Imagining our being indigene

 CULTURAL NOTES

Richard Kinnud

On the first Monday of October in Benguet State University (BSU), the faculty and staff of the College of Social Sciences hosted the school’s usual weekly flag racing ceremony. 
    At the behest of their dean, Dr. Jun Anongos, they gave meaning to the month of October as the National Indigenous Peoples Month in the Philippines with the men coming in in their g-string and the women with the skirts and blouses considered native Cordilleran ethnic groups attires. 
    The g-stringed men were in shoes and shirt and coat for their top, not necessarily in the native-favored colors, and the women were also in shoes and even on high-heels.
    Their get-ups elicited positive and negative reactions.  There are those who said, “Mayat ah!”  (That was good!)  It snowballed with other realizations such as “Tapnu uray sagpamingsan ket maipakita ah ti kina-Cordilleran tayu!”  (So at least once in a while, we show that we are Cordillerans!)
    On the other hand, there are those who said, “Haan kuma nga kasdiay ah! Nu native ah ket native!  Wanes, santo awan sapatos, t-shirt, coat, ken uray brip!” (That should not be the case!  If it is native, then it should really be native! G-string then no shoes, shirts, coat or even underwear!)
    Balancing these, I heard someone say that the reactions are not totally contrasting as their bottom line is similar – that we should be proud of our being indigenous peoples.  It was just that it is viewed from different prisms.  One view is that indigenous people can still present themselves as natives even in the manifestation of modern things such as modern attires.   The other view is more of a purist one as it holds the idea that to present oneself as indigenous, one should stick to what was indigenous in an older time.  Another chimed in affirming the idea saying that there indeed are several ways of imagining ourselves as being indigene.
    An aroused conversation from this event on who we are soon spilled to the reaction of a Cordilleran vlogger on a rally last month in the anniversary of Martial Law.  That vlogger claimed that such rally is not how we are in the Cordillera and therefore, those “taga-Manila” leading the rallies should not reflect the rally as something to be identified with “taga-Baguio” or i-Cordillera for that matter.  However, one in the group pointed out that Cordillerans should not be silent in issues affecting them.  It was quickly pointed, as reiterated by the speaker invited in that Monday’s flag ceremony, that students of BSU in the 1920s who were i-Montanosa (that was how i-Cordilleras were called before) held a rally in protest of something that was against them.  Again, the segment of the conversation settled with there indeed are different expressions of being indigene.
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The National Indigenous Peoples Month was commenced by Proclamation 1906, series of 2009.  It has as its basic premise “the Constitution mandates the recognition and protection of the rights of indigenous cultural communities/indigenous peoples (ICCs/IPs) within the framework of national unity and development.”
    Also, it points to the “mandates the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) to encourage the continuing and balanced development of a pluralistic culture by the people; conserve and promote the nation’s historical cultural heritage; and ensure the widest dissemination of artistic and cultural products among the greatest number across the country and overseas for their appreciation and enjoyment.”
    The proclamation thus encourages “people’s participation in the celebration and preservation of Indigenous Cultural Communities as part of the Life of the Nation.”  In other words, how people imagine and express themselves as indigenes is important to the continuity of distinct identity as cultural community and to their being part of the nation as well.
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The National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP), the government agency whose mandate is to “protect and promote the interest and well-being of the ICCs/IPs with due regard to their beliefs, customs, traditions and institutions” joins the whole nation in IP month celebration.  The theme they published is “Pagpapayaman ng Pamanang Kultural at Katutubong Yaman Tungo sa mas Maliwanag na Kinabukasan para sa Bagong Pilipinas.”

    To me the theme implies our obligation as indigenous peoples to enrich our own culture.  Enriching implies deepening or enhancing.  But to do that, an excellent picture of what has been in a past should also be clear to us.

    Now, is the image of a university professor in his wanes, shoes and coat an image of enriching our own culture?  Our answer and manifestations in our own daily life is surely a contribution to the collective imagination and expression of our being indigene.  It should result into something that will not let us lose our own identity as one of the many groups of indigenous peoples.