can be loosely
translated as exchange labor where community members look out for those in
need and extend help. Food is shared by those who have more with those who
have less. In addition, the basic principle of ayyew, meaning to not waste
anything from food to water is constantly practiced and enforced. Food, such
as dried sweet potatoes, that have been preserved for the rainy period are
brought out and portioned to last for the period of ubaya.
It is during the period of ubaya that one often hears the term kasiyanna
meaning “all will be well”. It is an affirmation that balance will soon be
achieved. To the community, problems are reflections of imbalance in the world
– whether it be between neighbors or with the natural or spiritual world, and to
resolve it is to restore balance.
So, when this global pandemic came about, the Indigenous communities
did not find the idea of quarantine a strange one. For example, when the
 Module 1 Topic 1 67

Philippine national government imposed the quarantine measures across the

country, several Indigenous communities further strengthened this by declaring
ubaya/tungaw in their respective communities. The declaration of
ubaya/tengaw meant that these communities were closing their borders to
everyone, including members who were in the cities at that time. It was a
difficult decision but one that had to be made to avoid the proliferation of the
virus. …

Module 2 Topic 3: Ethnomedicinal Plants, Food, and the Filipino Worldview

This module aims to help you further appreciate the Filipino worldview that you learned
from Module 2 Topic 2. After reading this module, you should be able to:
1. demonstrate an understanding of the indigenous knowledge of ethnomedicine and
food preparation and their significance to biodiversity conservation;
2. illustrate the indigenous Filipino worldview using Filipino ethnomedical practices
and food culture; and,
3. make and defend a position on the promotion of ethnomedicine.

Cruz (2023), in his lecture in The Filipino SDG Hour, argued that “biodiversity is our
single most underutilized economic resource.” To support this argument, he
cited two global drugs from Philippine biodiversity. Ilosone (Erythiomycin) was
launched in 1953 and has an annual sale of US$3.2 billion. The other is Prialt
(Ziconotide) which was launched in 2005 and has an annual sale of US$30
million. Contrast the figures from the annual sales of fisheries which are being
depleted (US$3.0 billion), mining (US$2.0 billion), and forestry (US$50 million).
These three extractive industries are threats to Philippine biodiversity the
preservation and protection of which can be attributed to our indigenous
knowledge and practices that even UNESCO acknowledged their promotion of
sustainability.
The ancestral domains of the IPs are rich in varied species of flora and
fauna (though not fully documented), thereby, the very source of the IPs’
ethnomedicinal plants. A call for research to validate the efficacy and
medicinal value of these ethnomedicinal plants is commonly recommended by
researchers. An overview of the three examples (one for each island group of
Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao) of research on indigenous ethnomedicines is
presented in the following narratives.
Bersamin, et al. (2021) studied the utilization of plant resources among the
Kankanaeys of Kibungan, Benguet. An excerpt from their study is as follows:

The Cordillera region is located in Northern Luzon, Philippines, and is the

largest of three mountain ranges. It is endowed with a diversity of flora and
 Module 1 Topic 1 68

fauna with a semi-temperate climate, matched with a rich mix of cultures.

The different cultural groups in the Cordillera are knotted with the
surrounding environment and henceforth have developed indigenous
knowledge on plant use. They have used plants for the treatment of various
ailments, yet most of these have not yet been scientifically or clinically
proven for their efficacy. Drug discovery is currently a top priority in the
region due to emerging diseases and the development of resistance of
microorganisms to antibiotics …

Emerging diseases continue to increase, while commercial drugs are

becoming expensive which is no longer within the affordability of marginal
communities. Additionally, the decline of food sources is an increasing
problem as an effect of population growth and climate change. These
problems can contribute to poverty. In the past decades, published
research on the medicinal properties and nutritional value of indigenous
wild plants in the region is limited … Thus, the discovery of new drugs and
promotion of the use of neglected and underutilized indigenous plants are
being encouraged.

In recent years, the Philippine government has recognized the

importance of ethnobotanical knowledge and drug discovery such that
government agencies are now supportive in funding interested groups,
mostly researchers from the academe. …

Benguet is one of the six provinces in the Cordillera Administrative

Region, Northern Luzon, Philippines … It is nestled within towering mountain
ranges with a semi-temperate climate. It is the home of the centuries-old
mummies, a place of steep and high mountains and different kinds of
forests. The natural resources, including flora and fauna, are diverse in the
region. Additionally, there is also the presence of cultural diversity of several
tribes, most have spent their entire life in the forests. Thus, these people
have developed their ingenuities in harnessing the plant resources around
them. Therefore, indigenous knowledge of plant utilization in the region is
inherent in the local communities …

Medicinal plants used by Kankanaeys in Kibungan … Twenty-eight

plants were identified that have medicinal values and are being used by
the informants. The leaves of medicinal plants are frequently used as
decoction and poultice to treat wounds, diarrhea, cough, and skin
inflammation. Among these natural remedies, gipas (Sarcandra glabra),
gawed (Piper betle), and kutsay (Allium odorum) were noted as the
common medicinal plants. …
 Module 1 Topic 1 69

Plants used for food by the Kankanaeys in Kibungan … The forest of

Kibungan is abundant with edible plants, which the community enjoys like
fruits, root crops, and vegetables. The pinit (Rubus fraxinifolius), amti
(Solanum nigrum), bayabas (Psidium guajava), gatgattang (Sonchus
arvensis), galyang (Alocasia macrorrhizos), kamote (Ipomea batatas) and
pako (Diplazium esculentum) are among the wildly growing food resources.
... Most of the cultivated edible plants are common in other parts of the
country also. It is because these are considered cash crops. …

Plants used for construction, carving, broom making, firewood and

other uses by the Kankanaeys in Kibungan … From the adjoining forests in
Kibungan, trees are also gathered for their woody trunks to be used in
making houses. The wood is used to build posts, walls, floors, and ceiling
joists. The cogon, Imperata cylindrica, is utilized as roofing materials. For
some plants, the stems and branches are used to build fences around the
dwellings to keep stray animals from the immediate vicinity of the
household. The buybuy (tiger grass), Thysanolaena latifolia is bundled to
make brooms. The trunks of manga (Mangifera indica), and narra
(Pterocarpus indicus), are utilized for furniture. …

Plants used for ornaments/adornment, preservation of the dead, and

rituals by Kankanaeys in Kibungan … The everyday life and cultural aspect
of the local community in Kibungan can be reflected by the way they use
some plants ... The dengaw (Acorus calamus) is used as an amulet, which is
believed to ward off evil spirits. A piece of the root can also be pinned on
clothes especially when travelling far distances from the village as a
protection from being harmed by bad spirits that may be encountered
along the way. Interestingly, it can be noted that bayabas (Psidium
guajava) and niyog (Cocos nucifera) are used to preserve the dead as
substitutes to formalin as embalming agent. The women are also vain as
demonstrated by the use of seeds of takkayan (Coix lacryma-jobi) for
ornaments. Specifically, the women gather the seeds of the said plant and
craft these into earrings, bracelets and necklaces. Curtains, bags and
similar items can be seen from the beads of takkayan. In some places in
the Philippines, the seeds can also be crafted into rosaries. In Kibungan,
Benguet, the takkayan grows wild in rice paddies, riverbanks, and marginal
areas. …

In almost all local communities in the Cordillera, including Kibungan,

traditional knowledge of plant use and other natural resources is closely
tied to the world of spirits. In each village, it is believed that certain diseases
are caused by supernatural beings … Hence, illnesses that cannot be
cured or treated by plants and modern medicine, can be treated through
the meddling of a priest or mambunong, whose role is of prime importance
 Module 1 Topic 1 70

in the village. The village priest usually performs rituals and offerings, in the
forms of plants, clothing, and the like, to appease the spirits who are
believed to have caused the illnesses.

In general, the close association of the Kankanaey with their

environment, the development of traditional uses of plants and other
resources around them, and their awareness of the importance of useful
plants are commendable. This is revealed in the informal interviews,
focused group discussions, and site observations. Additionally, while there
are some unique uses of plants among the Kankanaey in Kibungan, there
also exists a pattern of utilization of plant-based medicines relative to other
local communities in the Philippines.

In conclusion, several plants were reported to be used for various

purposes such as medicinal, food, house construction, and for other
purposes. It has been noted that wild plants, which are highly beneficial,
are naturally found in Kibungan, Benguet. The traditional uses of plants, not
only as medicine but also for other purposes like food, construction, and
many others are still practiced in Kibungan, Benguet even at present. For
future studies, the vast richness of plant indigenous knowledge can be
augmented by determining the bioactive components of the medicinal
plants and performing bioassays. Additionally, if not managed properly, the
continuous gathering of plant resources can lead to their depletion.
Therefore, the protection of the environment to conserve the natural
habitats of plants can be promoted. Initiatives for their cultivation can be
advocated.

