Cordillera Heroism
>> Friday, September 1, 2023
CULTURAL NOTES
Richard Kinnud
There is no single native word in the Cordillera languages which upon hearing would straight off translates in the mind as the English word hero. Or to be more precise, none that I know.
But when it comes to words that are near in meaning such as those describing the characteristics of a hero, there surely are. For instance, if hero means a protector or a defender, in my native Ifugao language, it is termed as mangipapto’ , munhalipaput, mangihalipodpod, or mangipaput. If it is to particularly refer to someone who comes to an aid or comes as an ally when another bullying, the word is the immabal or naabal.
If hero is someone who lived in the past but is now presented as model or are invoked in rituals for help for the living, the Ifugao language has the term, mabaki.
I am certain it is similar in the other languages in the Cordillera. We have words for savior, helper, fighter and the like. And for adjectives such as courageous, fierce, good, fine, helpful and others that can be attributed to a hero.
These goes to show that heroism is embedded in our culture.
In fact, there are already those from the Cordillera ancestry that are publicly acknowledged as heroes. There are also a lot of literature about heroes here and from this part of the country.
At Luneta Park, among those in the so-called gallery of heroes, is a bust of a Cordilleran. The brass citation says: “Mateo Cariño / Cordillera, c. 1898 / The Ibaloi chieftain of Benguet who led a successful revolt against the Spanish garrison in La Trinidad in 1898. Aguinaldo made him ‘captain’ of Baguio and head of the Igorot army.”
But when it comes to words that are near in meaning such as those describing the characteristics of a hero, there surely are. For instance, if hero means a protector or a defender, in my native Ifugao language, it is termed as mangipapto’ , munhalipaput, mangihalipodpod, or mangipaput. If it is to particularly refer to someone who comes to an aid or comes as an ally when another bullying, the word is the immabal or naabal.
If hero is someone who lived in the past but is now presented as model or are invoked in rituals for help for the living, the Ifugao language has the term, mabaki.
I am certain it is similar in the other languages in the Cordillera. We have words for savior, helper, fighter and the like. And for adjectives such as courageous, fierce, good, fine, helpful and others that can be attributed to a hero.
These goes to show that heroism is embedded in our culture.
In fact, there are already those from the Cordillera ancestry that are publicly acknowledged as heroes. There are also a lot of literature about heroes here and from this part of the country.
At Luneta Park, among those in the so-called gallery of heroes, is a bust of a Cordilleran. The brass citation says: “Mateo Cariño / Cordillera, c. 1898 / The Ibaloi chieftain of Benguet who led a successful revolt against the Spanish garrison in La Trinidad in 1898. Aguinaldo made him ‘captain’ of Baguio and head of the Igorot army.”
He was the same Cariño associated to the so-called Cariño doctrine as the complainant in a land case litigated by a law firm known as the Coudert Brothers, who defended the idea that native land considered by a people as theirs (in this case, Cariño’s) thru their customs and traditions are no longer public lands and should be honored as such which was upheld in the US Supreme Court (as the Philippines was then under the rule of the United States of America).
The case had the impact not just in the country but worldwide of the recognition of the rights of indigenous peoples over their ancestral lands. To many today, the association of the name speaks of his nobility, and thus worthy of regard as hero in addition to those cited on the bust in his honor.
There was also this man named Biag which in the work of historian William Henry Scott was described as “Igorot Culture Hero” from the 17th century. In that Scott article published in the 1960s, thanks to digitization that it is available online today, Biag was described to have been baptized to Christianity while he for economic reasons was in the Christianized lowlands. He, together with some companions, chose to return to the highlands.
His name is associated to the establishment of certain townships to include what we now know as Sagada. Some accounts in that article points to him as responsible for the introduction certain practices that are now part of the cultural identity of places in the Mountain Province.
Not too far from memory of peoples is Macling Dulag of Kalinga. He is well-known for the struggle of his community against the construction of a dam along the Chico River.
The news had it that he was murdered by the military. The view thus was that his death was a sacrifice in defense of his home land that was marked to be submerged to give way to the construction of the dam.
There are many other names that would pop up if you would google the words “Cordillera heroes.”. There are those being honored by certain local organizations as heroes. And it would be noted that it is for causes similar to Cariño, Biag, and Dulag.
The case had the impact not just in the country but worldwide of the recognition of the rights of indigenous peoples over their ancestral lands. To many today, the association of the name speaks of his nobility, and thus worthy of regard as hero in addition to those cited on the bust in his honor.
There was also this man named Biag which in the work of historian William Henry Scott was described as “Igorot Culture Hero” from the 17th century. In that Scott article published in the 1960s, thanks to digitization that it is available online today, Biag was described to have been baptized to Christianity while he for economic reasons was in the Christianized lowlands. He, together with some companions, chose to return to the highlands.
His name is associated to the establishment of certain townships to include what we now know as Sagada. Some accounts in that article points to him as responsible for the introduction certain practices that are now part of the cultural identity of places in the Mountain Province.
Not too far from memory of peoples is Macling Dulag of Kalinga. He is well-known for the struggle of his community against the construction of a dam along the Chico River.
The news had it that he was murdered by the military. The view thus was that his death was a sacrifice in defense of his home land that was marked to be submerged to give way to the construction of the dam.
There are many other names that would pop up if you would google the words “Cordillera heroes.”. There are those being honored by certain local organizations as heroes. And it would be noted that it is for causes similar to Cariño, Biag, and Dulag.
It is said that people are said to be heroes as a personification of the aspiration of a particular society. The accounts about Cordillera heroes would tell that our aspiration is related to defense of the land which could be understood in the larger scheme as sustainability of our natural resources, preservation of a cultural identity, and steering own direction.
It is said that heroes are presented as models to guide people of correct and near perfect actions on said aspirations. The question is would people look at it that way. May National Heroes Day pass not simply as a no-classes, no-work day.
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