Is It Okay to Wear an Indigenous Igorot Attire in Political Rallies, Protests, and Demonstrations?

Sabi ng admin ng Taga Lakandula na page, hindi daw nararapat na gamitin ang indigenous attire ng mga Igorot sa mga political demonstrations. He posted a photo of one of the participants in the People's SONA that was held yesterday in Baguio City. That participant was wearing an Igorot attire.

I was at that event listening and taking photos as an observer and for documentation purposes. I snapped this photo during the event.

Taga Lakandula is wrong in saying that indigenous attires have no place in political demonstrations. He has a very thin understanding of why indigenous attire is always present in mass movements especially in regions with large indigenous populations like the Cordilleras.

Taga Lakandula seems to think that you can just separate the political from the cultural. If you read on Igorot history from the first contact with the Spaniards to today, the political and the cultural are intertwined with each other. Mag-asawa ang dalawang yan. 

Yes, medyo mahirap intindihin. To really understand why this is the case, kelangan mo talaga magbasa about sa history ng Igorot struggle for independence and for their rights from the time of the Spaniards to today. Historical context is really important. 

William Henry Scott, the historian who studied the Igorots and wrote papers and books about them often highlighted the political relevance of the indigenous attires of the Igorots. 

In short, everything is political. When our Igorot ancestors fought back the Spaniards in their bahags, it was political. When Congressman Lam-en protested in Congress in the 1960s wearing his bahag, it was political. When Macliing Dulag and members of other tribes in Kalinga protested wearing their bahags against the Chico Dam, it was political. When Igorots in Baguio and Benguet wore their bahags and joined the protests last year to condemn the flood control corruption, it was political. 

In conclusion, nobody knows where Taga Lakandula got the impression that indigenous attires can't be political. Because history completely debunks his argument.

A 1973 Article by William Henry Scott About the Early Days of the La Trinidad Valley

La Trinidad used to be a valley with a lagoon/lake teeming with wild ducks. This was an article by the American historian William Henry Scott which which was first published in an edition of the Baguio Midland Courier in 1973. 

In the article, Scott gave a brief overview of early accounts of the La Trinidad valley by the Spaniards and by European travellers like Karl Semper and Hans Meyer who saw the land in the 19th century. The valley was often described as swampy with a lagoon or lake that was teeming with wild ducks, grouse, and aquatic life.

Baguio Midland Courier Bound Volumes at the Benguet Provincial Library

I dropped by the Benguet Provincial Library this morning. It's my first time to be there. A stack of giant volumes in one corner caught my eye. These turn out to be bound editions of the now defunct Baguio Midland Courier. 

I pulled out the volume marked 1973 and browsed through the pages. Reading the newspaper headlines from half a century ago is like cruising through history with a time machine. But if you read through the news stories, you'll realize that the world hasn't changed that much. The problems were the same. The issues were the same. Just in a different time with different characters. 

The Baguio Midland Courier published their first edition in 1947, just a couple of years after the end of the Second World War. Their last edition was published in 2024. The paper was around for 77 years.

Is the DENR really serious in protecting our mountains and forests from giant mining companies?

Hindi naman tayo kulang sa mga batas na pumoprotekta sa ating kalikasan laban sa mapaminsala at malawakang pagmimina. Lalong hindi tayo kulang sa mga departments at agencies. Meron tayong DENR. Meron din tayong NCIP for protecting ancestral lands. 

Under DENR, there are several line bureaus which include the following:

1. Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB)

2. Biodiversity Management Bureau (BMB)

3. Environmental Management Bureau (EMB)

4. Forest Management Bureau (FMB)

In short, we have laws and departments, and bureaus, and commissions that should be more than enough to regulate destructive mining. Yet, here we are. Giant mining firms continue to flatten mountains and threaten biodiversity hotspots in the country. 

Ordinary folks have no choice but to set up barricades and try to stop the firms themselves. Because the system that was supposed to protect them has failed them.