Cordero and Alejandro (2021), in their study about the ethnomedicinal

plants of the Ati of Panay, raised a similar concern about the loss of Ati’s
indigenous knowledge. A part of their narrative states that:
The Philippines is one of the 17 megadiverse countries that harbor more
than 75% of world’s flora and fauna ... The country ranks eighth on the
world’s list of endemic plants and reptiles and fifth in birds and mammals ...
In terms of cultural diversity, it has more than 14 million indigenous peoples
in 110 groups occupying approximately 45% of the national land territory ...
In Western Visayas, one of the major groups of indigenous peoples being
recognized by the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) is
the Negritos, locally known as “Ati”. The Ati are the aborigines of the
Philippines comprising about 25-34 tribal groups living in the major islands of
the country and known by various names ... They have short stature, dark
skin, curly hair, flattened nose, and their bodies are covered with thick hairs.
They can be found in Northeast Mindanao, Samar, Central Negros,
Central Panay, a few small islands north of Panay, North-Central Palawan,
few isolated points in Southern Luzon, mountains of Bataan, and Zambales
 Module 1 Topic 1 71

... In Panay Island, most of them wander by bands in the mountainous

areas of the region and engaged in the gradual clearing of the forest.
Subsequently, they adopted a semi-sedentary life and work as farm
laborers in the lowlands ... They speak Inati, Kiniray-a, and Hiligaynon
dialects, and some can speak and understand Filipino and English.
Unfortunately, Inati is a threatened language and there are only a few
thousand people who used it ... One of the most disadvantaged,
marginalized, and poorest communities in the country are the indigenous
peoples (IPs), who are mostly living in remote areas around the archipelago
... Due to their isolated location, poverty, and lack or absence of access
to basic health services, most of them rely on herbal medicines to address
their primary healthcare needs instead of seeking assistance from licensed
medical practitioners ...
The Ati in Panay is known as gatherers, peddlers, traders, and sellers of
medicinal plants to the communities in the towns, cities, and nearby islands
... Though they are known as the source of medicinal plant products,
limited studies have been published about the medicinal plants they used
in traditional medicine. Some medicinal plants were mentioned in the
anthropological studies conducted in the Ati community in Janiuay, Iloilo
…, and in some barangays in Hamtic, Tibiao, and Dao, Antique ... An
ethnopharmacological study on 46 plants was conducted in the Ati
resettlement in Barotac Viejo, Iloilo …, and recently a comprehensive listing
in Malay, Aklan ... There is no updated and detailed documentation
focused on the medicinal plants used by the Ati in the province of Antique.
Antique is a seahorse-shaped province straddled in the western
coastal part of Panay Island in Western Visayas. It is bounded by the
province of Capiz in the North, Cuyo East Pass in the west, Panay Gulf in the
south, and a rugged 35 mountain chain in the west that borders the
province from Iloilo and Aklan ... The province derived its name from
"hantic-hantic" referring to a large species of ant ubiquitous in the province.
It is also known as the "Home of the Sacadas" due to most of the laborers
working in sugarcane plantations in Negros Occidental. …
The province is home to more than 9,000 Ati scattered in six
municipalities ... The rapid land degradation, accelerated forest
destructions, loss of biological diversity, access to modern medicine,
exposure to modern culture, mobility, and displacement of communities
may affect the traditional knowledge of the indigenous peoples as well as
the variety of the medicinal plants present in their area. Traditional
practices used by the IPs were handed to the next generation normally in
oral forms. The continuing loss of traditional knowledge is due to the
absence of verbal communication with the next generation ... The
medicinal practice and traditions they used were greatly influenced by
their culture and religious beliefs. …
 Module 1 Topic 1 72

In their study of the Agusan Manobo, Dapar, Meves, Dliede-Schumann,

and Alejandro, (2020) shared that:
Recent biodiversity global assessment reported around one million animal
and plant species …, and more than 28,000 species are now threatened
with accelerating extinction rate more than ever before in human history.
Given this emerging biodiversity crisis, ancestral lands governed by
indigenous communities are significantly declining at a slower rate …
The rich knowledge, ecological understanding, resource
management, and conservation practices of the locals and indigenous
peoples are recognized as imperative partners in environmental
management because they act as stewards of their ancestral territories ...
Indigenous and local knowledge (ILK) is accepted among researchers and
policymakers as essential for biodiversity conservation worldwide …
Indigenous communities have long experienced, coped with, and
adjusted to environmental changes over the years ... Considering the
experience of indigenous people, their knowledge must play an integral
role in sustaining global biodiversity and protect world heritage. An
estimated 22% of the world’s land surface was acknowledged as
indigenous ancestral lands, which correspond to about 80% of the plant’s
biodiversity areas ...
Despite the indigenous transformation of various cultural knowledge
systems and traditional practices in sustaining forest reserves, biodiversity
has prevailed in the Philippines ... The Philippine archipelago is comprised of
more than 7,100 islands and islets. This country is considered significantly
crucial to global biodiversity due to its exceptional levels of narrow
endemism in various ecosystems … Aside from being renowned as a
megadiverse country worldwide … and one of the world’s eight
biodiversity hottest hotspots …, the Philippines is also recognized as
culturally megadiverse in ethnicity accounting for 110 divergent
ethnolinguistic groups ... These various indigenous communities have a
prominent and unique identity, language, and cultural practices ...
Mindanao is mostly occupied with 61% of the total number of
indigenous peoples (IPs) in the Philippines ... One of the largest groups of IPs
in Mindanao is the Manobo tribe, mainly inhabiting the province of Agusan
del Sur known as the Agusan Manobo … Etymologically, the Manobo term
was named after the “Mansuba,” which means river people, coined from
the “man” (people) and the “suba” (river).
Like other indigenous communities in the country, Agusan Manobo
occupied their ancestral lands situated in uplands and hinterlands with
harmony for generation, protected their natural resources, and maintained
the integrity of their ecosystem ... The rich traditional knowledge of
indigenous and local people with regard to biodiversity resources is
continually supported by the Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity
and Ecosystem Services … and the Convention on Biological Diversity … of
 Module 1 Topic 1 73

the United Nations. Their critical roles as conservation actors are essential
for joint intervention with Indigenous Peoples Organization (IPOs) to
strategize biodiversity programs around the globe ... Despite the significant
role of indigenous contributions to biodiversity conservation, limited studies
have so far been conducted in the Philippines among Indigenous Cultural
Communities/ Indigenous Peoples (ICCs/IPs) in documenting relative
importance and conservation status of their medicinal plants.
Bayugan City, the only component city in the province of Agusan del
Sur and known to be occupied with the large number of Agusan Manobo
who serve as stewards of their abundant natural resources, remains under-
documented. Hence, it is paramount to evaluate plant resources like
medicinal plants among indigenous communities and check for their
conservation status as baseline information and justification for future
conservation. …
The results of this study also revealed the occurrence and distribution
of medicinal flora in the upland areas of the Agusan Manobo tribe in
Bayugan City. Their ancestral territories are habitats of abundant medicinal
plant resources that should be extensively documented and protected.
These findings support the issuance of Certificate of Ancestral Domain Title
(CADT) by the NCIP and DENR among indigenous communities, which
serve as critical components in biodiversity preservation strategy.
Indigenous protected areas program should be initiated by the LGU, which
confer considerable economic and cultural benefits among the Manobo
and other ICCs/IPs. The government should also reinforce the IPs right to
use, access, and act as stewards of their ancestral lands. Both local people
and the LGU should positively get involved in biodiversity conservation
programs and strategies for sustainable protection and management of
medicinal plant resources as part of the world’s cultural heritage.
This study presents the rich medicinal plant knowledge of Agusan
Manobo living in five upland areas of Bayugan City, Agusan del Sur.
Anthropogenic activities could be observed in the upland areas such as
overexploitation, poaching, logging, and deforestation, hence, a need for
conservation policy and strict protection must be implemented by the local
government units. It is highly recommended for the Manobo peoples’
intervention to actively participate as key informants in governmental
programs for conservation to sustain their cultural heritage of traditional
medicine and conserve these cultural community resources.
Ethnomedicinal appraisal … could pave the way for further
pharmacological investigations and clinical studies to validate folk
medicinal uses of these plants …

The other details of the study of Dapar et al. are shared by Sarmiento (2020
October 2):
 Module 1 Topic 1 74

