Hunter buried in 'dog' coffin, 'horse' tombstone

FITTING TRIBUTE Binwag Duyapat Buthiling, more popularly known as Ama Binwag in Ifugao, was laid to rest in a coffin shaped like a dog (above) and a tomb marker shaped like a horse (below) in Hungduan, Ifugao on Sunday, Jan. 8, 2023. – Eileen Joy Binwag 

By Vince Jacob Visaya

HUNGDUAN, Ifugao -- An 85-year-old hunter and animal lover was laid to rest in a coffin carved like a dog and a tombstone shaped like a horse on his grave in Poblacion in this town.
Binwag Duyapat Buthiling, more popularly known as Ama Binwag, died due to a lingering illness in his house on Dec. 29, 2022.
    As a tribute for being the breadwinner to the family, his children commissioned a carver to shape his coffin like a dog and his tomb marker like a horse.
    Medical technologist Eileen Joy Binwag, one of his grandchildren who lives in Nueva Vizcaya, said on Monday in an interview that their grandfather frequented the mountains to hunt wild animals during his younger years.
    Sometimes, he brings home a wild boar (baboy ramo) for dinner.
    Eileen Joy said Ama Binwag used to take care of them when they were young as their parents work elsewhere for a living.
    She also said that he is fond of taking care of domesticated animals such as dogs and horses.
    He was buried at the ancestral lot in Ifugao on Jan. 8.
    He left five children — Pedro, Felisa, Luis, Peter, Olivia — and 20 grandchildren.
    Eileen Joy said his eldest son, Pedro, registered Binwag as the family's surname instead of Buthiling and his four other siblings followed suit.
    Santiago Bayucca, the carver, said the coffin and the tombstone are his "labor of love" to Ama Binwag.