‘Benguet for I-Benguets’

CULTURAL NOTES

Richard Kinnud

First of all, this corner greets all i-Benguets on occasion of the founding anniversary of Benguet Province.  This has reference to Act Nos. 48 and 49 of the United States Philippine Commission, the former creating the Province of Benguet and the later establishing the civil government, dated November 22 and 23, respectively in 1900.
    This corner also joins the shouts “Owoway! Adivay!” as the anniversary is now dubbed too as the Adivay Festival, an even that has started in 2005 and has since became famous as something that could bring to mind the history and memories of the people, enrich culture and arts, and help facilitate economic progress of the province of Benguet.
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Now back to the title we chose to dwell on in this week’s discourse.
    One time, a friend of mine said, “I find the phrase ‘Benguet for i-Benguets’ offensive.”  I let him explain and he reasoned that it is prejudiced to those who migrate in the place.  I asked him if he felt discriminated and he answered “yes.”  I told him, you would feel discriminated if you come here, live here, and still don’t consider yourself as an i-Benguet.  I asked him if he ever had that hilarious experience of going back to his home province and people will say , “Oh! So the i-Benguets are here!”
    We went on to exchange ideas on who then is an i-Benguet.  The word plainly refers to one who is from the place. An organization, in advertising an event with target participants from the province of Benguet, effectively defined who that i-Benguet is.  It said the participant should either 1) trace bloodline from any of the municipalities of the province or 2) has actual residence in the province.  The first would of course include those who are now living in other places for they will never lose their ancestry.  And the second will include those who are now dwelling in the province in some kind of permanent nature.
    The Benguet Hymn in some lines describes the province as “Land of the brave where no evil foot could wander/ Home of the free where brotherhood is sown”.  Some would describe the province as the most hospitable of all the Cordillera provinces.  It is because for as long as one is not an “evil foot” as described in the song, people are welcomed by “braves” who inhabited first the land.  And indeed, comradeship is found in the province wherever people from different places converge especially in the mining areas, the companies or offices, and even in farming towns.
    The hymn ends with “Hail to thee! Province of Benguet...My own!”  I then asked my friend, “Wouldn’t that be our declaration too?”  A good declaration, he concluded.  “Benguet for i-Benguets” as a political statement is slighting in some cases especially in workplaces but not if you consider yourself as an i-Benguet.
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I asked another friend who was incontestably an i-Benguet where the word Benguet had come from.  He cited what was written on the province’s website that the word originated from “benget”, a strip of cloth worn around the head.
    The term rang in mind an Ifugao word that is similar in tone to benget.  I remembered the word “bungut” which refers to the what is used to cover and seal a jar after putting in the mixture of half-cooked glutinous rice and yeast to allow fermentation and make the bayah which is similar to the tapuey, tapuy, tapey, or tafey  here in the province.   My friend said that would be different and must be far from the origin of the word Benguet.
    But he agreed, that it can be an analogy to the blending of people or even races in the province.  At one point, we who are here are the either the rice or the yeast.  Wines are intended to be good.  And so one while in that mix should not be the substance that spoils the mixture.
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Again, to fellow i-Benguets, Happy Founding Anniversary!