Story and Photos by Suzanne June Perante
The Philippines is indeed rich in cultural diversity as it is composed of many ethnolinguistic groups all across Luzon down to Mindanao. In Cordillera alone, different ethnolinguistic groups exist in the region including Itneg, Kalinga, Bontoc, Ifugao, Ibaloi and Kankanaey which are collectively known as Igorot.
In Benguet, one of the ethnolinguistic groups that dwelled in the upland province is the Ibaloi tribe. Historically, they were migrants from the coastal towns of Ilocos and Pangasinan. Driven uphill by Spanish colonizers, majority of them settled in the southern part of Benguet.
According to Go UNESCO, these ethnolinguistic groups practice agriculture, upland farming, mining, hunting and fishing. Actually, they were the first settlers of Baguio City, originally known then as Kafagway until factors like colonization and migration of lowlanders gradually overshadowed the original occupants.
One iconic person who played an important role in this cultural history was Ibaloi chieftain Mateo Cariño. He initially owned extensive lands in the Baguio including the famous Burnham Park and Camp John Hay. His clan keeps claiming ownership of ancestral domain of the aforementioned places in the city and keeps encountering years of asserting ancestral rights.
Recently, the first ever Ibaloi Festival was celebrated in the city and its trade fair was held at Burham Park, a land that used to be a subject of ancestral land claims by the Cariños. The event was organized by the Ibaloi organization Onjon ti Ibaloi. Its president Franklin Cocoy proudly presented a series of activities for a month including the Ibaloy Tribe Exhibit, workshops, and cultural presentations.
“We would like to showcase native products of the Ibalois, cultural practices and songs. We also have a funded project about learning Ibaloi language, their history, culture and how to use their musical instruments,” he said.
There are about 50 stalls showcasing mainly indigenous products from food, fabric, woodcrafts and other souvenir items.
The lifeblood of this festival would depend particularly in the local participation and support of the Ibalois. It became a venue for expression and representation of their rich cultural heritage which reflects their self-identification. This was an opportunity to inform and invite their fellow Ibalois to participate in the cultural celebration.
Cocoy is optimistic that the festival would be celebrated annually as one of its targets is also to contribute to the tourism development of the city. “As of now, the festival is localized and concentrated on Ibalois but later on we can probably expand and invite other Cordillerans to join,” he said.
Meanwhile, the first ever Mangan Taku Cordillera Food Fair was also launched at Rose Garden in Burnham Park, just a few meters from the location of the Ibaloi Festival.
This was organized by the City Government of Baguio in partnership with the Department of Tourism (DOT) which lasted from April 8 to 14, 2019. It featured a wide array of Cordilleran cuisine and delicacies like wine, rice cakes, coffee and more. Similar to the Ibaloi Festival, different municipalities in the region also showcased the rich living tradition of their food culture.
Although these events are recent introductions, they however honor a rich culture that has been in place long before the urbanization of Baguio that we know today. It is a manifestation of a culture that is very much thriving in the Cordilleras and not just a pure reminiscing of the past. It is not just a form of boosting tourism but more importantly, it asserts the roles of these ethnic communities in the Cordilleran cultural evolution and development.
This festival honors Cordilleran culture and it speaks a lot how these often marginalized people offers deep devotion on their way of living and continues to stand firm on their ground.
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