Dapar said he was able to validate that some of the medicinal plants have
comparable phytochemical and biomedical properties as commercial
drugs. This includes piper, which shares similar properties to the antibiotic
chloramphenicol, used to treat bacterial infections such as conjunctivitis,
meningitis, cholera and typhoid fever.
… He said he would even recommend the use of the tribe’s
ethnomedicinal plants to other people, including those with better access
to health centers, due to their curative effects. Dapar added that some
local physicians and rural health workers were already recommending the
Manobo herbal plants as medicines to their patients.
In one case that he documented, Dapar said a doctor was shocked
that a Manobo member who had been bitten by a venomous king cobra
was still alive upon arriving at the hospital, more than 30 minutes after the
incident. ‘When a patient is bitten by a king cobra, it can kill the person
within 15 minutes,’ Dapar said. The Manobo tribe uses piper to treat
snakebites, by soaking the vine in coconut oil and applying it to the wound,
he said.
It wasn’t easy for the researchers to study the tribe’s medicinal plants,
as they had to adhere to the tribal cultural practice of mamaid, a ritual to
seek permission from the tribe’s magbabaya (deity), via the babaylan or
spiritual healer, to enter the forest by offering a pig as a sacrifice. …
Tribal leader Datu Palagsulat said some of the elders continue to use
herbal medicines and shun commercial drugs that the government
provides for free to remote tribal communities. ‘On my part, I am more
accustomed to our medicinal plants than commercial drugs,’ he said. Datu
Palagsulat said the tribe’s babaylan continues to play an important role in
the community: their go-to person in the mountains if they get sick, holder
of the intimate knowledge of medicinal plants to cure various diseases.
Many tribal families already know what plants to use to treat certain
ailments, with the knowledge passed on by word of mouth for generations.
Yet they still seek out the babaylan as their intermediary to
the magbabaya, Datu Palagsulat said.
Lowland outsiders, especially poorer people, have recognized the
efficacy of herbal medicines, the chieftain said, and often seek out the
healing intervention of the babaylan.
‘Our tribe welcomes those who come to us for medicinal help,’ he said.
‘We don’t discriminate and it is not exclusive to us.’
To help conserve the herbal medicine in the modern age, Datu
Palagsulat said he is passing on his knowledge of the medicinal plants to
younger members of the Agusan Manobo. That way, the next generation
will continue to enjoy the benefits of centuries of nature-based health
solutions even amid the rapid advance of medical science.
 Module 1 Topic 1 75

These research findings support Cruz’s (2023) argument that “[t]he

Philippines sits on a gold mine of natural products.” He added that “[b]y 2050,
the global market is projected to reach US$5 trillion.” Herbal medicines are
growing at 7% while pharmaceutical products grow at 4.5%. He also mentioned
the successfully commercialized herbal drugs, food supplements, and cosmetic
ingredients from Philippine biodiversity. These herbal drugs are lagundi,
sambong, Ph oregano, tsaan gubat, and pansit-pansitan. The food supplements
are ampalaya, banaba, kalingag, luyang dilaw, mangosteen, sinta/serpentina,
takip kuhol, and tawa tawa. And the cosmetic ingredients are elemi essential
oil, ilang-ilang essential oil, pachouli essential oil, pili oil, rice bran oil, and VCO.
He further stated that “medicinal plants are high-value crops that require
little inputs for marginalized farmers.” Lessons can be learned from China which
employs 2 million farmers of medicinal plants, cultivating some 100 species over
an area of 460,000 hectares, from India which employs 150,000 medicinal herb
farmers, and from Indonesia which employs at least 20,000.
In promoting the cultivation of medicinal plants, Cruz presented the
following advantages:
● for every million consumers of herbal products, as many as 10,000 farmer
jobs can be created in the rural countryside earning at least P5,000.00 a
month – help in poverty alleviation. Imported medicines generate very
few local jobs.
● livelihoods generated from the cultivation of medicinal plants can help
stop deforestation; without an alternative livelihood, biodiversity
conservation is a losing battle; enhance conservation through the higher
value of resources
● farming beach forest trees species (alagaw, bitaog, dapdap,
malabago, noni, sibukaw, and sulasi) can help protect coastal zones
and generate supplemental livelihood for fisherfolks
● farming of medicinal plants in forest fringes/buffer zones can help reduce
collection pressure on protected areas
● medicinal plants can be a platform for village-based eco-tourism that
can supplement the income of marginalized communities
● work opportunities in the natural products industry are equal for men and
women as the work is not as labor-intensive as conventional crops
● supporting health and wellness products from Philippine biodiversity will
reduce reliance on imported drugs and will reduce imported natural
ingredients

Animism, which was looked down upon by the colonial masters and some
Filipinos, is indicative of the indigenous Filipino worldview of living in harmony
with nature – a worldview that helped protect the Philippine biodiversity, which,
as described in the preceding paragraphs, holds so much potential for inclusive
economic growth.
 Module 1 Topic 1 76

Another aspect of the Filipino culture where the worldview of living in

harmony with nature can be illustrated is our food culture.

Reading 1. Fernandez, D. Food and the Filipino. In Enriquez, V. G. (Ed.) (1986 ).

Philippine Worldview. Singapore: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies.

It is the thesis of this paper, …, that an exploration of what the Filipino eats - the
sources of his food, the way it is prepared and served - will reveal something of
his view of the world, of nature, and of his fellow man.
Filipino Food and the Natural Environment. The Filipino's indigenous cuisine,
his native food before colonization by Spain and the United States, reveals an
intimate knowledge of his environment. It is a cuisine drawn directly from nature
- from the biyaya ng lupa - from nature thoroughly explored and imaginatively
used. Let us look first at the foods he has chosen to cull from nature. Because of
the anatomy of his country - islands in a tropical clime strung through teeming
seas, where fields and forests are close at hand, he has three principal sources
of food: the waters - the sea, rivers, brooks, estuaries, even rice paddies; the
plant life in the fields and forests; and the animal life that flourishes both on land
and in the waters.
Since our ancestors typically settled near water sources, along rivers, on
coastal lands, the waters constitute perhaps the most immediate source of food
which is why most everyday Filipino dishes revolve around fish and seafood. We
do not spurn any of the bounty of the waters; from the shark (kinunot na pating)
to the barely visible pinhead-size tabios; from the lobster to the alamang; from
the capiz to the lowly tulya; and crabs of all varieties - from the tiny talangka,
hundreds of which are immolated to produce the orange taba that we
prodigiously pour on hot rice, to the igud or coconut robber crab which,
because of its diet, carries within it the makings of its own sauce. We eat the
heads of fishes, savouring the eyes, the maws, the brains; we suck out the fat in
the heads of shrimps; we salt and pickle fish roe; we know how to savour the
goodness of watery creatures in all their stages of growth, from tiny fry to giant
breeder (for example, the sabalo, or mother bangus).
The plant life around us provides us with our next most bountiful source of
food. From the vines, shrubs, plants, grasses, and trees come the galaxy of
gulays which we enjoy all
year round. We are amazed that the American table has little more than lettuce
and cabbage, peas and carrots, and potatoes for everyday vegetables
(artichokes and Brussels sprouts are not found on the ordinary American table).
For we revel in a seemingly endless variety of roots (gabi, ube, kamote,
singkamas), delicate leaves (dahong bawang, malunggay, alugbate,
pechay, pako, etc.), tendrils (talbos ng ampalaya, kalabasa, sayote), fruits (jack
fruit and banana are vegetables as well as fruits), seeds (not only beans, but,
say jackfruit seeds) and even flowers (katuray, squash). Lacking any dietary
 Module 1 Topic 1 77