Benguet lilies (𝙇𝙞𝙡𝙞𝙪𝙢 𝙥𝙝𝙞𝙡𝙞𝙥𝙥𝙞𝙣𝙚𝙣𝙨𝙚) Growing on the Slopes of Mt. Kotkot in Itogon, Benguet

I saw these Benguet lilies (𝙇𝙞𝙡𝙞𝙪𝙢 𝙥𝙝𝙞𝙡𝙞𝙥𝙥𝙞𝙣𝙚𝙣𝙨𝙚) during a trailrun in Itogon, Benguet yesterday. There's a good number of these plants with their distinctive white flowers growing on the steep ravines going up to Mt. Kotkot in Ampucao. You only see these in bloom for a few months during the rainy season. 

The air around them is punctured by a sweet but subtle floral fragrance. Some say their fragrance is stronger in the night-time.

This flower is called "us-usdong" by some Kankana-ey communities. It's an appropriate name because this flower is usually found in ravines or steep mountain slopes. "Usdong" is a Kankana-ey word that means to look down or to stare below. Due to it growing on a steep slope, the Benguet lily looks like it's always looking down or staring below.

Three Tourist First Aid Booths Turned Over to Baguio City

This is a tourist first aid booth worth 4.7 million pesos that was installed at Burnham Park in Baguio City. It's a project by TIEZA in collaboration with DOT, DOH, and Baguio City. The ceremonial turnover of the booth was held last July 9. In attendance was Mayor Benjamin Magalong and TIEZA General Manager Mark Lapid. 

The solar-powered booth is equipped with emergency response tools including a first aid kit, a pullout stretcher, and an automated external defibrillator (AED). It's also equipped with CCTVs for security purposes. Two more booths will be installed at Bayan Park and at the Botanical Garden. 

However, the booth has attracted its fair share of criticisms from netizens. Why is it marked as a "tourist first aid booth" with the tagline "love our tourist" painted on the sides? Does it mean it's only for tourists? Does it mean tourists are prioritized? These are valid questions. The booth is presented in such a way that people might think that it's exclusively for tourists. 

In the write-up by the Baguio City Public Information Office about the turnover of the booth, it was mentioned that the booth is for "tourists and residents". 

If everyone can use the booth, why not just call it a "public first aid booth" to let people know that anyone can use the booth whether he/she is a tourist or not. Let's not disregard the tendency of some people to not use a service because it's linked to a demographic they don't belong in.

The Formosa Lily (Lilium formosanum) Which is Often Mistaken as a Benguet Liliy (Lilium philippinense)

When I wrote about the Benguet lily (𝙇𝙞𝙡𝙞𝙪𝙢 𝙥𝙝𝙞𝙡𝙞𝙥𝙥𝙞𝙣𝙚𝙣𝙨𝙚) yesterday and mentioned that it's a "threatened" species, a reader sent a message saying that she saw some Benguet lilies very recently in Mount Yangbew.

I went there this afternoon to check. Yes, indeed, I saw two lilies in full bloom there. Unfortunately, they are not Benguet lilies. They are Taiwanese lilies or Formosa lilies (𝙇𝙞𝙡𝙞𝙪𝙢 𝙛𝙤𝙧𝙢𝙤𝙨𝙖𝙣𝙪𝙢). You can tell by the significant streaks of the color purple on the outside of the flower. 

According to a study on the Benguet lily published in 2023, the Benguet lily has pure white flowers. Check out my previous post about the Benguet lily to compare photos. The researchers also mentioned that Benguet lilies "are found only in stony and gravelly soils and never in red oxide soils". Mount Yangbew has red oxide soils. 

The Benguet lily and Formosa lily look very similar to each other. So mistaking the more abundant Formosa lily as a Benguet lily is a very common mistake. 

The study I referenced above was by Jennifer Paltiyan Bugtong, Rey Lumpio, and Jones Napaldet. The title of their paper is "Morpho-Anatomy and Mathematical Modelling in Lilium philippinense Baker from Cordillera Central Range, Philippines".