Ifugao culture: Root of violence against women and children

THOUGHTS UNLIMITED
Eugene M. Balitang
(First of two parts)

The very fact that there are incidents of violence against women and children in our very own province is alarming, considering that we always pride ourselves, as Ifugaos, to be peace-loving people governed with high moral and ethical standards of conduct. And the fact that these incidents are increasing during the past years is twice alarming. And mind you, the incidents we’re talking about are only those that are documented! Meaning, these are the incidents that were reported!

Those which go unreported, especially in the barangays far from the poblacions, are twice (or even thrice) the number of the reported incidents of violence against women and children. And among the documented incidents, only a few go thru the judicial grind until the perpetrator receives his just penalty for his transgression.
Without the slightest intention of demeaning my forebears and tribesmen, may I state that our very own culture and tradition on how we regard our women and children is sometimes the root of the problem.

When I was growing up, there is this prevailing culture of treating women and children as secondary to grown up men. Right from birth, the family fully rejoices when the newborn is a boy and is only half-happy when the baby is a girl (sayote manen, pangbayad utang). When I think about this, perhaps this mental attitude is rooted in the fact that in the generations before us, men are more in demand to work on the ricefields, build native houses, hunt food—and to march to battle in our meaningless tribal wars.

Thus, grown men are elevated to a status of importance in the society. In community gatherings, the men occupy center-stage and often partake of the best rice wine, while the women are left on the sidelines to gossip among themselves and the children are ignored altogether until lunchtime (often very late in the afternoon due to the long litany of the mumbakis who are already drunk halfway into the baki).

At home, the women are relegated to the kitchen and are often treated as second-class occupants of the house; they are often treated as nothing more than sexual objects whose saving grace is that they are capable of bearing sons to till the ricefields and go to war!

Please forgive me if I have painted a different picture of the Ifugao family, as opposed to what was ingrained in our consciousness of a happy and ideal family. I am simply voicing out my own personal growing up experience. Being the eldest in a brood of six—and being male—I enjoy a special place of honor in the family and in the clan. I have a natural right to inherit the bulk of the family’s landholdings (unfortunately, we don’t have any).

And there are perks that come with this rank—I get to enjoy the best wine and the best part of the meat in family occasions; my opinion is sought and considered in important family affairs that need collective decision-making, and all the perks that goes with being a panguluan (eldest). But—all these attention came about only when I was of age; I did not enjoy them as a child. In the real world, Ifugao children are nothing but children until they are old enough to till the fields, or to die in battle (or to vote, if I may add).

As a child, you always defer to the old folks or even to your elder siblings. Your opinion is not sought—in fact, you are not even heard at all. The oldies do not even ask you what you want, what you feel or what you think. You are just that—a child, only a notch above the rank of the carabao that your father talks to in the ricefields. (to be continued next week) – ebalitang@yahoo.com.ph