inhibitions, we find provender in swamps, sea growth (sea weeds, for example),
rice or cane fields or even on sidewalks. We make use of what some might call
weeds (kulitis saluyot, talinum), of stalks and shoots, of pulp, peel and seed.
In the field and forest, too, we have found all the shades, degrees and
varieties of tartness to add piquancy to our sinigang. "Souring" with something
obvious like kalamansi (lime) or tomatoes is, to the native mind, abysmal poverty
of the imagination when there are so many delightfully different "souring"
elements around: sampalok fruits or young leaves, kamias, guavas, green
pineapples, alibangbang leaves, batuan, green mangoes, or combinations of
these. The native tongue has tried and experienced their subtle differences, and
their effects
on the sour broths that are so refreshing in hot weather.
In this plant environment, too, are available the spices, herbs, and
flavourings that were not what Magellan was looking for, but which we know
how to use with our native fare: the
tanglad or lemon grass which Visayans stuff into lechon; the star-shaped anise
seed or sangke which gives aroma to certain putos; the kasubha which we put
into arroz caldo and which is
related to saffron; dilaw or turmeric and langkawas, which look like ginger but
are quite different; and all the chillis and peppers that render food hot and
exciting.
From the plant life in the environment too, come two gifts of cardinal
importance to the Filipino: rice and the coconut. The coconut is more than food
to us, of course. From its leaves
come palaspas for Palm Sundays, hats and balls for picnics, walls and roofs for
sheds and entablado, while the stripped mid-rib makes walis tingting and now
matchstick curtains; the husks scrub our floors; the trunks bridge our creeks; the
shells are scoops, moulds, ladles. By way of food, we make use of the coconut
from birth to maturity. The sap of the bud ferments into tuba; the "cooling" water
and the tender, translucent flesh of the buko are not only enjoyed fresh but also
cooked with young shrimps in the Quezon pinais or with chicken in the Visayan
binacol; the mature white meat we grate to go with kakanin, or squeeze for
gata; the "freak" macapuno is a staple of the national sweet tooth; and we
demand the death of the tree in order to have the fresh heart, the ubod for our
lumpiang ubod.
Rice is even more important, for it is more than basic cereal. It is the
background against which all our food is meant to be eaten, and thus shapes
our tastes and, in no small part, our cuisine. Why do we "sour" (sinigang and
paksiw) or salt heavily (tuyo, daing, bagoong), pepper or flavour strongly?
Because the blandness, the humility of rice suggests the desirability of strong,
sharp contrasts something bread does not demand. This is why the Filipino on a
diet aways moans: But what is Filipino food without rice? One can quite easily
eat steak and fried chicken without bread, but how can kari -kari and
binagoongang baboy be enjoyed without rice?
 Module 1 Topic 1 78

Rice can, further, be ground into flour, and thus made into the kaleidoscope of
rice cakes and sweets, puto of all shapes, colours and flavours, found all over
the Philippines, from the Muslim south to the north. The significance of rice is seen
when we discover that just about all our feasts (weddings, burials, victory rituals
in indigenous societies, Christmas in Christianized regions) are associated with a
rice specialty. Ask the expatriate, the cosmopolite, the provincial, and all will
remember some form of rice cake marking the misa de gallo, or the media
noche, or Christmas day itself: the puto bumbong served with free salabat in the
early morning; in Pampanga the putong lusong with panara for media noche; in
Vigan the tinubong cooking
in bamboo tubes while all knelt at midnight Mass.
Rice, therefore, is celebrative fare as well as the humble, daily, year-round
staple. Its water from washing provides broth for sinigang; its young grains
pounded flat make pinipig; it can be fermented into wine, or into the relish
called buro. Even the tutong at the bottom of a cooking pot is eaten, not from
hunger but with pleasure, as another taste experience. In Quezon towns, on the
feast of San Isidro Labrador, rice also becomes the colourful wafer called kiping
which, shaped into sunbursts, chandeliers and whirls, decorate houses, and are
also fried and
eaten.
Apart from the waters, the fields and forests, the third source of food is the
living animal world in the Philippines. Pigafetta … recorded that they were
served pork by their native hosts. We do not know if that came from a
domesticated pig or a wild one, since the Filipino, even now, does not hesitate
to seek for food beyond his backyard. He does not restrict himself to the pigs
and chickens that he raises, but tries wild boar, mountain chicken, deer; the dog
and the carabao (water buffalo); even his fighting cock when it loses its fight
(there is a special Batangas dish called talunang manok) and other foods that
the westerner considers either disgusting or
exotic: the snake, iguana, field rat, unhatched duckling in balut, locust, fruit bat,
kamaro (cricket), wild cat, baby octopus, ant eggs, the woodworm or tamilok -
almost anything
that flies or swims. Why not? All belong to the bounty of sea and land: Biyaya ng
lupa.
What cooking methods did the Filipino develop for this varied feast
gathered from his surroundings? The very simplest and the very wisest. Because
of their proximity, all this
seafood and plant and animal life are available in all their freshness. So what
would be the best way to cook what is not helado, frozen, or plastic-wrapped:
for hito still thrashing in a pail and shrimp; jumping from the tumpok, and crabs
still nipping thumbs and crawling out of the kaserola?
The best way to prepare food so fresh is to do as little as possible: Do not
mar its pristine quality; do not drown it in heavy sauces and spices (which were
used in Europe to distinguish food some steps away from freshness). Eat it raw, as
 Module 1 Topic 1 79

oysters from unpolluted waters should be eaten; or merely marinated in good

strong native vinegar, as in kilawing dilis or tanguingue or hipin; or lightly
steamed, as in halabos na hipon; or roasted on coals. The special maliputo of
Taal may be cooked in butter and lemon, but it is best coal-roasted with
bagoong balayan and kalamansi. Or cooked in a little vinegar and garlic as
paksiw, which is good hot or cold, and is an excellent way of preserving food
where there are no refrigerators. Or cooked in a sour broth as sinigang. Or just
lightly boiled as tinola or pesa, or nilaga.
The rich, greasy, cholesterol-high methods of cooking are alien to our
understanding of what is proper for the freshness which nature bestows on us.
Because freshness is immediately
available, we demand it as a birth-right. This plus the fact that rice is a basic
dietary staple and "background taste" have shaped our indigenous cuisine.
Indigenous Philippine cuisine is thus clearly a result of the Filipino's peasant
closeness to the land and to nature. Not only has he explored its nooks and
crannies, cycles and seasons,
sea, plant and animal life, but, in his work as farmer, fisherman, carabao tender
and gatherer of forest products, he is from birth attuned to season and weather.
He knows when ulang abound in the rivers; when to plant kamoteng kahoy or
go out with lamp and fish net; when the wild edible fern is to be found and
where; which bananas are for boiling, which for eating from the
tree; which mushrooms are safe and what rains bring them. His knowledge is
empirical, gained from exposure, observation, experimentation, experience. The
simplicity -- indeed meagreness
-- of his means made him an inventive improviser unneedful of strict formulae
(no native cook uses recipes, or is bound by "musts"; what is available is used),
flexible, and able to make
do. This same simplicity makes him sensitive to flavour: the bitter, the succulent,
the aromatic, the sour. His language has developed words for those subtle
differences that have no equivalent in English: maaskad, malabo, mapakla,
malangsa, maanggo, manamisnamis, malinamnam, etc. The stark lifestyle
makes him waste nothing, not the gabi stalk (it is stripped for strings to tie the
leaf-bundles in pinangat), the chicken feet or intestines (barbecued for pulutan)
or any internal organs, blood or even bile. Native cuisine, born out of the land,
the weather and the seasons, the means and lifestyle of people in an
agricultural society, reflects a relationship with nature that is intimate,
adventurous, pragmatic, and eminently wise - as even the modern dietician
and gourmet (of cuisine minceur) would agree.
The Filipino and his Fellow Man: The Language of Food. There are many
aspects of his cuisine which indicate the Filipino's relationship with his fellow man
worth a number of
separate studies, but would like to focus on two rather disparate ones: the
sawsawan, and what Carmen E. Santiago has called "the language of food" ...
When one partakes of a meal cooked by a French chef and asks for catsup or,
 Module 1 Topic 1 80

horrors, A-1 sauce, one is guilty of a great, unpardonable insult. The French chef,
you see, ordains how a dish should taste, and one is not supposed to add even
a grain of salt or a pinch of pepper - much less a glob of catsup. Not so
the Filipino chef. He does not prescribe how a dish should taste. Although he
knows the precise degree of sourness proper to a sinigang, or of anghang
proper to his pinangat, he fully
expects his cooking to be embellished, enhanced, adjusted, and adapted to
individual tastes by means of the sawsawan or dipping sauce. In other words, he
is professing no superiority; the
consumer has a part in the creation of the dish just as he has.
Our simple cooking methods - boiling, steaming, roasting, and sour-
stewing - do have flavours built in, but they are simple and basic, and invite
"consumer participation". So squeeze kalamansi on your food; sprinkle it with
patis; dip it in vinegar sprinkled with crushed garlic, black pepper, or crushed
chillis; accompany it with a side-dish of bagoong sauted with bits of pork and
sprinkled with wan soy, diced green mangoes mixed with tomatoes and
bagoong, or bean paste sauted with onion and tomatoes. Surround yourself, if
you so please, with a galaxy
of little saucers containing different flavour-teasing combinations. Make each
bite a different experience, if you wish. Tease your tongue, tickle your palate,
plunder your imagination. Invent, combine, experiment. Aside from the basics
like toyo, suka, patis and kalamansi, Filipinos have added to the dipping lexicon:
tomatoes, onions, crunchy slices of kamias, the young shoots of mango trees,
little sour green paho, coriander leaf or wan soy, Chinese celery or kinchay,
fermented rice and fish, fish roe, salted eggs, etc.
What does it all mean? That the chef and the eater - the creator and the
consumer - are on equal footing; that eating is an act of creation in which both
participate, an experience in which both are creators and critics. No Filipino
cook would, like the chef Vate suicide because not enough fish had been
delivered for a banquet. He would probably have made do with galunggong,
hipon, and let his audience share in the adjustment he had to make.
Our use of the sawsawan, therefore, betrays a laissez faire, non-prescriptive
relationship between man (cook) and man (cooked for). It is a relaxed
relationship, one of a piece in the
relationship with surrounding nature.
The language of food is properly the study of psychologists and perhaps
psycholinguists. It certainly requires much more to it so far. However, what is very
obvious to any Filipino is the fact that food "talks" - as a gift it is always proper; it
always says the right things. It is proper for a girlfriend, to whom one gives
perhaps past ill as or candy. It is proper for an equal, like a fellow worker in an
office or university, to whom the gift may range from Juicy Fruit (chewing gum)
to mangoes or suman. It is proper for a superior, like one's boss or dean or
ninang or benefactor, to whom one gives either something unimaginative but
expensive like a baked turkey, a bottle of Chivas Regal or a hamper, or,
 Module 1 Topic 1 81

something small and rare, like leche flan made from carabao, milk cooked by
one's own grandmother or a tin of Iranian caviar. And it is a proper gift for one
way beyond one's social world, like visiting royalty or the local equivalent as
when the relationship is casual, when it is intimate; when it is one of supplication
and gratitude; when it is one of commitment, and also when it is non-committal.
It carries favour, it stores up goodwill, it expresses friendship and it represents
utang na loob and yet it can never be called a
bribe.
Food, then, is obviously a versatile "counter in the exchange of goodwill",
a coin of different values that can be graded up and down and is never
nakakahiya (inappropriate) to give or to accept - an authentic language, the
nuances of which are well understood by both the giver and the receiver. Yet
another facet of its function as a language is seen in its sharing. When one is
eating something, be it a sandwich or a feast, one is expected to invite whoever
is around to share it - a bite, a sip, a lick must be offered even when patently
impossible to accept. The obligation becomes stronger in one's home. Anyone
who comes in (except perhaps a bill collector or the basurero), at meal-time or
otherwise, should be fed something or invited to join a meal in progress. The soft
drink or cracker offered is a word of welcome: even more symbolic is the way
the guest is urged to sit and join the meal in progress. If one's presence,
expected or not, occasions a fuss: special dishes that take time to prepare,
served on guest china and silver kept in the cupboard for the purpose, then one
is of the "bisita or ibang tao category" as noted by Carmen Santiago. The dishes
served to such a guest are not usually those of the native cuisine (not paksiw
and inihaw) but adapted from that of the colonizers - indigenized Spanish dishes
like relleno and puchero, or indigenized American dishes like fried chicken and
salad. If,
however, one's presence, expected or not, does not occasion a fuss, but
involves the use of the daily - perhaps plastic - tableware and the customary
fare (pritong galunggong and ginisang
ampalaya), then one is hindi ibang tao (one of us) and can share sawsawan
and whatever food there is with the family. The deepest level of being hindi
ibang tao is evident when one can walk into the kitchen to help oneself to a
glass of water, or help bring out the food: kasi hindi ka naman bi sita ("You are
now one of us, no longer a guest").
The language of food course, in urban and rural classes. In a burgis varies
in nuance and vocabulary, of settings and in the different social (bourgeois)
home, your being served
Filipino, Chinese, American, Spanish, or French food, is already an indication of
the regard in which you are held. In these days of catering and eating out,
there is a whole new lexicon
involving the caterer your host chooses for the dinner honouring you - Aling
Gloria, Magnolia Rendezvous, Plaza, Via Mare, Peninsula - or the place to which
you are taken to lunch or
 Module 1 Topic 1 82

dinner Italian Village, a coffee shop in one of the new hotels, Barrio Fiesta, La
Tasca, Old Manila, for example. Does he take you there to show off? To impress
you because he considers you a fellow gourmet or bon vivant? Because it is
what he can afford? Because he really likes crispy pata? Because it is
convenient, or quiet and a place to talk? (If the invitation is between a man
and woman, of course, a whole new system of meanings comes into play in
which the sharing of food stands for anything from a hunger-stopper to tryst to
seduction.)
The Filipino and the World: Novelty and Change in Native Cuisine.
Although the foregoing discussions on what Filipino cuisine reveals about the
Filipino's relationship to nature and to his fellow man cannot but indicate his
world-view - his intimacy with nature, his understanding of it as source of life, his
imaginative exploration of its resources, his development of uniquely Filipino
ways of handling (cooking) these resources, and his development of his own
ways of using food as "coins" in social, economic and political transactions -
perhaps further insight can be achieved by an examination of how the Filipino
handles change in his cuisine, specifically, the influence of foreign cooking.
Certainly, the two major influences on Filipino cuisine come from the Chinese
and the Spanish ...
To Chinese cuisine, we owe just about all our noodles: all the pancit
(noodles), using miki, bihon, sotanghon, pane it Canton; noodles transparent,
opaque, fat or thin. So thoroughly
and well have we absorbed the noodle that almost no region is without a
pancit of its own, varied and indigenized according to locale. Thus, the fishing
town of Malaban has pancit Malabon, with oysters and seafood; modest
Lucban developed pancit habhab, "poor town's fare", says Monina A. Mercado,
of miki cooked in the marketplace and eaten off squares of banana leaf.
Other regions used flaked tinapa, ground chicharron, Chinese sausages,
sauces, mixtures of noodles. From the Chinese too, we learned to add broth to
noodles, to produce lomi and mami ; to wrap vegetables in a thin rice wrapper
to make lumpia; to encase meat in dough as siomai and siopao or in leaf lard or
other wrapping to make kekiam. These are the Chinese dishes that have been
most widely absorbed into our cuisine, cooked in homes, in small corner
merenderos, and in school cafetarias.
The legacy from Spanish cuisine is quite different, since its chief
characteristic is its richness. From the Spaniards we learned how to saute. While
they used olive oil and tomato
sauce, we indigenized this into sauteing in garlic, onions, and tomatoes. From
Spain too, came our rich stews like cocido and puchero, stews which would
have been way beyond the native
lifestyle, with their reckless combination of pork, chicken, beef, vegetables,
chorizos, jamon China, morcilla. Also Spanish are the rice-meat combinations
that are derivations of paella,
 Module 1 Topic 1 83

like arroz a la Valenciana. Very Spanish, certainly, are other fiesta dishes such as
galantinas and rellenos, and the rich desserts that require time and leisure (the
kind only our legions
of old-maid aunts have to spare) to make: brazos de Mercedes, tortas
imperiales, borrachos, suspires, etc. Also, the Christmas castanas, ensaimadas,
and jamon Pina.
One readily notices that the Chinese, who first came as traders, settlers,
merchants, had their food absorbed into lower and middle-class cuisine, in
homes, turo-turo restaurants, corner
panciterias. The Spanish, on the other hand, who came as conquerors, as
avowed superiors, exercised their culinary influence mainly on the elite, on the
ilustrado class, and thus their food,
even now, is mainly fiesta fare. The native - or what we may call Malay - cuisine
is served at all levels as the "heartland" cuisine, but principally in the lower
classes, where often even the Chinese influence is but barely felt because of
economics. However, as with everything else he has adopted, the Filipino
changed, indigenized, adapted. The Chinese lumpia is now unmistakably
Filipino, dipped in toyo, vinegar and garlic, smothered in a sweetish, garlicky
sauce, or spinkled with powdered peanuts. The Spanish paella has on the one
hand assumed
a dignity it does not have in Spain by being made impossibly rich and
expensive, and also evolved into a native dish, the sticky bringe, with malagkit
and gata, and the variations in between.
American fried chicken is marinated in soy and kalamansi or vinegar and
garlic before frying; pies are filled with buko, and salads with kaong; pizza
seasoned to the native tongue. And although the Filipino will always feel that
the best bibingka is made from hand-ground galapong and cooked on a
banana leaf with coals above and below it, he adjusts to convenience and
schedules by using baking powder, mixes, new ovens (he invents them). He
may even, in an emergency, use sinigang mix from a packet, frozen shrimp, and
the pressure cooker instead of the traditional, slow simmering method of
preparation. The layer of adaptation is evident, and necessary, but the core of
the Filipino's thinking about food is a loyalty to what nature provided, to the way
it was intended to be, understood and used - because that is the right way.
Being in harmony with nature is not just habit and tradition; it is rightness.
This harmony is fundamental to the Filipino's world-view and seen in his
relations with his fellow men. Historically, in the agricultural community which
determined many values still dominant today, harmony with one's fellow men
was necessary because of mutual need. In a lifestyle with but few resources, the
mutual help between neighbours contributes greatly to a man's wealth. As
suggested in the discussion of food as language, food functions to keep this
harmony operative. The mutual sharing of functions between the cook and the
cooked-for, and the use of food as a social lubricant, as an infinitely flexible
communicator in all kinds of relationships, proves this. Food is better than
 Module 1 Topic 1 84

language, in a way, because it hardly ever offends, and yet its meaning is
unmistakable. It is a kind of non-verbal communication
non-confrontative, causes harmonies. …
The young Filipino's food preference is of course changing, since modern
life is leading him further and further away from tradition. It is not only that few
housewives have the time to search for alibangbang and green pineapple with
which to "sour" sinigang na baboy, or rear and fatten chickens for the Christmas
tinola. Even more notable than the supermarket-to-freezer
convenience is the new taste for convenience, fast food and, especially, the
beguiling products of transnational food corporations, like hamburgers, fried
chicken and doughnuts. The young, enticed by filet-a-fish, french fries, pan pizza
and hamburgers, will soon look back on provincial cooking with little nostalgia,
and no sense of loss. Their children to come may well be completely ignorant of
the subtleties of sourness and sweetness, their tastes homogenized by global
standards.
When the preferences in the choice and preparation of food change, it
will be an indication that the social bases are changing too - those which
intimate the relationship to nature, to one's fellow men, and to the world. The
legacy and experience of what was an agricultural community in the matrices
of Filipino art, drama, literature, food, values, world-view, still find expression
among most Filipinos, even those raised in urban centres. In the future, however,
this primal voice may be drowned out by changes too massive and powerful to
be gracefully indigenized and adapted at the culture's own pace. When that
happens, alas for the passing of inihaw sa uling, of sorbete sa garapinera, of
burong dalag, and all they mean and imply beyond the flavour and taste of the
Philippine countryside.

IP Worldview and the Filipino Philosophy of Life and Values

This topic is focused on a reflection on Filipino philosophy of life and values.

As you read the material, try to identify under which values and philosophy of life
the indigenous worldview will fall in. After reading this module, you should be able
to:
1. demonstrate an understanding of the Filipino philosophy of life and values;
and,
2. illustrate the essence of the Filipino philosophy of life and values with
examples using the indigenous people’s worldview, knowledge and
practices.
 Module 1 Topic 1 85

Excerpt: Timbreza, F.T. Filipino philosophy today: A sourcebook in teaching

Filipino philosophy. Quezon City: National Book Store.

… Every society has its culture and every culture bears the people’s
philosophy of life and values. … refers to the biography of the Filipinos which
consists of their worldviews, perceptions of reality, beliefs, customs, values,
including the physical aspects of culture. This cultural biography derives from the
people’s indigenous experiences, observations, and struggles in life; and their
worldviews, beliefs, and values constitute their philosophy of life and their
perceptions of human existence.

… A philosophy of life refers to a set of convictions about the nature of life

and how it ought to be lived in view of what one considers to be the most
fundamental truths about human existence and its place in the universe. … in
other words. A philosophy of life consists of the people’s worldviews, their
general perception of the meaning of human life.

Filipino philosophy of life may be taken as the control box of Filipino culture.
It serves as the basis for planning the workings of society and for validating its
values and goals. It interprets and orders the people's perception of reality into
a comprehensive system. Hence, the people's world-view functions as the
framework against which they understand the nature of the universe. This
 Module 1 Topic 1 86

framework constitutes the context in which human meaning is understood and

lived.

Human values, on the other hand, are the desirable patterns and traits of
good behavior or conduct, which are ingrained in the culture of a given society.
Like Filipino culture, there are also values, the good character and rightful
conduct, the desirable individual traits and manners, the suitable and proper
ways of doing things, which are acceptable to the people who are supposed to
practice and live these values. Values also consist of the moral, intellectual, and
spiritual principles being held dear and significant by the people themselves.

But why is there an existential need for people in any given society to
conceive and formulate certain philosophy of life and values? The crucial
answer is for the sake of survival, sanity, and piece of mind. Human life is a
disturbing problem rather than an answer in itself. For instance, every individual is
born without his knowledge and then he is going to die against his own will. No
person has ever been consulted beforehand whether or not he wanted to be
born. And now that he is born, he suffers until he dies. In other words, in one's
unasked-for existence, whether suffering, old age, and death, one likes it or not,
everyone is subject to the onslaught of disease.

For this reason, man wonders: Why does man still have to be born if only to
suffer and, finally, to die? What really is the meaning of life? … The answer to
these questions may be better or worse, but even the worst answer is better than
none at all. And so the Filipinos themselves, our forefathers, have gradually
formulated that have taken the many forms of their philosophy of life and
conceptualized their own explanations and interpretations values. Their
philosophy of life and values have now become their mental frame of reference
which satisfies their need for an explanation and search for meaning. They make
the Filipino "feel at home" in the world, so to speak. In other words, for the
Filipinos these mental frames have become systems of thought and action
which give them a frame of orientation and sense of identity and belonging. …

Value of Self-Esteem. Filipinos relate self-esteem with good name, honor,

moral integrity, goodnaturedness, good character, credibility, trustworthiness
(malinis na pangalan, karangalan, kabutihang- asal, kagandahang-loob,
magandang kaugalian, kabaitan, mapagkatiwalaan). This is the measure of
greatness (sukatan ng kadakilaan).

For the Filipinos, self-esteem is the most important wealth on earth. Real
wealth consists of individual honor, moral integrity, honesty, credibility, and good
 Module 1 Topic 1 87

reputation. Worldly riches and social fame can be bought and lost, but one's
character is priceless and lasting. The value of self-esteem emphasizes personal
honor rather wealth at the expense of one's good name; for a good name is
much better than riches that came from a bad source. Now, which is dearer to
you, your fame or your self-esteem? Which is more important, your self-esteem or
your wealth? Which is better: to become famous and rich but with tainted
character, or to remain an ordinary individual with unblemished name?

Value of Prudence. Filipino thought lays great emphasis on the value of

prudence and levelheadedness (kahinahunan, pagkamahinahon,
paghuhunus-dili). This virtue is an antidote to danger and rash decisions and
judgment in time of crisis. …

A lot of tragedies, mistakes, and violence in life have happened (and many
more can still occur) because of recklessness and over hastiness. Oftentimes,
regrettable accidents result from frenzied confusion and bewilderment. For the
Filipinos, the exercise of prudence is the best panacea for perturbation,
impetuosity, and perplexity in all adversities.

Whenever one acts with caution, one can avoid committing big errors;
whereas when a person acts carelessly and hastily, he will make tremendous
blunders. In the same vein, if ever one acts violently and impulsively, one will
most likely imperil himself; one may even probably kill somebody else or get
himself killed.

An oriental metaphor states that whenever water is blurred and mobile, one
cannot see things at the bottom. However, if it is clear and calm, one can see
what is beneath. The same thing is true of the human mind. Whenever an
individual is bewildered, emotionally upset, and enraged, his thinking is vague
and obscure, and so he cannot excogitate well what should be done under the
circumstances. Possibly he may commit certain irreparable blunders. On the
contrary, if one is prudent and cool, one's mind is lucid; hence, he can see
clearly any imminent risk or peril that

must be warded off.

Prudence, the Filipinos believe, is as valuable as life itself; precisely because

by means of it one is able to shun certain perils that lurk beneath one's own
foolhardiness and heedlessness. The prudent (mahinahon) excels over the
impulsive (biglain, tuso) in the sense that the latter often errs or gets imperiled
 Module 1 Topic 1 88

due to indiscretion and recklessness. The levelheaded (malamig) excels over the
hotheaded (mainitin), the impetuous and the reckless to the extent that the
latter can either kill somebody else or get himself killed in the process.
Consequently, many dangers and problems could be averted, if one exercised
prudence.

Value of Survival. History and experience have taught the Filipinos that there
comes a time in life when one has to safeguard his right for his own welfare and
survival. They have learned, for instance, that under extreme oppression and
exploitation, they have to stand up and defend themselves against their
oppressors, against injustice and aggression. …

No matter what kind of adversity he is facing, the Filipino will do anything

possible to overcome it, if only to survive. Whenever he is bedridden, he strives to
get well by any means or cure, whether it be medical or herbal. Any form of
healing ritual that goes beyond logic and scientific explanation appeals to him
for the sake of survival.

Even if his own life is imperiled, the Filipino dares all to the extent of
discrediting evil and death itself only because of his desire to live. Especially
when he is coerced, harassed, and intimidated, the Filipino holds on to anything
including the sword. This principle permeates all the people's thoughts and
social behavior.

Whenever the Filipino is tyrannized and exploited, death does not matter to
him anymore. Death penalty does not and cannot deter him to commit crime or
to revolt. The evident proof of this is the people's historical experience at the
hands of foreign invaders and colonizers. No amount of coercion and restriction
is effective enough to restrain and curtail the Filipino from doing what he wants
whenever he becomes the victim of ruthlessness and enslavement.

This value of survival is a built-in rule of conduct, which permeates Filipino

culture and finds expression in the attitudes, manners, and behavior of the
people. The Filipino's desire to live well with dignity and freedom will overcome
his fear of physical destruction. He risks all for the sake of his desire to protect his
life and honor.

Risking his own life, however, does not necessarily mean the Filipino does not
love life. On the contrary, it is precisely because he loves life that he belittles
 Module 1 Topic 1 89

even death itself. For he believes that life without self-respect, freedom, and
justice is even worse than death itself.

The Filipino will do anything, good or evil, to resolve his crucial problems and
to overcome his adversities. Discrediting evil itself amidst peril and uncertainty
does not of necessity indicate that the Filipino would prefer to ruin his life, or that
he loves evil for its own sake and he is ignorant of good morals.

Contrariwise, it is precisely because he would like to survive and save his own
life that the Filipino … believes that dire want or need knows no morality,
especially if such necessity is equivalent to life itself.

Values of Diligence and Patience. Filipinos are well-known for their patience
and diligence. The usual meaning attached to those cultural traits is that Filipinos
are matiyaga (patient, persevering); mapagsumikap (diligent, hardworking);
mapagtiis (forbearing, enduring); and masipag (industrious, involved,
engrossed). …

The Filipino values of diligence and patience embody the secret of their self-
determination, will-power, and self-reliance in the pursuit of their goals and
ambitions. They constitute the strength of the Filipino character as a people.

Filipinos believe that the secret of success in all human undertakings lies in
one’s unwavering forbearance and diligence. Blessings, comforts, and triumphs
are the fruits of self-sacrifice and patience. Life is a life of struggle and effort in
order to attain the goals that one has set for oneself.

Value of Diplomacy. Filipinos are by nature nonviolent, conciliatory, and

diplomatic. Despite their religious, socio-cultural disparities, not to mention their
varied dialects, Filipinos possess a common principle regarding the priceless
value of peace and reconciliation, harmony, and brotherhood, and love for
one another. …

In Filipino thought, the use of force cannot resolve conflict. Force will just
exacerbate the situation and create further indifference, hostility, and
resentment. Conflict or any form of dispute can be threshed out and resolved
by means of a humane, refined, or urbane approach. For the Filipinos, it is better
 Module 1 Topic 1 90

and more effective to resolve any strife in a diplomatic than to employ severe or
drastic means or force.

The proper and decorous way to settle any friction or dissension, as far as the
Filipinos are concerned, is through a suave, smooth and friendly approach. A
rough and harsh approach will only add more insult to injury. A conciliatory and
tactful gesture will help prevent further feelings of indifference and distrust
among the people concerned.

The diplomatic metaphor of the Filipinos is water: As you pour out more cold
water over fire, both the heat and fire itself will be put out; whereas if you use fire
to put out fire, you will end up with a bigger fire. This clearly shows that shout
against shout, anger against anger, will only lead to more furious shouting,
roaring and yelling; whereas a nice and cordial talk will soften a hardened heart
so that any strife, antipathy, diffidence, and bitterness can be finally overcome.
This is the Filipino value of diplomacy.

Value of Human Labor. The value of labor for the Filipinos cannot be
gainsaid. Labor is essentially related to self-perfection and self-development. It
has a great deal to do with one's progress, affluence and comfort in life, success
and happiness. Most of all, work humanizes man and makes him what or who he
is. The people themselves will vouch for this truism. …

Labor is associated with personal success and happiness, especially material

prosperity in life. If only for this reason, the Filipino is known for his being
workaholic. But what is interesting about the value of labor for the Filipino is their
view that man is defined by his works, so that man is his works. Man is or
becomes as he works; or as man works, he makes himself. Here, the Filipino
defines greatness in terms of accomplishments. The more accomplishments an
individual has done, the greater he becomes.

Accordingly, an individual's accomplishments reveal his self- identity or

pagkatao. The nature of his works unfolds his ingenuity and intelligence. His
deeds disclose his inner self. In other words, the totality of his accomplishments
and achievements (e.g., books written, projects finished, positions assumed,
etc.) is the sum- total of his selfness and personhood. Dr. Jose Rizal's works and
writings, his travels and loves, for example, constitute the totality of his
personhood (until the time of his martyrdom). We know him now by his great
novels and poems.
 Module 1 Topic 1 91

Certainly, Filipinos discern the value of labor for man's humanization. Through
labor, man realizes and humanizes himself; that is to say, man becomes man
through labor. Magiging tao ang tao sa pamamagitan ng paggawa.

Value of Self-Initiative. In man's never-ending struggle for survival, Filipinos

realize the great value of self-initiative (sariling-inisyatibo). It is one thing to be
industrious, persevering, and hardworking, but it is quite a different thing to be
initiatory and enterprising, not to say forward-looking. …

A man of initiative knows the importance of proper timing, foresight, and

anticipation. One may be industrious and patient, but if he lacks foresight, he
will be outwitted or surpassed by one who is bold enough to initiate the first
move. Note: "Daig ng maagap ang masipag." For the Filipinos, what is crucial
about the value of initiative is the first step, precisely because unless you begin
any activity (e.g., project or business), you cannot accomplish anything. Hence,
a man of initiative is ready to engage in daring action, to undertake
experiment, to originate the action, to lead off, to embark on something else.
For him "mahalaga ang unang hakbang." He has what is known as "self-push,"
"self-drive," and "self- ambition," sariling-pagkukusa, sariling-pagpapasimuno.

When Dr. Jorge Garcia, a Filipino surgeon, for example, conducted the first
heart transplant operation on Mr. Rainier Lagman at the Makati Medical Center
in June 1994, it was a pioneering undertaking initiated by one who dared to
make the first step in heart transplant operation in the Philippines. It was a
pioneering undertaking initiated by one who dared to make the first step in
heart transplant operation in the Philippines. It was also due to Dr. Honorata
Giongco-Baylon’s initiative, a Filipino hematologist at the National Kidney
Institute, that the first bone marrow transplantation was conducted between
two Gonzales brothers in 1990.

Value of The Family. Filipinos are well-known for their family-centeredness.

Happiness and unhappiness, success and failure, are centered on the Filipino
family. One rises and falls with one's own family. Filipinos give so much value to
the family that they work so hard and sacrifice a lot, if only to maintain an
orderly, peaceful, successful, and happy family. It is for this reason that family
success is the measure of a successful life for the Filipinos. Let us derive sustaining
inspiration from the people's wisdom on the value of the family. …
 Module 1 Topic 1 92

In Filipino thought and experience, the greatest success that a couple can
attain in life is family success, whereas the worst failure is family failure; the
sweetest

happiness is family happiness, whereas the most devastating unhappiness is the

one that results from a broken home.

According to the people, its does not really matter much if you fail in other
life pursuits, as long as you are successful in your own home, in your own family.
There is no substitute for family success. Success in other human endeavors can
never be substituted for failure in one's own family and unhappiness in

the home.

If you are a failure in your own family, then you are also a failure not only as
a spouse but also as a father or mother to your children. Thus, for the Filipinos,
failure in the home is the worst misfortune that can ever happen to an individual.

Philosophy of Life

Law of Reversion (Batas ng Panunumbalik).

This is the Filipino concept of karma.

First: Filipino believe that what a person thinks and does determines
inexorably what he is or going to become. What we are now is the outcome of
our thoughts, decisions, and actions in the past. Hence, whatever we think or do
in our lives will determine what we shall be. Manunumbalik o tatalsik sa atin ang
magiging bunga ng ating gawain at pag-uugali.

In Filipino thought, every thought, every action, thought and eveything we

cause, no matter how great or small, must in some way at some time have an
effect. We are continually generating causes. Everything we think, say or do is a
cause which must have an effect in some way, sometimes, somewhere. A
student, for example, who neglects his studies will reap the fruit of his
negligence, say, poor grades, or unsuccessful life later.
 Module 1 Topic 1 93

Similarly, a person who indulges himself in excessive smoking and drinking will
ultimately endanger himself. In fact, through his indulgence in these vices is in
effect slowly killing himself. A married man who courts a woman other than his
wife is creating his own family problem. A woman who does not care for her
honor will surely meet her own physical and spiritual destruction. Consequently,
every act an individual performs already contains within itself its own reward
and punishment.

Second: The nature of one’s debt will determine the way in which it will be
compensated. Anuman ang inutang mo, iyon din and babayaran mo.

The manner in which a debt will be paid depends, to a large extent, upon
the nature of said debt. Filipinos contend that if someone has done something
wrong, this becomes a debt from which he cannot escape. He will have to
make up for his debt or whatever wrongdoing he has done, at least sometime,
somehow, somewhere.If you have violated other people’s rights, somebody will
also violate your rights under certain circumstances. If you use force to attain
your ends, you will also become the victim of force or violence in one way or
another, under certain conditions and situations.

The kind of life a person lives will determine the nature of his own death; if he
lives in violence, he will also die in violence. Whenever you do something
inimical and detrimental to people, they will do you something harmful and
destructive in return. Filipinos believe love is a boomerang. As you love, so you
will be loved in return by others. If you have learned to love people, no matter
who or what they are, you will find many people will return your love. In like
manner, if you hate or dislike people, then many people will return your dislike
and hate.

Third: The act of an individual affects not only himself but the members of his
family as well. …

Filipinos seem to be saying here that if an individual cannot make up for a

certain evil act done, so to say, anyone among his brothers and sisters, children
or relatives will have to make up for it sometime, somehow, somewhere.

A couple of illustration are in order: Let’s suppose, for instance, that a man
has abused a woman sexually which has resulted in unwanted pregnancy and
the social opprobrium attendant to it. In line with the Filipino concept of
reversion or karma, the same man will have to pay for it someday, let’s say, by
 Module 1 Topic 1 94

becoming himself also the victim of abuse or injustice at the hands of other
people who need not be his woman victim.

But if he cannot make up for this evil act himself, it may be either his own
sister, mother, wife, or daughter who will have to pay for it. The same is true of
murder. If you kill a man, you will get killed in return, or any one among your
family circle …

Fourth: whatever you do to your parents is what your children will do to you,
too. Kung ano ang inaasal mo sa iyong mga magulang ay siyang gagawin din
sa iyo ng iyong mga supling. …

Filipinos claim that the way we treat our parents will recoil. We shall reap the
same treatment we do to our parents from the very way children will treat us. If
we have been naughty and rude to our parents, our children will also be
naughty and rude to us. If we have been ungrateful and unjust to them, our
children will also be ungrateful and unjust to us. We reap what we have planted.
Similarly, if we have been good and just to our parents, our children will also deal
with us in the same manner: the good deed and misdeed that we do will
bounce back. That’s the law of life, according to the Filipinos.

Balance of Nature (Pagbabalanse ng Kalikasan)

There exists a balance or harmony of opposites not only in nature but also in
every individual human being.

First: there is harmony and balance between good and evil, weakness and
strength, beauty and ugliness, success and failure in the life of every individual.
…

Concealed in a woman’s beauty is imminent danger, insofar as there is a

balance of good and evil in her womanhood. In life we do not possess all the
good things, we always have a balance of good and evil. We are subject to
praise and criticism, joy and sorrow, comfort and discomfort. We have our own
strengths just as we also have our own share of fortunes and misfortunes.

We do not monopolize all success for we also have our own failures. There is
something beautiful in a person but there is also something ugly in his/her
personality. Hence, the balance of beauty and ugliness, success and failure,
 Module 1 Topic 1 95

good and evil, weakness and strength, happiness and sorrow, pleasure and
pain, etc.

Second: everything has its own counterpart; everybody has his/her own
match. Everything, everyone, and every characteristic has its own meaning and
value. May kanya kanyang katapat. May katuwang ang lahat. Bawat bagay,
bawat tao, at bawat katangian ay may kaukulang kahalagahan. …

One may not be good-looking but intelligent; a girl may not be beautiful but
trustworthy. A person may be ugly in the eyes of others but s/he is sincere,
efficient, and dependable. One may be poor in mathematics but good in
language, or the other way around. A businessman may be a success in
business but a failure in his own home. One may be a great celebrity, a
superstar, but a victim of a broken home.

For others, your spouse may be ugly, but as far as you are concerned s/he is
good looking and trustworthy. Everybody has his/her own choice and
preference, hence each desire has its own satisfaction. Everything has its own
purpose, value, and meaning. For the Filipinos, whenever something happens
there must be a sufficient reason.

Third: personal responsibility is measured by one’s social status or situation in

life. That is to say, an individual’s station in life determines the extent of his
accountability as well as liability. …

One’s burden of responsibility in life is proportionate to the nature of his

social or official position. The higher the social status or official position one
assumes, the bigger and heavier is his personal responsibility. Likewise, the higher
the position is, the bigger are the problems to resolve and the more headaches.
Conversely, the lower the position or social status one may have, the smaller are
the problems, and the simpler are the responsibilities. Hence, the saying “a
luxurious life means complicated problems; a simple life entails also simple
problems.”

“Cyclic Concept of Nature” (Gulong ng Palad)

Filipinos believe that nature is characterized by a cyclic change, which is

observable in all realms and domains of life. …
 Module 1 Topic 1 96

First: Nature is characterized by a cyclic design, a process of appearance,

growth and decay, union and separation, generation and destruction. Human
life is likewise characterized by birth and death, sickness and health, victory and
defeat, contentment and frustration, pleasure and pain, happiness and sorrow.
…

Second: The gulong ng palad philosophy compares life to a wheel, which

keeps on rolling, turning, revolving, rotating, moving, and changing. …

The gulong ng palad worldview is the Filipino philosophy of change, hope,

and impermanence.

Philosophy of change (pilosopiya ng pagbabago): Everything is changing,

nothing is permanent: just as a wheel rolls, its upper part goes down and its lower
part goes up, so that as long as it is rolling, no part is permanently on top or at
the bottom; what is presently at the bottom will be at the top later, and the
reversal process of going up and going down continues without end.

In Filipino thought, the same is true of the life of individual. One may still be
young today but he will eventually become old; you are strong and energetic
at present, but you become weak and inactive as you grow old. As you are
happy now, you will be sad later, and vice-versa. Everything, therefore, is in flux;
everything changes and passes away.

Philosophy of impermanence (pilosopiya ng kasandalian): Things, conditions,

and situations are relative. Life situations are constantly changing; nothing is
permanent. As one is born, so he is going to die. One maybe healthy at present,
but at other times one becomes ill. One is alive now but sooner or later one
perishes. As the Tagalogs succinctly put it: "Araw mo ngayon ay sisikat, sa iba
naman bukas; ang katulad mo 'y bulaklak, kung umaga'y sakdal tingkad, sa
hapo'y kumukupas." (Your sun today rises, just as for others tomorrow; you are
like a beautiful flower, which is so fragrant in the morning, then in the afternoon it
fades.)

Everything, therefore, is transitory, momentary, and impermanent insofar as

the wheel of life moves on endlessly.

Philosophy of hope (pilosopiya ng pag-asa): Filipinos are optimistic people.

They are hopeful that human life goes up and down like a wheel. And whenever
they are down, they don't lose hope knowing that they will go up again.
"Habang may buhay ay may pag-asa" (While there's life, there is hope). This
optimistic view of life provides the Filipino with the necessary courage and
 Module 1 Topic 1 97

equanimity to face all adversities that may befall him. The Filipino is flexible and
can adjust to the ever-changing situations of life. He can take all trying situations
in stride and can bear sufferings and rise superior to them.

Furthermore, the Filipino cyclic world-view teaches the holistic perception of

life. Human existence as a whole is a blending of pleasure and pain, good and
bad, convenience and inconvenience, sickness and health, love and hate,
happiness and despair, felicity and misery, bliss and tears, rest and fatigue,
contentment and dissatisfaction, ecstasy and despondency, birth and death.
Ang buhay ay tambalan ng ligaya at pasakit, hirap at ginhawa, sarap at
saklap, buhay at kamatayan.

The individual who prefers only pleasure, comfort, health, contentment, and
happiness to characterize his life will be greatly dismayed and disappointed.
And the one who despairs over the irrationality of certain human behavior and
the cruelty of life, and loses hope, will ultimately lose his sanity.

One should rather expect not only the best but also the worst to happen in
one's life. Asahan natin na maaaring mangyari sa buhay hindi lamang ang
pinakamabuti kundi pati na rin ang pinakamasama. As you expect health, you
should also expect sickness. As you expect victory, you should also prepare
yourself for defeat. As you experience happiness and enjoy life, you should
likewise brace yourself against eventual pain and death. This is the Filipino
philosophy of life.